i ordered a Sebo K3 on Ebay from Germany a bit more than a month ago from memory
it arrived today and i’m so pleased with it as we’ve come from a Dyson which was a bitter disappointment
(bear in mind that i am the guy who bought James Dyson’s book and was so impressed by the story of incredible endurance and perserverance that i went out and paid over GBP600 for one of his vacuum cleaners, which is what they went for in the early days), even though it never broke down the design is razzle dazzle for the sake of it with recesses and hooks and curves that are simply unnecessary for the product to execute the task at hand. ours was a mint green colour too which i bought through gritted teeth and never ‘got used it’ – there was no colour choice at that time – specific models came in specific, and loud, colour schemes – it was all part of the marketing schtick
i was one who bought a Dyson on the marvels of why you need a bagless vacuum cleaner, and i suspect it still has merit in terms of providing full suction until it is full. but here’s the thing, emptying a vacuum cleaner that is bagless is a task for which the novelty will quicky wear off – especially if you live in an apartment and you dont have ready access to an outdoor area to do the task. give me a Sebo with a bag, and not only that but each bag comes with a plug that you fit before removal so no dust billows out! superb!
the telescopic mechanism on the dyson would frequently collapse whilst in use which sounds like a minor issue, but given we had ours for probably 10 years, just grows from a minor annoyance to a full strength pain in the butt – these arent issues that you can ‘upgrade away’ – you’re stuck with it
our Dyson, a DC-11 HEPA, had a tendency to catch on corners so you had to walk back and bring it into each room – again, sounds minor, but is an annoyance that grows rather than abates
i have no doubt that many of these issues have been addressed in subsequent models, but i have a tendency not to go back if i have been disappointed the first time. i also think that at a different price point i would have been completely happy with our Dyson – it never broke down, but it didnt do more than any other vacuum either – i dont believe it cleaned any better – and catching on every corner and the collapsing telescopic wand just chews away at you every time you use it. the reason we got rid of it is New Zealand border control make it so difficult to bring in such items (they regard them as a threat to our primary industry economy, which is fair enough) that we decided to leave it in England and buy a new vacuum cleaner when we got here
i very nearly bought a Miele as everyone who had one said buy a Miele and most of those people had owned them for more than ten years
i suspect that i would be equally happy with a Miele – i certainly dont have any grounds for dismissing them, but whichever one you go for be sure to get the electric motor driven cleaning head – that is what makes the difference – not to be confused with the turbo heads where the rotating brush is simply driven by the force of the vacuum. in the area of the motor driven head Sebo seems to make it central to their product offering, whereas Miele at least seem to market it as more of a bolt-on after thought, but that is merely my perception and not fact
i was also very pleasantly surprised by how compact our Sebo K3 is and how easily it moves on its wheels in all directions
with the motor driven rotary head another great advantage is you dont have to push the head forward over the carpet – the motor pulls the whole cleaning head forward and you with it – you just have to tag along, a bit like taking a dog for a walk
i do wonder how long the motor will last on the power head as it is relativly small at 200W i think and it is doing a lot of work, but i trust the Sebo brand, and even if it is not inexpensive to repair it is clear that parts are readily available for models that have been out of production for some time
if you want to see it in action we can probably arrange a Facetime demo for that too, as it simply isnt a brand that has any promenance down here in New Zealand