Miele C3 Total Solution Allergy or Sebo Airbelt E3 Premium

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tygar2

Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2017
Messages
12
Location
Essex
Hello everyone.

I have just discovered your great forum and I am hoping for your expertise in coming to a decision.

So the wife decided she wants a new vacuum because our current and still working cheapo one is "not very good". She had her eye on the Dyson V8 handheld but now way was I going to agree to spending £450 on a vacuum with 20 minutes battery power. She then said she would be happy with the Dyson Cinetic Ball Animal Cylinder currently on sale at £299 with a free tool. We went and checked it out and it's an ok machine but lots of fiddly plastics.

She likes the Dyson for the aesthetics but I want value for money. £300 is quite a bit so I want the best I can get. I have done my research and narrowed down to 2. I hope to get your input through experience as to which is the best. Our house is 80% carpet with 20% laminate and one large thick rug. No pets. We prefer cylinders.

Option 1
Miele Complete C3 Total solution Allergy - £225. Miele have a £30 cashback offer so final price will be £195.
This machine is 1200w
2 year warranty but can be extended to 10 years for £50 so total of £245 if warranty is extended.


Option 2
Sebo E3 Premium with ET - 1 powerhead - £280
This machine is 700w
5 year warranty.

Which is better? Is 700w in the Sebo sufficient? The only sebo I managed to demo was an E1 with 1200w and no motorised powerhead so I wonder how the 700w will be. I have had a play with the Miele and it is better than the dyson for sure.

Which is the better option and why....


Thanks for you comments in advance.
 
My 2¢ Both are good

You can't go wrong with either machine but check if the Meile comes with an electric power nozzle w/height adjustment (it will get through the thick carpet) instead of the turbo nozzle & also the Sebo w/height adjustment on the power nozzle is great with thick pile carpets. It comes down to you which one you'd like & which one will perform best on that thick carpet. Also look at the bag capacity too. I've got the Miele Cat/Dog which gets up all the cat fuzz in one pass with the SEB 228 power nozzle which I think works better then the other ones.

*Disclaimer* these are my personal opinions & will differ greatly from others on here.

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Thanks Marks.

Unfortunately here in the UK only the £400+ 800w C3 Electroplus gets the electric brush head.

The C3 Total solution is 1200w with air powered turbo brush.

The Sebo E3 is 700w with 175w electric brush.
 
Thanks Marks.

Unfortunately here in the UK only the £400+ 800w C3 Electroplus gets the electric brush head.

The C3 Total solution is 1200w with air powered turbo brush.

The Sebo E3 is 700w with 175w electric brush.
 
I think they are both really good as well. Although my personal opinion, I like the Sebo canisters better because of their durability and cleaning performance. But again it depends on which one you would like better.
 
Definitely the Sebo. An electric powerhead will always clean better than a turbo brush, plus you also get a 5 year guarantee as standard and a slightly longer hose. Bags, filters and spares are reasonably priced for Sebo, whereas Miele consumables tend to be on the dear side to say the least.

I have the D4 Premium Eco, which is the larger cousin to the E3, and the 700 watt motor is plenty powerful. Does a great job, and two years in, I'm still very happy with it.
 
I much prefer the way the attachments are stored under the hood of the Miele C3. But with all that carpeting, you do indeed need an electric power nozzle. It might be well worth the investment to go for the deluxe Miele with the electric nozzle. It also provides an easier way to shut off the brush roll right on the hose handle, rather than pressing the little button on the Sebo powerhead.
 
Thanks guys

It's looking like Sebo but as Eurekaprince said, the Miele looks better and stores it's own accessories. The total clean also comes with 4 brush attachments - Floorhead,hard floorbrush,Parquet twister floorbrush and Turbobrush floorhead.

Spiraclean, I have a question for you as my biggest worry with the sebo is the 700w power. How does your Sebo perform when using suction only? The powerbrush will not work in all areas eg. Vacuuming the car, so I need good suction only performance.

Thanks all
 
If you need to adjust your carpet nozzle for various heights, the Sebo requires you to bend down and adjust the height by hand. With the Miele electric nozzle, you do this with your foot.

If you go for the Miele with electric nozzle, you should ask your seller if he would throw in this handy mini turbo nozzle for free. It's very well designed for car cleaning as it can get into very tight spaces:



http://https//m.miele.co.uk/domesti...ssory-cases-2205.htm?mat=07805350&name=STB_20
 
Another vote for the Sebo. Whilst the Miele's do look more stylish, Sebo's are incredibly robust and the powernozzle will give greater performance on carpets. The Sebo does also store the smaller dusting tools onboard, just the different floorheads that don't (which is the same as the Miele).

Tygar, don't worry about the recent wattage caps. 700w is more than enough to clean well. Wattage is not a direct indicator of suction power, it only tells you how much electricity the machine uses. More power doesn't always mean more suction, it's more about the internals of the machine. Hence a poorly designed 1600w vacuum won't clean as well as a well designed 700w vacuum.

The new Henry's, for example, at 620w - almost half the motor power that they used to be, and yet they've improved performance by 10% due to redesigning the tools and motor.
 
Hi Chris,

Where does the E3 store its small attachments? I only see a slot for the crevice tool. Where are the other tools? I know where they are on the D4, but not the E3....just going by photos on the internet...

EP Brian
 
The E Series also stores the upholstery nozzle at the back of the machine, but Sebo do not supply a dusting brush as standard though this is available with a clip to store it on the wand.

I have the base model with a 700 watt motor and the suction is very good and more than adequate for hard floor and above floor cleaning. The standard carpet/floor head is OK for general carpet cleaning, but poor for pet hair removal, but the power head that comes with the E3 Premium solves that problem.

