Miele S8590 Alize Canister Vacuum Cleaner (Old Model)

Wow. I never thought I would get so excited about a vacuum. I am not domestically inclined and recently switched from working full time to the role of stay at home mom. Domestic duties have always been challenging for me simply for the fact that I would rather be doing almost anything else than cleaning. I had been unhappy with our Dyson DC39 Animal canister vacuum cleaner for awhile and knew I needed to move on and get a serious vacuum if I was to get serious about cleaning. I got the Dyson for Mothers day 3 years ago. I loved it at first - great suction and the vacuum head was great at getting into tight spaces and in corners and up against walls. But the canister filled up so quickly that I would have to empty it after only doing 1 room. (We have a German Shepherd - lots of long dog hair all over.) And the maneuverability of the main unit itself was difficult. It was always tipping over when I walked it from room room. But the kicker for me was how often the brush bar stopped rotating. It got to the point where I couldn't vacuum anything larger than lint before it would stop rotating. I would have to turn the vacuum off, pull the hair or whatever debris caught around the bar off, then start the vacuum again only to have to do it again and again during the same cleaning session. Well, let me tell you, the Miele Alize is no Dyson. Thank Goodness! Besides. As soon as I put it together and started to vacuum I could tell that this was a much different vacuum than anything I have ever used before. It feels smooth. It feels solid. It feels high-end. As I pull it along vacuuming the tile it feels like it is gliding on roller blade wheels. And the suction is very strong. I have tile, hardwood floors and a few area rugs. The vacuum changes the suction pressure according to the surface that I am vacuuming. I think that is pretty great in that it makes it a no brainer for me. It is also a pretty quiet vacuum - quieter than the Dyson. Although that is not a feature that means much to me. My kids enjoy it - they don't hold their ears and look at me like, "Mom, do you HAVE to?!" when I am vacuuming anymore. They seem less offended with the Miele. And this is light with a stable compact canister! I love the carrying handle. I can carry it up each step when vacuuming the stairs. Its small enough to sit upright on the step - with no tipping - then I easily move it to the next step. Love it! I use the dusting brush attachment on my end tables, lamps and picture frames. This method replaces most of my dusting, which is a relief as dusting is terrible for my allergies. It's so effective - it makes cleaning easy. And it's something that motivates me to clean. I love seeing all the dog hair and dust gone after vacuuming. With the Dyson I felt like I was always saying "But I just vacuumed!" soon after cleaning seeing all the dust particles and dog hair still floating around. What really wowed me was how the upholstery tool took the lint off of my sofa pillows. I have a red sofa that has off white wool-like embroidered pillows at each end. These pillows constantly have red lint balls all over them on the back and in between the embroidered areas. I am constantly picking this lint off off. It drives me crazy but the pillows are so pretty so I keep them. I can now get all the lint balls off using using the upholstery tool - the pillows look like new. No previous vacuum I've used (or tape) has been able to get that pesky lint completely off. I use the same tool to get the long German Shepherd hair completely off the sides and edge of the sofa. I'm very pleased. I have to say the best thing about this vacuum for me is the vacuum bag and how the canister is sealed. I have asthma and a lot of allergies (dust being a prominent allergy). With the Dyson I dreaded emptying the canister again and again. I would have coughing fits and need my inhaler every time after vacuuming. With the Miele - I don't have to empty anything (except when the bag is full) and there is no residual dust flying around. I like the bag (vs the bagless canister vacuums) because all the dirt vacuumed up is contained and everything smells clean vs that dog hair dusty smell that used to be in the air after vacuuming pre-Miele. It stores wonderfully too. The hose and vacuum head attach to the back or sides of the vacuum so I can store it upright in the closet. And it stays that way. I don't find it in a tangled fallen over mass when I open the closet door as I did with my previous vacuum. It's silly how much I love this thing. But seeing as keeping the house clean is a big part of my daily duties I need something dependable and efficient. And this certainly fits the bill. I actually look forward to vacuuming!

