Every few years, Miele goes through their inventory, realizes they didn’t quite sell enough of one canister or another before discontinuing it, and decides to re-release a set of canisters as a limited run. The most recent Mieles to fall in this category are the Complete C2 Limited, which we described in our review as the best $400 family vacuum of 2017, and the Complete C2 Hard Floor, which we noted was a $400 buy-it-for-life vacuum for families with hard floors and rugs. Well, the Germans have apparently found more unsold stock and quite possibly lost their minds, as they’ve now come out with the cheapest Miele canister in recent history.

Today we’re going to review the Miele C1 Limited Edition. To put it bluntly, it’s a re-released Classic C1 canister with a combination head and Parquet brush, making it a good fit for families and individuals with bare floors, rugs, and low-pile carpets. Is it worth it? For $200, absolutely. We wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone looking for a buy-it-for-life vacuum at a bare-bones price. You can buy it here. We’d do so before it runs out. Canadians, buy the C1 Limited Edition here.

Pros, Cons, and Key Features of the Miele C1 Limited Edition

The C1 Limited Edition, as its name suggests, is the latest limited run canister from Miele’s since-discontinued Classic C1 line. As a refresher, this line includes some of the best Miele canisters in recent memory, including the Titan, Delphi, and Capri (which the C1 Limited closely resembles), as well as the Olympus. It’s also one of three existing limited editions, including the Complete C2 Limited and Complete C2 Hard Floor. Like its limited brethren, it won’t be on sale forever, but while it’s available, it can be a shockingly good deal.

Compared to every Miele we’ve reviewed so far, in the C1 line, it most resembles the Olympus except it adds a Parquet head to the combination head in the Olympus. In the C2 line, it most closely resembles the Hard Floor, except with a C1-based canister instead of a C2. In the C3 line, its closest equivalent is the Alize, except it doesn’t have the Alize’s high end features and does have a Parquet head, which the Alize does not.

Now that we’ve covered how the C1 Limited compares to other Miele canisters, let’s take a closer look at its design and construction. Like the Classic C1 line, it uses the same 1,200 watt Vortex motor in a 29.5-foot operating radius that includes the power cord, telescoping wand, and crush-proof hose. The canister also includes the standard six power settings on the rotary dial with one of them being the classic silent setting to let you vacuum around sleeping babies and hyperactive toddlers.

You get Miele’s standard canister accessories–the dusting brush, crevice nozzle, and upholstery tool–all of which attach to the vacuum where the hose sprouts from the canister. Per Miele, you can enjoy up to 20 years on average with one of their canisters, and given what we’ve seen about their canisters (though not their uprights), 20 years is easily reachable. You’re looking at the last vacuum you might ever need to buy, and it costs only $200.

However, Miele has to have a reason to sell their higher end vacuums, and they differentiate those from the C1 Limited the way they always do: through the cleaning brush heads. The C1 Limited, like the C2 Hard Floor, is targeted toward hard floors and area rugs.

It ships with the SBD285-3 combination rug and floor tool and the SBB300-3 Parquet floor brush. The combination tool is no different from those included on any other Miele canister; it really only works on bare floors and low pile rugs. While you can push it on carpets, particularly low pile carpets, it’s not going to leave you happy with medium- or high-pile carpeting. The Parquet floor brush will effectively clean bare floors, around baseboards and beneath furniture, and is honestly the only head you need if you only have hardwood floors.

Is the C1 Limited a good value for homes with lots of carpeting? If not, which Mieles are?

To put all this information together, if you’re buying a family or personal vacuum for a home with bare floors like hardwood, engineered wood, vinyl, laminate, ceramic tiles, marble, bamboo, concrete, brick, or low-pile carpet or area rugs here and there, you can simply put down $200 and have a vacuum that will work for the next several decades. On the other hand, if you’ve got any amount of medium- to high-pile carpets, you’re going to either need a different Miele or simply buy a turbo head.

If you’re considering a turbo head, we’d suggest you buy a Miele that ships with one in the box, such as the Complete C2 Limited. If you want both a turbo head and a Parquet head, you can get both through either the Classic C1 Capri or Compact C2 Onyx. The next big upgrade will be to move from a turbo brush head to an electric brush head, which will give you the power you need to effectively clean low-, medium-, and high-pile carpeting. The cheapest Mieles with electric and Parquet heads are the Classic C1 Titan and Compact C2 Electro+. Between the two, the Electro+ is a better choice, as it comes with a stronger electric head for the same price.

Why buy the Miele C1 Limited Edition?

By now, it should be clear we’re fans of the C1 Limited Edition. To be frank, we think it’s a fantastic value. We can’t remember the last time a Miele canister was priced at under $200 and included both a combination head and a Parquet head. If you’ve been waiting for a chance to buy a Miele but always believed you simply couldn’t ever afford one, here’s your chance. For $200, you can have a vacuum that will last you for the next 20 years while offering just as much cleaning power and engineering finesse as $1,400 machines like the Brilliant and Marin. This is an opportunity to own a buy-it-for-life vacuum for the price of a discount special at Best Buy or WalMart. Don’t miss it; the C1 Limited Edition won’t be around forever.

If you like what the C1 offers but have deeper wallets, its high end equivalents include the Complete C3 Cat & Dog (which includes a C3 body, Parquet brush, and electric brush head) and the Complete C3 Calima (which switches the electric brush head of the C & D for a turbo brush head). Its mid-range equivalents are the Classic C1 Titan or the Compact C2 Electro+, both of which feature the Parquet brush and electric brush heads.

You can buy the Miele C1 Limited Edition here on Amazon. Alternatively, you can buy the Miele Complete C2 Hard Floor here, or buy the Complete C2 Limited here. For a true upgrade while remaining under $600, we’d recommend either the Classic C1 Titan or the Compact C2 Electro+. Between $600 and $900, the best upgrades are the Complete C3 Cat & Dog and the Complete C3 Calima.

Canadians can buy the Limited Edition here, the Hard Floor here, the Titan here, the Electro+ here, the Cat & Dog here, or the Calima here.

If you find our research on PMC helpful, you can follow our efforts to keep maniacally reviewing home cleaning tools by shopping through our links above. We promise to keep fighting the good fight against every horror children, animals, and grown, yet messy humans can inflict upon a clean home.