Greetings ~

I found this forum while having a vacuum-research headache and hope this is an appropriate use!

I have ill health due to a chemical poisoning in a former neighborhood and need the absolute best vacuum (I am assuming a bagged upright) for medium pile CARPETING, tile and marble floors. This illness has strained me financially beyond words, and I must stay in budget - under $450.

I need something lightweight with powerful suction, excellent filtration and very little dust recirculation/exhaust. I already have a canister (which is okay for anything other than carpets), but would prefer to have an all-in-one vacuum ONLY if carpet cleaning would not be compromised.

I have been looking at the low-end Riccar, the bare-bones Sanitaire (dismissed because of the cloth bag) and just learned of the Sebo in this forum. Every vacuum store tells a different story and I don't know who to trust. I also don't know what to look for and in my searching have discovered conflicting information and misleadings. Do amps matter? How can I know the suction? I now have an old Filter Queen that overheats and has lost much suction since I added the HEPA filter and which has a highly, highly ineffectual power nozzle. It is also too heavy for me and takes up too much room. I don't care if the vacuum is metal or plastic. I just want an immaculate and healthy carpet. I have no stairs.

So, which brand(s) do you recommend? If I could save more getting a used vacuum, what would be my best bet? Or, would I
be better off getting a new model?

Thank you very much in advance for your answers, assuming I receive some! I have learned much already from the threads, but haven't found much on uprights.

You might really like the Sebo upright. I just sold one to club member John Cain in Texas. He has posted on another thread (Sebo Felix) about his experiences with it.

The thing about Sebo is that it filters extremely well, has a lifetime belt, VERY easy to change bags, excellent suction, and was made to help allergy sufferers. Before the Hepa-filtration bag is removed, there's a plastic cap to cover the intake of the bag, meaning no dust at all is released when emptying the machine.

Sebos protect themselves very well from abuse. If the machine overheats because of a clog (an accidentally sucked up sock, for example), the cleaner will stop automatically.

The Sebo is made in Germany by Windsor, a maker of commercial vacuums seen mostly in hospitals (see thread on Windsor Versamatic as well as the Felix thread).

The home office is in Colorado, parts are available commonly.
Most collectors will tell you they like the Sebo very well. They are within your price range, and the bags are not expensive (a dozen for $16). I believe sincerely that a Sebo will last, in a home, for at least 15 years of use. They last in hospitals for that long with no problems.

The Sebo's are excellent machines. I've sold them commercially and residentially and my customers LOVE them.

The Felix would be an ideal machine for you. It comes with an excellent bare floor tool and can be used as a portable canister for attachment cleaning.

Tom G pretty much summed the rest of it up. But by far, these are the most durable uprights on the market today.

do amps matter? no. on a carpet, the amount of air flow *at the nozzle* and the design of the agitator/brushroll have the most effect on carpet cleanliness. both the full-size upright (i think i like the g-series) and the *Felix* are excellent choices.

I recommend the Dyson DC7/DC14/DC15/DC17 vacuum cleaners.

RICCAR ALL THE WAY!!

I am sure Reggie (compactC9) and Corey (Mr.Henrey) with agree! RICCAR=#1!!!!!

this dear woman has come to us for help. anyone who suggests a cleaner should make a clear and concise statement explaining WHY its best. concise.

You are SO kind to take time to reply - I deeply appreciate ALL of your responses and now since the field is narrowed, I feel much more confident! Yay!

Hopefully now my vacuum-hunting expedition headache will cease!

I will check back periodically for new info.

Thank you SO much - you all seem like such a nice group of people . . .

Very best wishes.

I have another question:

Is it less expensive to purchase a vacuum on-line or at a local store, do you know? I am very much out of touch these days . . .

Thanks!

