If you’re tired of buying a new vacuum to replace the last cheap model you bought and broke a few years ago, it might be time to invest in a Miele canister. When it comes to buy-it-for-life vacuums, it’s hard to do better than the machines coming out of factories all over the German countryside. And if you just want one model, the Complete C3 Cat & Dog is still probably the best all-around vacuum on the market. The problem, if you’re from Canada, however, is that you’re often going to pay a lot more for a Miele than you would if you lived in the United States.

Fortunately, after contacting Miele repeatedly about this issue, we think they’re finally starting to listen. Why? Because there are now dozens of Miele canisters exclusively sold in Canada, and at far cheaper prices than the Mieles available in the US and Canada alike. We’re reviewing them one by one, and we’re happy to report they’re as well made as their US equivalents.

We recently reviewed two Canada-limited Compact C2 models, the Cat & Dog and Total Care. Several months ago, we also reviewed the Electro+, a US/Canada-sold model. Today we’ll compare all three to the Miele Compact C2 Hard Floor, Obsidian Black, to see whether the upgrades in the aforementioned models are worth the higher price tags. To summarize our thoughts, buy the Hard Floor if you don’t need to clean anything higher than bare floors and low-pile carpets, buy the Total Care to add medium-pile carpets to your range,  upgrade to the Cat & Dog for medium-pile carpets and the ability to upgrade electric heads later, and buy the Electro+ to give you access to soft and high-pile carpets. Our full review is below, and you can buy the Compact C2 Hard Floor here.

Pros, cons, and key features of the Miele Compact C2 Hard Floor

The Compact C2 Hard Floor is a Miele canister only available in Canada; Miele has released several of these in the last few years, and as with their US/Canada counterparts, each is sorted into a C-category related to size and functionality. At the Compact C1 level, you’ll find the C1 Celebration. Among the Compact C2 models, there are the Cat and Dog, the Total Care, and the Hard Floor we’re reviewing today. At the Complete C3 level, there’s the  HomeCare, Total care, Power Plus, and Limited Edition. And in the Blizzard Cx1 line, which you can’t even find in the US market, there’s the Cat and Dog Cleaner, the Hard Floor Cleaner, and the Total Care Cleaner. To see all models at a glance, review our Miele guides here.

The Compact C2 Hard Floor’s key features include the 1,200 watt Vortex motor Miele uses to power all of their canisters, and the 33 foot operating radius common to the Compact C2 line. Within that radius, you’ll also find a 21 foot power cord that you can automatically rewind by touching the large silver button on the canister, a telescoping stainless steel wand, and a 7 foot crush-proof hose. At 10. 6 pounds (4.8 kg), the canister is easy to move up and down stairs. Like every Miele canister, it includes six power settings, including the legendary silent mode that lets you clean around sleeping children. The vacuum is equipped with a 5 year canister and 7 year motor warranty, but we have no trouble believing Miele’s estimates of a 20 year service life, especially given its resemblance to older Mieles still in service decades later.

Which accessories and cleaning heads are included with the Compact C2 Hard Floor?

The Compact C2 Hard Floor ships with the same three accessories packaged with every Miele canister: a dusting brush, an upholstery tool, and a crevice nozzle tool. All three accessories can ride piggyback on the canister by sitting in a caddy that connects to the flexible hose. In Canada as in the US, the main way to distinguish Mieles from each other, aside from price, is by the power of their cleaning heads. The Compact C2 Hard Floor falls on the low end of the C2 spectrum, and works best in homes with bare floors and low-pile carpets and area rugs.

When dealing with bare floors, you’ll use the SBD 285-3 universal floor tool. A combination too, it’ll tackle bare floors like hardwood, engineered wood, vinyl, laminate, ceramic tiles, marble, bamboo, concrete, and brick, as well as residential or commercial carpets like low-pile Saxonies, berbers,and  cut and loops. However, you’re not going to be able to use it to clean medium- or high-pile carpets, friezes, or soft carpets.

What’s the difference between the Miele Compact C2 Hard Floor, Total Care, Cat & Dog, and Electro+?

The differences between the Compact C2 Hard Floor, Total Care, Cat & Dog, and Electro+ are primarily tied to the brushes they ship with and the range of floors they can tackle as a result.

A step up from the Hard Floor, the Total Care drops the SBD 285-3 universal floor tool and adds a Parquet SBB 300-3 twister that does a better job on bare floors and an SBB 205-3 Turbobrush that gives you access to medium-pile carpets as well as low-piles. You also get a mini turbobrush, the STB 101, which comes in handy for cleaning upholstery.

Compared to the Hard Floor, the Cat & Dog drops the floor tool for the SEB 217-3 electrobrush. Like the Total Care’s Turbobrush, it opens the doors to medium-pile carpets, but unlike the Turbobrush, its inclusion means you’ll have the electrical connections (via the electric telescoping wand) to upgrade the SEB 217-3 to the SEB 228 electrobrush  down the road, which will let you clean high-pile and soft carpets too. Since you don’t get an electric brush with the Total Care, you can’t take advantage of this upgrade path due to a lack of the necessary electric connectors.

Finally, compared to the Hard Floor, the Electro+ again drops the floor tool, but this time for both a Parquet head and an upgraded electric brush head, the SEB 228, giving you the power to clean just about any pile and style of carpet currently on the market. You also get a HEPA air filtration system, a boost in air purification for people with allergies.

Why buy the Compact C2 Hard Floor?

The Compact C2 Hard Floor is a good choice for individuals and families tired of going through disposable box store vacuums. While it’s the cheapest and least featured Compact C2 model, it’s built to the same standards as the Electro+, which means you’re getting a buy-it-for-life vacuum that will take care of bare floors and low-pile carpets and area rugs for decades. If you don’t plan on switching to higher piled carpets in the future, you don’t need any other Miele, or any other vacuum, for that matter. Our primary suggestion would be to upgrade to the Compact C2 Cat & Dog if you want to be able to upgrade to a high-end electric brush later on. If you know you want the SEB 228 from the get-go, just get the Electro+ and be done with it. And if you want the larger canister and additional filtration benefits of the C3 line, there’s always the C3 Cat & Dog.

Canadians can buy the Miele Compact C2 Total Care here, buy the Cat & Dog here, or save money with the Hard Floor if you only have bare floors and low-pile carpets. For access to high-pile and soft carpets, get the Compact C2 Electro+ here or upgrade to the best all-around Miele canister, the Complete C3 Cat & Dog, 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.