I have a Vax Zoom, and the Argos version of the Smart Pet, and both of these aren't bad at all, for the price.

I note that they have chosen the Zoom P&F at its full price of £150 for the comparison, when most of the Zoom range are sold normally for about £75 in Argos.

Vax did not deserve the damning results shown above. OK, they are not the best, but they are not as diabolical as Which make out.

Nice to see Miele out on top - but that's as I would expect

The £200+ Bosch bagless canister might be quiet, but its filtration is no better than the £79 Hoover smart pets, using a central cone pleated filter, with a rotary scraper mechanism. Primitive.

MOst of the Bosch bagged canisters use the GXXL or GXL bags, and these are also used for the Siemens models too. They are not as good as Miele bags, but still cost the same, sometimes even more.

Nice to see the Sebo Felix there - I was toying with getting one of these for ages, but the killer to the deal is that the hose has no extension rod, so means bending down to do the skirting boards etc. The Felix is a cute vac, but I've set my heart on ordering a K3 Vulcano which is coming later this week, and these are fairly rare, and not so bulky as the Sebo D series, which didn't do all that well in 13th place. I also have a rare Miele S8730 with handset controls coming tomorrow too, so 2 nice cylinders to play with, and German too!

This is the Miele S8730, which has no +/- controls on the vac itself, and is the only model to be controlled from the handle available in the UK, it also has a Hepa filter and Automatic suction control, with a filter change light, found only on the Uniq model in addition.

I did read up about the Vulcano - I wanted some canisters with handle mounted controls, and the only ones I liked - price wise were the K series. The K3 premium is too expensive and the D4 is far too expensive, so that left the Vulcano, and I paid £189 for it, which is a good price I feel, from the dealer in the link below.

I also like the look of the Vulcano, its rather different and striking. It also has the bag full light that many canisters lack nowadays. Don't forget that the hose only carries the cable for the controls, rather than a powerhead, and I always look after my vacs so it will get a pampered life. I also wanted an Airbelt model, and a canister Sebo for the collection.

Well, Sebo_fan, you know how it is, being collectors we just have to have them to try out don't we?

Which might rate the Bosch bagless highly, but I'm afraid I don't, and solely down to the filter design, which is an over hyped single cyclone paper cone filter. The quietest vacs are usually those that have variable power, and I just don't like canisters that you cant vary the power on, as the floorhead is often too heavy to push on full power, unless its a turbo brush.

Here in the US, Consumer Reports doesn't accept donations from the manufactures of items they test. Instead, they go out and buy everything on their own.

Beko- believe me, I went through all Sebo's online brochures in detail to see what each model had to offer, as I wanted another Sebo to compliment my X4 extra. I looked really hard at the Felix, and was literally on the fill your card details in screen for the purchase of the Sebo Felix Rosso, when I pulled out at the last minute - I just knew I wanted to try an Airbelt canister and went through all the models, watched Roger's videos on his Sebo's, and liked his unboxing of the K1 Pet - its a really cute vac, with the back of it looking like an old 50's car! Its a really understated vac and has some nice features. I like the undercarriage bag door, and the proper bag light instead of a piston. I also like the idea of a lightweight wand, and I gather that its half metal and half plastic to keep it light. Unlike Dysons, the wand is not flexible all plastic. I also liked the Vulcano's deluxe combi head and handle operated control for the motor. apparently the bag light glows green when vac is turned on, and changes to orange if the vac detects a clog. At less than £200 I had to buy the Vulcano, its a great colour in browny//red and orange, and has a turbine head in addition. It will be my first Sebo canister, and I am surprised at Sebo Fan's response, seeing as he sold one of these to a friend last year, who loves it apparently!

I will do a proper thread on both the Miele S8730 and the Sebo K3 Vulcano when I get them and put them through their paces.

Also, I intend to stop buying cheap brands such as Vax, and Hoover now and may even consider selling some of my bagless vacs in due course, as I am now over 50 vacs, and whilst I like many of them, I cannot keep increasing the number of vacs I own indefinitely before I have a "Roger moment" and start selling some of them off.

I would never sell my Mieles though, they are my favourite brand, by far. They are just, as Which found out, in a league of their own. They are like the Mercedes Benz of the vac world.

I was surprised because you, being a sebo_fan, don't like a sebo. I take it the only reason you don't like the Vulcano is because of the hose?

Might it have been better if Sebo had used a radio controlled transmitter on the handle, like Miele do, rather than a wire through the hose?

If I ever do get a Felix in the future, would the heads be interchangeable, with the vulcano, or would I have to buy a different electrified wand?

I love the Miele S8, which is why I wanted the one with the remote control handle, the S8730 and Miele are selling off the last few they have for £200 odd - I got if for £170 on 31 Jan, and the next day the price went up to over £200! The only thing is that if the remote handle breaks, the vac cannot be adjusted for power on the unit like other S8's as it lacks the buttons for this.

I wanted the Vulcano specially for its remote handle. I will use it with the air driven head, and really, Sebo could modify the volcano to do away with the electric hose like Miele have, and use a radio controlled handle. I think handle controls are just so much more convenient than the simple suction release valves, and it amazes me that the Uk version S8 Uniq does not have remote control, as it does in the USA.

