Miele Mouth

rsbeck

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
848
11
0
Okay, everyone who knows me knows I love to research and find the best stuff.

So, a few months ago, my wife gave me an assignment;

"You like to research, you did a great job on the toaster, I am tired of our vacuum cleaner -- find me the best vacuum."

So, I sifted and searched, read customer reviews up the yin yang and believe me that's not easy.

Seriously, if you read around enough, you'll see there are several layers to this kind of search. You've got to peel that onion and get past the first layer. In the first layer, it seems like there are four or five very good choices. In the second layer, it seems like there are about three really good choices.

When you do deeper, it all falls apart for two of them and only one is left standing.

Miele. Specifically, the Miele Earth, which is the one I bought.

What makes the Miele better?

A few things. First is that most vacuum cleaners leak dust, so when you're vacuuming, you're also putting some dust back into the air -- blech! Even if you're not the one vacuuming, do you want dust going back in the air?

Noise pollution -- you won't believe how quiet this thing is!

Motor -- superior engineering means it has plenty of suction and has been tested to last 20 years (remember this when you see the price tag!)

Better filtering -- not only is the Miele sealed to prevent dust from leaking back into the air as you vacuum, the Miele actually cleans the air in the room as you vacuum!

They thought of everything -- some high end vacuums have an open cannister type system so when you open it to empty the debris, guess what? The dust you just vacuumed goes right back into the air. The Miele has a self-closing bag so when you replace it, you just drop the sealed bag in the garbage and that's where all of your dust goes.

The Miele Earth has a sensor that adjusts the speed of the motor to the task at hand, which saves energy and takes some guess work and hassle out of vacuuming.

If you have a pet, you know that pet hair is one of the biggest challenges for a vacuum cleaner -- not a problem for the Miele.

Price: $969
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
We have four Miele dishwashers between our two homes! Great stuff but clearly with a price premium. I understand the clothes washer is also amazing too but you can buy your own dry-cleaner store and it would be cheaper :D.

We almost got the convection oven but wen the Gaggenau route due to much sturdier rotisserie (which we use a lot). Otherwise, loved the look and performance of the Miele.
 

rsbeck

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
848
11
0
Same here. Our whole kitchen is Miele. We also have the steam oven and built in espresso machine -- wonderful engineering.

But, I want you to know -- Even though I was a happy Miele customer, I didn't get the vacuum out of brand loyalty.

First, I didn't know they made vacuum cleaners until I began to research.

Second, I was actually kind of skeptical -- could they possibly have nailed the vacuum cleaner, too?

Answer is -- yep.
 

DaveyF

Well-Known Member
Jul 31, 2010
6,129
181
458
La Jolla, Calif USA
I have a Miele Red Star vacuum, it's light years ahead of any other non-Miele vacuum IMHO.
Miele has a long history of making superb quality products. I would think they could make some
KILLER hi-end gear!
 

The Smokester

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2010
347
1
925
N. California
Thirty+ years ago my young wife and I had our first big fight over spending $1k on a hoover. I vowed it would be the last one we would ever buy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 

caesar

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2010
4,290
767
1,698
Miele excels at vacuum cleaners, dish washers, and wall ovens. I would stay away from anything else they make. It far from "the best". How do I know? A former Miele repair/ installation guy turned contractor worked on my house and enlightened me.

Also, most people buy their canister vacuums. However, their upright vacuums are virtually identical in performance to the canisters at a roughly 30% discount.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Since we are refreshing this thread, let me add my my experience with our high-end Miele dishwasher now that we have used it for a few months. This is their latest unit with auto-door-open mechanism and such. I think the cost was $2,500. The unit continues to show random faults saying to call technician for service. This, after re-doing the drain to get rid of the first set of random faults. Pretty disappointing considering that we have only used it 15 to 20 times total. Clearly the firmware or the rest of the unit was not debugged fully before letting it out the door.

I also find all four of our Miele (of various models) units to be noisier than the Bosch we used to have. The latter only cost $1000 and was noticeably quieter. The problem with Miele is that there is no sound insulation on the bottom of the door and a lot of noise leaks out of that area. Mind you, they are still very quiet but nowhere near the much cheaper $1000 Bosch which was essentially noise-free.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Well, in our case we needed something fixed. As you know the European dishwashers do not have a heating element. They superheat the dishes and get them to dry that way. But that doesn't work with plastic material and anything that holds water. We always run the dishwasher before leaving our vacation house and leaving things wet in there is not very good. The new Miele auto-opens the door to a) aid in drying everything and b) letting water evaporate from wherever it collects. Bosch doesn't make a unit with this feature.

As to the one in our main house, I got tired of the Bosch after it broke for the third time and decided to get the miele due to reliability reputation. So far that unit has worked fine even though it is noisier.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
You must have the same model as me because the door on mine opens as well at the end of then cycle to help drying but honestly mine is dead quiet
Do a test for me Steve. Get on the floor and put your ear near where the opening is below the door hinge. On ours, you can clearly hear the machine working. With the Bosch, there is a ton of insulation there, which stops the noise. Both of our Miele units leak out noise the same way. In our vacation house, we have hard floors and the noise travels far even though it is not loud per-se. If I don't have the TV on, I can hear it next door in our living room which is some 30+ feet away.
 

caesar

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2010
4,290
767
1,698
Since we are refreshing this thread, let me add my my experience with our high-end Miele dishwasher now that we have used it for a few months. This is their latest unit with auto-door-open mechanism and such. I think the cost was $2,500. The unit continues to show random faults saying to call technician for service. This, after re-doing the drain to get rid of the first set of random faults. Pretty disappointing considering that we have only used it 15 to 20 times total. Clearly the firmware or the rest of the unit was not debugged fully before letting it out the door.

I also find all four of our Miele (of various models) units to be noisier than the Bosch we used to have. The latter only cost $1000 and was noticeably quieter. The problem with Miele is that there is no sound insulation on the bottom of the door and a lot of noise leaks out of that area. Mind you, they are still very quiet but nowhere near the much cheaper $1000 Bosch which was essentially noise-free.

For the fear of sounding like a nostalgic old fart, the new stuff is just not made the same way. Actually, it is a common business model for manufacturers to build something that lasts for 2-5 years before starting to break down. They can charge a lower price for the new item and then make up the $$$ on service. That is how car dealers are surviving the troubled times these days.

Although our Miele dish washer has not had problems, we have had many problems with our high end range and fridge. Fortunately for us, we have bought a lot of stuff from ABT, and they have been kind enough to pick up most of the repair bills and service calls. (ABT has been rated #1 by Consumer Reports for large appliance purchases. In our case, they are living up to this.)
 

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