Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been getting to grips with Miele’s Compact C2 vac.

Or, to give it its full title, the Miele Compact C2 Cat & Dog Flex PowerLine Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner. And breathe. That name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, eh?

But did I find my partner in grime? Let’s find out…

Unboxing

Once you open up the vac, there’s quite a bit to look at….

What’s in the box?

• Miele Compact C2 Cat & Dog vacuum cleaner

• Universal floorhead

• TurboBrush

• Telescopic tube

• Suction hose

• Crevice nozzle

• Upholstery nozzle

• Dusting brush

• Flexible nozzle

• Filter

• FJM bag x 1

• Operating manual

Getting it set up was really simple though. The hose, tube and floorhead all click into place nicely without any issues. And the bag is in the unit ready to go. I didn’t have to look at the instructions at all while I was putting it together either. Just from a first glance, you can easily see where each bit needs to go. So, you shouldn’t have too much trouble here.

Then I was ready to get started…

Cleaning

Cleaning is obviously the bread and butter of any good vac. And if it’s naff at it, you’ll be looking elsewhere. No matter how good all the other bells and whistles are.

But the Miele C2 definitely hits the mark. And it seems to wipe the floor with any kind of surface. On the vac itself, there are a bunch of settings to choose from to match whatever you’re cleaning. You can switch from curtains, rugs, and soft furnishings to hard floors and carpet. This changes the level of power that the vac pumps out - whether you’re using the universal floorhead or an attachment. And that’s helpful too. Because it’ll save you from accidentally ripping your curtains off the wall when you’re giving them a spring clean. Trust me, I’ve done it. It’s not fun.

I found cleaning a hard wooden floor just as easy as taking on the carpet. There’s enough suction to properly pick up dust, hair, and dirt, but never so much that it’s a pain to move back and forth. It feels like you’re gliding about most of the time. And with the carpet/hard floor switch on the floorhead, you can flick this with your foot to suit your surface. I never found myself having to go back over areas I’d just cleaned either.

Plus, you can clean right up to the edge of walls without leaving mess behind. The small channels on each side of the floorhead collect everything effectively – even when you’re right up next to the skirting board.

The actual cleaning itself is made super easy thanks to a telescopic tube. This extends and retracts with a simple slide and click action. It’s handy for all the different kinds of vacuuming you have to do. When I was doing the stairs, making it short made things a breeze. Whereas extending it for the extra reach helped me get those pesky cobwebs in the top corners of the room. This saves you from having to pick up the vac itself while you do it too.

Cats and dogs

To try out the included pet tool – the vac’s called the Cat & Dog after all – I went above and beyond the call of duty. My landlord doesn’t allow pets, so I decided to invite myself round to my brother’s place. His dog, Leo, (a big red Labrador), was the pawfect (sorry) test subject.

The pet attachment (called the TurboBrush) looks just like the standard floorhead. But when you flip it over, it’s got different bristles. These are specially designed to tackle dog and cat hair that gets stuck deep in the carpet. And it did a great job for the most part. The attachment made light work of the hair Leo had left behind on rugs and carpet. The only issue with it is that it’s a little bit big for the stairs. So, you’ll have to use a smaller attachment there, which wasn’t as effective at removing the fur.

All in all, this is definitely a vac that won’t drive you barking mad. Especially when it comes to clearing up after your furry friend.

The bag

Then there’s the vac bag. I managed to clean the house a bunch of times top to bottom without having to empty it. There’s still a good amount of space left at the time of writing too. And that’s all down to its decent 3.5 litre capacity.

Changing the bag seemed simple enough too – once you knew what you were doing that is. The instructions that come with the Miele aren’t the clearest, so I had to find a video online that showed me how to do it properly. It took a bit of force to get the bag out but slotting another one in was straightforward enough.

The dust flap on the bag is very flimsy though. And I managed to snap it clean off by accident (which you can see below). This pretty much made the current bag useless, as vacuuming afterwards meant dust and dirt ended up in the body of the vac itself. Plus, it went everywhere if I opened the Miele up. Which kind of defeats the point of cleaning up in the first place, right? You’ll just have to learn from my mistakes and make sure you’re careful when doing anything with the bag.

Storage

Vacuum cleaners can take up a lot of space. Some of the old clunky models I’ve had in the past almost needed their very own cupboard just to store it properly. I share a house with three friends too, so there’s a lot of stuff packed into our limited storage. Which doesn’t leave much room for one.

The Miele C2 is nice and compact though. This makes it super easy to tuck away when you’re done cleaning. Even with our downstairs cupboard full to the brim with sports gear, shoes and fifty different jackets, it was still small enough to squeeze in.

There are two notches (one on each side of the vacuum) that let you slot the main parts onto the body. Which means everything stays tidy and is there ready and waiting for your next round of cleaning. And because everything is kept in the same place too, you won’t lose any of the parts. Winner.

Portability

The carrying handle on the top makes it a breeze to move around. Because the house I’m in has three floors, I was up and down the stairs a lot cleaning. So being able to easily take it from the kitchen to my bedroom was really important. And because it’s fairly lightweight too, this was never difficult. It didn’t ever feel like I was lugging some chunky pack up the side of Mount Everest (I’m looking at you mid 2000s hoovers). Which was a big win in my book.

The three little wheels are generally ok too. They work a lot better on hard floors than anything else, letting you zoom about while you clean. If you’ve got a fairly deep carpet though, it’ll require a little bit more of a tug to get it going. But that’s a tiny issue in the grand scheme of things.

Attachments

You won’t have to rush downstairs to get that special nozzle you’ve left behind either. All the attachments you need are attached to the vac itself. Think of it a bit like Batman’s utility belt – just a little bit less exciting. Near the tube handle, you’ve got a useful little guard attached to it. And on it, you’ve got a dusting brush, upholstery nozzle and a crevice nozzle. These easily click on and off whenever you need to tackle something specific. Like the cracks on the side of your sofa. Or that bit behind the back of the bookcase.

There’s also a longer crevice nozzle too. While this doesn’t connect to the accessories guard itself, this was really useful for getting dirt in those hard-to-reach places. Plus, it’s flexible. Which meant whenever I was cleaning in tighter spaces and around small corners, it’d bend to get where it needed to go. The only downside is that you’ll have to carry this extra bit around with you.

The cable

The power cable is tucked away in the body of the vac. According to the spec it’s 7.5m long. That’s all well and good. But in practical terms, how far away can you really get when you’ve plugged the vacuum in? Especially once you’ve navigated everything from the kitchen table to the living room sofa. I plugged it in at the bottom of my stairs and went for a wander. I managed to get round the entire bottom floor (kitchen, hallway, and bathroom) without it straining the cord at any point. But this’ll obviously differ depending on the size of your place, so that’s something to keep in mind.

Once you’re done, it’s super easy to gather up the cable. Pressing the cable button once on top of the vac rewinds it for you. And you can do this with your foot. So, you don’t have to bend down and coil the cable together with your hands. If you’ve got a bad back or aren’t as mobile as you used to be, this is a pretty handy little feature.

Final thoughts

The Miele Compact C2 Cat & Dog does exactly what it says on the tin. Its small, lightweight design makes it easy to move about. While the special pet based TurboBrush helps you clean up Fido’s fur. And like me, even if you don’t have a pet, it’s still an excellent everyday vacuum. It can effectively tackle any kind of grime on any kind of surface. At the end of the day, that’s exactly what you want from your trusty vac.

Still not sure whether the Miele is for you? Then check out our floorcare buying guide. Or head to ShopLive and chat to one of our in-store experts. They’ll be able to help you find a real grime fighting superhero.