Performance differences between Sebo D4 and Felix? (vs old Oreck)

[jp10558]

Assuming I have the same parquet head attachment, should the D4 have the same suction as the Felix? The Sebo site seems to say they're the same power, but I don't know if anyone on youtube or anywhere has really compared the Sebo suction / pickup on hard floors - the most recent was for the Felix...



I have a D4, and it's pretty good, but I find the suction a bit lacking on hard floors compared to my previous Oreck Iron Man. I still have that, but the bags are tiny and the noise gets painful by the time I'm done vacuuming. The Sebo D4 is much quieter and has a huge bag, but I'm doing a LOT more lifting the parquet tool up and trying to plonk it over dog hair bundles and small stones than the Iron Man dual function head. So I get a bit more of a workout.



Of course I saw Performance Reviews youtube with the Felix this week and he had the parquet brush pulling in hair like the Iron Man did. I guess he somehow removed one of the brushes on the tool? I'm about ready to try that (or other head) but I can't see how that would actually get me the suction shown in the video, so I wonder if it was staged somehow - he was really pushing the Sebo vs a Shark (heck I agree).



I guess I'm just amazed at how much less ooomph the Sebo seems to have than the Iron Man for all the power it's said to have in many reviews. Maybe it's really all in the ET-1 powerhead, but I don't want to run the brushes on the laminate floor really.

Anyway, it's great on carpets, but so was my Oreck XL21 IME, and if I still need 2 vacuums I kind of wasted my money on the D4 I guess.

 

[blackheart]

My 2c

I've got both a D4 and a Felix. Their airflows are similar at the power head. In regards to suction the Felix is stronger the D4 had about 70" at the hose vs the 76" of the felix. there's a leak around the bag indicator that causes that

Between the two machines I think I prefer the D4. Why? It's quieter, the non stretch hose makes above the floor cleaning easier, the bags are larger, the cord winder is a nice convenience.

If you prefer a one piece machine though you may be better off with a Felix, but IMO you should get the Premium parquet tool 7200GS, remove the front strip, and use it with your D4.

I'm more likely to use the felix's floor tool than the basic floor brush that came with the D4

 

[honestjoe68]

@jp10558

Hi James,

I own the Sebo Felix and LOVE it but I also thought of something you might want to try before you buy another vacuum or get the “workout” from the Parquet Nozzle each time you clean.

Have you ever considered buying the Sebo Kombi head (See pics 1, 2 & 3) for your Sebo D4? It is available from Sebo for $60 bucks and it is Great on hardfloor surfaces when you have lots of pet hair or small stones, etc like you were mentioning get stuck in the Sebo Parquet floor nozzle. (Pics 4 & 5) The Parquet having brushes all the way around and only small cut outs for debris, can do what you explained so I use my Kombi nozzle more and pet hair doesn’t get caught up in the brush or “lint picker” red strips.

If that works, your Sebo D4 should work out a lot better at cleaning the hard floors for you and pet hair is a breeze to get up with the Kombi. I do know the Sebo Felix with it’s ET-1 Powerhead does a great job for me in picking up on hard floors, and to me the suction is very strong! I’ve joked about you can watch the dust bunnies and Dog hair fly into the nozzle from several inches away.

I hope this helps and I did include pictures of both floor heads for you to see what I was saying about the better hard floor cleaning with fewer places for dog hair to bunch up or accumulate. If you don’t find it any better at picking up what’s on your hard floor surfaces, I doubt the Sebo Felix would perform much different considering Blackhearts air flow similarities on both Sebo vacuums. I think the only substantial difference in the two vacuums is the style/design.. one’s obviously an Upright and the other a Canister/Cylinder.. so that’s the only thing I could say would differ. Both are Excellent machines and I highly recommend my Sebo Felix to anyone wanting a versatile, high performance, durable, quiet and easy to use Bagged Upright. I own my Sebo Felix because I asked Roger Lang (ibaisaic) what vacuum he bought for his Mom, and she’s had a Felix for many years, so that sold me and I LOVE my Felix.

