Review from a busy mum & professional domestic cleaner
Disclaimer: I have been sponsored to demonstrate this vacuum on my Instagram page @jottiesjournal, but this review was completed independently so I could provide more information on the product. All opinions are my own and I have not been directed by SEBO.
Key Features
- PRICE: Prices start from £229 depending on where you purchase from. You can purchase from www.sebo.co.uk and they also provide information on registered stockists.
- TYPE: Bagged upright vacuum cleaner with removable head for greater portability and function such as vacuuming stairs or the car
- GUARANTEE: Free 5-year guarantee
- CAPACITY: 3.5 litres
- HOSE LENGTH: 2 metres
- SUCTION MOTOR: 700 watts
- WEIGHT: 6.8kg
- ACCESSORIES: Power brush head, SEBO KOMBI floor tool, crevice & upholstery nozzles
About SEBO
Established in 1977 in Germany, SEBO produced the first commercial upright vacuum cleaners! They pride themselves on providing quality assured products and this is reflected in them being the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial upright cleaners. They have established a good reputation and have many accolades from magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Ideal homes and others. I’ve also heard many great reviews from users and previous customers on Instagram and online with people often gushing about the quality and how long they last, with many stating 10 years plus!
Why I chose the SEBO Felix ePower
I will be honest, I’m not usually an upright Vacuum user and for years I’ve used a tubbed, pull along vacuum and have a cordless to accompany it. My husband Tim prefers an upright though, vacuums are such a personal preference aren’t they! I got to choose what SEBO vacuum I would like to try out, so I thought I would try something different with an upright! It also sounded perfect for the various flooring I have, with hard flooring in high traffic areas (vinyl & tiling), rugs and then carpets too. Something that also appealed so me was that they come in various designs, although not a necessity when choosing a vacuum, it’s a fab finishing touch so you can choose a vacuum that suits your style, see some of their various designs below (there are so many more to choose from too, visit www.sebo.co.uk for a nose . SEBO work with the Pink Ribbon Foundation and 25% of the Felix Rose (pictured below) and X7 Pastel Pink profits are donated by themselves to the foundation. I went for the SEBO Felix Vogue as pictured above.
Features
The SEBO Felix is a bagged vacuum with s-class dust filtration (I won’t go into detail about this, but it basically means that it is of good quality and it meets certain standards- it is British Allergy Foundation Approved). It prides itself on being powerful yet manoeuvrable, so it provides a comfortable vacuum whilst leaving them with a professional-quality finish. Below I will go through its features and let you know how I felt they performed.
Manoeuvrability
It has a flex neck which makes it easily manoeuvrable (something I need living in a small home with furniture close to one another) and it easily glides across the floor despite the unit being quite heavy- it doesn’t feel heavy whilst vacuuming. The flex neck also means that it can complete flat-to-floor cleaning successfully, so you can vacuum under items such as raised beds and sofas easily.
Suction
The power button is on the handle and it has four power settings with even the least powerful setting being very effective! The variable power is useful for flooring such as thin rugs and vinyl. Even when set on high power it doesn’t pull at my vinyl which I was surprised about, it does feel a little heavier when used on full power, but this is easily changed by lowering the power for an easy gliding vacuum. Power setting four is fab for carpets, it provides such deep agitation, as seen by the hoover lines it produces! My bedroom carpets haven’t seen a hoover line in years and this produced them which I did not expect.
Floor types
It works effectively across all of the floor types I have which is helped by the function of being able to adjust the brush height for maximised performance. It has a light to let you know if you are using the incorrect brush height or not. This takes some getting used to, but I’ve found a preferable setting which works across the majority of my different floor types, so that I don’t have to keep changing. This makes for easy vacuuming between hard and carpeted floor. You can also turn off the brush bar to prevent scratching on more sensitive flooring and it has been approved as wool safe too. I’ve heard that it can struggle with shaggy type rugs with the brush head, I have none to test on but as it comes with KOMBI head, I would assume this would work well on them if after testing all of the functions you cannot get one to suit. It also has a L shaped floor head on the power head which is very handy for edges and means that it comes in good use for things like underneath radiator pipes.
Accessories
It comes with a crevice tool and upholstery brush (with on board storage) which are both of very good quality and perform well. You can also purchase additional attachments such as a dusting brush, a radiator brush, a stair and upholstery turbo brush, and a floor and wall brush and a straight tube to increase reach. As standard the SEBO Felix comes with a SEBO brush power floor head and some models a SEBO KOMBI head. There is also a SEBO PAEQUET professional quality hard floor cleaning head with floating brush strips for uneven surfaces available for purchase.
You can remove the unit from the floor heads to make cleaning for example, the stairs or high dusting easier. I was actually surprised at how light it was too hold, the only issue I would say here is that the power handle makes it feel a little unnatural to hold but it can be decreased in size for increased portability. You also cannot place the detached unit down, but if you are vacuuming your sofa for example, you do not need to remove unit from the head you can simply just pull the hose out from the unit, so this way it continues to stand. The hose is a very good length for this purpose too.
My round up on performance and function
When I first tried the SEBO Felix it did feel a bit a bit alien, a bit like when you drive a different car! Haha! But I soon got used to it although it does take quite a bit of playing with, and a good read of the instructions to get it performing the best way for your home. Once you’ve figured that bit out, on the whole it is a dream to use and I have really enjoyed using it. It is so great that it has varying options, so it can suit your home and the type of flooring you have. It hasn’t struggled to pick up anything I’ve tried to vacuum; however, it can push back finer debris with a consistency of carpet freshener for example, on hard floors. But this just means you have to go over the area, I would say a maximum of 3 times, which isn’t a huge problem. It performed very well on edges, especially on carpets which I found the L-shaped side on the floor head helped if need be. But if do you struggle with any edges you can easily just pull out the hose on the side. For most areas you only need to glide across once for a lovely finish. One little niggle is that it is rather noisy on the highest power setting, but due to the high power I would expect this.
I think the price is a fair reflection on the quality of the SEBO Felix and I would say it is good value for money, it is one of their cheaper models, but you wouldn’t know to use and isn’t “budget’ in the slightest. Of course, it doesn’t have a budget price tag with prices starting at £229, but I really feel that it’s definitely worth that price tag, especially if it lasts over ten years as claimed by many users! It feels of very good quality and appears very robust. The only thing that you may feel is a bit flimsy is how the hose is attached, I thought it may move around quite a bit, but it is firm and stays neatly in place. I love how long the cable is being 10 metres, I can actually plug at the bottom of my stairs and vacuum all of my upstairs! As a whole the unit is quite heavy, so some may find it difficult to lift up the stairs for example, but once in use it glides very easily across various floor types. If you find it feels a little heavy you can reduce the power, but it never pulls. I also liked that it is of a compact design which is great for storage. Despite not generally being an upright vacuum user, I was impressed with this vacuum and so are many others. It has such good reviews and I’m another that would recommend it- remember to always do a quick google for reviews before purchasing something new!
Jottie's Journal 