We have a Miele of about the same vintage. What a piece of machinery it is! Durable, flexible, and continued excellent performance for decades. Another excellent product from Germany. We particularly like that it has a filter for the exhaust so that dust isn't sucked up by the hose and then expelled back again into the house.

I don't know anything about Sebo but our unbelievable experience with the Miele will probably have us turn to replacing like with like should it die.

I see that Sebo is also a German product. If you get a Sebo, share why and how you find its performance.

I have 2 Mieles (one for each floor because I got tired of hauling them up and down the stairs). The oldest one is probably the same vintage as yours. My complaint about it was that the cord was about 2 feet too short to reach the full length of the main part of my living area, so I always had to stop and replug it in, which annoyed me because I was already highly annoyed that I was having to vacuum at all, lol. The newer model has a longer cord. I have had other brands of canisters in my life and I love how the Miele follows behind and never tips over (a problem with some other brands). I love mine so much, I cannot imagine being tempted to switch. Altho I just bought bags and filters for both and am shocked by how expensive they are. Maybe check the cost of Sebo replacement filters, if that's any concern.

We have the Sebo upright. I think it's over ten years old. DH does the vacuuming and he loves it. The owner of the sew and vac store where we bought it recommended it over Miele.

We have an upright Sebo that must be at least 15 years old. It is terrific. Never has needed any repairs. The only thing I don't like is its weight. It is very heavy which is fine until I have to carry it up or down the stairs. DH has no problem.

I bought a Miele canister a couple of years ago and like it for the hardwoods especially, but it does fine on rugs as well. The beaters on the Sebo are hard on the floors. I keep the Miele downstairs and the Sebo upstairs (main floor).

Sorry I can't help with a Sebo canister, but I imagine they are excellent also. We bought both because they are made in Germany. Disclaimer: We tend toward German cars and appliances, too.

"Maybe check the cost of Sebo replacement filters, if that's any concern."

The Sebo replacement filters and bags are less expensive than Miele. That isn't really a deal-breaker for me, though.

" We tend toward German cars and appliances, too. "

Me too. And have for most of my adult life.

We have 2 Meiles (a relic of when we lived in a two story house). One, a canister, is 28 years old. It lived 20 of those years on a sailboat in salt water. The other, an upright, is 20 years old. The both work and pretty much look as new. They’re very quiet. Yes, the bags are expensive. I love them. I have allergies, and we have two cats.

I have had 2 Miele uprights and now a Miele canister. Mine get a lot of use from my golden retrievers fur. The vacs often require maintenance. I researched both Sebo and Miele last summer. They appear comparable in quality and consumer ratings, but Miele no longer makes an upright. I bought a canister, but dislike dragging it around.

I can't compare using the two extensively, I have a sebo and have used my neighbor's miele super briefly and the build quality is similar. I got the sebo based on the attachments in the default package plus the sales guy. I love the air bumper thing!

I’ve had my Sebo cannister for years and like it; very sturdy & reliable.

I use an older Miele at work in the vet clinic where it takes a beating (daily use by lots of different people and lots of fur). That machine is showing its age—- understandibly. The motor is still fine.

The two brands seem very comparable to me.

I agree, the power head really takes you for a walk!

Thanks for the update.

I bought a Sebo Dart, a smaller upright, a couple of years ago. I like it very much, but I use it for light cleanings in between our dirt killers (aka housekeepers) do a deep clean using a different vac.

The owner of the vacuum shop where I bought it said he has never had a Sebo come back for repairs.

How long has the shop been selling them?

I had a Miele canister-Callisto model- for a good 20 years if not more. I only had it serviced a couple of times. It was a good workhorse, although there were a couple of times it flipped over while I pulled it. It was edged with hard plastic and when it hit a corner of my wood baseboard (I was pulling a bit hard without paying as much attention as I should have), it caused some minor damage. When I took it in a few months ago because something on it broke, the sales guy convinced me to get a Sebo D4 canister. The replacement parts for the Miele may have taken up to a month to arrive, wasn't terribly cheap, and due to the age it was likely more repairs would be needed in the near future.