Best of Luck, I hope I was of help in answering your question with a less expensive (possible) alternative to buying a new machine and just buying the attachment.

Patrick

https://store.sebo.us/content/airbelt-d4-premium-attachment

 

[vacuumdevil]

"Bobby Boy "

@jp10558 The D4 has more power then the Felix. Working water lift is the proper way to test that ! Stop playing around with airflow olny tests .


As I replied to you "You're doing it wrong " . Try this with the floor tool.

 

[durango159]

I'm not surprised by your D4 experience!!

I used a brand new Sebo D4 Premium at a Bed and Breakfast years back. I liked that it was quiet, had a long 40' cord, which is the longest on a canister vac that retracts. It also stored the crevice tool, dusting brush and upholstery nozzle on board which were all decent sized attachments too and not "Barbie's playhouse" style size like on some others on the market. Anyway, it was the performance of the vacuum that highly disappointed me. I found the ET-1 power head had poor agitation regardless of what height setting I tried and the suction/ air flow to be limiting. I always ran it at max power with the indicator light flashing around as fast as it would go, but I was never impressed by its performance on any surface unless with the dusting brush or upholstery nozzle. With the smaller attachments it did good but put on the power head or bare floor brush and it seemed lacking. About a year ago I tried another D4 on a display floor of a vacuum shop and it felt the same.

I love canister vacs but this one is not powerful enough. Get a Riccar/ Simplicity, or Miele, all of those have great power!!!

 

[mike811]

Proof: Why Airflow is important

This video shows very clearly how much airflow matters.
In this video I tested the 1600w Miele C3 with 120 cfm from the hose end and Dyson DC40 mkII with 66 cfm from the hose end.
Suction in these is quite near each other. Difference in the pick up is huge.
I personally like the Sebo ET-1 powerhead. It doesn't have much visual agitation, but it grooms the carpet extremely well.
I use it with my Sebo Felix and Sebo Airbelt K-series canister.
I feel that both are exelent vacuums on carpet.
I have to try the Sebo parquet head with the front brushstrip removed.
Just my opinions

 

[n0oxy]

Sebo canister

I have a Sebo D1, it's the straight suction model in the D series, same motor as the D4 I think. It cleans my hard floors very well, granted, I don't use the Sebo tools with it, I use an adapter to convert the hose end to the standard attachment size and I use the Wessel-Werk D330, also known as the turn and clean, I also use the Wessel-Werk RD285, this floor nozzle has two squeegees on the bottom, with these tools, the Sebo D1 has no problems picking up anything.
Mike

 

[vacuumdevil]

@mike811 I am not saying that airflow is unimportant. I'm saying that only testing air flow will give you a misleading data. Just as a car must be tested with horsepower and pound feet of torque at the wheels.
If you just test horsepower that's misleading.
Working water lift is the easiest way to test a vacuum. You can also do an air watts equation which requires knowing the water lift plus CFM plus math.
Your video example is a very extreme example.

@n0oxy I'd love to see pictures of that set up!

 

[mike811]

I have noticed that the suction helps to maintain the airflow when hose is connected to the vacuum. longer hose and more suction is needed. That's why direct air vacuums don't work well with the hose, but performance directly from the cleaner head is good.
I will try to get the working water lift just to see how it relates to the suction and airflow.

 

[eurekaprince]

I wonder if it’s the unique design of the airflow path inside the D4 canister that causes weaker air flow at the end of the hose. Unlike the conventional Miele configuration with the fan just behind the bag chamber, the D4 has an angled path through the top of the canister, plus the danger of air leaking out if the seal between the cover and the main body (where the airflow from the cover crosses over to the air channel in the main body). Opening and closing the cover could always affect the cleanliness of that joint.

Plus the fact that the filtration chamber in the D4’s cover is quite large and could very well be dissipating any “oomph” from the motor. It’s an interesting air path design, but may be affecting cleaning performance at the end of the hose.

 

[royalfan]

@eurekaprince The D4 was designed around airflow. Just look at the hose.