Verdict

Pros

• Powerful, variable suction
• Great pet hair and stair cleaning
• Not too noisy
• Easy to manoeuvre
• Bumper stops wall scuffs

Cons

• Bag fairly small at 3.5-litre
• Filtration not HEPA rated
• Crevice tool rather short

What is the Sebo Airbelt E1 Pet?

The Sebo Airbelt E1 (91604GB) is a compact, lightweight all-round cylinder vacuum, available in different variations with subtly different accessories depending on your specific needs. Here we have the E1 Pet, coming to the TrustedReviews test bench with the Sebo Kombi Pro cleaning head, two Turbobrush heads that are ideal for pet hairs, and the option of Sebo Fresh perfume capsules to hide those piquant pet odours.

With smaller tools on board and no less than three main floorheads, you’re unlikely to have floorcoverings that the E1 Pet won’t handle. Add to this a long and nicely flexible hose, stainless steel tubes, easy-glide casters and its all-round Airbelt bumpers, and you have a bagged cylinder cleaner for all occasions.

SEE ALSO: Best Vacuum Cleaners

Sebo Airbelt E1 Pet – Design and Accessories

The Sebo E1 Pet is amazingly light and compact as you get it out of the box, with the only obvious compromise being the mid-size 3.5-litre dustbags. Without hose and floorhead this machine tipped our scales at just 5.3kg. Even with the hose and the Kombi head attached it’s still comfortably easy to carry at around 7.5kg.

Build quality, as with all the Sebos we’ve tested, is superb. The handle is perfectly positioned for balance when carrying, the hose connection to the body is nicely angled, and all the components have a robust feel. The wheels and casters underneath roll with barely any friction, ensuring the E1 Pet will follow you around like, well, a loyal pet.

One of the main issues with easy-rolling cleaners is the propensity to drag them into the furniture behind you while you’re looking where you’re cleaning. Sebo’s Airbelt addresses this problem with a soft bumper system that protects walls and furniture from scrapes, even if you’re undertaking some pretty extreme vacuuming manoeuvres.

The stainless steel telescopic tubes clip together with a solid click and the E1 Pet comes supplied with a longer-than-average hose, which is pretty flexible too. We measured the cord length at a usefully long 7.5 metres, giving a useable cleaning reach of over 10 metres from your power socket. It’s categorised as a 1200W machine and has variable power for more delicate cleaning duties.

The integrated crevice and upholstery tool clips to the machine for easy access, although you will have to find some cupboard space for the main floorheads. The Kombi head is versatile for both low-pile carpets and hard floors, thanks to adjustable-height bristles. This has a multi-directional neck and several wheels and rollers to make it easy to move, even under full suction power. Air channels in the base extend to the very edges of the head, which should prove effective at edge cleaning.

Both larger and smaller Turbobrush heads use the airflow to power the brushes. The larger unit adds a more flexible neck arrangement with up-down and rotating movement and a sliding ‘vent’ that allows some control over the speed of the rotating brush. The smaller unit is more basic, but is likely to prove ideal for stairs and the dog’s bed.

Boasting a 1200W motor the E1 Pet is a powerful cleaner, although it’s well within the current EU limits and comes with Sebo’s Airbelt E microfiber bags and a hospital-grade filter. The EU energy label doesn’t look too impressive with an overall rating of D, but the E1 Pet rather proves there is a lot more to a vacuum cleaner than the energy label.

Sebo Airbelt E1 Pet – Cleaning Performance

With high power on tap, well-designed floorheads and great pull-about manoeuvrability, it was no surprise that the Sebo Airbelt E1 Pet is a nifty and effective vacuum cleaner for all over the home.

The Kombi head is the go-to tool as it glides across hard floors and short-pile carpets with ease. If it does suck down to the surface and blocks the airflow, perhaps snagging a light rug that lifts as it is cleaned, Sebo’s intelligent motor protection systems reduces motor power and the blue power lamp turns red to let you know. It’s a smart approach to a common problem that cheaper vacs often struggle with.

Delivering on its promise of quiet cleaning, the E1 Pet registered just 73dB at ear height above the machine over carpet. While that is just above the energy label claim, it is an exceptional result with only the lowest-power ‘silent’ specific cleaners we have tested being significantly quieter. Using either of the Turbobrush heads adds a different tone to the overall noise, but doesn’t make any difference to the sound level.

We found the larger Turbobrush head to be outstanding on carpeted floors from the shortest pile mats to deep pile bedroom carpet. It cleaned our test area of mixed baking soda and carpet cleaning powder very effectively in the standard three passes and got impressively close to the edge with very little dust residue next to the skirting.

Our test carpet before (above) and after

On some surfaces, particularly deeper pile, the head did suck itself down a little, making it difficult to push and pull. In this case we simply reduced the suction power accordingly, albeit with a commensurate reduction in sheer cleaning power.

On-board storage for the smaller tools has meant that the crevice tool isn’t very long and the upholstery brush not that large, although both work as advertised.

The E1’s free gliding manoeuvrability does take a little getting the hang of, though. If you are used to an old cleaner that feels like dragging around a sack full of rocks you will quickly become familiar with the sensation of the E1 crashing into your ankles. Thankfully, the Airbelt works here to. Once you have become familiar with the ease of towing the E1 around on hard floors and low-pile carpets, it simply makes vacuuming another step easier.

Sebo Airbelt E1 Pet – Stair Cleaning

Not only is the E1 Pet light enough to carry up and down stairs, its excellent cleaning reach and good balance when positioned upright on a step make it a great stair-cleaning machine. Even if you do not fancy balancing the E1 on a step and working your way up and down, the long hose and telescopic tubes mean that you will be able to clean at least half way up/down most domestic stairs from either end.

The excellent small Turbobrush head is absolutely perfect for carpeted stairs. Its brush action proved very effective at beating dust and debris from the carpet and it is compact enough to cover most steps even if they are on a turn and narrow into the corner. Our Collie likes to sit on a wide step halfway up the stairs and that makes for an ideal pet hair test. The Sebo’s small Turbobrush cleaned up these dog hairs faultlessly, lifting out the embedded hairs from the carpet with ease.

For stairs with hard surfaces we found the upholstery nozzle the tool of choice as the Kombi head was a bit too large for the turns in our semi-spiral stairs. For those with a straight flight of stairs with a timber or laminate surface, the Kombi head would be ideal. The Airbelt E1 Pet is a superb cleaner for stairs and we struggled to find anything we would change to make it any better in this respect.