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Thread Number: 30976
/ Tag: Brand New Vacuum Cleaners
Sebo X4 Automatic - sensitivity of height adjustment |
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| Post# 342313 1/29/2016 at 16:57 (3,006 days old) by junior119 (Sheffield) | ||
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) CLICK HERE TO GO TO junior119's LINK | ||
| Post# 342322 , Reply# 1 1/29/2016 at 19:39 (3,006 days old) by AlexHoovers94 (Manchester UK) | ||
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.
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| Post# 342334 , Reply# 2 1/29/2016 at 21:29 (3,006 days old) by Spiraclean (UK) | ||
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. | ||
| Post# 342336 , Reply# 3 1/29/2016 at 22:26 (3,006 days old) by AlexHoovers94 (Manchester UK) | ||
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| Post# 342376 , Reply# 5 1/30/2016 at 05:31 (3,006 days old) by Turbomaster1984 (Ripley, Derbyshire) | ||
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. | ||
| Post# 342377 , Reply# 6 1/30/2016 at 05:32 (3,006 days old) by sebo4me (Cardiff) | ||
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| Post# 342399 , Reply# 7 1/30/2016 at 11:40 (3,006 days old) by AlexHoovers94 (Manchester UK) | ||
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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!
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| Post# 342400 , Reply# 8 1/30/2016 at 11:46 (3,006 days old) by sebo4me (Cardiff) | ||
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| Post# 342401 , Reply# 9 1/30/2016 at 11:48 (3,006 days old) by Turbo500 (West Yorkshire, UK) | ||
 Hi Dave, 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. | ||
| Post# 342402 , Reply# 10 1/30/2016 at 11:48 (3,006 days old) by AlexHoovers94 (Manchester UK) | ||
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| Post# 342404 , Reply# 11 1/30/2016 at 11:52 (3,006 days old) by sebo4me (Cardiff) | ||
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| Post# 342405 , Reply# 12 1/30/2016 at 11:53 (3,006 days old) by sebo4me (Cardiff) | ||
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| Post# 342407 , Reply# 13 1/30/2016 at 11:55 (3,006 days old) by AlexHoovers94 (Manchester UK) | ||
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This post has been removed by the member who posted it. | ||
| Post# 342411 , Reply# 14 1/30/2016 at 12:57 (3,006 days old) by Junior119 (Sheffield) | ||
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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! | ||
| Post# 342414 , Reply# 15 1/30/2016 at 13:11 (3,006 days old) by Turbo500 (West Yorkshire, UK) | ||
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| Post# 342415 , Reply# 16 1/30/2016 at 13:12 (3,006 days old) by Mike81 () | ||
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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.
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| Post# 342416 , Reply# 17 1/30/2016 at 13:13 (3,006 days old) by AlexHoovers94 (Manchester UK) | ||
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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. | ||
| Post# 342420 , Reply# 18 1/30/2016 at 14:11 (3,006 days old) by junior119 (Sheffield) | ||
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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. | ||
| Post# 342421 , Reply# 19 1/30/2016 at 14:26 (3,006 days old) by AlexHoovers94 (Manchester UK) | ||
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Ahh I just watched it...
Now I dont like the Sebo, but you have to realise, the Hoover Junior is a direct air motor with a tonne of airflow and the whole nozzel is open to the suction/airflow, all the debris you pick up passes through the fan and into the bag. The Sebo is a clean fan upright which means there are many narrow tubes and ducting the dirt has to be sucked through to get to the bag and finally the clean air passes through the motor fan, many other older and modern clean fan uprights would of done just the same thing I suspect. A Hoover Turbopower or Turbomaster would of blazed through that in no time and better than both of those. Like I said I am not a fan of that X4 but this test was unfair. | ||
| Post# 342422 , Reply# 20 1/30/2016 at 14:52 (3,006 days old) by junior119 (Sheffield) | ||
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Couple of responses.