It looks to me like the Vulcano handle is the same size as that on  the X4? I agree that it is smaller than the K1 though, but unless you have massive hands, will it be a problem, really?

I think they may have had an abundance of handles for the S8 Uniq that hasn't probably sold in the numbers they predicted it would (I wonder why?) and decided to use them to make a limited edition "bright light" range for the S6 model, which, sells on the Miele website for less than I thought.

The XXL handle would be a nice touch for storing the vac away, and would lessen the need to extend the telescopic pole to full stretch where I find its a bit more flexible in the middle in use, especially with the standard floorhead on carpet, where the clicking bit of play in the tube centre joint at full extension is annoying when pushing and pulling the pole.

I don't like the new format Miele.co.uk  site, as many features don't work well and pics come out distorted. Also the specs for the vacs are very lacking in detail, especially for the limited stock range. I had to look up the specs for the S8730 elsewhere (Miele.ie) to find out what it had on it.

The turbo brush on the K3 is an older wessel werk head that Dyson used as far back as the DC05 and early DC08's. Its a good floorhead, but like you say, you have to dismantle it with a screwdriver to clean it, as I found out with a Dyson version. It does move across carpet well though.

The mini turbo brush on the Sebo range is also an old version of the Miele mini turbo brush, but uses a 37.5mm fitting so only Sebo heads will fit.

I have that many mini turbo brushes knocking round my house now, its ridiculous lol, but still don't have a Sebo one, they do come up on ebay but are in hot demand, and prices go high as there are no generic aftermarket ones to fit Sebo hoses.

The old wesselwerk main turbine head was a better head than the Dyson own manufactured ones from the DC08 onwards, much quieter running and reliable.

Hilo - If I sell any they are likely to be Vax's and Hoovers  lol, and local collection only as I cant be arsed messing about with boxes and couriers. The ones I will get shot of will likely be the cheaper ones like the Hoover Whirlwind and the Vax mach Air's, plus the Power 6 pet, Zoom pink, and maybe the Vax Zen which has never been used. They will go on Gumtree eventually, as I wont pay EBay's fees and I aint in any rush to sell them. I may sell a couple of Kirbys like one of my H1's and possibly the G4.

I may also sell the Dysons as they are all now in the loft. I have gone RIGHT off Dyson.

I am going to refine my collection to quality bagged vacs and good, working vintage models

NO, HiLO likes his garey colours like his Hoover Jazz - perhaps he might like my Vax Zoom Pink? lol

The "young style" S4 wont appeal to many young people due to its austere battleship grey colour! Talk about a boring colour!

If he wants them he'll have to come to Stoke on Trent to get them lol

The prices they will sell for wouldn't justify sending them across the country by courier. Local folk in Stoke love cheapo vacs anyway lol

The other week, I bought a brand new model from Argos, the Vax Performance floor to floor upright. It is based on the Zoom body, but has a split head with separate air channel at the front of the brushroll compartment. The wheels are noisy and clattery, the head wont lift off the carpet in the upright position so using the hose involves the carpet getting scorched by the brushroll. Such fundamental design faults have pissed me off with Vax. Its a lovely looking vac, but again let down by silly flaws. The business with the clogging cyclones on the Hoover Turbopower canister are another case in point, bad design and poor testing.

Why should I keep wasting money on Chinese rubbish when I could get far better for my money from Germany?

Time after time,  I keep hoping Vax will improve, but they just don't. Cheap and cheerful vacs for the masses who just want a vac for a year or so, are just not for me any more.

When Argos write to me asking me to review the Vax Performance Total Home, I'll be writing a damning report on it, and as it will probably be the first one to be published as its a new model, they may not publish it on the Argos website as it will put people off buying one. It will be going on Gumtree in due course too. I'd like to take it back but I've  used it now and they know my face to well for returning vacs before lol

I agree about the Vax power canisters - I have the Power 6 Pet, and although the hose is long it does feel cheap and nasty, along with the turbo brush large floorhead which is also pretty cack. However, the Vax machines are not in the same league as Dysons, so you cant compare them really, as the price differential is huge, and many people cant afford a Dyson, so don't have much choice other than to buy a Vax.

I cannot comment on Bosch cleaners as I don't own any - only a Siemens Z6, which is essentially a re-badged Bosch BSGL50, and that is an old model now, being OK to use, but I re-boxed it and haven't used it since testing it, as they are quite rare here and I want to keep it in as-new condition.

I don't think all Bosch vacuums are made in Germany - I could swear I saw one with a label on that said made in Turkey?

Samsung are manufacturing the new bagless Motion Sync models that appear in Currys - in Vietnam. Its a race to the bottom, to manufacture these machines in the cheapest way possible, in countries that have the cheapest labour - that's why Dyson sacked his UK manufacturing staff and moved all production off to Malaysia. I wonder how many Malay people can afford to buy a Dyson?

Dyson is raking it in, produce the new DC54 in the far East for peanuts then sell it for a small fortune! He's a VERY rich man thanks to his clever marketing and duping the public to buying his cheap quality plastic junk and paying through the nose for it.