geoback's Full Review: Sebo X4 Bagged Upright Vacuum
The best medium priced vacuum on the market
I have owned an Aerus Electrolux canister for 8 years which I bought used from the local Aerus dealer. After 4 years, the motor died therefore I had it rebuilt and 4 years later it died again. Since it was one of the newer plastic models that aren't nearly as reliable as the old models dating from the 60's and earlier, I elected to junk it rather than investing another $300 - $400 on having the motor rebuilt again. IMHO, Aerus Electrolux vacuums are not worth the money. You're really paying for a name based on the reputation of a product that no longer exists. The older Electrolux model from the 60's and earlier will last 40 years or more but the new ones don't live up to the hype. A brief explanation of Electrolux's history (below) will help you understand why.
Having made the decision to look for a new brand, I put together a short list of features that I wanted in a vacuum cleaner:
- Intelligently engineered.
- Well established reputation for reliability.
- Reasonably priced ($750 or less)
- Solidly built
- Easy to use on stairs
My first inclination was to check out the Dyson based on all the ads I had seen on TV, but after examining one at the local Lowes I was less than impressed. It left me with the impression of a vacuum designed to fill up a marketing department's spec sheet at the expense of sound engineering and it just felt like it was very poorly constructed with cheap materials prone to breaking. Further research on the web at various web sites reaffirmed my observations. In fact, the two vacuum cleaner brands stood out from the rest of the pack based on their positive reviews: Miele and Sebo.
After examining dozens and dozens of vacuums at various retail outlets, the only vacuum brand that left any lasting impression was Electrolux which was in the same price range as Dyson's and within my budget. Now you may be saying to yourself, I thought you decided to junk an Electrolux so why would you be interested in buying another. The answer to this question is simple. Aerus Electrolux (my previous model) is not the same company as the Electrolux you can buy in retail stores. Electrolux was originally established in Sweden, and in the 1930's a manufacturing plant was built in the US. The American company and the American Electrolux trademark was bought by the parent company of Sarah Lee back in the late 60s, early 70's. The American Electrolux company was eventually spun off into Aerus Electrolux and sometime in the last few years, the original Electrolux company from Sweden bought the Electrolux trademark back from Aerus. BTW, there's a great web site dedicated to the history of the Electrolux at http://www.137.com/lux/.
Having done the footwork I logged back onto the Internet to do further research on the Swedish Electrolux (which by the way, also owns Eureka among others) as well as the Miele and the Sebo. After thoroughly researching both the technical merits of all three vacuum cleaners as well as other users' opinions I had narrowed my choice to Sebo and Miele. Despite the fact that Sebo tended to have slightly better reviews, my gut feeling was to go with the Miele because my parents have owned one for over twenty years and they've never had to bring it in for repairs and its still going strong. I should point out they have two vacuums and the Miele is used only for cleaning the second floor therefore it's not used that heavily. Never the less, it still feels like a product you may have bought in the last few weeks. As I said my gut feeling was a Miele but after reading some reviews at http://www.allergybuyersclubshopping.com I started to sway towards the Sebo K3 canister. At this point I happened upon the 5 star review for the Sebo Automatic X4 at the previously mentioned web site when it dawned it me that I had never owned an upright in my life despite the fact that 90% of my vacuuming was on carpets and I've always hated using canisters for the following reasons:
1. A royal pain to vacuum with, the canister is always in the way and your constantly wasting time moving the damn thing out of the way or dragging it behind you.
2. Despite what the say, canisters are not better for vacuuming stairs. I can't tell you how many times I have knocked the vacuum down my stairs.
3. The power cords in canisters are far too short. I want a power cord that allows me to vacuum the entire floor of my town house without unplugging.
I was now 90% sure that I was going to buy the Sebo Automatic X4 upright pending a live demonstration, but I was still open to buying a canister or a Miele. Fortunately for me, there is a store specializing in high quality vacuum cleaners nearby that sells both Sebo and Miele along with the Swedish Electrolux and numerous other high quality brands. After seeing the various Miele and Sebo vacuum cleaners in action I was 99% sure I was going to buy a Sebo, but I was so impressed with the Sebo K3 canister that I was starting to second guess my decision to buy the upright. In fact, if I were going to purchase a canister the Sebo K3 would win hands down. It's that impressive. The final fact that won me over to buying the X4 upright was that you can purchase an optional 9' extension hose and a turbo brush for vacuuming stairs and furniture. As you may recall, canisters on stairs are a problem for me. The 9' extension hose coupled to the built in hose allows you to reach up to 15' which means I can vacuum an entire set of stairs without moving the vacuum from the lower flow. You'll never be able to do that with any canister. What's more, you can couple multiple hoses together to reach really high places. Buy two extension hoses and theoretically, you can reach 24'. I can't recall coming across any other vacuum that had this feature. One of my big wish list items for a canister for many years was this very feature. I should point out here that you really need to see the Sebo to appreciate its quality. It is an extremely well engineered product that is simple to use and just oozes quality. No cheap low grade plastic here.
