Bare floor friendly vacuums

[s2_82]

Hey all,

So lately I've been looking to possibly add another vacuum to my arsenal. I have a few uprights but need something a little more bare floor friendly.

I'm looking into either the Sebo Felix or Lindhaus Healthcare pro, or perhaps another? Could anybody that has either vacuum share their experiences?

One more thing.. In the past, I've always noticed that the Felix had a motor rating of 1300 watts but now see that they are 1000 watts. Have they switched to a lower watt motor? I've always wondered..

Thanks!!!!

 

[eurekaprince]

I have found the best bare floor tools are those that combine an unobstructed suction channel with a microfibre mopping pad. The simplest version of this can be found on the $50 cordless Swiffer Sweep & Vac. The front suction channel can suck up large dust balls and litter while the disposable Swiffer pad gets all the fine dust.

Some manufacturers make full size corded vacuums that come with a bare floor tool that incorporates a microfibre pad as well: Filter Queen, Riccar/Simplicity, Shark and Vorwerk.

 

[cbird]

The Rainbow has an impressive arsenal for hard floor cleaning with four options currently. Of course, there is a hard floor brush for picking up debris, but also a microfiber option (can be used wet or dry), a combination sponge and squeegee (wet only), and a combination brush and squeegee (also wet only). There are videos of these on their website. The combination of using wet, soapy floor cleaner solution and powerful suction make the Rainbow’s hard floor cleaning abilities much better than either a mop alone or a dry microfiber with suction.

 

[panasonicvac]

The Lindhaus Healthcare Pro in my humble opinion is the best overall upright vacuum cleaner that I've ever used. Though unlike the Felix, it does not have a variable speed control and the powerhead does not swivel but the bare floor tool however does.

 

[s2_82]

@cbird, Rainbow is a really good high quality machine but I'm just not a fan of water filteration vacuums in general; they seem like they're time consuming to use/maintain

@panasonicvac, I guess every machine has its pros and cons. Do you own one? Does Lindhaus make hepa cloth bags, I've always seen them use the brown paper bags

 

[mieles7]

I think both of them are pretty great choices if you've got bare floors and prefer an upright's form factor, speaking as someone who owns a SEBO Felix and a Lindhaus Valzer L-Ion (the Healthcare Pro's less powerful cordless cousin).

The Felix with the Premium Parquet Brush attached excels at large debris pickup once you remove the front brush strip. The tool itself is also excellent in terms of maneuverability, but the biggest disadvantages are that it won't stand up on its own and that you can't use the Premium Parquet on area rugs/low pile carpets. On the other hand, the Lindhaus M29R head will lock upright and performs decently well on low pile carpet. I've had it snowplow cereal-size debris on hard floors, but you can usually just swivel the head from side to side to suck it up. Both the Premium Parquet and M29R have a lot to offer, so you can't really go wrong.

At the moment, I think the Felix is a better deal since you can easily find it online for $650 with a 10 year manufacturer warranty right now. SEBO prices are gonna go up in February according to their website, just as a heads up. That's not to say the Lindhaus is a bad choice though, since it does offer you an integrated telescopic wand and dry powder cleaning capabilities. One other thing to note is that the Healthcare Pro's synthetic bags (possibly type Lindhaus M3) are rumored to be pretty rare and would need to be special ordered from your dealer, while the SEBO's synthetic AeraPure bags are widely available.

 

[panasonicvac]

Steve

There are HEPA cloth bags available for the Healthcare Pro.

 

[s2_82]

@ mieles7

Thank you for the info and the big heads up about Sebo prices going up (I had no idea)

That premium parquet brush that it comes with is for bare floors only but then I've seen that there's another tool called the "Kombi" which I think is sold seperately can do rugs too right?

My dealer only carries the premium "Onyx" version in store which supposedly has a longer warranty but only if its bought in store, and then the Rosso is sold online with a shorter warranty.

They are completely out of stock on the Lindhaus Healthcare pro and don't know when it will be back in stock. Last time I stepped inside the store, they didn't have a display model to try out, so I'll have to think about whether or not I'm going to wait for that one to come in..

One more question are both machines relatively the same weight wise and easy to push?

 

[mieles7]

You can definitely fit the Premium Kombi brush onto the Felix, and they even sell the Felix with just the Kombi in Canada. Interestingly, SEBO's moved away from the Premium Kombi (#7260GS) tool design on their canisters in favor of a Wessel Werk style combo tool (#8651GS).

If you're looking for a Felix online with the 10 year warranty, eVacuumStore has both the Rosso Red and Indigo colors available at $650 at the moment. Nothing's wrong with the dealer-only Onyx package though, especially if you'd find the extra attachments useful.