I'm the one who bought the Sebo Felix from Dysonman. It's a wonderful machine and I do appreciate the fact that it has more than adequate power at way under 12 amps. Let me get off the subject for a moment: the problem with 12 amp machines is the wiring in our homes. 12 amps is the maximum rating for any household wall socket. That's fine and well, but if you live in an older home or a home with questionable wiring, you may not actually be getting the full advantage of your 12 amp machine's potential. The 12 amp machines that I own will actually cause lights to flicker when connected to certain outlets in my home, in addition to the motor not running at top speed. This is my point RIGHT HERE! Because the Sebo Felix pulls way under 12 amps it basically runs at full power everywhere I have connected it in my home. I checked all the problem outlets and the machine stays at full power. The Sebo Felix is the result effective design and engineering. This explains the well-sustained suction at only 9.8 amps. Forgive me, but at this point I'm just gushing over this machine! This is the machine I've waited for Sebo to make. Their first 2 motor upright with tools on board which was made 27 years ago is still in production, but it weighed over 20 pounds. This is an upright I can live with!

Be very very careful. I've seen some online outfits which are connected to so-called 'shopping' search engines. Your search results will usually show the desired machine listed at a ridiculously low price. I pursued this once online only to find that the company selling this machine had listed the DOWN PAYMENT PRICE and terms of the financing. What a crock!!!!!!! If you buy from a dealer in your area, you will always have some form of recourse. A dealer can hardly refuse his own customer who's in his face with a broken machine. Many of these brands do a great deal to train and support their authorized dealers. I strongly suggest that you avoid an online purchase unless it's from a shop owner in your area.

Thank you, bigbubbacain from Texas, I appreciate and will heed your advice. I have always been nervous about on-line purchases anyway unless books or something I am familiar with in the case I needed to return the item. And I hadn't considered the service aspect - if I had a bum machine/lemon it would be a nightmare calling/writing/mailing back for service. Yikes.

I feel so supported! Thanks again.

One of the nicest things about the Sebo is the community of people who sell the machine. They are sold by vac shops, who have a vested interest in keeping you happy with the machine. The bags are available from any Sebo dealer, or directly from the Company in Colorado. Since the belt is a lifetime belt (with teeth like tank wheels instead of a rubber belt that slips and breaks), the ONLY thing you should ever need for a Sebo are the bags, which come in a large box for a year's supply.

Sebo makes the Felix, which is a wonderful machine, especially for someone who wants the machine to be very manueverable. I talk all the time about one of my favorite vitnage vacuums, the two-motor air-way upright from 1933. The Sebo is designed like my favorite upright, with two motors and a nozzle neck that swivels, meaning it can clean so very easily under low things, and manuevers around furniture eaily.

The amp rating on a vacuum refers to the amount of electricity the motor uses. It does NOT mean that the more amps the motor uses, the more suction the cleaner has. Quite the opposite, there are lower amp motors that can produce many times more suction than higher amp motors, and vice versa. The total design of the machine, and the use of SEALS to seal the cavities and joints of the machine, are necessary for high suction.

You'll have to excuse Rob Gwisdala's suggestion to purchase a Dyson DC07, DC14, etc. I don't think he understood that in your situation, a bagless cleaner would NOT be a benefit. You would WANT a cleaner that seals the dirt in the bag, not letting any escape at emptying time. Like the Sebo. A dyson would be a nightmare in your situation since it does produce a small amount of flying dust at emptying time.

A Riccar vacuum is a decent cleaner, with most of the lower priced (under $500) models being a copy of a Panasonic upright vacuum. The more expensive Riccar cleaners (over $500, up to $1200) have two motors, which do clean well, but are a Pain to work on. A Sebo is a better choice, especially when your budget ($450) is taken into consideration.

Maybey a oreck xl-deluxe? They seal thier bags when you take them out and have celoc filtration. You can also get odor eliminating bags. This model is $400. they have MicroSweep so you can clean your hard floors but I dont know about shag?

Andy Beres

have you learned about the felix? see the other thread all about it. while the Felix is not as lightweight as the oreck, its an excellent, perhaps superior alternative to oreck. from the versatility (tools, bare floor nozzle) to the workmanship/build-quality, you get much more vacuum for your dollar! oreck can be fun. my family has one i gave them. i paid about three dollars (!) for it at a thrift shop and fixed it. i think of the oreck as a deluxe electric broom. IMO its not 400 dollars worth of cleaner.

