Miele Complete C3 Cat & Dog Canister Vacuum

How did I live this long without this? I had a Dyson Animal upright for about 10 years. I ABSOLUTELY HATED IT. Waste of money. It didn't seem to pick up or do anything as well as my previous upright vacuum (brand started with an E) and the hose coming out of the handle was a complete nightmare. It made things look only relatively clean and it was a huge pain. I was very hesitant to pay even more for another vacuum, but the reviews for Miele are stellar, so I looked into it more. People who also hated Dyson were huge fans. I had thought it was just us that had a bad Dyson experience. After much research into which vacuum would work for us, I decided on this canister pet. When I first told my husband about my research, he was not thrilled with the result. He pointed to the Dyson and how the $450 had been wasted on that. He also didn't think that those charcoal filter were all that there were touted to be. But I led him through the my research of every Miele vacuum and he also ended up thinking this was definitely the one to get. It was the Electro plus electro brush that made the most difference. The other brushes are powered by air. We did not think those were going to pick up cat and dog fur. It is very similar to the model in the same price range (Kona). The cat/dog one includes the charcoal filter and a Mini Turbo Brush for about $20 more. This year the cat/dog one is white and the Kona is a beautiful black. On the first use, I powered it on, set it to the rug looking icon and was in complete awe that this Electro plus brush picked up everything in my rug in one pass that the Dyson struggled to get in 4 or more passes. The rug was actually looking new! I was immediately sold on it. I showed my husband and he actually said "Why have we been wasting our time with that other vacuum when this existed?" The Mini Turbo brush is powered by air and as soon as it hit the dog bed or chairs it does about 2 rotations and is out of steam. It does pick up the dog hair, it just takes a few minutes. I will have to learn the trick to get this one to perform more efficiently. The Parquet Twister is nice. Very soft and glides over the wood floors. Generous swivel. Love it. The other attachments are standard. It is great that they are inside the canister instead of outside as in the past I would drop a few if they are attached on the outside. It is nowhere near as loud as other vacuums. The Electro plus brush is a bit louder when it is switched on, but it is nice that you can turn it off at the handle quickly. I love how I can use my foot to easily remove the Electro plus brush head and quickly move to using the hose. When going under the chairs or tables, I have found that rotating the handle to the right or left as I lean down slightly makes it so that the brush part does not lift from the rug as it goes under. You can vary the height on the Electro brush, this is great when we go from a thicker rug to a thinner rug. It can still get clean but not suck up into the vacuum and make horrible noises. If it is too low, it just stops the brush, no horrible noise. The hose extender is nice for reaching to the ceiling. Very easy to adjust. The ability to have different speeds for different items is nice. The whole vacuum is quite cute and not very big. Easily fits in the closet, but also looks nice when in the living room. The cord auto retract is a nice feature, but the speed it retracts at can be slightly hazardous for animals in the area. (Yeah, it is not scary loud now, so they actually stick around.) I keep a hold on the cord until it gets close to the canister. It has bags rather than bagless. This is fine, the Dyson seemed to always look dirty in the tube part. This vacuum tells how full the bag is so you don't overfill, but only when the vacuum is on. There is also one to tell you when to replace the filter. UPDATE: This bag filled up in a month during the shedding season. If you have a long hair dog (it got super warm and ours had his coat blow just a week we got this) get extra bags when you order this. The bags aren't very big. We got the canister model rather than the upright because we have stairs now and ease of transport is important. You can bring the canister and the brush attachments up separately and not worry about the weight/awkwardness. We love that we can now see the rugs actual color (the one we thought was faded is actually bright red!) and if there is fur in the corner (dog sheds like crazy twice a year), we can easily get the vacuum out. If you are iffy, I would test one at a local sew & vac or carpet store.