I also have a Miele stick and Miele canister and are very happy with their performance. I would only caution you to ensure that the floor attachment doesn't scratch your hardwood floors. This seemed to be an issue with some models.

Deleted duplicate post.

Definitely the Miele.

I also went with a Miele when my Shark broke down. While I was waiting for a new Shark to arrive (can't complain about the company's customer service!), I was going to buy a cheapy to use, but just couldn't pull the trigger on junk.

I went a bit crazy and pulled the trigger on a C3. With asthma and allergies, I indulged because I'm worth it ;-)

The Miele is about as good as it gets. First of all, it's amazing to go back to using a bag where I'm not emptying the disgusting, messy cannister 5-6X. It is quiet, excellent on hardwoods and overall solid.

Miele! It is amazing, and yes crazy expensive but wow it is worth every penny! I have the C3.

For sme reason, I'm not seeing a post I made a couple of hours ago. So,here is what I thought I typed in. (ETA: it finally did show up but I only could see it when when I signed in. I've deleted it as a duplicate.)

Like dbbrams and dotsandstripes, I too,
recently wound up buying a Miele canister vac. Like you, Agnes, I also
had reached the point where it was time to replace my aging, bagless
Hoover Windtunnel upright for a variety of reasons including its weight
and cumbersomeness. Beyond that, It turned out that my Miele does a much
better job of cleaning, to boot. If you want to read a saga of how I
and others wound up with our Miele vacs, you can check out this GW
thread from last February here.

For shopping, there were some resources I found specifically helpful
to me in sorting through the flood of blather from vendor reps and
websites.

One was the "sweethome/wirecutter" article on vacs --- the link is here. Another I found helpful was from the "vacuum repair
guy" (aka Brian Driscoll) who has had three almost unbelievably long and detailed Reddit AMA's ("Ask Me Anything"
blog-chats). This is the most recent is one. Third, I also found it very helpful to visit the local vacuum cleaner
specialty store. That is where one can see and lay hands on some of the
most highly rated (and non-Chinese built) models that one reads, hears
and sees about online. To be sure, the likes of Bed, Bath and Beyond are
now carrying some models of some of the German vacs like Miele, but the
selection is limited and it will be difficult there to actually try out
the models to see which ones work better for you and which do not.
Also, at a vac-store, you may be able to customize a package of tools
that suits you and your particular house

One other thing I particularly like about my Miele's rather
lightweight canister and hose set-up is that the tools are far easier
for me to get under furniture and furnishings than with the tools on the
old Hoover. I am pushing 70, so definitely getting up there to what you
delicately called "longer in the tooth, so to speak." The lightness is
big plus for me as is the relatively long (retractable) power cord for
the canister.

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to share your thoughts.

JW, I found your post very helpful and informative. I intend to visit my local vacuum dealer and test drive a few different Miele models. I am intrigued by the canister type and will definitely explore these more closely.

I'll post later to update once my decision is made!

Just a caveat with Miele, as with many companies which were known not to be made in China, such as Le Creuset (France) and All-Clad (USA), Miele (Germany) has some of their products, usually lower end, assembled/made in China. So, if this is important to you, you may want to read the fine print very carefully before purchasing.

We have recently (in the past couple of years) bought a Miele, marked S2. The sale was "built" using a combination of attachments from more than one box (another advantage of a local vacuum cleaner store). Its pluses are light weight, good vacuum when blocked and good air flow when unblocked. The floor tool uses a step-on lever to switch between rug and hard surface, but for full effect, one also has to adjust the vacuum motor power dial. Usually I leave that at the rug setting.

(The EU bureaucracy has decreed future reductions in maximum vacuum cleaner electrical power draw, which may be expected to degrade performance at high power settings. This may be a factor in when a Miele fan should buy one of their vacuum cleaners. I'm sure that this limitation will save the EU vast amounts of electrical power due to the relentless cleaning that European homes and apartments evidently endure.)

Comparing our Miele to the two older Electrolux canister vacuum cleaners we own (much older -- but not quite as old as jwvideo or myself), I would deem the Miele blower to be the more powerful when on maximum.

There is at least one disadvantage to the Miele -- Its floor tool uses very dense bristle-like glide pads (I doubt that they are actually bristle -- more like felt) that are nearly impossible to fully clean, as one might want to do intermittently while vacuuming. The Electrolux floor tool, on the other hand, has true bristle, higher and more flexible, that is easy to clean. I suppose one could argue that if the lint won't come out of the Miele pads, then it doesn't matter.