It takes a little getting used to, but I love this vacuum. 1. Very quiet 2. Swivel head is awesome 3. The air blows UP instead of out the back, which means it's not blowing unvacuumed dust into the air and corners. 4. Powerful cord retraction. One push and let go, the cord continues to wind up perfectly. (there is pro and con on this, see below) 5. LONG cord 6. Adjustable length for the wand. 7. If you pay attention to the 2 floor settings on the head (hard floor or rug) and coordinate the symbol with the matching power level, it works fantastic on both hard floors and low-pile carpets. I can hear stuff sucking up the metal tube from the carpet. The regular attachment that comes with the unit works great. I have always used a brush floor attachment for my carpets, but this one works better and clogs less. (I bought the carpet power attachment and don't even use it because I have long hair and it just winds onto rotating burshes = extra maintenance.) 8. Very lightweight and skims around on its swivel wheels, but not so much that it's banging into walls and furniture. Very well designed. 9. Love the light for dark corners and under hings! 10. Oh, and then there is the actual lowest suction settings I love so I can vacuum lighter weight area rugs without moving them, and even tried vacuuming dust off a basket of shells and didn't suck any up (I avoided the tiny shells). The mid-power levels work well on the larger door- area rugs. The only drawbacks I have discovered: 1. The ON/OFF button has the same symbol as the power "minus" symbol only goes a different direction, and they are very close to each other. I have to stop and focus on which one I'm really pushing, or I'll turn the machine off when I only want to reduce the power. Hopefully it'll start becoming more automatic as I practice. 2. The cord winder button is very close to the power "plus" button, and several times my foot has accidentally stepped on the cord button and my cord starts winding up when I only wanted to increase power! And the cord button is a "one-push" button and the entire cord starts winding up unless you grab it to stop it. 3. The lever on the brush head ( to go from hard floors to carpet) is nice and big, but one of the first times I used it I pressed it on the edge with bare feet and I slipped and it cut my toe. I now have no problem with positioning my foot correctly, just had to learn the hard way. Shoes would solve this problems but who likes to clean house in shoes? : ) 4. There is no easy-release to remove the head without bending down and doing it manually, and the suction is so good that I have to bend down to re-attach it, or it keeps sucking and wobbling. But the attachment itself goes smoothly and easily. And bending down is good stretching. 5. Haven't found a quick, reliable parking position for my cramped situation. Did learn to reduce the wand length to the shortest, but still takes a little manipulating of the hose. With all the cons, you'd think I'd give it 4 stars, but the pros outweigh the cons, especially as I get used to it the cons diminish. And the bottom line is that it does a great job, it's actually fun to use.

Great vacuum! Understand...the floor piece has a foot switch that must be depressed to switch between low-pile carpet and hardwood floors. The auto-sensing motor lowers the suction to allow you to move on different surfaces. Took me a minute to get used to it. The suction is SO powerful, that heavy rugs pull up...until the suction goes down. Even without a beater or brush, this vacuum cleaned our wool rugs PERFECTLY! The parts are very easy to put together and take apart. It's not silent. It's very quiet, though. Spoke with Miele's tech support because I had questions about the floor attachment, so that's how I learned about all of the above. There's a video out there showing how this model just glides from floor to rug, and back again. NO SUCH MIELE vacuum exists! All you get with the more expensive models is air or electric-powered brushes and lights! It's the SAME engine. For the money, this is the BEST value of the bunch. The S8 series is the largest-sized vacuums that Miele makes, and I stand by the performance! Our very old Kenmore canister was strong, but this...well... no pun intended...BLOWS it away! Everything is much cleaner, and there's no odors from the dust because of the HEPA filter. So far, I'm very impressed. Great, lightweight, powerful.

