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My Miele pearl is at least 15 years old, still a beast. I don't use it that much any more because I have a Roomba now and it cleans every day wonderfully and I only break out the canister occasionally now for corners and cobwebs and such.
I bought a Miele cylinder vacuum 30 years ago and it still works as it did when new. I was looking to buy a second one to avoid carrying up and down stairs and spotted one on a local Freecycle group. Collected it from a nice lady in a very posh house. It’s even older than the one I already had but works like a dream. It has a powered brush head and several power levels. Again, it works like a new one. All it needs is a new bag every now and again. Cost me £0.00. -oo-
Any miele or sebo cylinder would be a great choice. Either can be optioned with a dedicated hard floor brush with no brushbar, no wheels even. And the cylinders themselves have soft rubberized wheels. Best all around option for delicate hard floors.
The airstorm, while good, is no better than a miele or sebo. I wouldn't pay the premium. Mieles and sebos are also sealed to trap dust. They are also more modern in design and easier to use (they have cord rewind while the air storm does not). There's nothing really bespoke about the airstorm. Underneath the top shell, the power nozzle is the same as ones avaliable for Miele models. The hose and other tools are generic off-the-shelf supplies etc. While it would probably last you a long time and do a good job, you might resent using it. I'd strongly suggest you try one in person before choosing, and frankly I'd save money and go with a nicer to use miele/sebo.
Sebo or miele if you want something high quality which will actually last 15+ years and be repairable should a part wear out. They have high performance and filtration standards. The shark is fine for 3 to 5 years with decent performance. The dyson, being cordless, you should only expect 2-4 years. And it won't have the performance of the others unless used on it's highest but shortest runtime mode. Kinda comparing apples to oranges here. If you need something immediately the shark is probably ok, but if you want something to last definitley go check out miele and sebo.
Miele cylinder vacuum. About £250 and is the best I’ve ever used. Great on hard floors and carpet. Easy to move, has a long cord so you don’t have to keep moving the plug. All the tools are stored inside it. It’s very easy to change the bag and they last a long time. My dad has a Dyson and it’s better than that.
Don’t bother with a cordless one, they are rubbish. Get a Miele cylinder vacuum so she can have one downstairs and one upstairs.
Miele, much better than anything else I’ve had.
Miele S series bagged vacuums are one of the GOAT imo. Ours has lasted years and if you buy generic bags, upkeep is a minimum
holy shit god bless you for this lol this is so inside baseball but so great to have omg. have an organization I’m working with trying to figure out a vacuum situation and they’re so sold on the gm80 (obvi great and what I trained with but $$$$ I think someone else sold them on it… rightfully so but it’s just so pricy) but the cost of the museum/rheostat models is obviously so steep it makes me insane. i get sooo frustrated w/ the state of info on this sort of thing– have genuinely always suspected that there’s a lot of opportunity for DIYing this particular aspect (there’s enough crossover with like, dust extractors&some aspects of cnc routing vac/dust remover things that people have had to diy) but obviously the field is so small & “quiet” that it’s been hard to find resources. for OP- i *have* used variable speed Miele vacs with HEPA filters on the “curtains”/drapery settings on some pretty delicate stuff w/ cheesecloth and muslin to dampen and it’s worked fine. also hear decent things about HEPA filter variable speed dust extractors by Festool– they are very well respected/truly Loved in non museum contexts & i know some conservators that use them!! but haven’t been able to personally try them out yet
Miele and Sebo are the best for typical household vacuums, but if you don’t mind the noice you can also consider a shop vac. They are well respected on the construction vacuum market.
Prices in Europe are more reasonable for Miele, Sebo and the Henry. Miele S series, Sebo K series and Henry would be the models I'ld be looking at.
Rankings by Use Case
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