A couple of months ago there was a lot of singing and dancing around the house when my horrible, useless Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner decided it had had enough. Even before this happened I had already decided I wanted a Miele Cat and Dog to replace the stupid thing, so the next day we set off in search of checking out the cleaners in the local shops. We visited Comet as this is the nearest largest retailer near us.

I headed straight to the Miele Cat and Dog, which was around £200.00, Darren, my husband had a play to make sure it would built properly, (anything to get out of paying a lot of money) he then noticed a Miele that was on offer. We compared both the Cat and Dog with the Red Pearl and they both seemed to have exactly the same power and attachments, in fact they looked exactly the same except the Red Pearl was £30.00 cheaper. So that was it we settled on the Red Pearl.

Miele are a German Company who manufacture good quality home appliances and was founded in 1899, they have a UK office and warehouse in Abingdon.

The Cleaner.

The Red Pearl is a cylinder cleaner and is a lovely Burgundy colour with black and silver highlights and is made of rigid plastic. The measurements are approx. 27cm across, approx. 48cm long including the carry handle and approx. 20cm deep. The machine weighs approx. 18lb (8.5 kilo). It has a silver flexible pipe approx. 170cm long with a metal telescopic pipe 65cm long, 104cm fully extended with a plastic curved rigid pipe of approx. 38cm connecting the flexible and metal pipe together. On the top of the machine is a dial which turns for 6 different settings, the on/off foot switch, the automatic cable rewind foot switch that rewinds the cable at the speed of light (cable length approx., 9.5 metres) and a indicator that tells you when the dust bag is full. A switch that lifts the top of the machine up to reveal the attachments and another switch which reveals the dust bag and filters sitting within the machine. At either side of the machine and at the back is a slot, where the head and tubes fit into when not in use. The metal telescopic pipe slides up and down very smoothly and locks in place very easily. Unlike my old Dyson,

the pipes stay up once extended unless you press a button to close it down, I used to find with my Dyson that I would be cleaning and all of the sudden the pipes would close up themselves and I would be left trying to stop myself falling on the floor. Underneath the cleaner is 3 wheels allowing for easy movement.

The Settings

The cleaner has six settings with the minimum for use with curtains which on my electric usage meter uses about 735 watts, next comes the furniture setting which uses about 870 watts, the rug setting uses 900 watts, the quiet energy saving setting uses 970 watts, the carpet setting uses 1100 watts and finally the maximum heavy soiled setting uses 1500watts. I have only ever used the maximum setting once and that was when I first got the machine. The suction is fantastic on which ever setting you use, obviously the lower the setting the less suction you will get. The cleaner works adequately on the quiet energy saving mode and picks up individual or clumps of hairs off carpets and mats no problem.

Attachments

The machine is supplied with a standard size floor head along with a smaller turbo head. By pressing a button behind the full bag indicator the top of the machine flips up revealing a further 3 attachments. A crevice nozzle, a round dusting brush and an upholstery nozzle. The crevice nozzle fits nicely down the side of a sofa, although remember to check for any money trapped first. My last expedition down the side of the sofa revealed £2.36 although I must have missed a couple of coins as I heard a rattle in the metal tubes (don't worry I will get them bag I shall make a slit in the before it goes in the bin!) I have only used the upholstery brush on curtains as I have leather furniture. The dusting brush works great for cleaning lamp shades. The attachments sit nicely within the machine, always on hand to use them and never in the way, whereas with the Dyson I had to remove them from the side of the machine as they seemed to be in my way. Changing the heads is very easy just press the button, pull and off comes the head, push the pipe into the other head and twist to lock in place. I find it is easier to use the turbo head that the standard head, although it was the other way around with the Dyson. The turbo head moves easily because it has two wheels on the bottom, whereas the Dyson you needed muscles the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger's to push it.

