Did you miss this thread from last week? It discusses Miele vacs and some other brands, and has links to other threads here as well as several other very helpful discussions at Sweethome and Bryan Driscoll (AKA the vacuum repair dude) who has some AMA's on Reddit. While waiting for others to respond, you might check the link (and the links in the link).

I don't keep buying vacuum cleaners anymore because my Miele was expensive--I keep getting it repaired instead of replacing it. :)

(I don't think you can win--just get one with the features you want and hope for the best.)

I can relate to your dilemma as I went through quite a few different brands (including Electrolux, Shark, Rainbow, Dyson, and some other "disposable" types which I can't recall now) and was not satisfied with any of them.

However, 2 years ago, after reading online reviews about German-made Sebo vacs, I decided to try again. I bought one and still absolutely love my upright Sebo Automatic X5. It is the best vacuum I've ever used. I use it on hardwood, carpet and area rugs. I use the optional soft bristle roller and have seen no damage at all on our wool hand knotted rugs. Downside is that it is heavy and probably more so than the Dyson.

Re bag vs bagless: I prefer the Sebo bags over bagless canisters. No canister dumping means no dust billowing around. The Rainbow water trap seems to capture everything but I don't enjoy using the vac.

My daughter really likes her canister style Miele. I've used it and find it very easy to use and cleans well enough though hers doesn't have a power head.

Hope you find a vac that works for you.

I've got some pretty hefty allergies to dust and dander. I've become an expert on filtering and cleaning out of necessity. Nothing is perfect. I use a combination approach.

I have a Dyson animal. It's about seven or eight years old. We have Collies, think Lassie. It's done a great job. We have had to take it apart and blow out some of the conduits and components. YouTube will show how. So, it's not entirely service free. We committed to cleaning it out once a year. That seems to do the trick. I use it primarily on carpets and throw rugs. It's too bulky for hardwoods and corners. I like a canister for that.

We also own a Miele Blue Moon Canister. It's a good vacuum, too. The control for the power setting is in the hose handle. It has some sort of short in it that powers down the unit randomly. I've replaced this hose twice in the last 14 years. The last one doesn't rotate fully, but at least they seemed to have fixed the short. It's a known design flaw. I use this vacuum mostly for hardwood, tile and baseboards. While the power carpet attachment is adequate, because of the length of the Collie hair, it gets trapped in the brush. It has to be cut off periodically.

As a third source of cleaning, I have a Neato D80 robotic vacuum that I run daily. It's great, too. It can't do everything, by using it daily it keeps up with most of the mess. I do have to use the big guns, the Dyson and the Meile once a month to get into any deep soil followed by a steam cleaner mop. The Neato cleans well, but it will miss some deeply ground in dirt. You have to use it every day.

Like I said, no one unit will do everything well. It's a three and sometimes four part approach.

Just bought a Miele C3 Calima. We only have hard floors, and this model came with the parquet tool. Very quiet, great suction and the HEPA filter keeps things dust free. Love it so far. Much better than the Dysons we've had.

Thanks for the suggestions. How well does the parquet tool work on area rugs and carpeting? I know that it is not going to work nearly as well as the powered heads. The main stuff to pick up is hair from a short hair cat and cardboard from her scratching pad.

Yes, I did miss the thread that was started the other week.

The parquet tool is not meant for carpet, mine also came with the Turbo comfort brush for that application.

My Panasonic is a standard bagged upright with extension hose & tools, but, I have had it for over 10 years only having to replace the belts and bags. We have a cat & a dog that sheds another animal weekly and it does a great job, the suction is as strong or stronger than my Dyson and less mess (and less frequent to empty) than the Dyson also. I am very happy with it -- my only quibble would be to wish for a longer hose. So, I would suggest that you look at Panasonic vacuums.

PS mine was only about $150 when I bought it, as well.

I've had my Dyson upright since 2004. I've had it cleaned and reconditioned but it's never needed a repair. It's bagless, so no bag purchasing either. There've been times I wished I'd bought the canister model, but I've never regretted the vacuum. It even cleans pet hair from upholstery.

James May, you were asking about the Miele canister parquet tool, right, and not about Riccar/Simplicity/Maytag uprights, correct?

Well, unfortunately for your research, Miele has at least half a dozen different "parquet tools." This might be more than you wanted to know. Or, it might be just the start of a long research process.

Which tool or tools you wind up with will vary with the Miele package you
purchase. This is another good reason to include a visit to a vacuum specialty store in your research. It will give you some hands on time that will provide you with a much better idea of what tools
may work best for you and which you can get along without.

Many Miele packages, such as my C2 model, come with a base model parquet/floor tool. This 11" wide swiveling "parquet" head was labeled as the "ALLTeQ Parquet Tool" in my package. I believe it is also called (and can be separately purchased as) the "AirTeQ" and/or "SBD-385 Classic Floor Tool." It has a top-mounted foot-operated mechanical switch to toggle between (a) having dense perimeter brushes extended (about 3/8" deep) when cleaning bare smooth floors (hardwood, tile, vinyl,etc.) and (b) retracting the brushes for a smooth base for use over low-pile and tight weave area rugs and carpeting.

