German bagged cleaners

[marcusprit]

Just thought I'd give my opinion on German bagged cleaners.

Starting with Miele.
The S7 which performs very but is best suited to large homes and I've problems with build quality. The don't yet have a compact upright.
Cylinder cleaners unless you want to fork out £600 for the power nozzle design you have a choice if straight suction or turbo head. I'm not a fan of turbo nozzles I find the noise very irritating. So in my opinion ion Miele cylinders are best suited to mostly hard floors.

Sebo cylinders. The D4 premium is an excellent designed machine but best suited to large homes. Not a fan of the K series.Though I am looking forward to the new E series

Uprights don't like the X series the automatic height adjustment is not their best design.
So that leaves the Felix which I've owned the past 2 years and been very impressed. It's not perfect it has faults like any other vacuuum

My point is that German cleaners are very good but they also have their limitations and are not the be all and end all. The Americans make some fantastic vacuums and so do a certain British company

 

[turbo500]

I'd like to see a bagged upright vacuum currently on sale on the UK market that will out perform a Sebo.

With regard to cylinders, powerheads have never been popular in the UK. People with carpet who required a brushroll/beater bar have traditionally always bought uprights. Infact, until recently, we lived in a pretty much upright dominated market. Thinking back to my childhood, I knew very few people who used cylinders as their main vacuum - they were mostly reserved for above floor and car cleaning.

The S7 was purely designed for the US market on the back of constant feedback from the dealerships that customers wanted an upright. Miele previously sold rebadged Panasonic 40, 50, 400 and 500 series uprights in the US to feed this area of the market. The S7 was their first in-house made and designed upright. It has it's flaws (one of which being that it's an absolute pain in the a$$ to repair!), but overall, the performance is excellent.

Admittedly, yes, like all vacuums, those listed above have their limiations. Personally, I've yet to find a vacuum that I consider perfect, hence I use the vacuum that suits my needs the most on balance. But Miele and Sebo vacuums have always and will continue to be associated with high performance and reliability. Even those who aren't fans of the automatic height adjustment on the X series have praised the build quality and reliability of the cleaners.

I'm sorry to say this and correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't help but feel like you've made this thread purely to get people's backs up because you don't like the critique that your Dyson has come under. What you have to remember, and you've said this before yourself, is that Dyson haven't had a great reputation for quality around here. Personally, I've always found them overpriced considering that the high price doesn't reflect the quality of the machine you get. I know a lot of others on here have felt the same. The DC41mk2, as you've said, is Dyson's first cleaner to really impress you. It's going to take more than just 1 machine and a few months to move away from their poor repuation. A reputation is not something you get overnight - Miele and Sebo are so popular because they've constantly made reliable, high performing, efficient machines with a price reflective of the quality of the machine. Dyson haven't.

 

[marcusprit]

Yes I totally agree with everything you just said

I think the only competition Sebo have in Europe would be Lindhaus but they are not widely available in the UK. I only know of one dealer that sell them.

 

[turbo500]

Lindhaus tend to be commercial only machines and available on contract like Vaclensa. I remember flicking through an office supplies catalogue years ago and they had them, but aside from eBay, I've not seen them as widely available. Great machines though, but the hoses can be quite short (even in comparison with the Sebo's which aren't exactly known for their on-board hose length) which makes domestic cleaning a bit awkward.

Joe (ultimatevacfan) has a Lindhaus, so he'd be the chap to ask about their performance, if you're interested. I'll give him a nudge for you

 

[marcusprit]

Thank you Turbo is should I call you Chris

 

[turbo500]

should I call you Chris

of course. Just don't call me that thing that Matt8808 calls me, 'cause that's just rude

 

[marcusprit]

Haha I won't. Gotta get some fireworks as my niece is coming over tonight. So if you don't hear from me its cause I've gone up in flames

 

[marks_here]

What about the Vorwerk??

 

[marcusprit]

Don't werk

 

[turbo500]

Have you ever used a Vorwerk, Marcus?

 

[marcusprit]

Haha no just kidding

 

[turbo500]

Oh, right, ok.

They're sold door to door like Kirby's and cost nearly as much. They're dirty fan. Very light to use. As nice as they are, they don't really do anything that a Sebo Felix doesn't do. They're just lighter

 

[marcusprit]

Cost nearly as much as Kirby? Think I'll stick with Sebo then.Their floorhead looks good though. Just googled them.

 

[marcusprit]

Just watched a video of the Vorwerk snd to be fair it is a very versatile machine.

 

[sebo_fan]

It may be versatile but it doesn't have the same kind of functionality as a Felix. Reason Im saying that is that one of the guys who designed the SEBO Felix came from Vorwerk.

I looked at Vorwerk before - I remember asking about them on here - they seem to be very good but as Chris says - they don't do anything differently over SEBO and the Felix is far less costlier to run than Vorwerk.

To me, SEBO don't really have a competitor because there are very few differences between their domestic and commercial range. Had SEBO made no uprights at all, then I could say easily that Numatic are SEBO's main rival - but they're not and even Numatic have licensed the SEBO commercial uprights for sale in other EU countries under the Numatic name. There's a lot of respect there between the two companies.

I have had experience of mostly all German domestic brands - the worst is Karcher IMHO, followed by Bosch which is like a middle line brand between Miele and SEBO.

Bosch vacs have friction fit tubes and floor heads IN THE UK whilst Germany and other countries benefit from lockable tubes and floor heads like Miele. That aside some of the plastics on the vacs are no way as good as Miele or SEBO and the problem for Bosch is that the dust bags are hard to get unless you happen to live near a John Lewis store, since their older exclusive JL vacuum was initially supplied by Bosch.

Bosch bagless vacs are average - I have tried a few but nothing new, really despite curvy designs and a few quieter models.

 

[marcusprit]

Can't argue with that. Lindhaus are good too but not widely available

 

[sebo_fan]

As for Miele, well its horses for courses.

I find Miele's straight suction tools perfectly acceptable for cleaning carpets. Mind I have delicate wool carpets, so their Wessel Werk derived tools are nearly identical to SEBO's floor tools unless you get SEBO's own designed Deluxe Kombi floor head for straight suction.

To me, Wessel Werk are the best in the business. Numatic finally relented to putting more compact similar Bosch/Miele/SEBO Wessel Werk floorheads on their entire Numatic range this year, even IF the previous floor head was ALSO a Wessel Werk design that Miele and SEBO both used back in the 1980s and 1990s but with just one pedal and slight cosmetic differences.

 

[marks_here]

Thanks guys, I had no idea how Vorwerk was distributed in the UK, great info!!

 

[madaboutsebo]

Are the newer Vorwerk's clean fan now?

I'm tempted to have a home demo of the Vorwerk! The running costs are not cheap. I'm told the bags last about a month! That's what I love about SEBO easy to use maintain and inexpensive replaceable parts including bags.