Simply the best.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Powerful, quiet, compact, nimble, lightweight, thorough

Cons: Accessory caddy is a bother.  Bags are expensive.

The Bottom Line: 
I highly recommend the Miele over all other top rated vacuums due to it's solid design and ease of use.

Author's Review
I have owned countless vacuum cleaners in the 26+ years that I have been married. I never fell in love with the performance of a vacuum cleaner until I brought home my first Miele (That one was the Solaris Turbo Plus)  I was really reluctant to spend so much on a vacuum cleaner. I had always stayed with the lower priced machines on the market. I shopped around a lot, testing out many of the top rated machines. Now I understand what the big difference is!

My first Miele was damaged beyond repair when I allowed someone who was not certified to work on Miele work on it.  I had moved to a small town where my options were limited to the "local vacuum guy" or driving over an hour to the closest certified shop.  OH how I wish I had opted to drive.  He never fixed the problem and ended up causing so much additional damage that he rendered the machine unusable. 

***If you purchase a Miele, please take it to someone who is certified to work on it if it ever needs service or repairs.  Even if you have to drive a good bit to get there, DO IT!

After that happened, I went through a few low quality machines since I was unable to swing the cost of a new Miele at the time.  But, after a few years of struggling with cheap machines, I finally managed to purchase another Miele.  This time, it was the Miele Neptune.

My reason for choosing the Neptune over some of the more expensive units had more to do with functionality than cost.  In my home, I currently have wood floors, vinyl, and Berber carpet.  No shag.  The more expensive Miele units have the electric head that is better suited for shag carpets.  I found it very heavy and harder to maneuver than the turbo head that comes with the Neptune. 

The Miele is simply the most user friendly, smooth running, and powerful vacuums I have ever tried out. It is so quiet that I can continue to have conversations with my kids while I am vacuuming. I really love how the turbo head turns around corners without skipping a beat. I could never do that with my uprights. The cleaning radius is much larger than I've experienced with other machines, too. I don't have to stop and move the plug nearly as often as before.

I have found I don't end up using the hard floor attachment very often. I usually just leave the turbo head on and zip the dirt right off of my hardwood  floors.

Because this vacuum is such a dream to use, I have been vacuuming much more often. I love the sound, the power, and the wonderful feel of my freshly vacuumed carpets. This Miele is so fun to have around!

I am amazed at how much more of my floor I can access with this canister vacuum than I ever could with all the uprights I had. I can get into narrow spots with the lightweight head of the Turbo Plus. I just lift it up and place it where I need it to go. There is no need to make room for a huge, bulky apparatus. I can just sneak right into tight spots and zip away the dirt.

If I need to get into an even tighter spot, it is a breeze to click off the turbo head and use the hose attachments. There is virtually no fumbling around with attaching or disconnecting anything. It's just a click off and a click on.

The telescoping wand and variety of attachments and suction strengths allows you to use this vacuum for a vast variety of household cleaning tasks.  It can reach the cobwebs, dust off the piano, clean lightweight throw rugs, etc with very minor adaptations between them.  Turn a dial, switch the attachment, slide the wand.  Done.

The fact that the canister wheels roll in all directions is worthy of notice. Sounds like this would be no big deal, but it really is. As I'm vacuuming, I almost totally forget about the canister following me around. It maneuvers itself around corners with no effort from me. I have compared it to an obedient little puppy following me around on his leash, LOL.  Due to it's light weight, I do have to watch out that it does not turn upside down when I go around corners, though.

The hose has shown it's strength to me a great number of times. I have accidentally bent it, folded it, twisted it, and rolled over it more often that I can count. It has always popped right back into shape with zero effort from me.

My one negative comment about this machine is the way the attachments are supposed to hook onto the machine.  My original Solaris did this much better than my current Neptune does.  With this machine, I'm to attache all the accessories to a plastic caddy-type thing and slip that onto the hose nearest to the machine.  That's highly inconvenient and pieces are forever getting knocked off by the hose as I go about using the Neptune.  So, I've resorted to putting all the pieces in a basket and keeping it all on a shelf near where I store the vacuum.  It's NOT convenient that way, but way better than constantly knocking stuff out of the caddy and having to pick them up.

If you are someone who appreciates a good quality machine, you will not regret giving a Miele serious consideration.