Apparently the old one had "reliability issues"
I think the real problem, as with many machines, may be "ham fisted user issues"

I've got a sebo duo that I still use quite often, it's at least 8 years old, only ever been used to agitate wet carpets, but they are supposed to break or go wrong after 5 minutes aren't they?!
I've only ever had a few vac motors expire in my portables, they go for years, still got a runner from 2003, but some folks are changing them every few months.
That said I'd still let everyone else buy the "new" flexi-5 and wait for any possible problem reports before forking out
