The SEBO FELIX is a high-end bagged upright corded vacuum. It has a reconfigurable design that allows you to detach its canister unit from its floorhead to clean tight spots. The FELIX also features a 180° floorhead mount for improved maneuverability and a 1000W suction motor. In terms of attachments, it comes with a straight suction Parquet Brush for hard floors and SEBO's ET-1 height-adjustable powerhead for cleaning carpets.
Our Verdict
The SEBO FELIX is an excellent choice for a household. You'll be able to clean large floor areas with this corded upright vacuum; its long cord ensures you won't have to constantly unplug and find a closer outlet. The build quality is excellent; it feels very sturdy with no creaks or rattles in use. Bare floor pickup performance is good, and pet hair pickup on carpets is superb. Its filter does a satisfactory job of keeping dust out of the air and preventing it from settling back down as you vacuum. It's also easy to empty, as you can seal the dirt bag, keeping dust well-contained. Unfortunately, aside from pet hair, carpet cleaning of other debris isn't this vacuum's strong suit, since the height-adjustable floorhead can't accommodate all types of material on one setting. You'll need multiple passes at different heights to clean mixed-debris messes effectively.
Excellent build quality.
Good bare floor pickup performance.
Does a fantastic job of handling pet hair.
Floorhead struggles on carpets, requiring multiple passes.
The SEBO FELIX is a great option for a small apartment. It stores easily in a compact space, such as a closet corner, with a built-in wand clip for storing tools so they're always close at hand. It offers good debris pickup on bare floors and is outstanding with pet hair on carpets, which pet owners will appreciate. That said, carpet pickup is generally disappointing, as you need to adjust the floorhead height for different sizes of debris to clear them all. Otherwise, it does a decent job of keeping dust in its filter and out of the air, preventing it from settling back down all over your apartment. Emptying it by disposing of its sealed dirt bag is clean and hygienic.
Good bare floor pickup performance.
Does a fantastic job of handling pet hair.
Floorhead struggles on carpets, requiring multiple passes.
The SEBO FELIX is decent for stair cleaning. This vacuum has a cord long enough to reach the nearest outlet on most staircases, but you'll need to be careful not to trip over it. It does a good job cleaning bare stair treads and works exceptionally well cleaning pet hair from carpeted stairs. It also won't blow too much dust out of its exhaust, into the air, and over your stairs. Unfortunately, this vacuum is quite heavy to haul up and down staircases. You'll also have difficulty selecting the right height setting to pull in all types of material on carpeted stair treads, and you'll need to do multiple passes at different heights to get everything.
Good pickup performance on bare stair treads.
Does a fantastic job of handling pet hair.
Heavy.
Floorhead struggles on carpets, requiring multiple passes.
The SEBO FELIX is an acceptable option for cleaning the inside of your car. It works well on automotive fabric with its upholstery nozzle and is great at picking up pet hair, but you might have to buy this tool separately since most new versions only ship with a crevice tool and a soft-bristle brush. This vacuum's cord is long enough that you won't need an extension cord to use it in the driveway or garage. It's more than tough enough for the job, with excellent build quality. After you're finished, maintenance is very easy, and you can put it away in a compact space. However, you have to detach the canister from the rest of the vacuum to get into a car, and this portion is fairly heavy to hold in your hand constantly. Therefore, you'll need to find a spot to set it down while it's running.
Excellent build quality.
Upholstery tool does a great job removing pet hair from automotive fabric.
Heavy.
Need to buy upholstery tool separately.
The SEBO FELIX is good for cleaning bare floors. The straight suction Parquet Brush is effective for collecting fine and medium debris, and you can remove the front bristles to remove larger materials. It also lifts debris from shallow and medium-depth cracks in flooring, though it can't remove material from deep cracks.
Good performance on medium and fine debris on bare floors.
Can remove front bristles to clear large debris on bare floors.
Can't remove material from deep cracks.
The SEBO FELIX delivers inadequate performance on carpets overall. It's quite challenging to find the ideal height of the ET-1 powerhead to handle all debris types on carpet: too low, and it plows large debris ahead, too high, and it misses a lot of fine material, especially on high-pile carpet. You'll have to adjust the height to different settings and conduct multiple passes if you have a mixed-debris mess to clean. This is a large, bulky floorhead that is difficult to maneuver into corners, leaving debris behind in these areas.
