Never mind. I bought Earth. Now I need to find a good source for bags. Sheesh, are they ever expensive!!

I have the upright Miele S7 Marin (Swing in US) and not long ago bought the S5580 Saturn. My S5580 is similar to Earth except mine came with the SEB236 powerhead and the SBB300 floor tool.

I love both of these vacuums, although, I probably love the canister a little more.

I have a Beam central vac that I can't stand. I hate lugging a 35' hose around. I was so happy with the S7 that I decided to get the canister for the main and lower levels which are mostly hard surface and area rugs.

The bags are integral to the Miele sealed system (one of the main reasons for paying this much for a vacuum).

"The Miele FilterBag with 9-layers of protection captures and retains 99.9% of all nastiness, including dirt, dust, allergens, and even bedbugs, which are hermetically sealed into the filter bag. Once the dirt is in the bag it stays in the bag right through to disposal."

I pay $19.99 for 4 here in Canada. $5/bag? I don't know what other bags cost so I can't compare. My Beam is bagless (yuck).

I don't know about you but I purchased the Miele so I would have extremely clean indoor air while vacuuming. The bags are part of the system so I'm OK with the cost. I can go several months before changing so ... 4 should last me at least a year.

I use the canister more than the upright and the canister bag is smaller (6 L vs 4.5L) so maybe I'll go through the canister bags faster? Either way, these are just superb machines! I couldn't be happier with them.