Sebo X4 Automatic - sensitivity of height adjustment

[junior119]

Apologies if this is already somewhere on here and I've missed it ...

I bought a brand new X4 last summer (Aug 2015) and so far it's a real disappointment - my Hoover Juniors 375, 119, 1334, 1354 and my Electrolux 502 all beat it into a cocked hat for carpet cleaning.

As far as I can see this might be a pretty good cleaner if the brushes were actually allowed to touch the carpet - lift it up for a while so the height adjuster lowers the brush and it's brilliant for about 20 seconds until it's lifted the head up again.

Question for those of you know know lots about these new fangled electronic things - rather than great old-tech electro-mechanical things: there's an adjustable resistor (potentiometer) on the PCB in the machine - does this affect the sensitivity of the height adjuster? If so I'll have a play and see if I can make it behave a bit more sensibly.

There's a long (and pretty low quality) video of the Sebo failing miserably against the 1334 cleaning up the Christmas Tree needles the other week on my YouTube channel. (There's also some videos of my Hoover Commercial, Electrolux C2116 Professional and Hoover A3260 washer - which is in daily use and has been since new in Aug 1983)

http://https//youtu.be/FPJOaH7lPSY

 

[alexhoovers94]

Because they are crap! Manual height adjustment would let the user set the hight so the brushroll actually contacts the carpet. That is my non-deluded opinion anyway. I think the machines are great in every other sense, however, the auto height adjustment with "computer controlled accuracy" lets it down conpletely for me.

 

[spiraclean]

One solution would be to fit the optional soft brush roller (green bristles). This offers less resistance against the carpet pile, therefore causing the cleaner to adjust itself a tad lower than usual. Despite being classed as "soft", it's still plenty firm enough to get the job done; if anything, I would say the standard Sebo brush was somewhat on the hard side compared to many other makes.

Be careful using the soft roller on hard floors, though. I found with the cleaner head adjusting itself lower, the metal strip on the sole plate would sometimes scrape against the surface, whereas with the standard hard brush it would back off a little to prevent this happening.

It's a very nice cleaner overall, but is not for everyone. The Marmite of the vacuum world! I sold mine in favour of a D4 with manually adjustable power head and am much happier, and I suspect the same would be true of the Felix also. Others cannot fault the X series in any way and wouldn't swap for anything. I say use what you like, and like what you use.

 

[alexhoovers94]

Even the vacuums I like, I know they have problems and I do openly address them... But some other collectors don't see the issues or drawbacks, with said cleaners, that have been adressed by others, which I feel is rather biased or possibly "deluded" I might, loosely, add.

 

[tolivac]

Interesting and very good video I didn't watch the whole thing-but liked how the Hoover Jr or Lark in the US tackled that pine needle mess.The Sebo with its complex dirtpath--will get choked up.Direct air machines eat that kind of debris with ease-Hoovers,Kirbys,Metal Royals and so on.Also liked how the Jr was airlifting the carpet off the floor.Question-what is the brand of Hi-Fi speaker with the intreguing grill cover?And like the aquarium.Remember as a kid having to clean up Christmas pine needle mess.The thing that choked up Kirby was the wads of tinsel that fell to the floor.Stopped the roller cold and twined in the fan.Used The StepMoms "Wheelbarrow" Kenmore canister for that.Your Christmas tree sure shed a LOT of needles-your floor looked like the forest floor!Good that you could dump the needles in a garden or compost pile.The Hoover fan would partially chop them to mulch-sounded like the fan is metal.Best for that rough kind of pickup.A plastic fan will get eroded!

 

[turbomaster1984]

Dave

From a non deluded Sebo owner I would imagine the machine might have slipped their quality control dept. Given you have quality carpets I cannot imagine why the sebo would fail at all.

There is no reason to replace the brush roll - I would either have Sebo service the machine under warranty or speak to JL about a replacement.

Having owned 3 sebos and used a few of them in commercial settings they just dont do this as a rule.

I feel awful about the comments made above by certain persons and this is not the spirit amongst the general group of members in the UK.

If your stuck for anything drop me a text and il see if I can shed any more light on the subject to get it rectified.

 

[sebo4me]

The X4 Pet Boost as the name would suggest has a Boost button which lowers the floorhead deeper into the pile and picks up extremely well.

 

[alexhoovers94]

No, they are crap, I have used four in four different homes amd they all do the exact same thing: skim, loose contact, and the head scrapes across hard floors. I am sorry but four, of the same but different unboxed machines bought from different retailers, all doing the same thing, that is not skipping quality control, that is a bad domestic product and it is a shame as they are nice machines, well built and powerful and have the ability to clean so much better. They would probably be fine for that stuck down commercial carpet they were designed for!

 

[sebo4me]

Did you read my last post Alex? They have a new model that you have not tried. You press the Boost button and the floorhead lowers deeper into the carpet and you can feel it grooming the carpet

 

[turbo500]

Hi Dave,

Welcome to the group! Always nice to see some more UK members joining up.

