REASONS TO BUY
Great carpet cleaning
Long reach
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
No brush control
Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine Review
This model's high price tag does not translate to a high performance
The Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine.
Credit: Miele
RELATED: Best Canister Vacuum of 2023
Our Verdict
The Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine delivered great results in almost every test apart from hard surfaces. This model is easy to use and has a long reach compared to others. We found the Miele Calima to be an excellent canister vacuum, but with its extremely high price point, we expected near perfection, which this vacuum is not. The Miele Calima was abysmal in cleaning hard floors. If you hope to use a new canister vacuum to clean your hard surface floors like the kitchen and bathrooms, you should look for other better-performing models in our best canister vacuum review.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  |  | | ||
| Price | $799 List $749.90 at Amazon | $80 List $80.37 at Amazon | $400 List $292.78 at Amazon | $70 List $79.72 at Amazon | $500 List $479.00 at Amazon |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Pros | Great carpet cleaning, long reach | Great edging, hard surface, and carpet cleaning performances | Great maneuverability, cool features, picks up finer debris, great with hair | Easy maneuverability, strong suction, good on hard floors | Great carpet cleaning, easily suctions small debris |
| Cons | Expensive, no brush control | Poor pet hair cleaning, short reach | Poor with larger debris, expensive | Struggles with pet hair, non-adjustable shaft | Expensive, poor on hard surfaces |
| Bottom Line | This model's high price tag does not translate to a high performance | This little vacuum can pack a punch in performance, cleaning carpets and hard surfaces with ease at an affordable price | Great cleaning performance with additional features that will keep you happy and your house clean | Great maneuverability and cleaning performance makes this a go-to vacuum, especially if you're looking for a bagged model | Excellent cleaning carpet performance, but if you're seeking a vacuum to tackle hard floors, look somewhere else |
| Rating Categories | Miele Complete C3 C... | Eureka WhirlWind | Dyson Big Ball Mult... | Eureka Mighty Mite | Miele Compact C1 Turbo |
| Carpet Cleaning (35%) | |||||
| Ease of Use (25%) | |||||
| Handling (20%) | |||||
| Hard Surface (10%) | |||||
| Pet Hair (10%) | |||||
| Specs | Miele Complete C3 C... | Eureka WhirlWind | Dyson Big Ball Mult... | Eureka Mighty Mite | Miele Compact C1 Turbo |
| Model Number | SGFE0 | NEN110B | N/A | 3670G | SCAE0 |
| Dirt Collection | Bag | Bagless | Bagless | Bag | Bag |
| Measured Head Width | 11.0" | 10.5'' | 10.5'' | 10.5'' | 10.75'' |
| Measured Weight | 15.5 lbs | 11.0 lbs | 17.4 lbs | 9.3 lbs | 14.2 lbs |
| Measured Brush Width | 10'' | N/A | 9'' | N/A | 10'' |
| Measured Weight | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Brush On/Off Switch | No | N/A | Adjusts | N/A | No |
| Measured Maximum Reach | 36' | 26' 10" | 33' 4" | 31' 10" | 30' |
| Measured Power Cord Length | 24' | 16' 6" | 22' | 19' 6" | 18' |
| Automatic Cord Rewind | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Measured Noise | 66 dBa | 68 dBa | 74 dBa | 72 dBa | 67 dBa |
| Measure Suction Power | 76'' | 60'' | 80'' | 90'' | 72'' |
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Our Analysis and Test Results
The Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine is amazing at cleaning carpets. This yellow canister packs a punch with its rotating brush head and long reach. With 24 feet of cord and a long wand, you'll be able to vacuum those stairs with ease. The 4.2-liter bag is the largest of all the bags or dirt cups on the canister vacuums we tested, and that means you won't need to change bags so often. With very high ratings overall, this little yellow vacuum is also easy to use, handle, and manages to pick up pet hair relatively well. There are many great attributes with the Miele C3 Calima, but some pretty disappointing ones too.
Performance Comparison
The rotating brush head on this made it one of the top carpet cleaners.
Credit: Chris McNamara
Carpet Cleaning
Most buy a vacuum cleaner exclusively to clean the carpet. Therefore, carpet cleaning garners 35% of the overall score for each vacuum. We worked hard at vacuuming up rice, oatmeal, Cheerios, and flour on both low and medium-pile carpeting. Those four kinds of debris are usually pretty difficult for a vacuum cleaner to pick up, which is why we chose them.
Our review team used rice to test the canister vacuums.
Credit: Chris McNamara
The Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine plowed right through our rice on both the low and medium-pile carpets, taking only three to five passes to get it all. Oatmeal was nearly as good, taking just a couple of passes to sweep up everything. When we moved on to the Cheerios, things headed south. Granted, most canister vacuums struggled with Cheerios. Its flour cleaning performance was also so-so, taking five passes to vacuum up everything.
Ease of Use
We gave ease of use 25% of the total score and broke this metric down into four tests: edging, reach, maneuverability under furniture, and surface transition. The Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine did a great job at getting nearly everything cleaned up along the edges of the room. But what really impressed us was the fantastic reach of the C3. It made cleaning under furniture a breeze.
The Miele Complete C3 comes with a suction adjustment slider.
Credit: Chris McNamara
The Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine is not good with transitioning onto hard flooring. While there is a suction adjustment for the head, there is no height adjustment, making the transition from carpet to hard flooring tricky.
Handling
Going hand in hand with Ease of Use, the Handling metric measures Maneuvering, Pulling/Pushing Effort, and Stairs, three things to really look for in a canister vacuum, which is why it earns 20% of the total score.
The Miele handled the tight turns with ease.
Credit: Chris McNamara
The Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine did very well at maneuvering, making the tight turns with ease. The way the head swiveled helped a lot with this, and the canister followed nicely without tipping over. But the pushing/pulling effort wasn't as good. At least you don't have to haul the canister up and down the stairs as the hose and cord are quite long.
Hard Surface
Hard surface cleaning earns 10% of the final score for each canister vacuum. This is where both the Miele failed miserably. It was awful at picking up rice, oatmeal, and Cheerios — plowing and throwing the debris around rather than picking it up. This vacuum created an even larger mess when vacuuming cereal.
Pet Hair
Pet hair is the final metric we used to test the canister vacuums. After that horrible experience with the hard surface testing, we were relieved when the Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine actually did a decent job of vacuuming pet hair. This vacuum collected up to 78.20% of pet hair after four passes.
The rotating brush really helps with picking up Fluffy's hair.
Credit: Chris McNamara
Should you buy the Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine?
The carpet cleaning performance of the Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine was wonderful, but the way it cleaned — or rather, didn't clean — the hard surfaces was simply unsatisfactory. For what you'd pay for this canister vacuum, it should clean the hard surfaces and do the laundry too. This model is too much money for not enough performance. Other canisters we tested are just as good with carpets and much better with hard floors — we recommend saving your money and buying one of those.
For such a high price, we expected more out of the Miele C3.
Credit: Chris McNamara
What Other Canister Vacuum Should You Consider?
A very high price tag does not equal great cleaning performance on all surfaces with the Miele Complete C3 Calima PowerLine. Other canisters we tested are just as good with carpets and much better with hard floors. We recommend saving your money and buying the Eureka Whirlwind for the best overall performance or the Dyson Big Ball Multi Multi Floor for a superb pet hair performance. Unless you want the Miele for its sleek style and carpet cleaning performance, go with a different model.
—
Ruth Bruckbauer and Jessica Riconscente
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