Vacuum cleaners

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

Comment:

I just moved into a new house and for the first time we were without a central vacuum. With no rough-in and fully developed basement, we had to go with a canister since we have lots of stairs. My view is that vacuum stores are like mattress stores - you never really get the full story but after testing out the K3 vs a similar Miele, it was obvious to me that the K3 was superior in a few ways. Maybe I can't judge performance (i'm not doing crazy tests) but there's other things that stand out. The K3 was priced at [$] Cdn (it's cheaper in the USA by about $100). The Miele was at $700. Yes that's a lot, but the Miele had a non adjustable power brush. To upgrade to the K3 ET-1 equivalent, it was an extra $200. So it's pretty much apples to apples in price. CR Note - after doing some post-purchase research, it's obvious that previous models of the K3 did not include the height adjustable ET-1 power brush. That's why it has the crappier CR rating for carpet cleaning. CR should adjust their testing to reflect this difference. If carpets are your thing, then the power brush is the most important thing to research and compare.Other nice stuff:1. The K3 has the micro adjustable suction setting on the handle. The Miele has all the adjustments on the canister. To me, that's a huge convenience feature. The canister is following you and at floor level. Way better to adjust stuff on the go, instead of back and forth, bending over. 2. The soft foam bumper pad on the canister. The Mieles all had a harder surface.3. The indicator on the ET-1 head showing whether you are too far off the floor is a nice feature. It gives you the opportunity to adjust.4. The K3 filter system - yeah it seems like a little hype (better than HEPA), and having 2 separate filters plus the bags seems like you are going to be spending a lot of money right? Well for $50 you get 8 bags, and one each of the other filters. So inherently you know to replace the 2 individual filters every 8 bags or so. The Miele HEPA filter is $50 on it's own, and you only get 4 bags for $25. Your ongoing costs are way less with the K3. 5. All vacuums are getting easier to push around, but after using it in the house, I was pretty impressed at how easy it was with the K3.Maybe it's a total bias, but in general I trust Germans for engineering and functional design, Italians for aesthetic design, and the Japanese for innovation. And I think this vacuum is a pretty sweet combo of the above.

How long have you owned it:

A month or less

Bottom Line

Yes, I would recommend this to a friend.

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

Comment:

I like a lot of things about the Sebo. Having the power switch on the handle is convenient. The various tools go on and come off easily. Great at picking up animal hair off rugs. Power head is easy to maneuver. 2 things that are lacking are the flexibility with the hose; it gets tangled instead of having the flexibility to straighten out and if the floor brush was lower to the floor I would have more confidence that it was picking up everything.

How long have you owned it:

A month or less

Bottom Line

Yes, I would recommend this to a friend.

(6 of 6 customers found this review helpful)

Comment:

CR needs to re-evaluate how it does its evaluations on vaccums. I have owned two top rated Kenmores in the last 4 years. 2 years and they are shot. I expect more for the money I pay for appliances. I understand that I have only had the new vacuum for 4 months but my family has had one from the same comapany for 10 years and its still as good as the day they bought it. I am done paying $450 every two years, I am also done getting burned by CR. You have a long way to go to re-earn my trust.

How long have you owned it:

Three-to-six months

Bottom Line

Yes, I would recommend this to a friend.