In my opinion, canister vacuums are a pain in the neck.

I grew up in a house with a canister and vacuuming was my assigned chore. I grew to dislike lugging the long tube around, getting stuck behind furniture, banging into corners with the caboose, cramming it all into a closet, etc.

A few years ago my SIL wanted this same Miele. They, too, have a mix of flooring: hardwood, carpet, tile, rugs. I suggested she first try vacumming the house with their shop vac – not it’s intent, but it would show her how unweildy a canister can be. She lasted 2 rooms and 1 stairway attempt before giving up on the canister idea and bought another upright.

So, in summary, while the Miele might be a good product, it’s been my personal experience that canister vacs have become nearly extinct for a reason: they are not as easy to maneuver or store as uprights.

Good luck with your search!

I’ve had a Miele for about five years and really like it — the bags are easy to change out, the different heads make cleaning carpet and solid flooring really easy, and it’s light enough for my seven year old to drag around the house when she’s in the mood to help out. Plus, on a completely unnecessary note, it’s attractive. :)

We have that exact Miele you show in the post. We love it! Highly recommend!

I’ve had an Electrolux Harmony for the past 8 years and been very pleased with it. I prefer the dirt to be contained inside a bag, and changing them is literally one snap.

Whenever I buy an appliance, I always check Consumer Reports for a performance review. My vacuum is over 15 years old but it’s still working. It’s a Hoover upright & I’ve had no problems with it.

I too live in Manhattan with 2 kids and have a mix of carpet and wood floors. I just got a new vac a few months ago and looked at Miele, but ended up with a kenmore canister (from sears-progressive model). It was only 3 or 4 hundred and I have been so happy with it. I am super picky and vacuum all of the time. No buyer’s remorse at all.

Oh, and the electrolux isn’t bagless, and I love it. So much easier to take out that nasty bag and throw it away than to dump out that nasty container and get the yucky dirt flying back around everywhere.

We bought a Sebo canister vac a couple of years ago and love it (and my Mom loves hers, too). The dealer sells both Sebo and Miele, but recommended the Sebo. My husband adores this vacuum cleaner and actually gives it affectionate looks, he loves it that much.

I use my Dyson on wood floors all the time BUT with the attachment that i bought for I think $50 extra. Makes stairs much easier too … it virtually turns it in to a canister vac and can be used on small area rugs too.

All I know is, when I used to change bags – it seemed very infrequently – I still spilled dust. With a DYSON I ask myself how I didn’t have to change the bags every time I used my former vacuum, as the Dyson canister fills so quickly (with a dog whose only apparent job in life besides eating, is shedding long hair).

The Dyson canister has a great attachment for hardwood floors. I am a HUGE Dyson fan and will never be swayed! My mom has a Miele and I wasn’t impressed with it.

I did some research a few months ago when I was in need of a new vacuum. I strongly believe that bagged ones are the way to go. I truly don’t understand the hype of bagless, to me, they make no sense. Your vacuum is supposed to clean the floors and then when you go to empty, the bagless creates all kinds of dust you just vacuumed, and then, you have to clean the canister. That dust is also bad if anyone in the family suffers from allergies, plus, it’s really not that hard to change a bag. Also, in my opinion, you don’t have to spend as much as a Dyson or Miele cost to end up with a superior model. I decided to buy an Oreck a few months ago and I am so happy with it. I have hardwood floors and area rugs, so I went with a model that has two speeds. The lower speed is great on the hardwoods because it doesn’t blow everything around. I purchased it when it was on sale and included 3 tuneups and I got the sales guy to throw in 8 bags, which should last awhile. I highly recommend Oreck — and it’s made in the U.S., can’t beat that!

I LOVE my dyson and would never buy another brand (definitely better than Oreck). I bought a refurbished one 3 years ago at about half the cost and have had no problem with it. I use it on carpet, tile, and hardwood and I think it works great on all of them (have you tried turning off the brush roll on non-carpet?). I just put the canister in a plastic bag when I empty it and then tie it off, I don’t get much dust. I also like not having the added expense and inconvenience of buying bags…and you can see when it’s full more easily.

I love canister vacuums. I just have the Kenmore from Sears and it has lasted me through three apartments and four roommates. In contrast to the commenter above, I find them to be much easier to maneuver on hard surfaces and stairs than an upright. They also make vacuuming high things (like window blinds) much easier. Their Achilles heal is the joint where the hose enters the canister, eventually the hose will crack with age and the part will have to be replaced.

I have an Oreck as well — based on a friend’s recommendation. I love it. It’s super light and does great on both hardwood and rugs.

Miele Callisto. I researched exhaustively–we have four kids and live in a brand new two story home we built ourselves with oak hardwood, slate and travertine tile and probably 40% rugs in the country in Northern California. The Callisto is light, quiet and ruthless on dust and cobwebs, it is light enough to use on the wood staircase and the rug attachment is perfect for the few large Persian rugs we have. I had two Kenmore canisters (which I loved) in the twenty years before I finally bit the $900 bullet and bought this one for the new house. I too think bagless is gross and messy and the compartment is just one more thing to clean.

