Hi Paul,
I now what you mean, the cord lengths on some of these machines do sometimes leave a lot to be desired, especially when you are in an office environment and all the sockets are allocated with computers etc. I am not familiar with the Nilco machines so unfortunately I cannot compare with the Sebo. A lot of my contracts have lots of stairways which we used to do with tub vacs, this was actually a balancing act with keeping hold of the vac while trying to vacuum at the same time. When I introduced my first back pack machine it actually cut down on the time spent doing these contracts by 50% or more, which if you add up over a period of a year is a huge saving in labour costs. and allows you to get extra jobs done in a day. My staff were a bit dubious at first but after the first week they never looked back, I would not now be able to get them to use tub vacs.
And it is not just stairs, they are great for zapping around the offices, quick and efficient and as most of the carpets are low profile I find a wand much better to use than an upright beater vac. I have used a few different makes over the years and they have all been very powerful with long cables enough to get up at least three flights of stairways.
Some of the models do have their design faults so you have to try them out in terms of comfort and durability, I sent one model back because it did not come up to the standard I required, it certainly did not live up to its hype.
I use the Sebo dart 2 mainly for domestic carpets before cleaning the carpets, I find it lightweight, easy to carry from the side handle, and excellent for digging out the grit and bringing up the pile. Plus it has the s class filtration for keeping hold of the allergens which is vital for my business.
Regards
Derek