Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

1. The Professional D commercial version of the D series cylinder vacuum.
2. The BS36 commercial upright which has improved ball bearings and a simpler controller floorhead fascia redesign.
   
3. The Sebo Felix Crystal (Germany only model which has Swarkovski crystals stitched into the main exhaust cover).
4. The Sebo Felix Royale (UK only model with the British Union Jack flag as the main exhaust cover.)
5. New colour/grey on the SEBO extension hose, spare part.
6. Full launch of the Felix/Dart charcoal filter for pet owners.
7. Full launch of synthetic disposable dust bags for Felix and K series.
   

Sebo are a private company, DC. Electrolux, Miele, Panasonic, Hoover et al - they all work to produce tons of vacs, often in different colours, under different umbrella companies all at once and then change over half way through the year to whatever one country got and reverse the launch process.(only exception is Miele who make all their own vacuums and don't sell a commercial line) They deal in both the commercial and domestic field, but also use other machines from other brands at times to make markets fuller depending on their ranges and their markets.

Sebo's main interest is really their commercial field. That's where they started before they eventually got into the domestic market. Sebo have recently updated their BS36 for 2012, with ball bearings on either side of the brush roll and a newer metal driven belt for longer life. The front hood fascia has also received a simpler design. The previous UK market G2 has been transferred to the U.S under the "Essential G" upright and Hoover's "new" U.S model, "Insight," is very much near to a Carbon, Chinese copy.

As for the X series, there is nothing yet on the horizon. I keep my ear to the ground with Sebo all the time as I'm fan as you know. The reason the X still sells is because it is a very popular machine and much cheaper than buying the commercial version under the Jeyes brand in the UK. Lots of hotels etc are now buying Sebo X uprights in their own livery as opposed to the cleaning contract companies who charge a fortune for the older Stealth, X1 Automatic based upright. I don't know if it is the same in the U.S for the Windsor brand versus SEBO U.S vacuums on pricing.

The Felix was launched as a separate upright vacuum with large hand held compatibility, very much in the same kind of design playing to Vorwerk. The bag is much smaller than that in the X series and gives consumers the opportunity to downside instead of having to buy the bigger X series. That is why both machines are still on the market; the Felix is no way a replacement for the X series.

As a private company you just have to wait. We'd all like Sebo at times to be like other companies where they constantly put out more designs than necessary but Sebo don't have the money for product launches - they're more interested in keeping what they have and trying to improve on existing components to make the design stretch - hence the X series will just keep going - and its a good seller, so there's no reason for it to stop production. Also Sebo want the X series to be as simple as possible - the design hasn't let them down, and yes, whilst it would be great to see a brush stop roll function and a variable suction control dial, like it is featured on the Felix, Sebo's data of their consumers' preferences lead the X series to be simpler and just do what its designed to do over the more complicated, lifestyle enthused Felix.

One aspect I adore about my X is that I find it faster to use than the Felix and it has that double thermal cut out function when something gets clogged, it shuts off automatically - the Felix and Dart don't have this feature.- but the Felix has the more modern features like the brush roll stopping if the hose is taken out by accident in floor cleaning use.

Despite the more modern feature, I've yet to come across any other full size vacuum I can push along with a single finger held under the grip handle on the X series.