I wish it had a second handle on the body to make it more maneuverable for stairs. Some of us have an old die-hard habit of using an upright on stairs. I'll gradually grow accustomed to using the hose with one of the tools, I suppose. Still, this is the most effective "bare floor friendly" upright I have ever seen. I''ve got such a mix of antique rugs and floors that it's been difficult with other machines. The Felix is just incredible.

for all of the reasons that were mentioned here. I can also say from personal experiance that they are excellent, well built vacuums, as I have a Sebo Built Windsor Versamatic. I think you would be yappy with a Sebo.

I recommend the Hoover WindTunnel bagged self propelled vacuum cleaner...They are $300.
I have one and it works very well.
I use the 3M Filtrete bags in it.

While I have nothing against Sebo -- I agree they're fantastic machines -- I'm just curious as to how Lindhaus compares to them.

Lindhaus seems to be largely an Italian copy of the German Sebo design. Are they competitive?

This is a tough call--where I went to college, when the contract with Windsor expired they replaced them all with Lindhaus. They are both very solid machines--I give the edge to Lindhaus. I do believe they are more expensive, though.

The Lindhaus is also a very good machine, but their uprights tend to weigh more and have less powerful suction than the Sebo. Their power nozzle is extremely agressive and I suppose that's why they do so well in a commercial setting. Their Valzer HEPA upright is ideal for a household environment. I'm still waiting to see what their parent company (Rotafil) will do to update these 2 motor machines.

A Lindhaus is a good vacuum, but not as good (make that 'powerful') as the Sebo Felix. Both machines filter well, with the Sebo's bags being less expensive (and can trap more fine dust).

Once again, you'll have to excuse Rob Gwisdala's suggestion to buy a Hoover windtunnel. Rob is not a club member and doesn't have extensive experience with cleaners. A Hoover would NOT be a good choice for someone with severe allergies. Plus, the motor is not well-made (made by G.S. electric for Hoover). AND it uses the old rubber slipping belts (Sebo has a lifetime belt).

The only other problem with Lindhaus is the handle weight. They are VERY handle-heavy to use. Plus, with your budget (under $450) to take into consideration, all things considered the Sebo is the best choice for the money. Even if the budget wasn't a factor, the Sebo is still an excellent choice, and will perform as you wish. It's durable and keeps ALL the dirt in the bag.

I recommend the Sanitaire S647 vacuum cleaner...They are $249.
3M Filtrete F&G bags are available for it...3M Filtrete bags keeps 99.97% of dust in the bag and also are HEPA Filtration bags.

Where can I find those? I have a Kirby 519 with an F&G converter. I'd love to be able to use those.

Hey People

In my opinion Sebo make THE BEST upright cleaners on the market today (and their cylinder/cannisters are growing on me as well). I myself have both a X1 and a Felix Fun(I was fortunate enough to get the Felix from work as a staff deal :). Both are excellent machines, although I prefer the Felix for ease of use and also love its orange/purple colour scheme!. Filtration in both is excellent with the Felix again maybe just having the edge.

If I was to buy another new upright, even if it was at the £230 retail it would be another Felix :)

Seamus

I can only speak for the UK versions so maybe Tom could confirm it as a feature of the US versions?. The Felix also comes with an excellent soft bristles floor brush that replaces the powerhead. Its ideal for wood, laminate, tiles etc :)

Yes, the American version DOES come with an extremely good bare floor brush, which replaces the power nozzle when you want to clean bare floors.

As a collector, one of the neat things about the Felix, is that it's just like operating a 1933 Air-Way "Chief" twin motor model (one of my all time favorite vacs). The neck swivels to get under furniture, and the bag is completely sanitary to change. Excellent suction, and filtration, complete a very durable, very easy to use cleaner that anyone with severe allergies would love to have.

While we sell the Felix (at retail) for much less than other shops (about $400), I feel it's a bargain at any price, Especially when you compare it to any other cleaner in that price range.

