Verdict

Pros

• Outstanding dust filtration
• Good all-round cleaning
• Great tools and floorheads
• Quiet

Cons

• Cable could be a longer
• Air-powered Turbohead

What is the Miele C3 Total Solution?

Miele’s C3 vacuum cleaner range comprises seven individual bagged cylinder models, ranging from £200 to £600, each offering a specific unique feature. To give this model its full title, this is the (takes deep breath) Miele Complete C3 Total Solution Allergy Powerline, and is designed for mixed floor types and users sensitive to dust and other airborne allergens. The latter is achieved through a specially designed floorhead, which claims to pick up 10% more dust than standard heads, and an 11-stage filtration process designed to retain up to 99.999% of dust and pollen from the air.

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The Powerline tag indicates this is a 1200W machine and it comes with a selection of floorheads, including a Turbobrush and Miele’s AirTeQ floorhead, which claims to give the same performance as a traditional floorhead on a (now banned by the EU) 2000W machine. It’s light, comfortable to use, offers telescopic tubes and foot controls for convenience. Complete with the self-sealing HyClean GN dustbags, the C3 Total Solution Allergy Powerline is a cleaner not to be sneezed at.

Miele Complete C3 Total Solution – Accessories

The Miele Complete C3 Total Solution Alle… Let’s just call it the C3 Total Solution, shall we? The C3 Total Solution has a basic three-piece accessory set on-board, including an upholstery nozzle, dusting brush and crevice tool concealed beneath the top cover. The separate Turbobrush floorhead is a good size and solidly built, with a passive (air-powered) beater brush, a high/low speed control on the brush and a removable cover plate for cleaning access to the brush. Miele’s ‘parquet twister’ is a dedicated hard floor head with an innovative pivoting joint that keeps it flat to the ground no matter what angle you hold the tube. It’s exceptionally light for low effort cleaning, too. The final tool in the C3 Total Solution’s arsenal is the new AirTeQ floorhead with its claims of smoother, more efficient airflow.

Its large wheels and short flexi-hose make it exceptionally easy to manoeuvre and its hard floor/carpet switch is on both sides for right- or left-footed users. Solidly made steel tubes are telescopic for easy reach adjustment at the touch of a button, and there’s a clip on the body of the cleaner to hold the tube upright between vacuuming manoeuvres.

While not strictly accessories, this model comes supplied with Miele’s new HyClean GN self-closing dust bags that are designed to hold 20% more dust than previous HyClean bags.

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Miele Complete C3 Total Solution – On carpets and hard floors

We mounted the Parquet Twister head to the C3 Total Solution and began by tackling a hard parquet floor. The head design is outstanding for ease of use, with its pivoting and light weight, and ensures solid suction performance.

For a light amounts of pet hair we found the lowest power setting adequate, while on full power it was a breeze to clean up grit and dried mud. We generally prefer motor-powered Turboheads rather than those that use fans in the airflow like this Miele model, but once again the performance was exceptional on all but very deep-pile carpets, where the brush would get a bit bogged down.

For this we switched to the AirTeQ head, which was highly effective and designed not to stick itself down to the floor. It definitely maximises the air flow for very good performance, but we think Miele’s claim that it is as effective as an older-style head on a 2000W cleaner is rather wishful thinking.

It did, however, clean our test powder on carpet well, with very good edge cleaning. This head was also quieter than the Turbohead, and the C3 Total Solution tipped our noise meter at just 79dB – or about the same as light street traffic passing by.

Test Carpet before (above) and after (below)

Miele Complete C3 Total Solution – On stairs

Weighing in at under 6kg with a convenient, chunky handle, the C3 Total Solution is relatively easy to carry up and down stairs. It will sit upright on a standard step, but care is needed to ensure the hose or cable don’t topple it over.

Thanks to the telescopic tubes and good hose reach, we could get halfway up and/or down our stairs with the machine at the top or bottom, though a longer cable would be welcome. The 7.5-metre cable is decent enough, but a couple more metres would give a better range – the Numatic Henry HVR200-A2 has a 10-metre cable.

The upholstery tool was probably the easiest to use on stairs – our usually preferred Turbohead and the AirTeq heads were more effective, but also heavier and not as easy to get into narrow parts of turning steps. While asking for another tool would mean half a cupboard full of accessories, a smaller Turbohead for stairs and upholstery would have made this Miele the perfect package.

Miele Complete C3 Total Solution – Pet hair

We went straight for the Turbohead where outfall from our furry friends was concerned. Spun up to full speed, the Miele C3 Total Solution cleaned the 30cm area with mixed-length Collie and Labrador hair in 12 seconds – a great result. For pet hairs on deeper-pile carpets the Turbohead did slow down under load, reducing the efficiency of its de-furring abilities a little.

Repeating the test with the AirTeQ head, it took quite a while longer without the added action of the beater brush, but cleaned completely with a few more sweeps of the area. It got a fair bit of hair tangled around the stiff brush edges, but proved easy to clean.

Should I buy the Miele Complete C3 Total Solution Allergy Powerline?

Miele’s C3 Total Solution is a great all-round cylinder cleaner, offering a great choice of tools, impressive suction power and class-leading dust filtration standards. We like features such as the variable power on a foot switch, the tubes feel solid to use, and the AirTeq and Parquet floorheads are outstandingly effective. OK, we would’ve liked a smaller Turbohead and a slightly longer cable, but it otherwise offers superb all-round performance.

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