The forward part of the Electrolux floor tool has to be unplugged and rotated to move from floor to rug mode, but with its soft bristles, I usually do the rugs with the bristles out to help collect lint. I don't use either make's power beater tool on oriental rugs.

The supplied Miele crevice tool is very short relative to the Electrolux version, but a much longer optional Miele tool is available. Miele provides furniture tools that are significantly smaller than their reversible Electrolux counterpart tool. The Miele may have some time efficiency penalty as a result, although this would depend on thoroughness of cleaning.

Miele cord retraction is very positive, but requires two-hand or hand and foot coordination.

Electroluxes can be operated in a blower mode as the hose can connect to the blower output; the Miele doesn't have this (probably rarely used) feature.

I expect dragging around the Miele is much less of a hazard to soft
flooring, such as cherry or pine. And lightweight spouses will
appreciate the lower weight when working on stairs.

So far the Miele has held up without problem, in spite of not having the rugged look and feel of metal Electroluxes (or 1950's Kirby uprights). Time will tell whether the metal Electrolux wands have a longer lifetime than the plastic Miele ones.

kas

We have a Miele Marin (now called C3 I think?), and are very happy with it. Ours came with the Parquet Twister HW floor attachment (no issues with floor scratching), and an electronic floor head (has a rotating bristle brush with soft/gentle enough bristles for our Berber carpeting).

The cord could be longer, yes, and the cord retractor (sp?) should be located elsewhere on the vac so the hose doesn't accidentally hit it and retract the cord while vacuuming. The vacuum works very well though. It isn't too loud, has a powerful motor, and is very clean (no dust or dirt inside when we do need to change the bag).

I also suggest looking at Simplicity vacuums if you are considering uprights.

Sounds like the 'well it sounds like the 'Miele' is the way to go......if you've got the $$ to spend. However it sounds like that's far out of my price range. Any suggestions for the "best vacuum under $200" (even that amount is stretching it). I realize that "you get what you pay for" after my beloved old Kirby finally begged to be put down I purchased a "budget" friendly Bissel Cleanview Helix and have absolutely "0" love for it. Feel it only sucks up fluff but the dirt remains, it's hose leaks at base and is uselessly short, not to mention that I have to keep vacuum uncomfortably tilted off floor when using hose/attachments or it shreds the carpet underneath:-(. Anyhow just thought I'd ask.

Do people consider the Mieles to be better than the Kirby's currently? Or just a moderately cheaper option?

Lakeerie,

I have a Miele Canister vacuum which is an older model. Actually, I have two of them. A friend has a Kirby in her home. During a remodel, I took my vacuums over so that cleaning could happen on every floor of the house by multiple people. Just as a test, after she cleaned the floor she was working on, I changed bags on the Miele and went upstairs to clean. The Miele picked up a lot more dust and other items embedded in rugs than the Kirby. I recognize that this is not a newer Kirby and the Miele has HEPA filters that helped contain the dust. The house was recently removed and drywall dust abounded. The cleaning used about 4 Miele vacuum cleaner bags which is a lot of bags. I use about 2 bags a month on my home which is about 2000 sq.ft.

Good luck!

The above posts bring to mind some additional thoughts.

LaLenoxa's post reminds me that I found a couple of Miele models labeled as "made in China" when I was shopping last year.

The "made-in-China" models that I found were the Miele stick vac and the white-colored C1-Olympus canister. The C1 Olympus is the most basic
and least expensive canister model. It seemed to be offered only
through stores like Bed Bath& Beyond. During last year's President's Day sales, BB&B had it priced at $220; right now, it seems to about $320.

Near as I was able to find in my research, the factory in China is a
joint venture between Miele, Sebo (another German vac maker), and a
Chinese company whose name is slipping my mind. I read some Miele press material
which indicated that the plant in China imports German-made Miele motors and
electronics to combine with locally fabricated chassis and body parts. I also read that the plant in China also assembled some of Miele's S4 (Galaxy) and S5 (Callisto) models, but I did not run across any of those made-in-China-versions when I was shopping a year ago. (Might be that those models went to Miele's markets in the Western Pacific such as Australia.)

Interestingly, I also
discovered that Riccar/Simplicity/Tacony, which trumpets "US made" in ads for its
upright
models, is sourcing some of its current line of new canister-vacs from
the same city in
China, Dongguan. When you go to the vac store, you may find they also
carry Tacony's vac brands, Riccar or Simplicity. (If "Simplicity"
sounds like a familiar name, it may be because that is the company's
brandname for its sewing machines.) Might want to check those models out for
comparison and look at the Riccar/Simplicity models if you are considering an upright. (They are built like tanks, though, so maybe too heavy for what you want?)