The bag and filters

One bag is supplied in the machine when purchased new with one spare. The bags are very thick and are made up of nine layers to keep the dust in, ideal for allergy sufferers. By pressing a button just below the handle, lifting the top of the machine reveals the bag and 2 filter system. The bag has a self closing top and is very easy to change, just hold the little handle and pull up and this releases the bag then chuck in the bin (shake first to see if any money has been cleaned up!). Just slot the new bag into place. The two filters are very easy to change. The super Air Clean can be found at the top of the machine, hold the little grille handle and lift, pick up the old filter and replace it with a new one push the grille closed again. The dust compartment filter can only be accessed by removing the bag, pull the handle down remove old filter and replace with a new one, then push shut. Both filters are supplied in a box of new bags and it is recommended that both filters are replaced every time you open a new box of bags.

The bag full indicator is a little orange thing that gradually moves across a window to indicate when the bag is full. This only works using the standard floor head and with the highest power setting. Personally I would not trust this and would use my own judgement, mine said it was full after just two uses however I have got another 6 weeks use out of it, and I have not noticed any loss in suction.

Storage

The cleaner sits upright taking up less room with the holder slot on either side of the machine enabling you to put it away best within your cupboard. For me I have found that this cleaner takes up less storage room than the cylinder Dyson did and with the attachments held within the cleaner its self I do not lose them unlike the Dyson that would need to be kept in a bag

My thoughts

This vacuum is fantastic, 100% better than my old Dyson. The suction is so powerful It picks up pet hairs with no problem, in fact the only time I have ever used the highest power setting is on the first time I used it. When I was hoovering near the dog, I turned the setting down to quiet mode and that is where it has remained ever since. Even on the quiet mode it picks the pet hairs up no problem. When picking large items such as cat litter or dried mud (normally off my Husbands work boots) you can hear then rattle around the metal pipe before you get silence and you know it is in the bag.

The quiet mode is nowhere near as noisy as the Dyson in fact even on the maximum mode it is still quieter than the Dyson. When I hoovered with that thing, there would be cats flying about everywhere in fear of their lives and the Dog would need to go out in the garden as it frightened her so much she once tried clearing the child gate to get herself out of the room. Now using the Miele, the cats continue to sleep on the bed without even battering an eyelid and the dog is happy for me to hoover in the kitchen without even coming off her bed, in fact I have to kick her off when I hoover her bed.

When I hoover the Hessian backed carpets it lifts the pile up as though the carpet is new, I can even make foot prints now on the bedroom carpets! The bag has lasted me 8 weeks of 5 times a week usage, although it is so long since I had a bagged cleaner I had forgotten that you can get a smell out of the bag, this I hope will be remedied with the insertion of an air freshener, when Mr Kleeneze next pays me a visit.

A couple of things I am not happy about is with the bag, I have noticed that the pet hairs and fluff seem to remain at the top of the bag, instead of filling the whole bag, but I have taken the bag out of the machine, and given it a shake to move the fluff down to the bottom of the bag, thus giving me more time before the bag needs throwing. The other thing I am not happy about is that the bag is not reusable, the whole thing needs to be thrown away, it states in the instructions that the bag should not be reused as it will block up the pores and the bag could explode (not worth reusing in my opinion then).

On the whole the cleaner is very easy to use, it moves around the carpets and hard flooring easily like a puppy dog following its mother. The cleaner is light to carry up and down stairs and sits nicely upright on a stair when you are hoovering them. In fact (and these are not words I would ever thought I would use), it is now a pleasure to do the vacuuming but I'm sure the novelty will soon wear off.

The Miele cleaners are a very reasonable price with the Dyson Animal equivalent costing in the region of £250.00 - £300.00 and the Miele costing at the region of £170.00 to £200.00, I know which one I would rather buy in fact I will never ever buy another Dyson even if I never had animals.

The Miele Red Pearl cleaner can be found in Comet for £179.99 or on various other internet sites at around the same price. Replacement bags and filters are readily available either on the internet or in shops for £10.00 or for 20 bags and 8 filters on Amazon for £15.99. It has a 1 year guarantee with the ability to register the machine for an extra years warranty or some places are offering a free 5 year warranty. Various extra attachments are available at extra cost.

Many thanks for reading. Anna