Customer Reviews

Miele : S251 Miele Plus Compact Canister Vacuum Cleaner - Royal Blue

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've had my Miele vac for several years now and am almost completely satisfied with it. Great power -- it really DOES clean very effectively, is much quieter than most vacuums, has great accessories, a very powerful powerhead for carpet cleaning, and it's easy to use. To top it all off, the Miele is downright pretty!

The filters are great, it's much cleaner internally than most vacs, and the vacuum cleaner bags can be removed without spewing dust all around. Absolutely the only drawbacks I find with this cleaner are its lack of a power switch on the metal wand and awkward upright storage. If you buy the next level up, I think even those flaws are absent, but I didn't have the money to buy the more expensive model at the time. Other than that, I would buy it again tomorrow. It's a terrific cleaner and a whole lot better than any other cleaner I've ever owned (that would be about ten different cleaners over the years). Well worth the money.

The title says it all. I've had this product for a couple of years and have had to get the plastic "neck" that attaches the wand to the floor head twice already. However, it does very well on tough carpets (dark blue with white persian cat hair!) and the mobility is terrific. Long hose, small low profile head, long cord. Oh, the cord still pops out of the socket... but at least not as often!

I can understand why people loves these machines. They are so quiet, and they are light. However, there are a couple of design flaws that drag down their usefulness, especially when you factor in the high price:

1) The SEB 213 powerbrush that comes with this model works awkwardly with carpets. We have a couple of short-piled ones, and it's a push to use the powerbrush. I can do it, but don't especially like it. If we had high-pile carpets, I doubt we could use this vacuum.

2)Furthermore, this powerbrush is quite difficult to remove and reassemble. The big problem lies in the connector cord that plugs into the handle.It's a struggle to get it out and even harder to get it back in. If you remove the head to suck up dirt along the edges, you have to go through this struggle a lot.

We have found that we no longer use the powerbrush at all. We just use the "floorbrush" on both carpet and bare floors. While it is even a bit harder to use on our carpets than the powerbrush, the struggle to attach/detach the powerbrush makes it worthwhile to stick to the plain brush.

For anyone with a lot of carpets, this is not the vacuum to get. For someone like us with mostly hard floors, I would NOT get this model. I think were I to do it all over again, I'd get the Miele model 4210 Carina which comes with a simpler floor brush and save about $150. If you want HEPA filters, there's the 4210 Sirius for a bit more money. Or look up Consumer Reports' recommended Sears model and get one of those.

I've had mine for 5 years and I absolutely hate it. It's hard to push on our medium pile carpet, and separating the wand to use the tools is needlessly difficult. The power cord that runs up the outside of the wand from the power head and plugs into the handle is awkwardly placed at a flat angle that makes grasping it to pull it out difficult and it's hard to find the right angle to reattach it. And it's just physically difficult to separate the wand from the handle. They're held together by friction and they can really bind. A snap attachment would be much better. (The power head is attached to the wand with a snap, but I often only want to use the brush attachment on the furniture, which requires separating the handle from the wand. Also, the upholstery brush doesn't fit into the tool compartment, so it's never handy - it's always hiding somewhere in the closet.) Somehow I expected more from German engineering.

Because it was so expensive, I've put up with it, but now that we're moving, I'm trading it in - probably on a Miele Twist upright. I love the quiet of the Miele, but I'll have to see how easy it is to use the tools. (At the very least there won't be the power head cord to deal with, which was the worst part.)

I give it an extra star for the quiet, but hate using it. To be fair, I'll add that I discovered I don't like the whole canister style. I thought it would be easier to push than my old Windtunnel, but having the weight of the upright actually provides some mass to help propel it. I also don't like dragging the reluctant canister unit in tow. It runs into and hangs up on everything - furniture, corners, its own cord. And the hose attaches right over the tool compartment and has to be swiveled out of the way to get at the tools but there isn't enough slack to swivel it without forcing it. But I'm really not factoring my dislike of the canister form factor into my rating. The difficulty of using the tools conveniently is what I'm downgrading it on.

We ordered this vacuum after seeing one a friend had that impressed us with how very QUIET it was when operating. It is pricey, but is like a BMW of vacuums with high quality German engineering. You can almost have a conversation while vacuuming, it is that quiet. Previous other brands have been soooo noisy that one risked hearing impairment if ear protection wasn't worn, this machine is a huge relief.