Floorhead struggles on carpets, requiring multiple passes.
Large floorhead is difficult to maneuver into corners, leaving debris behind.
The SEBO FELIX offers exceptional performance in picking up pet hair. The ET-1 powerhead lifts nearly every strand out of the carpet in one pass. For furniture, the upholstery nozzle easily clears away nearly all hair; however, pet hair tends to collect on the tool, requiring manual removal, and this tool must be purchased separately on recent models.
ET-1 powerhead offers remarkable performance removing pet hair from carpet.
Upholstery tool does a great job removing pet hair from furniture.
The SEBO FELIX is decent for air quality. Although it features S-Class filtration, it still releases a moderate amount of dust during operation, which somewhat negatively affects air quality. It's much easier to contain the dust when you empty this vacuum since the dirtbag holds nearly all the dust, and you'll only disturb a small amount when you close the dirtbag sealing flap.
Sealed dirtbag contains nearly all dust when you dispose of it.
Leaks more dust than other vacuums with premium filters.
Performance Usages
Changelog
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Updated Jan 28, 2026:
We corrected the text referring to the recurring cost to reflect the score.
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Updated Jan 16, 2026:
We added text to this review to reflect the new tests introduced in Test Bench 1.4, as well as the new verdicts.
- Updated Jan 16, 2026: We've updated this review to the latest test bench, adding Runtime, Mobility, Air Quality, and Mopping Capabilities sections, as well as a Swappable Battery test. See the Vacuum Test Bench 1.4 changelog.
- Updated Dec 17, 2024: Review published.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The SEBO FELIX is available in several colorways and with various bundled exhaust microfilter wraps. All variants will perform similarly, except for one that comes with a slightly different set of accessories. The different pre-set bundles are listed below.
| Variant Name | Included Accessories | Vacuum Color | Exhaust Filter Cover Pattern | Notes |
| FELIX INDIGO | ET-1 Powerhead, Parquet Brush, Crevice tool, Upholstery tool | Dark Blue | Blue Flowers | |
| FELIX WHITE INDIGO | ET-1 Powerhead, Parquet Brush, Crevice tool, Upholstery tool | White | Blue Flowers | |
| FELIX ROSE | ET-1 Powerhead, Parquet Brush, Crevice tool, Upholstery tool | White | Pink Roses | |
| FELIX WILD | ET-1 Powerhead, Parquet Brush, Crevice tool, Upholstery tool | White | Leopard Print | |
| FELIX ROSSO | ET-1 Powerhead, Parquet Brush, Crevice tool, Upholstery tool | Red | Red, Blue, and White Checkered Print | |
| FELIX WHITE ROSSO | ET-1 Powerhead, Parquet Brush, Crevice tool, Upholstery tool | White | Red, Blue, and White Checkered Print | |
| FELIX HEARTS | ET-1 Powerhead, Parquet Brush, Crevice tool, Upholstery tool | White | Black and White Stripes/Red Hearts | |
| FELIX ONYX | ET-1 Powerhead, Parquet Brush, Crevice tool, Upholstery tool | Black | Black and Grey Grid | |
| FELIX Pet ePower | ET-1 Powerhead, Kombi floorhead, Crevice tool, Upholstery tool, Mini Turbo Brush tool | Black | Black and Grey Grid | Bundled filter also contains activated charcoal to minimize odors |
We tested the FELIX ROSSO model, and for those interested, here's the product label.
If you come across another variant of this vacuum, let us know in the comments so that we may update our review.
Popular Vacuum Comparisons
The SEBO FELIX is a bagged upright vacuum. It's extremely well-built, offers good bare-floor pickup, and excels at picking up pet hair from carpets. However, its performance on carpets for debris other than pet hair depends heavily on how you configure its ET-1 powerhead, and it may take some experimentation to find the setup that works best for you. Consider the Dyson Ball Animal 3 Extra if you're not a pet owner and want better carpet performance right out of the box. If you're an allergy sufferer, you'll find that the FELIX's filter isn't quite up to the performance of the SEBO Airbelt D4 or the Kenmore Intuition Bagged: it lets more dust out during operation than either of these two vacuums, despite its high-end filtration system.
