Am I The Only One.....

[repairman]

That hates Miele? Every time they come in the shop for not turning on (while under warranty), they either have faulty cords or bad motors. I find it amazing that someone would spend hundreds of dollars on a vacuum only for it to die like that. I have to give Miele credit for offering a 7 year warranty on the motor, but I can't imagine how much money they lose. If somebody wants a reliable upright, they could just buy a Riccar Vibrance for less than $350. Does anyone else in the repair industry feel the same way?

 

[crazykirbydude]

Me too. The uprights are way more electrically complex than they need to be and they're way too bulky, weighing MORE than a Kirby G Series, and the Miele doesn't even have self propel! The canisters are okay, but the cheap plastic hoses, the overcomplicated circuitry, and the tiny bags, which are crazy expensive, are real turn offs for me. I much prefer my Kirby and Electrolux vacuums. I would buy a SEBO before I buy a Miele. I have used both the Windsor Sensor XP12 (SEBO X4) and the Windsor Axcess (SEBO Dart) and I was quite impressed by both of them.

 

[vacfan1982]

Miele cylinder cleaners may not be built as well as they were years ago but the build quality is still quite good and should last at least 10 years. We pay a lot less for Miele and Sebo here, you can get a basic C3 for £150. I think that is excellent value. The bags are 4.5 litres so not tiny they cost around £2.50 and they are the best bags I've seen.

 

[crazykirbydude]

The bags here are $20 for a three pack. I can get a 3 pack of HEPA Kirby bags for around $13, and the Kirby bags are much bigger. If I had to buy a German vacuum, I would buy a SEBO. They seem well built, yet lightweight, and match or exceed the Miele in cleaning performance.

 

[vacfan1982]

£10 for a 4 pack here. I'd say Sebo are built better but the Miele has more airflow and better filtration. I'd be very happy with either Miele or Sebo.

 

[jo]

Debating which is best

Give me an Aerus any day over all those other machines for durability and ease of use. Yeah they are expensive but they last far longer. It’s never convenient and always frustrating when an appliance fails and when there’s not good service behind it if it does fail, the frustration gets worse. Know some with those simplicity Riccar uprights. They are not impressed for the price they paid some years down the line.

 

[huskyvacs]

I hate all those luxury brands because they purposely do not sell or make excess parts to sell as spares. They do not want you to fix them. They want you to throw them away and buy a new one. You spend $600 on a vacuum just to have it last 2.5 to 3 years? That's not right. Furthermore, they will only honor the repair if its done at a certified dealer, and with brand new OEM parts that have been marked up 80% more because they know you need it. Any company that does that is scum.

Also a $500 vacuum doesn't clean any better than a $50 vacuum - just the same as a $700 phone still makes the same phone call as a $15 prepaid. I come from a family that doesn't flippantly throw money away, so I don't fall for consumerism with that "more money means better product" gimmick.

I have a Miele Black Diamond (very rare) and when I was rebuilding it - I had to import most of the parts from Germany. It took 2 years buying 1 part at a time as I could afford it to rebuild it. That's how badly Miele sucks. When I tried to eMail Miele to get a manual for it from their files (a lot of companies do that) - they had no idea what vacuum I was even talking about! They said they never made one of that model. I had to laugh.

I'd rather get a 1950's Kirby at Goodwill for $10, spend $50 repairing it and restoring it myself, and then have it last another 90 years.

 

[lux_luthor]

I find it crazy that the cost for Miele is ridiculously more in the US than it is for Germany. I understand it’s an imported product, but 5-10 times the cost really necessary? Also I don’t understand why they don’t have a mini motorized tool available at all. Turbo brushes are OK, but powered ones work better.

Additionally, I have found the charcoal activated HEPA filter that they used to sell does not eliminate odors from the exhaust.

I do think the performance of Miele is good, but they are lacking in some areas.

 

[n0oxy]

Miele

I have a Miele C1 Olympus, it's a nice straight suction canister. I've heard that Miele parts are very expensive, fortunately I have not needed to buy any of those. I think Sebo's build quality is a bit better than Miele's. When it comes to uprights, I would avoid Riccar, the quality is definitely not what it once was. In my view the best upright you can get is the Sebo Felix. The design of that machine is ingenius, it's an upright but it gives you the flexibility of a canister.
Mike

 

[crazykirbydude]

I think the base model Riccar SupraLite is a nifty little upright. I would stay away from everything else though.

 

[vacuumdevil]

Ok Boomer

@repairman I know you'll be in good company here.


