Miele Triflex HX2 Cat & Dog Vacuum Cleaner - Cordless, bagless vacuum with LED light, HEPA Lifetime Filter, compact electrobrush for pet hair and 60 min runtime, Obsidian Black colour

Product Information

The power doesn't deplete when in use, but you will notice the battery indicator light blinking for a minute-or-so before it cuts out. This is useful because it gives you just enough time to run down the stairs to find that spare battery, which you will need when vacuuming a three-bed house from top to bottom. Traditionally, vacuum cleaners are wired and come in two styles; upright vacuums and cylinders, also referred to as canister vacuums, but which is better? First, there’s Comfort Mode, which puts the main vacuum cleaner close to the floor head, so the main weight of the vacuum cleaner is closer to the floor. That effectively makes the Triflex a cordless upright cleaner in a similar way to the Shark ICZ300UKT. Like that vacuum cleaner, the Miele Triflex HX2 Pro can stand up by itself in this mode. That’s quite a time saver, as I could just leave the vacuum cleaner every time I needed to pause vacuuming, say to move something out of the way.

Through testing, the Triflex HX2 Pro measured in between 54dB – 58dB for noise, as we slid through the power settings using the floorhead. This is noticeably quieter than the level recorded when using the accessories, which we measuredat between 5dB – 63dB. The expected noise level for a vacuum cleaner is around 70dB, so the Miele Triflex HX2 Pro is less likely to irritate, if noise is important to you. We found that the Hoover HL5 is loud, however, after we measured between 78dB - 82dB, from using the wand in portable mode to using the motorized floor head on the floor, using our decibel reader on our phones. It is also mighty heavy and the bin had a tendency to lift off when we tried to lug the upright vacuum up the stairs. We rate each model on how simple it is to empty the dust canister, how loud it is during use, and how durable it is. In addition, for those with batteries, we assess how long they last between charges, while for corded models, we evaluate the length of the power cord. The HEPA¹ lifetime filter captures and filters 99.999%² of all microscopic particles and allergens, removing them from the air. This maintenance free filter is perfect for people who suffer from asthma and allergies.The floorhead also features a light strip along its front edge, which we found super-useful for lighting up areas under furniture, or revealing finer dirt on the hard floor in lower lit areas of the house. Note that this is only present on the Triflex HX2 Pro and Triflex HX2Cat & Dog models. Miele also includes a separate Hardfloor Care soft roller for use on hard floors and a Carpet Care roller brush for more delicate carpets and rugs. It does mean that you'll need to stop vacuuming to remove and swap out the bristle roller brush, but they're a good option for those who are particularly concerned about protecting their floors. Switching between the three modes is a bit of a faff, as both the handle and wand have to move positions. It involves a fair amount of unplugging and replugging to do it. Both vacs have a number of great features, so really the model to choose will depend on a combination of your own requirements and your budget.

The floor cleaner here is similar to those seen on Dyson cleaners, in that it automatically detects the floor type and reduces rotational speed on hard floors to save energy and prolong battery life. However, in the Trfle HX2 Pro, this feature is only available on the Eco and Max power settings with the Multi-Floor XXL Electrobrush is fitted. In the box, you'll also find a crevice nozzle, dusting brush, upholstery nozzle.What’s important with day-to-day cleaning is the power of the floor head. The motorised roller is designed to agitate dirt, so that it can easily be lifted away. A more powerful head can make up for lower suction, as was the case here. They also come with a digital display, a flexi tube (Jet 75 Pet) and an extra soft roller floorhead (Jet 70 Complete). Is once a week really enough to keep your floors as clean as possible, or should you be vacuuming every couple of days? For those without one of the best robot vacuums on hand to help out, it's a hard question to answer. If you have hard floors, look for an upright vacuum with different floor modes, which see the brush roller switched off, so it doesn’t damage the flooring, or for models that come with an additional cleaning head featuring a softer brush roll designed for this purpose. Miele claims that the TriflexHX2Pro offers up to 120 minutes of continuous power – achieved using both batteries. On the lower setting using just one battery, the HX2 Pro lasted just 27 minutes 14 seconds, whereas on the Max power setting runtime was only 11 minutes 23 seconds. Our preference was to switch between Eco and Max power settings in our household, which saw the battery last around 19 minutes.

Moving on to Cheerios, I didn’t have particularly high hopes. The front of the floor head has a lip that almost touches the floor, and while there’s a slight angle to it, which raises the front slightly, it didn’t look like it was going to deal with chunky Cheerios particles. The vacuum cleaner itself measures 1,297 x 280 x 260mm (H x W x D) and weighs 3.6kg when all the pieces are connected together. The collection bin has a capacity of 500ml, which is a little on the small side. And it looks like it will fill rapidly, too, with carpet fluff collecting and jamming at one side during our tests. Canister vacuums are extremely compact, with the motor and dust bag contained in a tiny unit. This has a hose and floor cleaning head attached to it. Lighter and easy to maneuver around your home, cylinder vacuums make it far easier to clean flights of stairs. Still, the smaller size has a downside - it requires you to be hunched over when compact size means you'll be bent over far more than using an upright vacuum. For a further in-depth look at how the two vacuum styles differ, read our comparison of canister vs upright vacuums. How often should you vacuum?We recommend vacuuming most floors once a week while increasing this to twice a week in high-traffic areas such as hallways and doorways. Especially if you have carpet, as the longer dust is left, the more it becomes embedded in the fibers making it hard to thoroughly clean. During testing, the vacuum made light work of collecting fine dust and larger debris, including cereal from carpets and hard floors. It also converts into a portable vacuum simply by lifting out the main body to ensure you can easily clean stairs, upholstery, and up-high. We also found it glided well on both short-pile carpet and hard floors. However, our reviewer was disappointed there was only one power level, as she’d like to have been able to adjust the suction force, particularly on deep pile carpets, as you may find the vacuum hard to manoeuvre. It’s also a bulky appliance, which may cause storage issues for some. Miele's new Triflex brushless motor is made in Germany and gives the Triflex HX2 a 60% increase in performance compared to the previous model. This new motor coupled with our Vortex technology, makes the Triflex HX2 Miele's most powerful vacuum cleaner EVER.