First, I want to say that all vacuum cleaners can break down. Even the best quality vacs. When comparing the three brand of uprights, I believe that the Miele and Sebo uprights are better quality than the Cirrus. My bet is she sells Cirrus and not Miele and Sebo. I would have to say that the S7 series of uprights does very well at carpet cleaning. This is not saying the Sebo and Cirrus are bad.

Something to consider too is the cost of bags, for each brand. How much hair and dirt are you picking up. That could play a part. Price the bags for each brand.

If you are looking at the Cirrus, you might want to see if Fuller Brush, Dust Care, Panasonic, Simplicity and Riccar are in your area. The Simplicity and Riccar should be the priciest. They all sell a similar styled "hardbody" upright.

There was a time when for uprights one went with Sebo and for canisters one went with Miele. With the S7, I think they're pretty darned close on uprights.

But they would be rather heavy to lift up and down stairs. The Miele canister with a powerhead would do well on carpets and be easier to go up/down stairs.

I have a Miele canister and a cirrus pet. I like them both. The cirrus is a good, sturdy upright that does really well with pet hair on carpet.
Miele is better, but it's expensive. Easier to switch between floor and carpet.Filtration is great.
I recommend both, Cirrus is half the cost of a Miele. So if price is a consideration, Cirrus. If not, Miele.
HTH, Todd

I have had a Miele Champagne since 2004 and it still works great. I use it on everything from tile to wood to carpet and it works great.

As far as repairs it stopped turning on just after warranty went out. It had something to do with the auto cord rewind and it cost $40 to fix at the Miele repair facility in town. I live in a small town that isn't near a lot of high end dealers, but there has always been a recommended facility in my area. You might want to visit the Miele website and see if there is one in your area.

Just today I replaced the headlight bulb on the SEB 236 powerhead. It took 8 years for that to finally go out. Other than the one repair I haven't had any other issue.

I like that it sits upright on the stairs and I vacuum them with the turbo hand tool.

I have a very early Sebo, the X1. Can't say I've been impressed by its longevity. The auto height adjustment eventually failed and despite a $200 repair, it's still only working occasionally.

I have HW floors with thick area rugs upstairs, W2W downstairs. The Sebo is a bear to drag up and down stairs. The pull-out hand tool works better in theory than practice. The flextube isn't that long on the pullout and often overbalances the upright, making it fall over.

It still works, but it's a little kludgy overall. My next vacuum will be a Miele.

The Shark Lift Away is as good as the Mieli at 1/4th the price and is more versatile.
It is both an upright and a canister and takes 2 seconds to switch.

New to the forum, so I hope I post correctly. I have a SeboX4 Upright in White. I bought in September 2005. No problems yet. Going strong working just as good as day one. When I bought this vac I just compared Dyson (which was the popular choice at the time) to the Sebo brand found in my local vac shop.

I was sold on...the quality, metal parts etc. How well it worked in the store. What sold me was that vac guy showed me how to take apart the sebo vacuum.

Bottom comes off from canister with a simple button to push, handle removes from main body, breaks down into 3 parts. I have never needed to take it in for service for cleaning etc. I take mine apart as needed clean out all the hair and junk. I can vac. up anything it bypasses the motor and causes no problem (from floor into bag). Simple, efficient.

I dont think its heavy. I have a long hose attachement and a stair attachment for my stair case, but I get lazy and tend to just vac one stair at a time, then go back and touch up with the edger attachment.

My house, right now almost all white carpet (wood in entry and kitchen). Three Rottweilers, three cats, one Parrot. So heavy use!!!

I do need the floor attachment wand for my wood floors as that seems to do a better job on the wood areas. No big deal just makes my upright kinda like a canister.

The brush bar always runs even when you put an attachment on, so you have to watch out what vac sits on or near while running attachments. Would be nice if that could be turned off when using attachments.

Never looked at the other brands you mentioned so can't compare.

After years of replacing vacuums on a yearly basis, I finally splurged with a miele vacuum. It turned out to be one of my best investments. It works like a dream and has only seen the inside of a repair shop once in 8 years.

I have a 20 year old Hoover (No longer made), self propelled upright with changeable bags. It is still going strong and only needed a new brush once and new belts and bags. Wish it was still available. I don' tknow about recent products.

Sebo, Miele, Cirrus are three famous brands with very high prices. It solves the cleaning problem of a big house. To work more efficiently, the Smart Clean Guide will help you clean better. Without a reasonable budget, Dyson Vacuum and Shark Vacuums are the temporary alternatives. These two brands are also the best mid-range vacuum cleaners on the market.