If you're looking for alternatives, see our recommendations for the best upright vacuums, the best multi-surface vacuums, and the best vacuums for carpets.
The SEBO FELIX and the Kenmore Intuition Bagged are both upright bagged vacuums with reconfigurable designs. That said, the SEBO is the better overall option, which isn't surprising considering the price difference. The SEBO feels better-built, is easier to maintain, and has a more powerful suction motor. That isn't to say that the Kenmore is without its upsides either: its powered floorhead has an easier time with bulky debris, especially on carpet, and it incurs lower costs of ownership. The Kenmore's filter also performs better at keeping dust out of the air.
The SEBO FELIX and the Dyson Ball Animal 3 Extra each have their own strengths. The SEBO provides a more premium user experience. It feels far better made, is easier to maintain, and makes less noise. The included ET-1 powerhead also features handy touches, such as a thermal cutoff and brushroll wear indicator. In comparison, the Dyson delivers generally superior debris-pickup performance on most surfaces, but with the caveat of feeling cheap and creaky in use.
The Miele Classic C1 and the SEBO FELIX are both mid-range bagged vacuums, but they differ in terms of configuration. The Miele is a canister unit; this puts less weight in your hand while in use, but also means you'll have to drag the second half of the vacuum around as you clean. That said, thanks to its smoothly rolling caster wheels, this isn't a significant problem. However, the Miele does have a few downsides compared to the SEBO. It feels less robust, and it uses smaller-capacity dust bags that will need to be replaced more often. It's also worth noting that, unlike the SEBO FELIX, not all variants of the Miele Classic C1 have a power outlet for using an electrohead, an attachment that's crucial for cleaning carpeted floors.
Test Results
The SEBO FELIX does a good job of cleaning hard floors when used with its Parquet Brush. In its default configuration, the floorhead sits a little too close to the ground to comfortably pass over larger debris. Thankfully, you can remove the front bristles, allowing the head to pass over bigger material like cereal without forcing you to lift the head.
This vacuum delivers passable performance on high-pile carpets when used with the ET-1 powerhead set to height setting 4. Unsurprisingly, it performs very similarly to the SEBO Airbelt D4 when used with the same attachment. The attachment's bulky size means that some large and medium-sized materials, such as rice or cereal, may be left near corners and along walls. You'll need to make a second pass to fully clear away finer material that has been worked deeply into the carpet fibers. It's also worth noting that a small amount of debris can become trapped in the floorhead and fall out when the vacuum is shut off. Changing the height setting to level 3 results in inferior large debris pickup, without meaningfully improving its ability to clear away finer material.
This vacuum's performance on low-pile carpets is sub-par with its ET-1 floorhead set to height level 2. Its floorhead tends to push larger debris forward instead of sucking it up. If you're only dealing with larger debris, it might be best to change its height to level 4 instead.
Otherwise, it does an adequate job of clearing away medium-sized debris, such as rice or sand, although a second pass may be required to remove everything.
The SEBO FELIX does an exceptional job of dealing with pet hair on low-pile carpets. A single back-and-forth pass with the ET-1 powerhead will clear all but the most stubbornly embedded strands of hair on carpet, making anything remaining virtually unnoticeable.
The SEBO FELIX does a great job of handling pet hair on fabric when used with its upholstery nozzle. It'll clear away the majority of hair within a single sweep, but it's worth noting that hair can accumulate quickly on the tool's bristles, so you'll need to clean it frequently.
It's worth noting that newer versions of the FELIX will ship with a soft-bristle dusting brush instead of this upholstery nozzle, but fortunately, you can still purchase one separately. SEBO also offers a miniature turbo brush for the same purpose. These attachments can be purchased from SEBO's website.
The SEBO FELIX is excellent at cleaning debris from cracks with its Parquet Brush. When using its floorhead, it easily cleans debris from shallow and medium-depth cracks, although debris wedged in especially deep crevices can be left behind. You should use its crevice tool if you want to completely clear all debris in deeper cracks.
The SEBO FELIX's build quality is excellent overall. It meets the standards set by other SEBO vacuums, such as the SEBO Airbelt D4, featuring a body made primarily from thick, high-grade plastic, a robust rubber hose, and a metal wand. The floorhead, hose, and attachment latches are solid, too, and the vacuum doesn't creak, rattle, or squeak while in use. The ET-1 powerhead feels similarly heavy-duty, also being made from thick plastic and featuring dense rubber wheels. The Parquet Brush feels solid, with a smoothly operating swivel-neck mechanism; however, the plastic used in its construction feels slightly less solid than that of the ET-1.