Numbers of posters here have reported that this tool does a fine job on their dense and low pile carpets and area rugs. My experience is more nuanced.

For me, the AlteQ parquet tool, with brushes retracted, does an excellent job collecting stuff off the surface of my few area rugs and even works on plush bath mats. Especially, cat fur. Believe me, I know a thing or two about cat hair with the resident cat --- the tubby
tabby, terror of tundra -- building up and shedding an incredibly plush winter coat. She also loves shredding. Shredding posts and toys, that is; being a cat, she is not into snowboarding or mountain biking. :>)

Anyway, while my Miele's "classic" parquet tool is fine with surface cleaning of carpets but it doesn't seem to really get the groundiin dusty grit and sand which seem to accumulate in the rugs in consequence of the rural area in which we live and the frequent entertaining that we do. For that stuff, we periodically swap on the "TurboComfort" tool that came with the C2 package. This is a suction powered beater brush inside a smooth based head. Works fine with the the limited rugs that we have.

By "works fine" I mean that it works fine in comparison to the parquet tool as well as in comparison to my former vacuum, a Hoover Windtunnel upright. That upright's beater brush would beat some sand and grit through the pile of my area rugs requiring the rugs to be flipped weekly to vacuum up the sand from the floor and the grit/dust from bottom side of the rugs.The beater brush also scattered some of the sand, too, and so required more follow up. Plus, with the upright, we needed to take the rugs outside a couple of times per year to do an old-fashioned rug beating. Also frequently needed to dust surfaces inside the house after vacuuming. So far, not needed with the Miele. I've been using the turbo-brush about every third or fourth vacuuming session.

Now, all of that said, Miele also has several other "parquet" and floor tools which might or might not be in the packages you may be considering and might or might not be what you meant by "parquet" tool. These include several versions of the fixed head SBB235 (differing models with differing 1" to 2" thick perimeter brushes for differing kinds of flooring) and the "parquet twisters." Often, when people refer to the " Parquet" tools the mean the "Parquet Twisters" which will be either the medium-sized SBB300 ((12" wide swath) or the large sized SBB400 (16" wide swath). These have 1" to 2" deep perimeter brushes and very flexible hose connections that make it easy to maneuver under furniture. The SBB300 and 400 models are great for wide swaths of non-carpeted flooring. The times I've tried an SBB400 on carpet, I found it pulled towards me okay but was hard to push smoothly across that surface and didn't clean the rug particularly deeply. Cat fur tended to collect in the brushes, too, adding to an additional vacuuming of the head. (However, the brushes on the classic parquet tool also collect cat hair too when the brushes are extended for smooth flooring.)

I am going out after work and look at a Miele C2. They are on sale right now for about $480. Never spent more than $100 on a vacuum cleaner before but I am tired of buying junk. Just curious where you Miele owner buy your bags. They seem a bit pricey.

I bought one of the lower priced Miele canisters when I finally got tired of disposable vacuum cleaners that lasted a year or two. I've been happy with it and have had it for years without a problem - so long I can't remember when I bought it - probably ten years ago.

I bought a Miele 12 years ago and it works as well as the day I bought it. We've never had to have it serviced or repaired. The bags hold a lot and the system is so contained that absolutely no dust is released when changing them. We got one of the least expensive Miele vacs. I don't remember the model, but it is one of the best home purchase investments we've made.

My husband has dust allergies and we have a dog that sheds like crazy and the Miele works hard and well on both accounts. We have mostly hardwood floors and throw rugs.

It our is *extremely* quiet. When we lived in an apartment I could vacuum at 10 PM and the downstairs neighbors could not hear it.

I love that it has a really strong suction. Our house just looks so much cleaner when using this vac because it sucks up more dust than any other vac I have used. We live in a 160 year old house now that is a dust factory. It is great for baseboards, upholstery. Damn I love my Miele! Wish every home purchase was as satisfying as that one.

My Miele is going on 7 years now. Great vacuum.

So I bought the Miele C2. It was on sale for $480 at Bed Bath and Beyond and their coupon said you could not use it on the vacuum but I was told they take it by the cashier and another person working there so I got another $96 off. I think I did very well.

Three years ago I bought the Electrolux canister that is bag-less. It's been a great vacuum for us. It's bag-less so relies on the filters heavily, but they are easy to clean and reusable. About my only complaint is that once the filters start to fill up, the vac loses some suction until they are cleaned. The manufacturer says clean every 3 months, I do it about once a month but do live in a very dusty part of the world. It takes about 5 minutes to take the vac apart and wash all the filters/parts, though then you are on hold for a while until they dry.

