I have to chime in my experience here. I have had experience with a Karcher wet/dry vacuum (2005-2007), an Electrolux Listo (2007-2009), a Samsung Airtrek 1st gen (2010-2012), a Dyson DC29 (a few months ago), and just recently a Miele S8310 Brilliantlight. Yes, the Dyson is a very good hoover. Sonically, only marginally quieter than my old Samsung (which I keep for backup). However, there are several flaws which I have stumbled upon. The lifetime HEPA filter will degrade overtime with washing. Fine dust is cumbersome to remove as it often collects near the cyclone's end point. And that is just with the DC29's older Radix Cyclone. If you look at the newer ones with Ball Movement, the tube which connects the suction hose to the bin is oval & slimmer than the actual connecting hose, which may in the future cause blockages/clogs. And then you look at those models with 2-tier and even the latest Cinetic Cyclones, there will be at one point in the future where at least one of those small-ish cyclones get clogged. I'm not against Dyson, but try to think from a neutral perspective, and you may just start to understand why people love their Dysons within the first 2-3 years only to have to bear with it later on. Now, I have moved on to a similarly priced Miele. There first thing that deters buyers is that it uses bags. Old-fashioned, outdated? Higher long-term running costs yes, but you save yourself the effort of having to deep clean your Cyclones every 4-6 months to maintain its suction and coming into contact with dirt when emptying/washing the bin. And to general consumers, we can see the appeal of the Dyson over a Miele: we can see what it picks up, we can see how "well" it performas as it collects dirt in the bin. That said, one would never be able to see the advantage Miele has over Dyson without thorough research or experience with both. Suction power, Miele wins hands down. I get the same suction level of the Dyson DC29 only on the Miele S8310's LOWEST power setting and 2nd LOWEST when the bag is relatively full. It's so powerful, that I never had set it at the "quiet-optimised" power setting or higher. There's no way around it no matter how much you see Dyson markets their product, try both and you'd genuinely feel Dyson is a big marketing act with the appeal of no loss of suction and no bags/filter to buy. For people coming from sub-$300 branded vacs, Dyson is still a step above the majority, but Miele is a leap ahead of Mr Dyson. Go to youtube and watch videos of how to properly clean Dyson vacs. Why do they exist? It's because of what I have said earlier, finer dust settles near the Cyclone tips. With Radial Cyclone and older, it would be of no problem deep cleaning the cyclones. Good luck dealing with 2-Tier and Cinetic models though. For Miele, you deal with bags. Yes they're more expensive, but each bag is a filter itself. It may be an old tech but an extremely refined process Miele has developed. Each time you replace a bag, you effectively get the same thing you first get You rarely ever see dust in the bag compartment, let alone the pre-motor filter, and blackened post-motor filter is from the motor's carbon exhaust instead of collected dust. Ease of maintenance long term, both do not heavily advertise them, but it's obvious when you've experienced both camps, which company has got the better of the other. The biggest and best improvement switching from Dyson to Miele is the noise aspect. The Miele is much quieter. In fact, the motor is so quiet, the main noise is the airflow from the floorhead itself. That's on floors. If you vacuum on carpets, the floorhead creates a seal (didn't happen with my DC29), and the overall noise is dampened to such an extent that you think where the **** is the thing I'm vacuuming with! And before you go on about the uniqueness of Dyson's Ball Movement, go to a superstore and try pulling a Miele S8 around. It's light and glides freely, you'll be remarkably surprised on how much you missed out.
