Miele Classic C1 Olympus Canister Vacuum Cleaner, Lotus White - Corded

I was so excited to get this vacuum. The last time I had a Miele (the top of the line Miele model for all floors and carpets) I thought it was worth every penny I paid for it (over a thousand dollars). Unfortunately, it was lost/stolen in our move. We moved to a huge house with all wood floors and we have some area rugs. Still lamenting the loss of the other Miele, I went to a vacuum store and paid $169 for a Hoover or some other brand that the guy said should work well on hardwood floors. He said that with hardwood floors you really don't need such a sophisticated vacuum. So I bought it, took it home and hated it from day one. It was loud, didn't have a retractable cord (which ends up being a way bigger hassle than you ever expect it could be), but worse, it took forever to vacuum the dog hair on that collects on our floors. It's like there's a tiny hole and unless you're right on top of it, the hair just pushes away and doesn't suck up. And forget trying to get it to vacuum anything on an antique rug; the tool doesn't move! Then my husband suggested a shop vac from Home Depot. It was $119, so I tried it. I'm telling you, nothing has more suction than one of those things; I could have sucked in the whole area rug if I wasn't careful (On one occasion I sucked up a hairbrush from under the bed--with hardly even a blip. I imagine there's nothing on the market that sucks up stuff as powerfully as these shop vacs. And I think the cord was about 40 feet long, which was helpful going from room to room (expect when it was a tangled mess under the canister. The problem is that it is NOISY, big, had absolutely no filtration, and the deal breaker--the floor tools scratched along the floors making a squeaking noise that was like nails on a chalkboard. I bought the two other tools and they weren't much better, so it took even longer to vacuum my hardwood floors with this thing than the $169 one I bought from the vacuum store because I was sort of lifting and dotting it around the room because none of the tools would slide across the floor like a real vacuum too--and no, I never even tried it on the rug. That absolutely wouldn't have worked. So, I Googled Miele vacuums to try to figure out which model to buy, and found the BEST article ([...]) and learned that what I needed for hardwood floors and area rugs was the Classic C1 Olympus or the Compact C2. The only advantage of spending the extra $100 for Compact C2 over the C1 Olympus is two feet more cord and better allergen protection (filtration). Some reviewers swear by that better filtration; I knew it wasn't going to be a big deal for me, so I took the Classic C1 Olympus. I thought it was ironic that it cost $329, almost exactly what I'd paid for the other two after I went back and bought the shop vac attachments. I could barely wait until it arrived, and when it did, I opened the box, put it together and was vacuuming within 10 minutes of it being put on my doorstep!I vacuumed for 15 minutes and was so disheartened I wanted to cry! I wanted to go straight upstairs and give it a 1 star review and then contact the manufacturer about what a bunch of baloney I thought it was. But I didn't. I vacuumed on. The next day I had a little perspective and changed my mind. I'll tell you why on both counts. First the disappointing stuff:1) First and foremost, I wanted this to be able to reasonably quickly vacuum my 6,000 feet of wood floors in a reasonable amount of time. It wasn't much better on that count than the $169 version. In fact, it was no better at all. Worse, probably. The floor tool slides along the floor well enough, but it's about 8" wide and you really expect that if you go over dog hair or dust in that 8" it will suck it up. It doesn't!! Like the $169 vacuum, it has a little hold under the tool about 2" wide and it beautifully sucks up everything that that hole goes over. Anything else is pushed up agains the floorboards or pushed along the floor. And then after a few minutes, it doesn't even suck up in that hole because (like an earlier reviewer said) there's a red strip on the floor tool and the hair sticks to it instead of getting sucked up. After several minutes, that hair build up is high enough that the floor tool does not have a good contact with the floor and it doesn't suck up anything. You must flip over the took and pry all that hair off with you hands and just push it in the hole so it sucks into the vacuum. That was the biggest disappointment, and maybe the only disappointment, but when that's the reason you purchased the vacuum, it's a deal breaker. As for the area rugs, not great. It's very, very hard to move it along the rug. It does suck up the dust and stuff though, but I was sweating after pushing it across the living room rug.So why not 1 star then? Why didn't I return it?After a little time passed and I got over the huge disappointment, I thought about sending it back, but then I'd have to pay some $50 for shipping. And then what? I didn't want to go back to the $169 vacuum, I couldn't use the shop vac anymore, and I didn't want to spend $800 for a better floor machine. So, I swallowed hard and decided to eat the $660 loss I had invested in these three machines. And this is why I bumped my review from my initial 1 star inclination to 3.1. The vacuum is very, very quiet. A couple of times I had to actually look down to be sure it was on.2. The retractable cord is a huge luxury, after those other two models without.3. The vacuum is very light and is easy to hold the canister as you vacuum going up the stairs.4. the Miele brand is so nice and I like to see that in the closet waaaaay better than the shop vac or the other ugly yellow $169 machine.So, in essence, this Miele Classic C1 Olympus vacuums about the same as the $169 model--so, since it cost $329, the question becomes, is it worth the $160 extra for the quietness, the retractable cord, the light weight and the Miele logo on the canister?? I'd have to say it definitely is.If I had to do it all over again and buy this Miele Classic C1 Olympus vacuum cleaner knowing everything I know now, would I do it? Would I spend the $329 on this machine if I was starting all over again? I'd have to say I would NOT.And that's why the mediocre rating for this machine. I wish I'd listened to the other reviewers when they said, "If you have an issue with dog or cat hair, this is not the right machine." They were right! One of those reviewers actually posted pictures of the floor tool covered with hair. I thought it was an exaggeration. I thought it was after hours of vacuuming. It wasn't! Mine looked like that after just a few minutes.

This is a really light weight and easy to maneuver vacuum cleaner that is much easier to use than our previous canister Kenmore vacuum cleaner. The controls and operation of it is the best of what I've used in the last 20 yrs of owning canister vacuum cleaners. I've only had it about 2 weeks so we'll see how long this lasts but with the warranty on this thing, I am sure we will have this thing for quite a while.My main concerns with this particular model are the following:* The length of the cord, which I didn't think mattered too much, is actually quite short in a large home (I have a 2-story 3500 sq. ft home). This means that I have to unplug/plug within each room to clean it up. A bit of a nuisance but understandable due to its compact design (there's only so much space for the motor, the vacuum bag and the cord to fit).* The carpet/floor tool that it comes with. It does the job but the constant switching from floor to carpet (or vice versa) means I need to switch every time I transition from area rug to floor or the opposite way. If you don't do it, it will grab on to the floor or area rug (via really good suction) until you switch. If another full width attachment came with it to just do floors (with a bristle-type brush underneath it allow for smooth flow over a hardwood surface), and one attachment dedicated for rugs also was part of this, I'd happily switch when the time came to do each. This is more a personal preference for me.The pros:* Super lightweight and extremely mobile. Moves where you go easily. The swivel wheels beneath it allow you to turn in whatever direction you need while the vacuum cleaner follows.* Quieter than other vacuum cleaners. This is a nice plus. If people are complaining, try a Dyson, Hoover, Oreck, Kenmore, etc. They are airplanes compared to this glider in terms of noise volume.* Extendable hose. The mechanism is really easy to use. Extending and contracting it is a simple operation and won't stick like other mechanisms.* The warranty is 10 yrs on this thing. It provides a better peace of mind knowing this piece of equipment which is used regularly around the home is backed up by an equally heavy-duty warranty.

My only complaint is that the power cord should be longer. Otherwise happy as it is light weigh and great suction.