The death of our 25 year old Oreck came at the hands of the hair fairy who blessed our child with ample amounts of hair that DH was constantly trying to rescue the Oreck from. The electrolux has a brush-roll cutter that you just activate every so often (by stepping on a button) and it cleans the roll of hair and fine threads. Apparently nearly a necessity in our home.

Another vote for Miele. I have a 19 year old Miele Platinum that is still going strong (except for a power wand that I need to replace - it was dropped on tile and is currently held together with Gorilla tape). It did have an early (in warranty) issue with the contactor ring in the body of the vac, but that was replaced. Newer Mieles use a different electrical connection.

I like my Miele. I buy the he bags from Amazon, and they are way cheaper than the vacuum store was selling them for.

I have no idea how old my Miele is (at least 10). But I too was so tired of replacing vacuum cleaners I splurged. Anyway, I feel bad that I don't treat it better - i pull it around by the hose, I bang it into things and I probably don't change the bag as often as I should. This things acts as if it were brand new. I love, love love it.

Another vote for Miele. I have a canister for upstairs and the stick for downstairs. They are 8 years old. I buy my bags on amazon.

I know vacumm cleaners are inherently noisy, but some are unbearable. I found the dyson to be horribly noisy. How are the miele machines. I wish they would put the dB levels on them - just like the dishwashers. Any comments on sound and noise?

The Miele are very quiet. One of their selling points in my opinion. You can hold a conversation while they are running. Their is also a suction adjustment so you can manage the suction which also reduces the sound.

Good luck!

an Oreck. i like that they are light and pretty basic., so less to break

Another Miele vote. Ours lasted for 12 years before it got flooded in Hurricane Harvey.

Could you possibly install a central vacuum? I think our system was under $1K when we built our home in 2001. I have never had a vacuum with this kind of suction power -- not even in the few days when a standard vacuum is brand new. Last year I spent $400 to have two new motors installed. Bags are $8 ea. and last 3 - 4 months (2900 sq ft house/one dog).There Is No Noise because the motor is in our basement. I'm not pushing a motor around, just the hose and tools that go under almost everything. I need only suction tools, no power-assist, to clean hardwood and my orientals.

I bought a Miele 8 years ago and would generally recommend it for cleaning ability and dust containment. A year ago, the spring on the latch that holds the accessory door shut popped out. With about 30 minutes of effort, figuring out how it was supposed to be positioned and a few tries, I got it back in. The latch and spring seem flimsy, especially considering what I paid for the vacuum.

The Miele replaced a 30 year old, made-in-the-USA Hoover canister that worked fine. I had to replace it because the hose had split and the replacement part was no longer made by Hoover. Had it been available, I would have bought the new part and kept it. The Hoover was not as good as the Miele with dust containment but it did clean very well.

WIshiwereintheup, I am still using the bare floor tool, extension hose and other extension tools from my first vacuum -- a Hoover bought about 45 years ago. It came with them -- in those days few upright vacs were designed with a hose that comes off for tool use; the extension had to be plugged into the unit when I wanted to use it. I've jerry rigged various adapters to allow them to be used with later vacuums. They are perfectly good; the bare floor accessory and extra length hose for my current vacuum was ridiculously expensive.

I don't remember what happened to that Hoover. I think maybe when my DH used it to vacuum the garage without a bag in it (I clearly remember that!), that ruined it, but not sure. It would have been about 20 years old then and still a good vac.

I have been away from the thread for a good while. Too many other things taking my time. It looks like Miele is the way I am going to go. Now I am debating between the C1 and C2 as well as power hose or not. Costco currently has the C1 with HEPA filter and power hose for $399. They have the C1 with standard filter (HEPA can be installed) and no power hose for $249. The C2 comes with a HEPA filter and has a gasket for a completely sealed unit. Have not really looked into the C2 pricing. The nice thing about purchasing from Costco is easy returns if I am unhappy.

I went ahead and ordered the C1 Electro+

I have had a Kenmore canister vacuum for 20+ years. It has worked great, although it is a bit heavy. It suddenly pooped out last week and I thought at first I'd just buy another Kenmore, since I had no problems with this one, and it's a big savings over the Miele. But people here are so crazy about the Miele's that I am considering it....if I find a sale and/or use a BBY coupon (as someone here suggested), it's not THAT much more...comments welcome. Thanks

Another question about the Miele C3: How hard or easy is it to change the filter and the bags? That's a bit of a pain with the Kenmore....

I have yet to have to change a bag but it looks pretty easy.

It's very easy. There are user-friendly diagrams on the bags.

I have a Simplicity/Riccar canister. It was less $ than the Miele when I purchased it. Actually, I bought it used on CL 7 years ago. Maybe 8. Anyway, it's awesome. My kids are using it right now. If you can't find a Miele, try Simplicity or Riccar.

Not sure about all Miele's, but mine is so incredibly easy to change. There is truly nothing to it.