Customer Reviews

Miele : S163 Universal Mini Upright Vacuum - Black

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

 

 

a powerful vacuum (1000w) that's fairly quiet and does a fine job on both hardwood floors and rugs. it's great around the apartment with its 26 ft long cord.

the miele s143 is solidly constructed without being overly weighty and is nicely balanced. the head pivots slightly side to side and is actually helpful vacuuming around things like a furniture leg. the head loses full contact somewhat when you bring the vacuum down to the level of the floor in the rug mode -- trying (ummph) to get deep under the sofa or bed but otherwise but generally does a fine job.

the heart of the s143 can be used with a smaller head/crevice attachment and without the long handle, much like a really powerful hand vac. a very useful feature for cleaning furniture.

there is an option to upgrade to a hepa filter (although the included carbon filter bag is good enough for me) and i believe an option to upgrade to a motorized head but i suspect if that's a serious consideration, the s147 is probably the way to go.

off tangent: i'm not sure why the description lists Ivory as the color but the s143, as far as i know, only comes in the mint green shown in the picture.

all in all, a finely built product that's nicely met the needs of this apartment dweller... though a tad on the pricey side.

*Note that the same model is available on Amazon for a different price, I'm not sure why.

*The only difference between the S163 and S168 is the HEPA filter on the S168...I found it was significantly cheaper to buy the S163 and add the HEPA filer purchased separately.

It is extremely difficult to find a bagged stick vac. For those of us with allergies (or just aversion to dust) "bagless" vacuums are not attractive. Dumping the dust bin re-releases lots of junk (especially the smallest, lightest particles) back into the air.

I bought the Miele S163 simply because it was the only bagged stick vac I could find several years ago. I am thrilled with it. It has very strong suction and rolls easily across our hardwood floors. It does not blow or push around crumbs like many other vacuums, it actually picks them up on the first pass. The chamber is sealed and after several years of use the inside of the vac is literally like new, every speck of dust has been trapped in the bag or filter.

Because I only use mine on hard floors, I find I don't have to change the bag more often than our large canister vac (which we use for carpets). Even very dirty hard floors don't generate nearly as much "waste" as carpets, and I generally change the S163 bag every month, even though it's usually not full. I have a cat and two Cheerio-eating children and use the vac at least once per day.

Bottom line: this vacuum has kept my kitchen floor crumb-free for several years and shows no sign of quitting anytime soon.

I own a Miele canister vac as well and always used it on my wood floors with the floor attachment. Then I was talked into buying this cute green stick vac so I would always have a floor vac "ready to go" (I do a lot of floor cleaning with 3 boys!). Well, it worked fine for about 6 months, then some metal pieces popped out on the head while I was using it and scratched my floor badly. The vacuum is also heavy and doesn't lean easily against things; mine slipped down and promptly cracked the plastic floor attachment. Miele vacuums vacuum well but their plastic is defective. I've owned slightly cheaper Kenmore's that vacuum almost as well but are a lot more durable. Also, you CAN disconnect the wand from the body and use it as a hand vac, but it is very heavy.

I have never done a review, but after using this stick vacuum for 7 months, I felt compelled. My husband hates this vacuum. It's heavy, the wheels squeak, and although it has great suction, and is quiet (except for the squeaking wheels) its very unpleasant to use. Our last vacuum was an Oreck XL that lasted years. I won't be using this stick vacuum anymore -- afraid it'll scratch the floors.
Because of all the glowing reviews on other Miele vacuums, I took the plunge and purchased the Miele Pirouette upright. I almost didn't purchase another Miele because of my disappointment with the stick vacuum. When my husband saw I had purchased another Miele, he wanted me to return it. I'm glad I gave it a try. The Pirouette works like a dream. This is what I expected from Miele. The Pirouette glides across the floor, is heavier than I'd like, but is quiet and extremely easy to manuever, and its a pleasure to vacuum.
Miele should rethink about selling this stick vacuum. It really gives them a bad name, especially for a first-time user.

was hoping for a good hardwood floor vacuum. It didn't have pads that would prevent floor from being scratched. It was heavy!!! in the middle and fell to the floor as it could not stand up on its own. Expensive and definitely not worth considering. I love a good vac at any price, this was not it.

