The new belt is fine because it doesn't have a join which the original one did.
The original belt only lasted a very very short time, and I should have claimed the new belt under warranty. (The replacement cost me $20 incl. postage).
I could have sent the machine back under warranty which would have cost Bissell a lot of money. The original belt failed from fatigue failure at the join, so it was a design/manufacturing fault.
I'm glad to see that someone at Bissell has now changed to a belt with no join.
The machine works well other than the belt failing prematurely.