They're both right around ~16 lbs with the powerhead attached and ~10 lbs with the hard floor tool. I'd say they're about equally as easy to push on hard floors with their respective nozzles. On carpet, I actually find the Lindhaus M30 powerhead a little easier to push and maneuver than the Felix's ET-1, in spite of the M30 not having a swivel. Neither one's painful to use though.

 

[jo]

Might want to try…

A shark with the duo clean. Apparently they do a marvelous job on bare floors because of the two types of rollers and the multi speed options. While not nearly as upscale of a product as the others mentioned above in the thread. It’s just an observation I’ve noticed of people liking the product particularly on bare floors. Seems to remove stuck on bits quite well.

Jon

 

[thevacomaticiec]

Get a metal body canister vacuum brand of Electrolux super J to 1505 silverado , with the horse hair bristles . Or Tristar cxl floor tool .

 

[human]

Yeah, what Thevacuumaticiec said...

I use my any 'Lux canisters (1205, Super J, Silverado, Diamond J, Diplomat LX) with the 'flippy floor tool', bristle side down. The 'Lux uprights (Discovery II, Genesis LXe, Epic 3500SR) are also good alternatives with the brush roll turned off. A Kirby in canister mode with the bare floor tool on the end of the wand is also a viable option but it's an awful lot of trouble to set up so I seldom, if ever, use them that way.

 

[jo]

Vintage Trivac

Electrolux made the Trivac. An Electric Broom style vac. The nozzle was ok with wheels but it can be removed and a flip over combination rug and floor took by Electrolux can also be used. This way nothing but the bristles will touch the floor and emptying is easy with the disposable bags.

Jon

 

[s2_82]

Hey all,

Well, I thought I'd update this thread, especially after the really helpful advice from all of you; I would have a lot sooner but have been just so busy with work.

I went to the vacuum store last week and, well first of all they are out of stock of a lot of things because of all of these supply chain issues that pretty much everybody is having right now. Anybody experiencing this too?

They were completely out of stock on the Sebo Felix which is what I was mainly looking at.

After testing it I noticed that the machine emits a lot of heat from its exhaust that is hotter that I'm used to with other vacuums I've used. Is this normal? The guys at the shop said that it is in fact normal, so I thought I'd ask your opinion.

It seems to clean and groom carpet ok. My only hesitation against it is that it has a circuit board that controls the motor speed. I've heard countless times of the issues that they create in other vacuums. Then I found out that the Sebo Dart doesn't have a speed control. Does that mean that the Dart doesn't have a control board? Just curious whether or not there are any major reliability issues.

I then tried the Lindhaus Healthcare pro. First thing I noticed is that it barely groomed the carpet, unlike the Felix and that the suction wasn't as strong as the Felix's. however the build quality was top notch.

Just as I was about to leave, I noticed (in a corner in the back of the store) a red Numatic Henry 160..
It caught me buy suprise as I never expected to find one there. It was my very first time seeing one in person.
I tried it out and was pretty blown away with how much power it has for a smaller sized canister, and just the simplicity of it in general. I wish it had a power head but I guess it's OK and that I do have 2 uprights for carpets anyways.

Does anybody (in the USA) have a Henry? Didn't think they were as common here. Anyways, that pretty much is my update. Feel free to chime in if anyone thinks that I'm missing or overlooking something.

Thanks!

 

[blackheart]

I do!

I've got a Henry 200 I modded it to take a power nozzle but I've found it does pretty well with a good turbine tool like the Wessel Werk TK286. It's a nice simple machine the bags are huge and pretty inexpensive it's quiet and has pretty good power to it. the modification really wasn't hard to do but these modifications will void a warranty.

 

[s2_82]

@blackheart

I'm lovin your creativity! I never knew that upgrading to a PN was even possible. From what I've heard, the older units had sockets for an electric hose, but it looks like they did away with that with the newer models which is a bummer..

Some of the C2 Miele canisters also had this option, if I'm not mistaken. Awesome power-team setup there!

 

[suckolux]

I have a 200 also, lovely to use,hear. I forget to check the bag,it lasts so long! BF house has wood floors and cats,ideal!

 

[mieles7]

@s2_82

If you ever wanted to run a powerhead on a Henry, a battery model could be a possibility. Perfect has an Electrolux-style head that sells for $170-300, and the Wessel Werk EBK360DC and Lindhaus PB14e L-ion go for $400-700. At least in my experience, the powerhead on my battery-powered Lindhaus Valzer sweeps up the surface debris and fluffs up the carpet about as well as my favorite corded uprights (8900, Vibrance, Felix).

I've actually thought about getting a Henry HVR160 and the EBK360DC at some point, seems like it might be a pretty nice $700-800 pairing.

 

[mike811]

Just get Twinner nozzle and you turn your canister vacuum in to amazing hard floor performer. It fits to almost every pipe size.