We are super excited to be reviewing the Sebo Felix 1 Premium Rosso Red vacuum cleaner, which has to be the coolest looking vacuum ever built. We will test the Rosso version, but you can get them in different styles, like the Onyx, White, Blue, Ice, and the Fun version, but no matter which one you get, you’ll get a really solidly built vacuum.
We put ours through a ton of tests and we found that there was a lot to like about the Felix. Before we get into the pros and cons, I’m going to plow through some of the features. It’s actually a three-in-one vacuum. It has a standard upright mode, and although the regular mode is great with hard floors as we’ll see, you can also change the power head to the included parquet tool, which is specifically designed for hard floors.
You can also push the adjustable handle down, disconnect the power head and use it as a handheld canister vacuum with the attachments. The cleaner head has a button that turns off the brush roll for better hard floor performance. It has an adjustable suction knob, a four-level height adjustment on the cleaner head, a full bag or clog indicator, as well as lights on the cleaner head that tell you if you have an incorrect height adjustment or if there’s a blockage.
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Its filtration is great. It’s a sealed system, which is rare, though the filters are so called hospital-grade, not HEPA filters. There is a second filter which is actually the colorful exterior fabric which also helps to reduce noise, making it unusually quiet. Its brush roll was able to be completely removed for easy cleaning, a feature that I wish every vacuum had but few do. The attachment set includes a very high-quality upholstery tool, a crevice tool, and an onboard holder for the attachments. They offer a suction powered turbo tool which I would recommend buying separately for reasons I will discuss later.
Let’s get into the pros. I think the first and foremost pro is that it’s a very obviously well-built example of German engineering. There’s just something about super high quality vacuums that makes you proud to own one. For example, the 180 degree swivel, which helps navigate tight spaces, is uncommonly smooth.
The only other swivel I’ve tried which comes close as the Miele but the Sebo far surpasses the Miele with its maneuverability due to its lighter weight and smaller profile. You also notice the quality with things like its very long 32-foot cord, which unusually sturdy, or how smoothly the wheels roll. I mean, you can just push this thing on hard floors and it rolls on its own.
But beyond its extremely high build quality, it has big-time power. We measured the suction at 69 inches of water and its airflow at 70 CFM at the cleaner head and an extremely high 99 CFM at the wand. For context, we measured the Dyson’s most powerful vacuum, the Ball Animal 2, at 74 CFM, and the Miele U1 at 67 CFM.
Another pro is that, in addition to being excellent with debris on carpets, including pet hair, the Sebo Felix 1 is unusually good at deep cleaning carpets. It seems to have an excellent seal on carpets which makes the most of its airflow and agitation. A great way to demonstrate this is what’s called the flour under the carpet test. You can see how much more flour the Sebo Felix picked up compared to the super-powerful Shark APEX.
I was also very impressed with its hard floor capability. I’ve been really disappointed with vacuums like the Miele U1 or the Dyson uprights in that, while they can pick up really fine debris on hard floors, they really struggle with larger debris and do not have a way to adjust the height. But the Sebo Felix did fantastic with everything from fine debris to pet hair, which it really excelled at, and medium to large debris. It did struggle a bit with extra-large debris but most vacuums do and that’s why the easily accessible hose is there.
I also liked that it was small enough to stand perfectly on stairs so you can use the 5-foot hose with the attachment. Here, again, this is something that you cannot do with either of the Dyson Ball Animal 2 or the very bulky Miele. If you have carpeted stairs, we really would suggest buying the optional turbo brush as the upholstery tool is decent for stairs but not ideal. The final pro is that it has an extremely good warranty, five years overall and seven years on the suction motor.
Let’s move on to the cons. I didn’t care for the parquet brush attachment for several reasons. It uses brushes with a particularly small castle cut which means that it snowplows just about everything, including pet hair and small debris. It’s even prone to snowplowing fine debris.
That being said, it does create an unbelievably good seal on hard floors. In fact, it was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen on the crevice pickup test so it would be great for picking up debris in the crevices and cracks of wood floors or tile.
I also really wish it had the ability to stand up on its own with the parquet brush attached. I also wish there was an onboard extension wand for the hose, and I know you can buy one separately and I know this is a bit nitpicky, but if you encounter debris it can’t pick up with the cleaner head, you do have to bend all the way down to get it with the hose.
So again, we are very happy with my Sebo Felix 1 Premium Rosso Red Vacuum. We think it’s by far the coolest vacuum I own and I just like looking at it. And though it’s pricey, it does live up to the high price tag and it’s a much better choice than the other premium uprights, like the Miele or the Dyson, in my opinion.
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Last update on 2023-09-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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