Bisonion:
You'll have to (yes, again) excuse Rob Gwisdala. I think he means well. But there are not (to my knowledge) any Filtrete bags for the F & G platform machines. There ARE "Filteraire" bags by Eureka, which are just micro filtration paper bags, not the cloth-like Filtrete by 3M.

Sanitaire cleaners might be great for commercial settings, but can you IMAGAINE the nightmare it would be for our lady with the allergies? She didn't want ANY dirt to come out of the bags, and the Sanitaire bags DO leak some dust, plus there is always dust when they are changed (dust by the bag connection). Rolling the spring up and down the bag's throat would NOT be what our lady was wanting. She would also not like the fact that the dirt would have to go through the fan, and the belt was vulnerable to damage from dirt paticles that have the be ground up by the fan (like throwing pennies
down the garbage disposer).

i have some *3M* bags for Eureka F&G. im almost sure they are discontinued. they have no dirt tube, simply a cardboard face with an oval opening. the opening is located at the bottom fourth of the bag and seals onto the fill tube with a membrane. i was very hopefull about them when i used one in the *retrovac* in st louis. after the test, i found some dirt had leaked around the membrane and the seams had leaked in more than one spot. maybe thats why they were discontinued? the *Filteraire* bags offered about ten years ago, red package IIRC, were excellent. better than the current ones and the Mirco-lined brand. for me, the 7 amp motor is too strong for the plastic fan and stretch belt.

Hello! I own a few Sebo machines in my collection, starting from the very first twin motor upright they produced in 1979.I really love my automatic X3 because it has great suction, single motor design, self adjusting nozzle and on board tools. All you have to do is turn the swithch on and start vacuuming, it does all by itself: It adjust the nozzle at the proper height for any type of carpeting and lowers it for bare floors (there's a rubber seal behind the brushroll thet prevents small objects from being proyected backward by the brushroll) and the on board tools are good enough for cleaning in crevices and upholsteries, or in narrow places in general. Adding the extension hose and another wand you can use it for cleaning almost everything and everywhere. There's also a good mini turbo tool for stairs and upholsteries that works fine, and the dusting tools are excellent in shape and quality.
I own the model x3 because I use it for daily cleaning of a large white-carpeted area, but for average areas the X2 would be the best choice, als because the L shaped nozzle (wider than that on model x1)makes the cleaning job much faster.
I love the way the bags are sealed and replaced. The combined hepa/charcoal filter ensures that only clean air is released.
Grat deal, in my opinion.
Tommy

Tommy in Milan--I would love to see a picture of the 1979 Sebo you have if you get a chance to post it. Probably the earliest one I have seen here in the States was a Windsor back in the early 90's.

Hi, Sebo is the name of the earliest twin motor machine designed by mr Stein, a German engineer who had been working for the Vorwerk company and decided to open a firm on its own.
Windsor is the name of the importer of this vacuum cleaner into the USA, not of the factory who produce it.
Sorma and Karcher are two other brands of cleaning equipment whom Stein&co sold machines to in special brand colours but with the same features as the original sebo machines.
tO TALKTOTRAVIS:
i'LL TAKE A PICTURE OF IT AS SOON AS i VISIT MY MTHERS HOUSE WHERE MY COLLECTION IS.
GREETINGS, TOMMY

I'm wondering if getting rid of all carpet and going with hard flooring (wood or tile) would be the healthiest all around.

You could still use a vacuum, but this would help eliminate the dust/mites that all carpets harbor, no matter how good the vacuum cleaner.

After all of your wonderful advice, I have great news! Shocking news!

Before contacting this forum, I had already been shopping around: I either looked at or considered the Hoover WindTunnel, Riccar, the Sanitaire (but worried about the cloth bag eventually not being conducive to my health), eliminated the Dyson and Oreck as they were outside of my budget and had never heard of or seen the Sebo in any of the shops I visited.

After so many Sebo Felix recommendations from your responses, I felt inclined to go to Craig's List. I entered the words: UPRIGHT VACUUM in search and only ONE single entry appeared in the entire Puget Sound area of Washington State: A brand new Sebo Felix for $250!

