Thank everyone!

We have a Miele upright. I cannot comment on the canister model, but I'm pretty sure my husband considered it to some extent.

We have HW floors through most of the downstairs and W2W carpet all of the upstairs. I can easily carry the upright up and down stairs. It is amazingly easy to "steer" and navigate the corners around furniture and also walls.

One place you can look at and even buy Miele models is Strosniders Hardware in Bethesda. I assume the other locations have it as well. We ultimately purchased it (for essentially the same price) online.

Love my canister!!!

18:33 Brothers in Cleveland Park.

OP Canister all the way!

Canister. I think our model is called Solaris (we bought it about 10 years ago).

Piggybacking here: we have a Miele canister that needs to be repaired (specifically, the rug vacuum part). Does anyone know where I can take it in the DC/Maryland area? Thanks.

Canister. Echoing that it is what they're known for. I really love ours.

Canisters are also much much easier to repair, apparently, though Miele's are built to last I like knowing my vacuum could likely be easily repaired if it did have a problem, compared with Dysons that apparently are often not worth repairing as far as $$ goes.

I have two Miele cannisters. One is ten years old, and a little heavy because the tools are inside the cover. The new one is much lighter, and easier to carry. I keep one upstairs and one downstairs because I hate carrying the vacuum up the stairs.

Ours new one is pale aqua, I don't know the name. I bought it at a store near me. I looked online, and the prices were identical. You can get it on Amazon, but there was shipping and no tax, so it came out about the same because the salesguy threw in a couple boxe of bags for free. The bags are expensive.

Ours came with the hardwood floor brush and a turbo brush, which I never use because we have only one carpet downstairs, and I keep the new Miele upstairs where we have no carpet. The floor brush does not work on carpet, so you have to change the brush to use it on carpet.

I would never get an upright, but that's me. I wanted the HEPA filter, which is about $60 and has to be changed each year. I don't know if the uprights have a HEPA filter available.

Canister. That's what Miele is really known for. Plus they are SO light it's not that big of a deal to carry. It's really confusing to choose between the models but if you spend enough time you can figure out the difference. Basically there are 3 different "series" which is basically 3 different sizes. Within each series the models are often very similar except for one small feature. There are a lot of good sources online comparing the options based on what kind floors you have. If you have hairy pets, I recommend getting one with a power brush (turbo brush). If you get one without the option of hooking up a power brush you can't add it later because there's no electrical hookup to the brush. Most of the other tools can be bought later if you find you need them. But if you don't have pets you honestly don't need it.

We have a Titan, which is the highest model in the 200 (smaller) series. I only have 2 complaints: the area fir the vacuum bag is small, so you have to replace the bag before it is full. If I vacuumed more and had more money I probably would have gone with the higher series. Also, the cord is pretty short. I could use an extension cord but usually I just move the plug.

1228 here. Ours is apparently the Titan. It's also great for people with allergies because of the filters.

It's a really high quality machine. So easy to operate, change filters, etc. I didn't realize they had an attachment for wood floors too - only saw that after the link 1239 posted.

Whoops! I meant Olympus has bigger bags.

OP, you inspired me to start looking because I have hated our vacuum for quite some time. We have a three story home with wood floors and low-pile area rugs and our upright is a serious PITA. Anyway, found this website while googling and it was very helpful: http://vacuum-cleaner-advisor.com/Miele-Vacuums/Miele-Canister-Vacuums.html.

Right now we're deciding between the Polaris and the Olympus. Honestly, I haven't yet figured out the difference between the two, other than the Polaris seems to have bigger bags (which I like).

We have a canister Miele that I love. I find whatever disadvantages there are to dragging the canister around are balanced out by the flexibility of it (like being able to reach cobwebs in corners, vacuum out air vents, use in the car, vacuum upholstery, curtains). If I was older or less mobile I might think differently.

We were strongly motivated to buy the Miele though because we have a dog. We have a pet model that is a few years old.

I would say that if we had hardwood floors, I would probably go with an upright.

We did not get ours discounted but if you find a model you like and poke around online, I am sure you could get a better deal than we did just walking into a shop.

Anonymous wrote:Seriously considering buying a Miele, after reading lots of great reviews -- sounds like they are worth the price and a lot better than the Dyson. Do you have the upright or the canister, and which would you recommend. For what it's worth, the majority of our house (with the exception of a small portion of the finished basement that is carpeted) are hardwood floors and we vacuum often. Is the canister a pain to drag around? And which model do you have? Thanks!

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OP again -- and where did you buy yours? Does anyone sell for a discount? The prices on Amazon look decent, but I don't know what to compare to.

Seriously considering buying a Miele, after reading lots of great reviews -- sounds like they are worth the price and a lot better than the Dyson. Do you have the upright or the canister, and which would you recommend. For what it's worth, the majority of our house (with the exception of a small portion of the finished basement that is carpeted) are hardwood floors and we vacuum often. Is the canister a pain to drag around? And which model do you have? Thanks!