Anyway, last year, the other Miele C1 models I saw all seemed seem to be German made ones, such as the more fulsomely equipped C1-Titan model. (Where the C1-Olympus is white, the Titan is is a reddish color that Miele calls "mango." My C2 Powerline model is also "mango" colored.) By more fulsomely equipped, I mean the Titans have better case-sealing and noise reduction than the Olympus, come with HEPA filter options, and also have connections to run a power-head carpet cleaner attachment. The latter is what I think cat_mom meant by "electronic floor head."

With your 1100+ square feet of carpeting, you may want to focus your research on Miele's canister models with the connections to run the power-head tools. My recollection is that there are three different models of the
"Electro Power Head" attachments, one adapted to medium and flat pile
carpets, one for plusher carpets, and a third with extra features like a
headlight and soft bumpers on the sides (furniture protectors.).

All of powerbrushes work like beater-brushes on an upright vacs. Of course, as Kas says, you do not want to use the Miele power-beaterbrush on oriental
and wool carpets, though that does not sound like a problem for you. The beaterbrush on my old Hoover upright was one of the reasons I replaced it. The old Hoover
"Windtunnel" upright was starting to pull bits
of yarn and thread out of my one rug, an aging (non-antique) wool oriental-style area rug. Miele's
suction-spun "turbo-brush" attachment is much gentler and does a very good job job in cleaning that rug. Also works on bathmats, too. But with all that carpeting in your house, I would definitely be looking into the powerebrush attachments.

Per Kas's comment on the floor-tool's glide bristles, the bristles are indeed stiff, are densely packed enough to seem like felt, and pretty much will require cleaning out the dust fibers that can accumulate on and in them. This is something of a trade-off compared to the old Hoover model like you have and I had. On the one hand, I have to finish vacuuming by swapping on the little crevice tool and spending a couple of minutes sucking the dust "pads" that collect on and in the bristles on the bottom of the floor tool. Of course, we have to clean fibers and etc. our of the Hoover's rotating beaterbrush, too. (Sometimes need an exactoknife and a comb to do that, too.) On the other hand, the Miele seems to pick up more than the tools on the old Hoover did. The first time I used the Miele, I was amazed --- then appalled --- at how much it collected that the old Hoover had apparently been leaving behind.

As with cat-mom's C3-Marin model, my C2 Powerline came with the slightly
larger version of the floor tool which is called the "Parquet Twister HW" tool. Near as I can tell, the chief benefit of the larger tool is that it sweeps a bit bigger floor area with each pass. Larger size notwithstanding, it still swivels enough to easily fit under most of my furniture, bedding, and etc.

For the difficult parts of getting under and around stuff , I use the long crevice tool that Kas mentioned. I found it among the attachments that came with my Miele package. At first, it seemed way too long and too flexible. Now, I find it handy for tasks like vacuuming under my kitchen stove, behind the fridge, behind the media cabinet, etc. Also useful for reaching up into the corners of the high ceilings in my old house --- the tool extends the reach of the wand by nearly two feet.

For lakeerieamber, I don't know much about Kirby vacs, but I recall that the vac guy's reddit blogs (linked previously above) discussed old and new Kirby vacs in response to numbers of questions and did so at some length. You might find answers to your questions there. What I recall of the discussionsare is that they pretty much track what homepro said plus some comments on repairabiity, pricing and parts.

Regarding the frequency of changing Miele bags, my experience has been different than homepro's. I did run through a couple of bags in the first month after I started using my Miele. Now, I am getting several months' use per bag.

A lot of could account for the differing experience. For one thing, my house is significantly smaller. Also, my house has radiant hydronic floor heating rather than a forced air HVAC system. We mostly shed shoes at the door. Maybe we have fewer pets? Also, maybe my having a Shopvac for construction/remodeling and tasks like cleaning vehicles and the basement, and etc.? There are a lot of potential factors and preferences that might or might not be making a difference. Maybe just differing personal preferences about how full we let our vac bags get? Worth mentioning because Miele bags are on the expensive side and seem to tolerate getting very full.

Still, I can echo homepro's story about drywall dust. For drywall dust, I always thought my Shopvac, with its drywall filter covers and foam filters, was doing a very good job. Much like what homepro noted about the friend's house, though, the last time I did some drywall work here, the Miele seemed to pick up dust that was missed with my honking-big Shopvac. The Shopvac certainly sucked up a lot of fine dust which its dry-wall filter covers pretty much contained. However, subsequent a pass with my HEPA filtered Miele revealed that the Shopvac did not get everything. For truly amazing collection and containment of fine drywall and other construction dust, I have to say that I've seen nothing that beats the Fein shop vacuum ($$$) that a contractor friend of mine has.