A co-worker of mine recently mentioned that they were shopping for a new vacuum cleaner and I actually got a little bit excited because I was going to get to tell them about this Miele vacuum that I bought. And then I got embarrassed because I was excited about a vacuum cleaner. And then, here comes the crazy part, I got over it right away and dove right in to "inappropriately enthused" land. So I imagine you, dear reader, are where I was a while ago. Maybe a little bit intrigued by the gimmicky Dyson, tempted by the saccharine appeal of a $79 vacuum from a big box store that looks virtually identical to this Miele, and eyes that can't seem to lose focus on the seemingly absurd pricing that Miele is able to command in the marketplace. Plus, if you're a diligent shopper, you've probably already been to the Miele website and been totally overwhelmed by the no fewer than nineteen-quadrillion different models of Miele canister vacuums that they produce and claim to sell. It's crazy, right? Off the top, this one's simple to understand. If you've got a lot of hardwood floors, tile floors, low pile or berber carpet then you've found the right model. This guy is made for that stuff, not just because of the attachment but also because it's got fancy rubberized wheels that roll quietly and smoothly on hard surfaces. It'll cope with a medium pile carpet, but no '70s shag. You want one of the models with a powered vacuum head if you've got the cushy, toe-friendly carpet. And let me be the hundredth to assure you, this vacuum really is as quiet and effective as everyone claims it is. Really. It's sort of magical. It's worth buying the filter bags, and forgoing the fancy cyclone bag less designs. Honest. Your sinuses will thank you for the reduced dust, and the bags actually last a fair amount of time before needing to be changed. And that's coming from a guy with two cats and enough loose cat fur under his desk to construct a third cat if he wanted to. This is one area where it's worth it to overbuy. Then you can be a crazy person who is overly attached to their vacuum cleaner. Like me.

i just purchased a miele vacuum cleaner - model alize through amazon. vacuum cleaner works fine but no power brush attachment for carpet cleaning. i called amazon to see if i could return this item and purchase a model that has a power brush attachment. amazon called or emailed the vendor, PROF.TECH to see if they can help me with a return on the product. the vendor stated without the original box, they could not accept a return. also they stated that health and personal products (cholester monitors, glucose monitors, fragrances, thermometry, etc) cannot be returned. i do not consider a vacuum cleaner to be a health and personal care products. i used the vacuum cleaner just once and was hoping to upgrade the vacuum cleaner. PROF.TECH is not a customer friendly vendor. i hope others do not get jerked over like i did.

The vacuum cleaner is exactly what I was looking for. My house is mostly hardwood floors with one room carpeted and one area rug. The machine is very quiet and does a great job. Two comments tho: one would have thought that for the price of the machine they could have included some spare dust bags.. And, the styrofoam supports in the shipping container (from Miele) were mostly pulverized when I opened the box but there was no damage to any of the other contents. Yes, I would recommend this vacuum cleaner to a friend.

Over the last 45 years I've spent as much as $1500 for a vacuum; I've had the best built in vacuum system available for my home; I've owned Rainbow, Electrolux, Hoover, Dyson - you name it, I've tried it! The best vacuum I've ever ever ever owned is this Miele Alize. It is super quiet, contains 99.9% of the dust in the canister bag, has a HEPA air filtering system, will actually lift your wall-to-wall carpet up with it's powerful suction. I've purchased additional attachments to make it work like magic. It has a rubber bumper, wheels that let it turn on a dime and a feature that lets you park the hose upright when you take a break from vacuuming. The metal wand can be extended super easily. Adjusting the suction is easy. Changing attachments is easy. The vacuum itself is very lightweight. Can't tell you enough how perfect this vacuum is. Go to their website and read the difference between the models and go to You Tube to see what I'm talking about. It is pricey but believe me you do get your money's worth.

So far, I really like this vacuum. I have mainly hardwood and tile with two runners. This picks up all of the dirt and pet hair--much better than my former Dyson was doing at the end of it's life. The Dyson was a wonderful but heavy vacuum to lug around--had the Animal for many years and finally got to the point where too many pieces needed replacing. The hose broke regularly on the Dyson. The Miele appears to be much better made in the way it connects so I'm hoping not to see that problem. It's a bit of a transition from an upright to a canister. The suction is very good, and the vacuum is extremely quiet. I would have liked a slightly longer cord but that's not a deal breaker. I do find putting the small brush up frustrating--maybe it's me, but I have to manipulate this piece several times before it clicks back into place. There's a metal piece that your hand rests on underneath the handle to reduce static--apparently I didn't have my hand in the right spot one time because the top exterior of the brush was covered in pet hair. Lesson learned! I did not purchase the separate hard floor attachment--this one works fine. It only takes a minute or two to pull all of the hair off the bristles--but that's par for the course with any vacuum I have used. Miele is pricey, but you get what you pay for--I have a dishwasher by them that's the best appliance I have ever purchased--first time in I don't know how long that I purchased a warranty and then didn't use it!