Spircaclean is right, the Automatic height adjustment is definitely the marmite of the current vacuum market. Although having said that, the same could be said for bagless cleaners too - some love em, some hate it. But it's absolutely true that no one cleaner will suit everyone. If it did, this would be a very boring forum lol! Some people aren't fans of the automatic height adjustment, but those people I have found tend to prefer the Felix, as Spiraclean said.




I do have to agree with Rob though, I've personally never experienced the issues with the Sebo not touching the carpet. I've been using Sebo's for a good 10 years now and used them in 4 different houses that I've lived in since then and never had any trouble. I've always found the Sebo finds the correct balance between carpet contact and ease of use, sweeping deep enough into the carpet to clean well but not enough so that the cleaner becomes difficult to push.

I'd definitely recommend returning it for a new one to JL and if you find the issue persists and that the X series isn't for you, you could always exchange it for a Felix with the manual height adjustments or the X4 pet boost with the over-ride button.

Sad to say, but modern vacuums just aren't as robust as they used to be (although they are cheaper to buy than they've ever been) and Sebo are definitely the best uprights you can buy on the current market without having to remortgage your house to pay for it. To put in perspective, in 1978, an Electrolux 502 retailed for £67.50. When adjusted for inflation, that equates to £375.33 in todays money.

Keep us posted with how you get on.

To further echo Rob's comments, there is a certain negative Nancy that likes to post on this forum in an overly bad mannered and arrogant way. I can't see what's been said, because I've got said negative nancy blocked, but please don't be put off by any comments. We're actually a very friendly bunch and the rest of us know what we're talking about .

All the best,
Chris

 

[alexhoovers94]

No I was responding to another comment.

A boost button? Why not just do away with the automatic adjustment and make it manual, it would change my view on them entirely, I imagine.

 

[sebo4me]

They have a Manuel model the G1 but you have to Import it from Germany. I've seen a company that are selling them for £180

 

[sebo4me]

And I agree I would like to see the Manuel model available in the UK.

 

[alexhoovers94]

This "negative nancy" Chris is talking about, is me, I would like to add that he clearly cant handle the truth, so he chose the easy way out: block.

 

[junior119]

Thanks for all the replies

Hello All and thanks for all the replies, also, to those who recognise me, I did have a different username previously but can't for the life of me recall the login and no longer have access to the email used on it, so Apologies for any confusion over apparent name change.
Not worried by negative Nancy's comments (LOL'd at that nickname tho!) .... In fact if this particular Sebo is typical, which it's sounding like it isn't, frankly I'd agree.
I've had a quick twiddle with the screwdriver on the pot. On the PCB and sure enough it is the height adjuster sensitivity and already the performance is greatly improved. With a little more gentle and thoughtful tweaking I think I can make this work well. It will never out perform an old Hoover or elux because, like all modern vac's, it has no beaters, only brushes, hence not dislodging deep grit, but at least I can now make it feel like it's doing something meaningful.
In hindsight I can now see I should have bought the Felix .... I'd done enough research (incl. conversations with Rob) before buying to know that the auto height adjust was not to everyone's liking, and after 46 years of Hoovers, feeling them really suck and beat, it was bound to happen that I felt "the gentle touch" wasn't good enough, but there's gentle and there's non-contact!
I know Sebo's the best you can buy now, and I don't have any doubts that if I'm to modernise beyond 1975 then Sebo is the only viable option!
Still can't make my mind up whether I'm a bit miffed that it failed with pine needles, or actually very chuffed that old Hoovers can't be beaten!

 

[turbo500]

Dave,

Funny you should mention beater bars - the Electrolux Twin Turbo's have 2 rows of bristles and no beater bar, but still agitates the carpet enough to make the embedded grit bounce. If the brushroll is quality enough, it should still loosen the grit.

 

[Mike81]

I have Sebo BS 360 clone, Kärcher CV 36/2 upright with the manual height adjustment. I love the manual height adjustment in it. For me it's the only right way to change the height. I wouldn't wan't to machine change the height for me.

 

[alexhoovers94]

I dont like the way they skim across the pile but they should have no trouble with surface dirt! Mine has never stuggled to pick up surface dirt in one pass.

I do like my Electrolux 500s and older Hoovers for a good deep clean. I love the old Hoover Juniors and Seniors, I also love the Turbolite, Turbomaster and Turbopower models.

I cant see a Junior picking up pine needles very well, they tend to struggle with heavy particles, a later Hoover (Turbopower, Turbolite, Turbomaster) would still give you the same deep cleaning but with more power to pick up the heavier surface particles.

I aso love the Turbopower 2 models from the 90s but they are rather average performers, although better than the Electrolux Contours of the time but the Turbopower 2 cleaners were very heavy.

 

[junior119]

Hoovers love Pine Needles!

@alexhoovers94

Have a look at my video (link in original post) for the Hoover 1334 shifting pine needles like billio! You don't need much motor power in a well designed machine to have huge cleaning power!

Latest Sebo Felix machines (700 watts) seem to show that this is still true, not to mention slightly older machines such as Nilco commercials.