I just used my Miele S163 for the first time and my overall impression is very positive. After seeing competing stick vacs in Bed Bath and Beyond, this definitely looks more quality-built and less cheap. I still think it's overpriced, but at the same time... to find a completely sealed, bagged, allergy-friendly stick vac is a rarity (it may be the only one?) I love the maneuverability. When you twist it with your wrist, the head revolves on the floor to get around all sorts of corners. The suction is quite obvious as you feel it grabbing the hardwood floor. And I like that you can turn down the suction for area rugs.

A lot of reviewers say it's not great on carpet. I did not find this to be the case at all. I have some low-pile area rugs and it seems to clean just fine (I don't have pets - maybe animal hair is different). The floor head also glides smoothly over hardwood and carpet easily and doesn't feel like it's scratching it at all. It's a little heavy, but to me that equals sturdiness. However, I could see that being an issue if you are an elderly person or a weakling. I splurged and bought a dust brush (there are a few) attachment, because I'm a big believer in vacuuming dust rather than pushing it around. It worked out fairly well, again, as long as you have some arm strength. I found myself holding it with both hands lot, but I didn't mind this. The cord is longer than my previous regular upright vac. Now I can reach my whole house without having to switch outlets.

I bought this with the intention of using it as my primary vacuum for my tiny house (not as an enhancement for something else) and after this first use, I feel like it totally accomplished that objective.

Ok, now for the things that I don't like. Mind you, these cons are not enough for me to regret my purchase at all based on my first use - just being thorough. I really like this thing! My few gripes can all be prefaced with the phrase, "For an almost $300 stick vac you would think they would..."

- The thing I don't like the most is the fact that it does not stand upright by itself. You have to lay it on the floor when pausing mid-vacuum, and to store it you either have to lay it down again, lean it up against a wall or hang it by a hole under the handle that is not conducive to any hooks people have just readily available in their home.

- While weight wasn't an issue, the balance of the weight was - it's a little awkward to hold. However, I think it will be fine once getting used to.

- The plastic of the body got scuffed up quite a bit after one use (I guess I bumped the body on furniture when vacuuming underneath things). I imagine this would happen with any vacuum, as they are all plastic these days, but still not sure how I could return it if I wanted to, with scuffs on it.

- This lower model comes with two attachments, but no clip to attach them to the vac. For the price, they could give you the attachment clip.

- Wish the wand was telescopic. The more expensive model is.

- Still bothers me that it doesn't stand upright in its parked position enough to say it again. I know this thing is gonna tip over soon and the plastic cord holders are going to break, as has happened with other reviewers. This will make me very sad and I feel it is inevitable.

In conclusion, I am very pleased with my first vacuuming experience with this vacuum, and I recommend it. There are pros and cons to everything you buy... but the negatives I wrote about are not enough to make me regret this purchase. If that changes, I will post an update, but for now I'm a happy vacuumer.

I bought this vacuum based on the good reviews I saw. I have 500 square feet of vinyl flooring that I wanted to use this vacuum on because I dislike sweeping.

Pros: I found that the vacuum is powerful and has great manueverability under chairs and around table legs. It also has excellent edge cleaning.

Cons: However, it won't pick up cheerios or anything close to the size of a cheerio. Crumbs get sucked to the vacuum and then bounced off so I have to chase them around to vacuum them up. Another thing that bothers me is that the handle won't angle up very high without lifting the head off the floor--so if you are trying to reach far underneath something or vacuum in close quarters such as a hallway, it doesn't work so well. It seems as if you have to be 6 feet away from what you are vacuuming to maintain the correct handle angle and keep the head on the floor. A minor annoyance is that, just as another reviewer said, the cord clip to snap the plug to the cord after winding it up is too small and will not clip onto the cord. I do not feel that this vacuum was worth the almost $300 I spent and will be returning it.

I checked out several stick vacs before purchasing the Miele S163 but didn't see any that seemed to compare in quality. Great for hardwood floors, fine for small pickups on carpet. Works really well on stairs and is very quiet. However, the loop designed to hold the plug to the cord when it is wound for storage has too small an opening to allow the cord to enter. I just simply wrap the plug end around the wound cord. Beyond that would just be the expense.