The final point that convinced me to go with the Sebo X4 was the dealer's recommendation. Despite the fact that he had high regards for the Miele, he stated that Sebo was his best selling vacuum and was the most reliable of all the vacuums he sells. In fact, they were so confident of the Sebo's reliability that they doubled the manufacturers warranty on all Sebo's from 3 years to 6 years. Another nice plus was that Sebo was running a promotion where they were knocking $100 if you exchanged your old vacuum for a Sebo. Since I didn't have mine with me, the dealer applied the discount anyway (provided I bring my dead Electrolux in later in the week) and I was able to purchase a Sebo Automatic X4 upright, a 9' extension hose and the turbo brush for $700; $50 below my limit.
Finally, I can't say enough about how well engineered this vacuum is. It's so easy to take this sucker apart; you don't even need an instruction manual. For example, five minutes after my teenage son started looking at it, he had found that you can open up the entire turbo brush by just turning a collar on its neck. No screw drivers required. This is true thru-out most of the vacuum. You really need to take one home and start tearing it apart to see what I mean. A true sign of a good quality product is the fact that there are no snap to gather parts using interlocking plastic tabs that break when you attempt to open the device.
A side note: While doing my research, I purchased an online subscription to ConsumerReports.org hoping that their reviews would help me to make a decision. After reading their reviews I realized that I had just wasted X dollars on a subscription that was completely useless. In fact the information was so blatantly incorrect, I question the author's credibility. It almost appears as if Sears was paying the reviewer to write good reviews of the Kenmore vacuums. For example this is what they said about the Sebo X4...
They said: "Very good, but compromised by notable flaws. Brush on/off switch. Full-bag alert. Overload protection for blower fan motor. Tippy with hose is extended. Unstable on stairs. Cord shorter than most. Lacks headlamp."
The truth is:
1. The brush on/off switch is not necessary because the brush head is automatically raised off the floor/carpet when the vacuum is placed in the upright position therefore you never have to remember to turn the brush head off. How many people actually remember to manually turn the power head brush off when using the hose?
2. A Full bag alert exists and is so blatantly obvious it would be impossible to overlook.
3. There is absolutely no reason to have overload protection on a blower/fan motor. The only place overload protection matters is on the brush roller power head. I should also point out that a big fat indicator lights up when the brush is overloaded. Its the indicator right next to the full-bag indicator that supposedly doesn't exist.
4. The only time the vacuum is tipsy when the hose is extended is when you pull it towards the back. How could any vacuum not be? But so what. Does this really affect the performance of a vacuum? Its absurd to even mention this.
5. Yes, its unstable on stairs and so is every single upright on the market, but as I mentioned previously, you don't need to carry it on the stairs because of the extension hose. Again, how many other vacuums offer extension hoses?
6. I am completely mystified by the fact that they say the cord is too short. 40' is too short? Compared to what? Did they even take the Sebo out of the box? Even odder is the fact that the two Kenmores they rated as the two best buys only have 30' cords.
7. Quite honestly, I have never found headlamps to be of any use. After a couple of months, they headlamp's enclosure becomes scratched up, marked up and the plastic usually discolors so that the headlamp barely helps at all.
They didn't have one positive comment to make on the Sebo yet some of the features that were identical on both the Kenmore and Sebo were listed as positive features for the Kenmore but were not mentioned at all for the Sebo. For example, the power switch on the handle (the Sebo has this), the full bag indicator (they conveniently overlooked), etc. Another glaring point was the fact that they noted that the Sebo did not have a manual pile adjust but they did not mention that the Sebo had an automatic pile adjust which is a far better design and one of the Sebo's best features.
Another glaring point that they failed to mention is the fact that the Sebo is around 25% lighter than the Kenmore and much much quieter than the Kenmore. Whats worse is they listed the Sebo as being 1 pound heavier than it actually is and the Kenmore as being 1.5 pounds lighter than it actually is.
I think the real nail in the coffin is the fact that they did not consider the repair history when evaluating each model. According to another page on their own web site, both the Kenmore upright and canister are ranked near the bottom for repair history. Interestingly enough, they have no repair history for the Sebo.
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