For 209payitforward --- in case nobody else responds to your question, you might want to check out the late December update to the vacuum cleaner writeup at Sweethome/Wirecutter which you can find here.

The lead off recommendation is now a $150 Shark for budget friendly vacs and Miele C2/C3 models for best (and least noisy) overall.

Thanks! Going to do some research! We are considering a new vacuum before we move into our new build so we can start "fresh"

My next vacuum will be a Miele CX1 Cat & Dog .

I have a Simplicity Jill that has been great. It was about $140 from the factory. I live fairly close to the Riccar/Simplicity factory in St. James, Mo. They assemble the vacuums there. They do make some of the parts but the motors are sourced in China I believe. The Prima is their new line and not sure if it is still made there or in China. I read one place that they were made in China but they still say on their website that they are made here. They have a vacuum museum and an outlet store there. You can visit Tom Gasko, the curator of the museum. Next time I am going that way I will stop in to buy some bags and ask him about it but you can call him and ask about it too.

http://www.cultofmac.com/325865/yes-there-is-a-vacuum-cleaner-museum-and-it-does-not-suck/#0

Several years ago my sister and I visited the place and I bought the "Jill" on the advice of Tom Gasko and she bought three of them for her kids who all have dogs. I was going to buy Riccar. They are all still in service and everybody likes them. I use mine on all my hardwood floors and some area rugs. I don't think you can get the same price from a dealer as you can get if you go to the factory so it might be a little more. I would definitely buy another one when the time comes.

Regarding Miele and China: I called Miele and the person I spoke with stated that the C2 and C3 Limited Editions and their robotic vacuum are assembled in China with German parts. However, I will indeed be reading the fine print prior to purchasing.

Again, thanks for all the great replies.

Interesting, I was going to buy the C3 LE and then just add the HEPA filter and parquet twist, but it is no longer available that I could find. Would rather have the German made one anyway. Loving the Calima so far.

We have a six year old, made in Germany, Miele Capricorn, plus a Shark and an older Electrolux. We rarely use the Miele since getting the Shark. We live on a horse property with lots of animals, and we found that the Miele got blocked up way too easily. We love the fact that we can totally dismantle the Shark in a matter of seconds to clear any blockages. Maybe I need to try the newer Mieles, but I have been very disappointed in my Capricorn.

Wekick -- after my vacuum search turned me into a vac-geek, that museum went on my list of places to visit the next time I get to Missouri!

Agnes -- Interesting that Miele has either shifted some C2 and C3 production to the facility in China or else maybe came up with the "Limited Edition" name to designate models to be produced in the facility in China. FWIW, my "C2- Homecare Powerline" was labeled "made in Germany" when I bought it in February.

209payitforward -- wekick suggested the Simplicity Jill which is a compact canister model. If you can't get to the factory store as wekick did, the current retail price seems to be $190 which is within your $200 budget. BTW, some vac stores carry Tacony's Simplicity line and some carry Tacony's other brand, Riccar. Same units with different paint. IIRC, the Riccar version is called "Sunburst." My recollection from vac shopping was that those models are pretty good if you have hardwood floors and no rugs. At one time, I think these models were made for Tacony in Korea but I kind of recall production having shifted to China where other Riccar/Simplicity canisters are made.

askogirl -- the Sweethome/Wirecutter blog also recommends the Shark because of the ability to quickly dismantle it without needing tools. On your Miele Capricorn, did it come with a power brush and is that what was blocking up?

Not sure of your price point. 2 Hoovers and a Bissel in 10 yrs caused my wife and I to opt for a Shark this last go around. I like it so far. As for the other models I wanted to repair them, and have the skills to do so, but when a part costs 2/3 the purchase price of the unit, it's a toss-away appliance sadly.

Best of luck.

Laundryvet

I've had quite a few "disposable" vacuum cleaners including a Bosch. They lasted a couple years or so before I junked them. I finally invested in one of the less expensive Miele canisters and it's been excellent. I've probably had it about ten years.

I recently bought an Oreck upright for our weekend lake place. It was the lightest model I could find which was important as I'm carrying it to three levels. It came with a separate plug in hand vac that you carry on a shoulder strap that has all the accessories. So far I really like everything about the Oreck but I've only had it about two years and it's a second home so not as much use.

The only thing I don't particularly like about the Miele is the relatively short cord but I knew that was a complaint before I purchased it. The Oreck on the other hand has a very long cord which is more convenient.