There are a few minor quibbles, however: the suction control slider has a somewhat cheap, "crunchy" feel when moving it up or down, and flipping the lever to extend the telescopic wand requires more effort than expected. The accessory clip is also mounted high up on the wand, and it's easy to accidentally knock off any of the tools you store onboard.
- Vacuum body
- Hose
- Pre-motor filter
- Rosso exhaust microfilter
- 1x FELIX-Series AeraPure filter bag
- 2x exhaust filter clamps
- Premium Parquet Brush
- ET-1 powerhead
- Brush roller
- Brush roller end cap
- Crevice tool
- Upholstery tool
- User manual
This vacuum is fairly easy to store. The vacuum is slimmer than more conventional uprights such as the Miele Dynamic U1 PowerLine, and there's an on-board wand clip for its crevice tool and upholstery nozzle. It's worth noting that this vacuum can only stand upright when you're using its ET-1 powerhead, not the Parquet Brush.
This vacuum's debris capacity is impressive. The FELIX uses smaller 3.25L AeraPure bags than the SEBO Airbelt D4. That said, this still offers more capacity than you'll find in many bagged vacuums on the market, including the Miele Complete C3 Cat & Dog. The bags themselves have sealing caps to prevent debris from spilling out after removal, and they are made of a thick, fairly tear-resistant fleece material.
You'll know when it's time to replace the bag once the indicator window on the dirtbag compartment turns orange.
Since this is a corded vacuum, it runs as long as you have electrical power.
This is a corded vacuum.
The SEBO FELIX is impressively easy to maintain. The dirtbag compartment is very easy to open, allowing you to quickly swap in a new dirtbag and pre-motor filter; the latter even has a built-in handle, making it easier to grab from the bottom of the dirtbag compartment. The post-motor exhaust filter simply wraps around the outside of the motor unit and is held in place with a pair of large O-rings.
Similarly, the brushroll inside the ET-1 powerhead can be removed in just a few seconds, and its bristles are spaced far enough apart to allow for easy removal of any tangled hair or stuck-on debris by hand. That said, when reinserting the roller, ensure that the alignment pin is oriented correctly. This floorhead also features a blockage indicator light and an automatic motor shutoff, preventing the drive belt inside from snapping if something does jam the mechanism.
As for the Parquet Brush, you'll only really need to wipe off the front bristle strip, either by hand or with a cloth, whenever you notice a buildup of debris. You can remove this strip by levering out a retention clip with a flat-headed screwdriver or a similar tool, but be careful not to cut your finger on the metal tray that holds the bristle strip in place.
For a comprehensive breakdown on how to properly maintain this vacuum, refer to the user manual.
The SEBO FELIX incurs high recurring costs.
- Dirtbag: The dirtbag should be replaced once it's filled.
- Pre-Motor Filter: The pre-motor microfilter should be replaced after swapping out 10 to 20 dirtbags. A pricier Anti-Odor pre-motor filter is also available.
- Post-Motor Filter: The post-motor exhaust filter should be replaced after you've swapped out 15 to 20 dirtbags.
- Brushroll: SEBO doesn't provide an estimated lifespan for this component, but you should swap it out once the Worn Brush indicator light on the ET-1 floorhead illuminates, even when the roller is set to its lowest setting.
- Parquet Floorhead Brush Strips: You'll need to replace the parquet tool's brush strips once they're visibly worn. The manufacturer specifies that it's time to replace them when they take on the appearance of a "worn toothbrush." Brush strips are sold in packs of one or two.
You can find all replacement brushes, replacement bags, and filters on SEBO's website.
The SEBO FELIX offers several convenience options. The suction power can be adjusted using the slider on its handle. This wide range of adjustability enables you to fine-tune the suction power for various surfaces. A mechanical indicator on the canister body turns orange if the dirtbag is full or if the vacuum is clogged.
The ET-1 powerhead has its own set of features, too. There's a thermal cut-out switch that turns off the motor if the vacuum overheats due to a blockage or other mechanical issue. You can turn the brushroll off to clean surfaces like hardwood, vinyl, or even more delicate carpeting. The floorhead also has four height settings, allowing you to clean varying lengths of carpet pile.