@Chris (Turbo 500) and Rob (Turbomaster1984)
Thanks for your message and welcoming comments. I know you're a friendly bunch: in fact I've not yet managed to meet an appliance collector that isn't friendly to be honest (hope no one proves me wrong now!!) Not sure what went wrong and where, but apologies if it's my fault, but you and Rob seem to have got the impression I got the Sebo from JL ... I actually got it from an independent family owned department store in Sheffield (Atkinsons) where it cost £10 *less* than JL wanted for just the bare machine, *and* it came with a service box, extension hose and turbo brush all included in a "pet home deal' that was clearly put together by Atkinsons rather than Sebo as all the items came in their own boxes rather than bundled in a factory box. None of that matters except that I won't be returning it to JL (or anywhere else for that matter, now that I've sussed that the pot on the PCB adjusts the height). @tolivac Thanks for your message too. You asked about the HiFi speakers. They are Castle Severn MkII Floorstanding speakers (a review is linked below, but I'm not saying that review reflects my feelings, just that you can get more details from there). Yes, the Hoover really does lift the carpet - which surely is the *only* way to properly clean a carpet?? - and you might also notice on the video that I'm not exactly pushing the cleaner slowly, but it takes at the very most two passes (one forward and one back) to shift the needles. And yes, the tree did shed a lot .... it actually didn't shed until I started to take the baubles and lights off, and then it just dropped the lot. It was a huge tree (almost 8 feet tall and a good 4 feet in diameter) and once 'undressed' I cut off all the branches and took them outside as that was easier than picking up the whole thing and battling to get it through the doors. By the time I'd done that there were hardly any needles left on any branches at all! CLICK HERE TO GO TO junior119's LINK | ||
| Post# 342424 , Reply# 21 1/30/2016 at 15:25 (3,005 days old) by Turbo500 (West Yorkshire, UK) | ||
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Dave, you're absolutely right! Just look at the market in the late 80's and early 90's. Clean air machines with onboard tools were becoming increasingly popular - Electrolux 600's, Contours, Hoover Turbopower 2's, Panasonic 40 series uprights and the most powerful of the lot was 800w. They all cleaned perfectly well with good hose suction too. | ||
| Post# 342426 , Reply# 22 1/30/2016 at 15:56 (3,005 days old) by AlexHoovers94 (Manchester UK) | ||
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They were all so average at cleaning over the Dirty fan cleaners that were still hopping along, right up till the 00s.
Itis a no win situation, clean air uprights, for the most part are underwhelming in performance, but are quiet and have good hose suction, while with dirty fan you have excellent performance, but with weaker hose suction and louder noise level...And in some cases, poorer filtration than the clean air varients. It is all about preference and ultimately both are going to clean the carpets quite well, but one will make those carpets last longer, but the way people live and move around these days, I doubt it is really a priority. | ||
| Post# 342433 , Reply# 23 1/30/2016 at 17:12 (3,005 days old) by AlexHoovers94 (Manchester UK) | ||
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To anyone that doesn't know me, I am actually a very nice person and will always try to make people laugh. When it comes to my opinions, well, I say what I think and I will always speak the truth from my experiences and whether I like what I am talking about or not, I never sugar coat anything or make excuses, if you don't like that, well, I am sorry, but that is me.
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| Post# 342436 , Reply# 24 1/30/2016 at 18:00 (3,005 days old) by Turbo500 (West Yorkshire, UK) | ||
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| Post# 342440 , Reply# 25 1/30/2016 at 18:56 (3,005 days old) by Junior119 (Sheffield) | ||
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Hi Chris,
Glad you like! Mum still has hers too ... Almost a year older than mine and the only washer she ever had until it got a rusty tub, then she bought Miele same as yours, but we got the Hoover fixed and the Miele got stored in the outhouse and the electron back in use. Touch wood no problems with mine at all. Works so well and much better than anything new! Best wishes Dave | ||
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