Miele C2 Complete Powerline Cat & Dog

[turbo500]

Hey everyone,


 


I treated myself to a little post-Christmas present. I managed to pick this up locally on Gumtree for a very reasonable price as it was an unwanted christmas gift. The box had been opened, but nothing had been removed.


 


This is the new "eco" 1600w model. The body is the same as the S5, which was originally 2200w.


 


Of course, the build quality is exactly what you'd expect from Miele and the cleaner is very quiet in operation. I do have a few criticisms, however.


 


Firstly, the Miele Cat & Dog models have always been a more premium model in the UK (just for reference for our US friends, we only ever had 1 Powernozzle model in the UK per line up and this was always the TOL). For the cost difference, the Cat & Dog always came with 2 turbo brushes (full sized and mini) and carbon filters for pet odor. The price of the Cat & Dog is still higher than the base model, but this model now only comes with 1 turbo brush. It also appears that Miele no longer make the carbon filters, so this now comes with the standard active Air Clean filters that are fitted to the rest of the range.


 


Secondly, the suction power difference is quite noticeable compared with the old 2200w models. I've had 2 S5's previously and never needed to go above the "everyday"/"silence" setting. The same can be said for my Dad's 1600w Miele S2, However, I did have to increase to the next setting to get the power I'm used to. It certainly feels like all the suction settings are 1 lower than they used to be, ie what used to be the "everyday"/"silence" setting is now the fitted carpets setting. The suction/performance is still very good, don't get me wrong, but having used the older models, it's a little underwhelming. The suction on the new 580w Numatic's is FAR stronger than the Miele on everyday mode, despite it being half the power.


 


On the plus side, the newer Allteq straight suction floorhead (picture 2) is a vast improvement over the floorhead that came with the second generation S5's (picture 3). The older one was very heavy and clunky and the plastic at the front used to scrape along the top of the carpet.


 


Overall, I'm very pleased with this, but I don't think I would pay full price for one new knowing that they now don't come with both turbo tools OR the higher spec filters anymore

 

[ultralux88]

I find the lack of electric P/Ns in Europe to be odd, I know they have carpet and rugs like the rest of us, but why are Europeans less likely to want a PN for their rugs? I've never been truly impressed with most turbo tools, I liked the one Miele was using back with the Flamenco, that had a dial instead of the slider, it actually seemed to do well, as does the TurboCat. But I don't like ho it seems like airflow is choked off to power it. I love straight suction tools like the Miele Air-Teq, that one really seems to clean almost as well as a PN, and I've sold it to customers with very little to no carpeting and many delicate area rugs because I believe it will clean very well while being gentle on the rugs that need that.

 

[sebo_fan]

Europeans are less likely to want a PN for rugs because in Europe for the most part, homes have hard floors and the UK have carpets where uprights rule the roost. We've also been conditioned into thinking that a canister vacuum is far lighter - all hail the Hoover Constellation and others - and specifically for above the floor line for cleaning with.

Miele make quite a few "Air Teq," branded floor heads - I had the double pedal SBD650 as fitted to my S6 Ecoline but couldn't abide it. The single pedal one shown in Chris' photo (n.2) is far easier to use - I also bought one last year - the SBD650 isn't as soft on wool carpets as the lighter single pedal one in my experience.

 

[turbo500]

Cylinders/canisters with powerheads have always been expensive TOL machines. I don't think Electrolux have ever offered one in Europe. Looking back at some old brochures, all the European Lux cylinders had remote hoses but no PN. Hoover had a PN cylinder, but to be honest, the sheer size of them, it was far easier and cheaper to just get an upright

 

[sebo_fan]

The other consideration to remember is UK home size; no where near as big as U.S generic sizes. I was shocked at my cousin's first town house when she moved in as it was absolutely massive and she called it a "small but compact space." The living room alone could house a small UK 2 bedroom flat for the U.S style "small but compact space."

IN my experience, a canister vac which is traditionally smaller than an upright seems to take up more space in a UK home when it has the bulky electric hose, tubes and then a heavy PN tagged at the end. I often find it a struggle to pull some 5kg vacuum on average behind it, only to have half the weight in front due to the PN and tubes alone.

Granted my old SEBO K3 had that set up, but in its defence, the combo plastic-metal telescopic tube was only slightly heavier than the non electric version. But I still find the set up too bulky. The K3 was better with just straight suction tools and the lighter non electric tubing in my experience. If I want heavy, I'll just use an upright instead, but importantly have all in one in front of me rather than the weight differential of PN in front and cylinder behind.

 

[eurekaprince]

I know that besides Miele, Dyson and Sebo, these other European vac-makers offered power nozzles with their canisters at some point: Progress, Electrolux, Lux (Door to Door), Vorwerk (the Tiger canister) and Hoover/Candy.

Here's a pic of an old Electrolux power nozzle:



http://www.metropol.se/auctions/bil...&extra={8D70C291-C828-484A-BE57-2F509EFF120D}

 

[ultraperformer]

Great find wish I'd been proactive now and been checking gumtree!!!!!

Dan

 

[turbo500]

There's no difference between Electrolux & Lux in the UK. I've never seen that Electrolux PN, though I have seen that same cleaner with an air driven turbobrush. Possibly never sold in the UK.


 


Hoover had the Sensotronic cylinders, but I don't think they've offered a PN since.

 

[sensotronic]

I think the last power nozzle Hoover offered was with one of their top of the range Alpinas.

 

[sebo_fan]

I definitely think you should rethink the suction combi floor head, Chris. Sounds to me like the Miele could do with the heavier 2 pedal AirTeq floor head for greater grip, or the older SBD 295-2 if you can get it.

For those interested here's a few Miele floor heads I have with approximate weights.

 

[turbo500]

I've been using this as my daily driver over the last few weeks. I have to say, I'd forgotten just how much more convenient cylinders are to use. I can go from bare floors, to rugs, to fitted carpet, to above floor dusting without having to even switch the machine off. Equally, I'd forgotten how much I appreciate variable power!


 


I've never had to put it on full power, even on deep pile rugs.


 


I had a bit of a moan at Miele regarding the dusting tools which I thought were pretty low in quality. Most noticeably the dusting brush which had very stiff, scratchy bristles. Not great for dusting delicate areas like lampshades. Miele very kindly sent me the natural bristle dusting brush for free - seriously cannot fault their customer service.


 


The Active AirClean charcoal filters seem like a vast improvement over the old ones - they really do retain the smells. With a long haired feline in the house, vacuum smells are not entirely uncommon, but there's not 1 wiff coming from the Miele in operation. I suspect this is due to the improved filters combined with the new HyClean 3D bags.


 


Speaking of HyClean 3D, these really do work! The bag fills evenly from the back to the front, so every corner of the bag is used. The bag seems to be getting wider as it fills up, rather than having less space available towards the front.


 


Overall, I'm really pleased with this. It's a pleasure to use and does a great job. Personally, I can't see much sense in continuing the S5 style as the C2 Powerline when the S8/C3 has pretty much replaced this design and there is very little different in performance between the 2, but I do prefer the styling of the C2/S5 so I was happy to get this model.

 

[turbo500]

You can see the difference between the 2 dusting brushes here. The top one is the one that came with the machine, the bottom one is the natural bristle replacement. This used to come as standard, but now is only included with the C3.