Miele Classic C1 Turbo Bagged Vacuum

This thing is very nice. But for the price, I expect more. I used this for a small residential cleaning business I run, so I've put it through its paces for sure. I understand it's not truly meant for that purpose, with certain design decisions making that quite obvious, but I had several people recommend Miele to me--thought I'd try the company out with one of their lower-mid-range entries (didn't want to dive head first into a full grand for one quite yet, you understand) and see if it was going to knock my socks off. Overall, I am underwhelmed. It's like buying designer. It's well made, it's durable, people like how it looks and feels, and the experience of using it is what I'd describe as higher-end, but the functionality could be improved. I'll start with the positives, because there are actually more positives than negatives. Like I stated in the title, get this if you want a vacuum that will last you. Something that looks nice in your house, that gets the job done without much stress, etc. 1. The thing is quality for sure. I legitimately don't care about where a product is built at all, as long as it's quality. Europe, China, Mexico, USA--I just don't. What I care about is that it's built well, and runs well. Ive used it on over 100 residential properties (many of which large ones) with no sweat. In some cases, I abused this vacuum. Zero issues with it running, breaking, failing, or even seemingly to come remotely close. And given how sturdy it still feels and sounds, I bet it could last another 10 years even in my hands. 2. The retractable cord feature is amazing, and I don't know how I've lived without it. On the other hand, my biggest concern with the vacuum overall is how long this retracting feature will last before it breaks and either trashes the vacuum, or causes me to have to order parts to repair it. Hasn't hiccupped once yet, though, and I've been very tough on it. I will say, I wish the cord was about 6 foot longer--in operation, it just feels slightly too short every time I use it. 3. This is a strange one... but it looks really nice. I've had clients ask me about it. It exudes "this is a really nice vacuum" energy, and I actually think that has helped my business in minor ways. Lol. That alone COULD justify the cost, considering my clientele, but not entirely. I'm focused on a few other factors, which is why it gets some hard negative marks. 4. The sound gets high praise from me. When I'm in a client's house with them present, it doesn't feel like I'm disturbing them to any significant degree. From a business standpount, who truly cares, as they paid for service and know that vacuums are loud and will be involved in the process--but again, it contributes to the experience, which through a trickle effect, contributes to my pocket. That said, it's still a vacuum. 5. I like the power dial. Half the settings I don't use, but I do like it. 6. For how low-power the motor is overall, it produces some good results. Not astounding, but solid overall. I don't frequently have to go over anything a second time, which allows me to spend less time on the job and produce a better outcome. Not saying there aren't cases where I'm like "how did that not picked up?" but those cases are fewer and further between. Some notes on that in one of my major negatives, because this positive only applies to MOST of the attachments--there's one glaring exception. 7. Most of the attachments are well-made and do their job. From my experience with vacuums, it's not hard to get right most of the time, but I give it props. I do however have two MASSIVE problems with them, one of which is more of a problem with the vacuum itself, and that's where I'll start... (Here are my gripes. There are two big ones) 1. There was not much effort in providing an "attachment attachment" system onto the vacuum. It's not great. It exists, at best. It's inconvenient and inefficient at worst. It proves space for 4/6 of the attachments while in operation (three of which are attached to the vacuum, and one on the wand, so 5/6 if you're using the extension, which I defintely don't need all the time), and I cannot begin to express how annoying that is for me. There's just always an extra attachment that is loose. The three that do stick onto the vacuum are incoveniently located right at the base of the hose. And if Im not using the rotating brush head or extension, they have nowhere to live. I either have to caddy them around, or leave it somewhere. This is overall my biggest gripe with the vacuum. Now, do most vacuums even feature a place to put them? Not too many--but for what the vacuum prices at, it absolutely should have a spot for every single attachment WHILE ROLLING AROUND, in operation. It's actually the biggest reason I ended up buying a different one after putting this one through a run of about 4-5ish months. There's a secondary reason, though. 2. The turbo head's size is ALMOST unacceptably small. It frequently ejects even small debris. It should not do this. If it were dog food, or otherwise, I'd understand. No. This will not only spit out debris the size of broken mechanical pencil lead, it will fling it with great velocity across the room. Small, tiny pieces of leaves. Tiny fly corpses. I'm serious. And yes, this is with the brush head cleaned of hair and other debris. Either the vacuum doesn't have enough suction to pull these things in before they hit the spinning brush and get rail-gunned across the house, or the opening for debris in front of the brush is too small. I don't know. And frankly, I don't really care. These are things households run into frequently, and should be considered in the design. Some other minor negatives and implementation ideas--things I wouldn't drop the rating for, but that I'll include; 1. Bags are expensive, but I knew that through my research. Still. They're vacuum bags. Small ones at that. The bags are nice, but there's no reason for them to be as nice when they're disposable. Not to mention, the air filters don't justify the cost either for what they actually are. Reloading them is an absolute breeze though, I'll give them that. 2. I have a love-hate relationship with the angled handle where the attachments clip on. I like it 75% of the time when in casual operation, rolling it back and forth across the floor. But it's a pain in the ass when Im working around obstacles. I wish it could either straighten out or be removed while retaining the ability to actually use the attachments. 3. It looks like it should have the ability to be a backpack vacuum. I knew it wasn't when going into the purchase, but I think that would really be an excellent addition as an attachment to the rolling side. Ive genuinely thought about trying to lut an sttachment like that together. I don't recall if their higher end options feature this, but if they don't, it's a missed opportunity. All in all, I would have really liked to give this vacuum a higher score. I still like the vacuum, and I use it in my own house, and I'll be glad to have it as a backup for my business, as it's something I might use on really large households when I have others helping me. But in my day-to-day, it had to take a permanent side-line, and anything that gets that treatment from me can't get more than a 3 star. I have a Ridgid shop-vac that handles attachments better, has more power, has lasted years and years, and was legitimately like a fourth (maybe a fifth) the price. Would I use it in the same situations? No, but what the Miele gives me for spending that much more on it just ISN'T enough. And for me, that just caused it to fall below my expectations. Thanks for reading. -a dedicated vacuum user.