I formerly worked in a bed and breakfast as a housekeeper, and at the age of 19 purchased my own first vacuum (and most expensive belonging at the time) the Sears/Kenmore canister vac. It comes in a few different levels of fancy, but I got the most expensive and I love it. The two we had at the B&B lasted well over 5 years, and mine is about 7 or 8 now. Similar concept to the Miele, more attachments…so I can meander around the house doing carpets, floor, dusting, cobwebs, stairs, couch, without stopping and going to the closet for the pieces.

Miele all the way! I first noticed these vacuums in all the swanky apartments in doing photo shoots on location in the city. I admit I was initially sucked in (ha) by their looks, but after owning one for the last three years I can say they are great! I seem to remember the salesman telling me all the models have the same motor, and that the various models are just a matter of different brushes and attachments.

I have had my meile for at least 10 years, it has never needed a repair besides cord replacement (and that was the fault of the housekeeper who tried to pull it into another room) and it is still rocking along. It is an investment, but one I’m glad I bit the bullet and made. Our shop offers free annual maintenance, where they replace the bands and give everything a good cleaning. Hope this helps!

The Oreck is great as well as a vintage model Electrolux Diplomat. The Diplomat is all metal and has the strongest sucking power I have ever encountered. They also last FOREVER. Personally I have the yellow Dyson, it’s okay- not as good as a vintage Diplomat though.Good luck.

Miele. I’m a housekeeper and use many kinds of vacuums. I liked using a Miele so much I bought one myself 10 years ago. Works just as good today as it did when I got it.

Get the Miele! I did a lot of research about 6 months ago and finally decided on the Miele upright. I love it! I actually get excited to vacuum. I hated my canister vacuum and I have found that the bags are much easier to contain the dust which is plus with my allergies. I love how it transfers from carpet to hard flooring, I love the suction control (great for rugs), I love how it looks and moves. The mieles are designed to last 20 years. You won’t regret your investment.

I work at a museum (which happens to also be a historic home from the 18th century) and we have our cleaning staff use a Miele :)
My mom and aunts also all have the Miele and LOVE it. We use ours on hardwood and rugs and I find it to be equally amazing on both!

We have hardwood floors all throughout our house, with area rugs. After months of agonizing, I finally purchased a Miele Polaris. I have not regretted it for a second. I love love love it for the hardwood, and it doesn’t do a bad job on the rugs either. BUT I still kept my upright vacuum to use on the rugs – it does seem to clean deeper. I didn’t want to pay hundreds more for a Miele model with a powered brush attachment. But if space were at a premium that’s what I would recommend getting.

PS – I live in Mesa. Woot!

We bought a Miele about 6 months ago, and it was the best decision ever. We have a mix of hardwoods and rugs, and like you, we live on one floor. It’s so quiet that I can vacuum part of the house while my toddler is sleeping. It really is one of the best purchases we’ve made in years.

I researched this like crazy a couple years back and wound up with a Simplicity canister, which proved itself after the small local vacuum store let me bring home a Miele and try it out (and a couple other brands and upright styles too – I was a vacuuming maniac for a few days there). The Simplicity was much easier to manuver, lighter weight and had better features for my home which is almost all hardwood, some tile and area rugs. If you can try one out before shelling out the big bucks, it will help you decide what actually works best for you. Love my Simplicity!

ORECK. Best purchase I’ve ever made! Moderately priced, exceptionally light, has a bag, and automatically switches from hard floors to carpet! I love the Oreck for it’s simplicity and ease. An Oreck can last
20 years plus. It vacuums fantastic. Simple greatness.

I have 2 Mieles. The first I bought when we only had hard floors, almost 10 years ago. It still works great. The next I got a few years later when we moved to a home with wall to wall carpeting in bedrooms and basement and needed a more carpet-friendly model. It also works great. The bags are not dirty to change. They are well-designed and catch ALL of the dust. I like having 2 now because one child can vacuum the hard floors while the other vacuums the carpets.

Simplicity brand vacuums are the best, hands down. Miele used to be great — years ago. And it’s “trendy” now, and European, so they’re popular here in America recently. But the truth is that Miele was bought out by another huge vacuum brand in the last decade (I forget which one) and slowly all of their metal parts have been replaced with cheaper plastic parts (among other changes). Simplicity (while not as exotic) is one of the old, venerable vacuum brands, and their parts are still metal and the quality is still indisputable. The only problem is that they’re pretty expensive!

I’m sure you’d be happy with either brand, though. Bagged canisters are the way to go!

Another enthusiastic vote for Miele. I have a mix of hardwoods, tile, area rugs, and carpet. I also have stairs, an incredible shedding dog, kids that track in everything, and people with allergies. I have a pricier one with a hardwood brush, electric powered brush, on board tool storage, electronic foot controls, and sealed system HEPA. It handles the dog hair easily (bonus is that the powered brush has no belt, so it’s really easy to clean if needed). The sealed system keeps particles from going back in the air and bag changes are easy. The bag even has a flap that closes when the vacuum is off. I use it daily and go through about a bag per month, so it gets a lot of use. It replaced a canister and an upright and does a better job than both of them put together. It’s light, small, maneuvers easily, quiet, and should last a long time. It was a lot more than I thought I’d ever spend on a vacuum, but I’m so happy I bought it.