The Sebo wasn't cheap but I like it better than the Miele. It has great power and the suction is adjustable at the handle vs. the head. The entire bumper edge has an upholstered fabric around it so that it won't cause damage or marks if it hits the walls or baseboard. It has a better filter (although Miele's is good too) and this model is reportedly used in hospitals. The cord is quite a bit longer and I don't need to unplug it and plug it into different outlets. The hose is longer too, but sometimes it's a bit hard to handle because of the length. The unit is slightly heavier than my Miele. I have a 2-story house right now and it's manageable, but if I were much older it would probably be too heavy. I like the floor head better than Miele's-it seems to have higher quality bristle plus wheels. I like how the attachments are accessible from the back of the machine, whereas on my Miele, they were inside the top cover. Oh- and because I purchased it at an authorized dealer, I have a full 10-year warranty. Can't beat that!

We have a Sebo upright also! We've had it for about 2 years now. Had a Miele canister and hated it-so traded it in for the Sebo. The Sebo is heavy but I really like it. Mostly our cleaning lady uses it and she likes it too.

I've had both canister models. Currently, I have the Sebo. I got tired of repairing the Miele. There is a design fault in the hose electrical line that would cause my Blue Moon to power down unexpectedly. Eventually, it wouldn't power back up. I fixed that twice to the tune of about $160 each time for a new hose. It was a known issue that Miele never fixed. The third time was the charm.

The salesman went over both Miele and Sebo with me. He was happy to sell either one. He said both would do the job and demonstrated. He thought the design of the Sebo was superior to that of the Miele and went into great detail about it. He said that the Sebo would outlast the Miele. The other reason I bought the Sebo was it wouldn't eat up my oriental rugs like my old Dyson did. It was much gentler with them using the power head. I do think the suction of the hardwood head is a bit anemic. But, it does do the job.

All in all, I like it. I think it was a good purchase. It is very finicky if you inadvertently suck any water into it. An example being the dog slinging water on the floor from the dog bowl. I had to replace the motor because of this. The motor started to wheeze a little. Verdict, water had gotten to it. Just be aware of this and wipe the floor first.

If an appliance cord is too short, could you have a longer cord fitted onto the appliance?

homechef -- Why do you say your former vacuum harmed your orientals? Did it have a beater bar you couldn't disable when vacuuming them?

A word in praise of central vacuums, should you have the opportunity: I don't miss heavy haul-around motors and their noise since we put a central vac system in our new build. One repair in 24 years. DH only needs to change the big $8 filters quarterly. Unbelievable suction. Removing the noise from the room is a great advantage. Nothing is perfect; there is still the hose to wrangle!

Thanks for the update. I really like my Shark vacuums and they are inexpensive enough to have two - one on the main floor and one upstairs and the lift-away works fine on the steps.

But they are not great at the fine dust on the hardwood floors so I use the Shark on the area rugs and floors and then go over the hardwoods with a dust mop.

I tried a Miele in the store and found that maneuvering on carpet was painful. But I would like to find a vacuum that works well on both hardwood and carpet.

To Elmer J. Fudd, who challenged my statement about the shop's never had a return on a Sebo: Phil's Electric in San Francisco has been around since the 1970s.

I didn't mean for my question to be anything more than a question. It seems to have gotten up your craw.

I did some looking (as you might have) and learned that Sebo didn't start selling household vacuums in the US until 1997. I doubt that anyone bought it when they first came out because it wasn't a known brand. So Phil's Electric hasn't been selling it since the 1970s and likely not many in the late 90s.

The late '90s was about when we bought our Miele cannister. It was still running well and providing excellent service until a few weeks ago when it had an untimely (and, unfortunately, preventable) fall down a stairway. The side fractured on impact with the hard floor at the bottom and the structure supporting one of the wheels broke off. We replaced it immediately with a new blue Miele cannister (of the model line made in Germany) that has electrically driven brushes in the carpet head. It cost about 3X what we paid for the damaged one but we've long been fans of Miele's products and were happy to get a new one.

History of Sebo, from its website