If you own or are thinking about buying a Miele Complete C3 Brilliant, you probably already know it’s Miele’s flagship canister vacuum and one of the fanciest on the market. We’re personally more fans of the Marin, which we feel offers most of what the Brilliant does for a bit less money. However, in either case, unless you buy $1,000 appliances for fun, you’re going to want your Miele to work out of the box and keep working for a long time. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about the Brilliant. We’ll cover filters, dust bags, sound levels, warranty information, and general cleaning and troubleshooting tips. Our Marin FAQ is here.
When you buy the Brilliant, do you also get a dust bag, HEPA filter, and motor filter?
If you’re paying close to $1,400 for a top-of-the-line Miele vacuum, we’d hope these accessories would come standard. Fortunately, Miele agrees with us, and you’ll get a starter dust bag, motor filter, and HEPA filter installed in the Brilliant from the start. However, you’re still going to want to buy extras, because all need to be replaced on a somewhat regular schedule, and it’s easy for that schedule to sneak up on you if you’re anywhere nearly as busy as most people who can afford high-end Mieles.
When do you need to replace the dust bag, motor filter, and HEPA filter on the Brilliant, and which ones do you buy?
The bad news is that you’re going to need to replace your bag and filters periodically on the Brilliant. The good news is that all three are very cheap compared to the Brilliant and don’t need to be replaced very frequently. The dust bag and motor filter are sold as the Miele GN Airclean 3D Efficiency Dust Bag; in each box, you’ll find four bags and two filters (an air filter and a motor filter). You replace the bags when they get full and the motor filter after using all four bags. We recommend buying several boxes at once and stocking them away, as they won’t go bad and it’s handy to have them available right when you need them. For the HEPA filter, you’ll want the Miele HEPA AirClean SF-HA 50, and you’ll want to replace it after every 50 hours of vacuum use, or every 12 months when using it in home environments.
How loud (or quiet) is the Brilliant in decibels? Will it wake sleeping babies or can you vacuum around napping children?
One of the most frequent concerns we come across involves noise levels. Fortunately, the Brilliant is brilliantly quiet (forgive the pun). It’s rated at 64dB or lower if you reduce the speed. For reference, that’s about as loud as a conversation in a restaurant or office environment or an air conditioning unit a room away. To put it bluntly, it’s quiet enough for a baby to sleep through. If you use the powered nozzle, of course, it’ll be louder.
How long are the power cord and hose in feet?
The power cord is 23.5 feet long while the hose itself is an additional 6 feet. When combined, keeping in mind that the hose is flexible and extends somewhat, you’ll have a working radius of 36 feet including the canister itself; this is wide enough to clean most rooms without needing to play the unplug, replug dance unless you’re trying to clean great hall-type areas in mansion-sized homes and estates. And if that’s the case, you’re going to need an extension cord anyway. Unfortunately, there aren’t any replacement hoses you can buy and screw into the Brilliant (or any other Miele canister, for that matter).
Which is better for shedding dogs? The Brilliant or the Cat and Dog?
While we’re fond of both the Brilliant and the Cat and Dog, which we’ve reviewed favorably elsewhere, the truth is that both vacuums are going to deliver the same amount of power for a cleaning job. The primary difference between the two for such a situation are that the Brilliant will include handle-level controls instead of controls solely on the canister, which will make it easier to change power and other settings when tackling different shedding sites. Additionally, the Brilliant’s power head includes LED lights, which can make it easier to spot carpet-colored hairs and fur. However, if you don’t need the bells and whistles, you can save a significant amount of money cleaning up after your pets with the Cat and Dog instead of with the Brilliant.
Will the Brilliant be too strong for rugs and delicate carpets? Should I get the Soft Carpet instead?
While the Brilliant is a highly capable vacuum and one of the best in the business, we’re not going to pull your tail and tell you it’s going to do a better job on handmade or antique carpets and rugs than the Soft Carpet, because it won’t. You can adjust the height, you can change cleaning heads, and you can use different power settings, and the Brilliant be flexible enough for almost anything. But if you’ve got carpets or rugs that cost significantly more than most people spend on carpets or rugs, we’d recommend investing in the Soft Carpet instead of the Brilliant, as it’s designed to handle all kinds of carpets and rugs better than any other vacuum Miele (or pretty much any other manufacturer) makes. We noted its abilities in our review, and we’ve yet to find a better vacuum for carpets and rugs you can’t afford to replace.
You can buy the Complete C3 Brilliant here on Amazon. Pet lovers on a budget can buy the Cat and Dog here. If you end up preferring the Marin or Soft Carpet, we’ll still congratulate you on the money you’ve saved; you can buy the Marin here and buy the Soft Carpet here. You can’t go wrong with any of them.
Canadians can buy the Brilliant here, the Cat & Dog here, the Marin here, and the Soft Carpet 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.