I called the seller, went to his house, VACUUMED around his house with the Sebo and purchased it with warranty, attachments and two boxes of bags. The seller has been selling the Rainbow Vacuums for 20-some years and took the new Sebo in trade - it's a long story.

This Sebo is the best vacuum for carpets I have had thus far, and I have had many. There is one negative: it is heavier than I would prefer, but I purchased it because of its ability to clean, its sturdiness, its lack of detectable exhaust, its ability to manuever so easily, vacuum close to the edges and fit easily under furniture. It "feels" and behaves like a very high-quality machine. For the price, I feel that I could not have done better.

Someday, when I have recovered my health, I will have my own house again and I will have wood floors so that I do not have to have my carpet cleaned every six months.

Thanks again to all who shared!

That is a EXCELLENT price, a very very good deal. And I am glad you are happy with it.

Just out of curiousity, which model/olor did you get?

This must be the first sebo upright in the wide track version.
The following versions had an electronic brushroll control with red and green lights while this had a sort of mechanic device that in case of brushroll blockage switched the powernozzle motor off. Absolutely no brush wear control;-)
I love the red/white color scheme!
tommy

other shot

side

bottom

now later models

back

Tommy,

Thanks for the pictures. Those machines are so cool! Interesting how the earlier Sebo and Karcher versions (the red one and the yellow one) have a "Lindhaus-style" neck where the nozzle attaches to the body--in later models they added that little arm and made it wider--maybe they were having problems with stability or breakage? Some things haven't changed much at all, though, including the power switch, the metal handle on front, the hose and the way it hooks in, and the metal loop on the base that keeps the machine upright. Those are very well-made vacuums.

I bet you've probably seen some interesting Lindhaus machines, too, being in Italy--I don't remember when they were first brought to market in the United States, but they do use them to clean the White House and Pentagon now. I seem to like them even more now, they seem to me a bit quieter than Sebo.

Thanks again for the photos, you have quite the collection.

PS-Love the OPEL in the garage!

Hi Travis, yes they were very cool and I have to say that SEBO was the real innovator in commercial-professional upright cleaning for large surfaces...these vacs have all he features that in fact set a new standard. large powernozzles with easy to replace brush strip, low noise, good suction, good filtration(better than any other upright cleaner at that time)and the first models could be also used as barefloor cleaners: there was a surface nozzle which could be connected in place of the power nozzle. The later version had a stiffer connection, but for long time both version were produced; early models didn't feature carpet height adjustment in the narrower version also, introduced as a standard on the later models.
I know Lindhaus very well because my mother is from padua, where the factory is, and I know many people who work there and I had the opportunity to know Mr Massaro, the owner and director of Lindhaus.
But they came later.I don't like them as much as Sebos, though they are VERY good in terms of material quality and overall quality.
their range is really wide and through the years they had their uprights sold olso by private labels like TASKI, NILFISK-ADVANCE and HAKO, and others. I own one of the earlies lindhaus for household use, and it was incredible because they had used a BY-PASS motor on the earliest series,so the air vacuumed in, was expelled separate from the air cooling the motor, which had a different passge. Butthey were a little bit noisy.Lindhaus introduced the a new motor, flow through, which is in use also today, allowing the modification of the motor hood for Hepa filtration feature.
Another interesting thing of lindhaus in that they feature a xtra wide powernozzle, model RX 50, that I tried and felt a little bit inconvenient because of the position of the upright unit on the very wide pn.
I really prefer T shaped pns;-)
tommy

I just got a commercial Eureka bagged vacuum with "True HEPA" sealed final filtration. It's basically the same as the Sanitaire bagged/HEPA vacuums. This general design always gets ery good reviews in Consumer Reports. The final HEPA filter keeps the air in the room clean. The vacuum itself is relatively light (lighter than most cyclone vacs), and does a very good job on both carpets and hard floors.

Price is around $200, sometimes less.

There's another thread about this vac - Eureka C5712.