Carpet Cleaning

Style, substance, and POWER! - Miele S177 Bagged Upright Vacuum

Miele S177 Bagged Upright Vacuum Product S177 Key FeatureDesignUprightDirt CaptureBag MotorAmperage10 Amp....

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When I need to buy a new appliance, I do a ton of research and consider my options carefully before choosing. I don’t mind spending money, and I generally intend to keep the things I buy forever, or close to it.

For years I was the not-so-proud owner of two vacuum cleaners: a Hoover Breathe Easy (ha!) and an Oreck XL. The Hoover was heavy, cumbersome, and sounded like a freight train passing through the house. I mean, they didn’t even try to make it quiet! The cleaning tools hose had poor suction. Its path was too wide to get it around most furniture. And it was terrible on bare floors, blowing debris back against my ankles. As for the Oreck, I was shocked to see that it retails for around $300. It had pitifully weak suction, and on bare floors it just chased crumbs around without picking any up. It was light and maneuverable, but lacked any on-board tools, and the hand vac that came with it was just a piece of junk.

So I needed a new vacuum cleaner, one that would pick up pet hair from wall-to-wall carpet, area rugs and upholstered furniture; clean bare floors of cat food crumbs and small amounts of litter; and clean said area rugs without sucking them up and destroying them. And the quieter, the better!

I narrowed down my choice to two models: the Miele S177i and the Dyson Animal, both uprights (I hate fooling with canister vacuums). I was leaning toward the Dyson initially, mostly because of its Animal cleaning tool, essentially an upholstery brush with a beater bar; I also liked that the Dyson is bagless, and its filters never need replacing. But after playing with it at a couple of different stores, I grew to dislike the way the tools had to be attached, and its plastic parts seemed flimsy to me. Most importantly, I read that the Dyson sucks so hard, one’s area rugs are toast; and in the store, its suction power was almost scary.

So the Miele’s adjustable suction won me over, and now I’m very pleased with my choice.

The Miele has a streamlined European look, feels solid, and all its moving parts click and rotate with a satisfying smoothness.It isn’t too heavy to lift, at least not for me (I think it weighs about 15lbs.), and its handle is ergonomically shaped and grooved for ease of use.

It comes with two onboard tools, an upholstery brush and a crevice nozzle, along with an extension tube. These plug into the vacuum’s main hose, not an auxiliary one as on so many Hoovers, which means the tools enjoy its full sucking power.

And that sucking power is impressive! Vacuuming with the Miele is like mowing a lawn, in that you can see the vacuum cleaner’s tracks on wall-to-wall carpet, and it even sucks out the marks made by heavy furniture. It sucked up plenty of cat fur from carpet, rugs and furniture, leaving them cleaner than they’ve been in years. After vacuuming the entire house, including spots I couldn’t reach before, I couldn’t smell any any dust in the air, which means the Miele’s filtration worked great.

On bare floors, with the beater bar off, it sucks up even cat food kibbles, and the wheels are rubberized so they roll smoothly and quietly on lino, tile and hardwood.

But my favorite feature has to be the adjustable suction, which can be adjusted on the fly by way of a sliding bar near the top of the vacuum. It means I can roll through the entire house without stopping, vacuuming bath mats, door mats, curtains, small and large orientals, dhurries, sisal, upholstery, pillows, you name it. Even the lowest suction setting has plenty of power.

I would say it has average clearance: it will fit under my kitchen cabinets and the sofa; when lowered flat, it will fit under the bed, but not under the armchair.

And it’s quiet! On the lowest suction setting, it purrs. On the highest, well, I can hear the phone over it, and it doesn’t make my cats flee the room in a panic.

Now for a few complaints: it doesn’t clean edges along baseboards terribly well, although the crevice nozzle can take care of that. I wish the power cord were retractable. The hose, even with the extension tube attached, has only adequate, not amazing, reach. And of course, it isn’t bagless, though it does have a bag change indicator. My biggest complaint is that it tips easily when I’m using the accessories; I find I have to either rest my hip against it, or keep one hand on the handle to keep it from going over.

The Miele is such an improvement over my old vacs! It isn’t cheap, but then, I have confidence in German engineering and fully intend to keep it and use it vigorously for decades.

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