In a choice between a Miele with an air powered turbo head and a Sebo with a power nozzle, I would choose the Sebo, but they e decision is harder if you were chosing between the Miele with an electric nozzle and the Sebo. On paper the power head Miele gets better results with a claimed AAAA rating, but Miele cleaners aren't as well built as they used to be and previous models with a power head have had reliability problems.

So it's another vote for the Sebo from me, but I don't think you'd be unhappy with the Miele either.

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Chris and Roger summed it up perfectly. I'd agree that the 700 watt motor has enough power to get the job done, and I've never felt that it needed more oomph.

With regard to the four (!) floor heads supplied with the Miele, it's a nice idea, but you'll likely find most of them will never leave the cupboard. Toting them all around with you, and swapping from one to another each time you go from one surface to another, will soon get tiresome. A rotating brush for carpets, and ONE suction-only head for laminate, will do everything you need while keeping things as simple and practical as possible.
 
I would also vote for the Sebo

First, I would definitely avoid the Dysons, this is personal opinion but I am not a fan of bagless vacuums, they are a mess to empty and maintain, and Dyson vacuums are overpriced and not very good quality.
Based on your two choices, I would go with the Sebo, if you are cleaning carpet, you should use an Electric power nozzle, I would not even bother with turbo nozzles. They are very prone to cloging, are much louder, and will decrease the suction power of the vacuum in order to spin the turbine. The 700 watt motor should work fine, no issue there. If you can get a Miele with an electric power head at a good price, that would be worth considering, but again, based on the options you mentioned, I would go with the Sebo.
 
Couldn't decide so ordered both

Thanks for your input everyone.

After much research on this forum and demos in the shops I was still unsure on which way to go. Concern with the Sebo is suction power and being bottom heavy. With the Miele, it's the shorter warranty and lack of electric brush. I never got a chance to fully demo the E3 premium as I could only find the E1 instore (see pics).

In this case I found the Miele was the better suction only vacuum. The E1 plastics and especially the extention tube felt better quality. I tried a felix with a ET 1 powerhead but wasnt exactly wowed (probably did it wrong!). On low setting the sebo is quieter than the Miele but on full power the Miele is quieter.

Of course this was not an ideal comparison as the powerhead was missing and the E1 is a 1200w model whereas the E3 is 700w.

With that I have decided to order both the Miele C3 and sebo E3...I will return one after trying them out. Picking up C3 today.

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I am yet to compare. The sebo arrived less than an hour ago so will be doing a comparison shortly. The Euro stickers on the seem to rate the Miele over the Sebo. Strangely looking forward to it...I know, it's just a vacuum!

Miele cost £199 (£229 minus £30 cashback promo currently on).
Sebo cost £279 (inc 8 free bags).

So the Sebo will have to be better to justify the extra cost as the difference could buy me an extra 2 years warranty (£15) plus a lot of Miele bags which I think evens the long term operating costs.

Have to note that Sebo called to arrange delivery when suitable for me. I did not purchase direct from them so they did not have to do that. I also just realised they threw in a box of bags for free....nice customer service.

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I wouldn't pay any attention to the ratings stickers, they're total nonsense. For example, they rated a Vax upright with no brushroll off function higher on hard floors than a Henry suction cleaner. We all know that cylinders are far better on hard floors. The testing methods don't accurately represent in-home performance and are all carried out by the manufacturers so there is no consistent testing.

I can absolutely guarantee that the Sebo will out-clean the Miele on carpet purely because of the powernozzle. When cleaning carpets, the suction is secondary. The brushroll does the bulk of the work, sweeping the dirt into the suction path which is then sucked into the bag. Because it's motor driven, the powernozzle won't slow down on carpet like a turbo brush, so will lift the pile better.

With regards to long term maintenance, the Sebo bags are 8 bags for £9.99 vs 4 Miele bags for £12.99, so longer term, the Sebo is cheaper to maintain. The Sebo also has a longer guarantee from the start.
 
Surprised

Update.

Just had a short go with both machines and am a bit surprised with the results.

The sebo is very nice and the I used the powerhead on an already vacuumed patch which it somehow managed to make look cleaner.
The sebo hose is a bit chunky and unwieldy due to the electrics. The extention pole is also the same and I'm not a fan of the exposed wire where it connects to the handle. Also when using the tools without the extention pole the electric connectors seem to get in the way - see pic below. Suction is ok but not amazing - I wish it had more. However sebo easily beats the miele in terms of quality of construction materials.

Now the miele...I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. Tried it with the ecotec brush and it is hard work. It is just sticking to the carpet up thereby gets impossible to move - am I doing something wrong? I have tried even the lowest power setting with no success. The bag full indicator also shows as red when the brush is stuck to carpet Quality of platics is below that of the sebo.

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it is hard work....am I doing something wrong?

ALL straight suction cleaners are hard work on carpet. You really do need either an electronic powernozzle or, at the very least, an air-driven turbo brush.
 
Verdict - Sebo wins!

Thanks Turbo500 for the input.

Tried both machines again and we are going to keep the Sebo. The quality and performance are better than Miele and as someone else said, the sebo provides fewer accessories but they are the ones most people need.

Was worried about suction but as I discovered with the Miele, there is such a thing as too much suction as I could barely move the thing!

Also, so many complaints online about poor customer service from Miele so that's that.

Thanks all. Any questions feel free to ask as I still have both machines with me.

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Did your choice of vacuums to consider depend on what was available to you locally? I ask because there are many other good vacuums out there but I figured your decision was based on what you could go and physically inspect and test in a vacuum store. I also assume you were looking to buy new and did not consider purchasing a previously used machine. Is that right?
 

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