I equate the misunderstanding of German cars in the US that used to be .
There used to be I misunderstanding that German cars were hard to fix because they were different fix. however my wife's s5 is far easier to work on than the Chevy lumina.

I've rarely ever seen manufacturer defect electrical issues especially with a Miele. They do tend to get abused by some of their owners pretty bad just like any other vacuum.

I find it interesting that you would then turn around and Shill for a much lower quality product.

You remind me of an old auto mechanic I know who once said. "They're all pieces of shit no matter how sporty or fast they are" "at the end of the day you'd rather not be working on any of these pieces of shit"

 

[crazykirbydude]

A vacuum cleaner does not need any sort of complex circuitry. Period. If a mid 70s Electrolux Super J doesn't need a circuit board, neither should a Miele.

 

[human]

My sentiments exactly...

Huskyvacs wrote:
I'd rather get a 1950's Kirby at Goodwill for $10, spend $50 repairing it and restoring it myself, and then have it last another 90 years.

cazykirbydude wrote:
A vacuum cleaner does not need any sort of complex circuitry. Period. If a mid 70s Electrolux Super J doesn't need a circuit board, neither should a Miele.

I reply:
Coudn't have said it better myself. With high quality vintage Kirby and Electrolux models available in the second hand market for a pittance, it makes exactly zero sense to shell out for a new machine that's just a pile of circuit boards, waiting to self-destruct a week after the warranty expires. The total cost of ownership equation just doesn't add up on these machines.

 

[crazykirbydude]

One of my other hobbies is working with computers, and I've seen computers that have overheated and died due to a bit of dust buildup on the sensitive electronics. Now tell me, does it make sense to put those same sensitive electronics into a machine which is literally designed to deal with dirt? The most outrageous example of this is Hoover's React upright WITH A MICROPROCESSOR that's designed to communicate with your cell phone. Why in the world does an UPRIGHT VACUUM CLEANER need to be connected to a phone to operate? It's quite literally the stupidest design I've ever seen. The best part is that the only function that the app serves is to control the brushroll, adjust the height, and check for clogs, which is something that could have easily been accomplished with a simple rocker switch, diaphragm switch, and a height pedal/knob. I should not have to create an account with Hoover and connect my vacuum to my phone just to use AN UPRIGHT VACUUM CLEANER! I'm a techy guy, but I only appreciate technology where it belongs, which is inside my computer case, not in my vacuum cleaner. I will attach photos of the offending vacuum and the accompanying phone app.

 

[vacuumdevil]

@crazykirbydude the old school Electrolux has that used a klusterfuk of vacuum lines to control multiple switches and things. this ended up being less reliable than most circuit boards with the mechanical switches internal parts in lines dry rotting.
Don't even get me started on the internal clogging issues of some of those lines.
Solid state electronics are really reliable these days. If you've ever taken apart an Electrolux 2100 to 6500 series canister it is far more prone to failure then something like a Miele or SEBO that have been using circuit boards 35+ years.

The only Miele I have ever seen that had electronic problems was the blue moon, original 500 series red velvet & Silver moon . Those are all hoes related. But everything else has been very solid.

But I will definitely agree with you Hoover,Roidmi do not need to have a Bluetooth module with an app to spy on you. Just like thermostats don't need to connect to the internet.

 

[vacfan1982]

Alex I've had my Miele S5 for 7 years now. No problems whatsoever. I've also had an S8/C3 for 4 years without any problems. I speak as I find and I find Miele to be very reliable.

 

[lux_luthor]

I bought one new that had a bad wand that didn’t power the power nozzle, and then the button to extend the wand on the new one broke. My very first brand new Miele had a hose short out in the first week of owning it. Both models were the Delphi. One was white, one was blue. Had a C3 that the “quick release” latch on the power nozzle was broken out of the box. Luckily no circuit board issues, but hose, wand, and power nozzle issues happened on 3 different canisters, all of which were brand new. 2 of which were broken before ever being used.

 

[vacfan1982]

You've had a lot of bad luck haven't you. Have you been walking under ladders?

 

[lux_luthor]

Right?
I can’t recall ever having issues like that with any other brand. I’ve been through a number of vacuums because I like to try different ones. But Miele has been the only brand I’ve had that has been broken right out of the box or within a matter of days. And I’m very easy going on my machines, so it wasn’t user error.
Makes me wonder if Sebo is better. I thought about a Felix, but the heated exhaust while trying to use it in canister mode was a turn off for me.