This is a moderately heavy vacuum. Its overall weight is comparable to that of the full-size SEBO Airbelt D4, but the FELIX's upright configuration places a little more weight in your hand during use.
General maneuverability is okay. The vacuum is a little cumbersome, especially when used with its parquet tool, which doesn't allow you to rest the vacuum upright momentarily. The accessory clip at the top of the wand is in an awkward spot and frequently gets in the way when cleaning around tables and chairs. While using the vacuum in its semi-handheld configuration does allow you to clean tight spots, there are a few ergonomic quibbles. The suction control slider becomes difficult to access, and carrying the vacuum in this configuration blows hot air from the vacuum's exhaust toward your face. With all that said, there are a few plus points, too. The swivel neck floorhead makes it pretty easy to steer around obstacles and operates incredibly smoothly.
You can clean shag-pile carpets and tasseled rugs with the ET-1 powerhead, but be sure to lower the suction power setting and raise the roller brush to prevent it from getting stuck.
The SEBO FELIX has good overall range. Its power cord is long enough that you won't have to swap outlets too often. That said, its hose is somewhat short; while this won't be a problem if you're carrying around the canister unit in one hand, it could make some places, like shelves or dressers, harder to reach if you were to leave it on the ground.
The SEBO FELIX has an impact on air quality during operation, although its performance remains satisfactory. Like the SEBO Airbelt D4, the SEBO FELIX utilizes S-Class filtration. Although the performance is decent, the FELIX still performs worse than the D4 and expels a moderate amount of dust during operation, which you will notice and which will settle back onto surfaces.
Emptying the SEBO FELIX by discarding its sealable dirt bag is a clean and hygienic process that has a minimal impact on air quality. When you open the canister, you'll disturb the coating of dust on the inside of the dirtbag inlet tube, and you'll also release some dust as you close the dirtbag sealing flap. However, overall, this dust concentration is very low compared to the dust released by emptying bagless vacuums like the Dyson V15 Detect, so there won't be a significant negative effect on air quality, and there will be negligible dust settling.
This vacuum's real-world suction performance is somewhat low, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Its Parquet Brush sits a little too high above the ground to form a tight seal. That said, suction measured directly from its hose is quite impressive and compares pretty favorably to the vast majority of other uprights on the market, such as the Kenmore Intuition Bagged. To sum it up, you should have no trouble dealing with stubborn debris when cleaning in its semi-handheld configuration.
This is a powerful vacuum. Its 1000W motor doesn't provide quite as much airflow as the 1250W unit found in the SEBO Airbelt D4. Still, that on-paper difference isn't too noticeable in the real world, and this vacuum won't have any trouble dealing with heavy household debris.
The SEBO FELIX is a fairly quiet vacuum. When used with its Parquet Brush and its suction control left to Medium, you won't have too much trouble hearing what people nearby are saying. We also measured its noise output at different suction power level settings and with different floorheads on bare floors:
- Parquet Brush, Suction level Low: 58.7 dBa
- Parquet Brush, Suction level High: 75.5 dBa
- ET-1 Head, Brushroll Off, Suction Low: 60.1 dBa
- ET-1 Head, Brushroll Off, Suction Medium: 63.7 dBa
- ET-1 Head, Brushroll Off, Suction High: 72.4 dBa
- ET-1 Head, Brushroll On, Suction Low: 71.5 dBa
- ET-1 Head, Brushroll On, Suction Medium: 72.3 dBa
- ET-1 Head, Brushroll On, Suction High: 74 dBa
Conversely, the result for the 'Low-Pile Carpet' test was achieved using the ET-1 electrobrush with its brushroll left On and the vacuum set to suction level High. The noise output on low-pile carpeting in different configurations is listed below.
- ET-1 Head, Brushroll Off, Suction Low: 57.4 dBA
- ET-1 Head, Brushroll Off, Suction Medium: 62.2 dBA
- ET-1 Head, Brushroll Off, Suction High: 71.4 dBA
- ET-1 Head, Brushroll On, Suction Low: 66 dBA
- ET-1 Head, Brushroll On, Suction Midway: 67.8 dBA
