Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog canister vacuum review – it's excellent for pet hair and dander but falls down on other key areas

Miele is a strong name in the world of appliances and vacuum cleaners. They're known for durability and quality, and although the price often reflects this, Miele products can be relied upon for years.

So, I was excited to get my hands on the Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog, one of the higher-end models in Miele's range of canister vacuums. It comes with a specialized set of attachments for cleaning up after our pets, which any pet owner will appreciate is a tricky task.

As home tech editor, I've tested 18 of the world's best vacuums for H&G, and I tested the Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog in our test center, a local pet shelter, and my own home to get a complete feel for how well it performs.

Tested and reviewed by

Tested and reviewed by

Dan Fauzi

I tested the Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog in my home in Bristol, UK, in our dedicated test center and in a local cat and dog shelter to test for pet hair performance. I tested the UK model which has the same design but different names for certain attachments.

Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog: Specifications

Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog: Unboxing and setup

The Miele Blizzard CX1 arrived in a compact package, showing the vacuum's key design features like multi-stage filtration and vortex suction. The vacuum, floorheads and manual were wrapped in soft plastic but the rest of the packaging materials were more environmentally-friendly like paper and cardboard.

Assembling the Blizzard CX1 is a simple step by step, attaching the hose, handle, tube and floorhead to the vacuum which only takes a couple of minutes. This model also includes a crevice tool, upholstery tool, two floorheads, and a dusting brush built into the main intake nozzle.

The two floorheads included are the Miele TurboTeQ, designed specifically for carpets and pet hair, and the EcoTeq which is exclusive to the Blizzard CX1 (but a similar design to the Miele AllTeQ that's included in most Miele canister vacs).

Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog: Design and features

The Blizzard CX1 has a pretty strong feature set. Notably the HEPA lifetime filter and 1200 watts of power delivering massive suction make this canister vacuum a strong performer.

I've tested other Miele vacuums, and I'm a big fan of the Blizzard CX1's built-in dusting brush that helps lessen the back-and-forth switching of attachments when cleaning around the house.

The two floorheads make the Blizzard CX1 a strong contender for the best multi-surface vacuum, as the TurboTeQ has sharp bristles that spin rapidly to dig dirt and hair out of carpets, while the EcoTeQ has gentle wheels and no brushroll to protect the delicate surfaces of hard floors.

A real stand-out feature of the Blizzard CX1 is what Miele refers to as ComfortClean. It uses strong airflow to self-clean the vacuum of fine dust that would otherwise get stuck in internal parts, and it does this either manually or automatically after a certain level of soiling has been reached. This is a game-changer when cleaning your vacuum as it requires no effort from you and takes just 20 seconds.

The Miele Blizzard CX1 has four suction levels, from minimum to maximum power:

• Curtains and fabric
• Cut pile carpets, rugs and runners
• Loop pile carpets and rugs
• Hard flooring and heavily soiled carpets and rugs (and upholstery and mattresses when using the upholstery nozzle)

It's surprising that the max suction power includes hard flooring as the best vacuums for hardwood floors don't require such strong power, but I imagine it's because of the different floorheads. The EcoTeQ floorhead doesn't have a brushroll so must demand higher suction to clean the floors as effectively.

Compared to the Miele Boost CX1 that I tested at the same time, the Blizzard CX1 has much smoother gliding across the floors, and the EcoTeq floorhead seems safer to use on hard floors with fewer sharp edges and less friction.

I also enjoy that the three cleaning attachments are built into the vacuum. The crevice tool and upholstery tool are stored within the main vacuum compartment and the dusting brush is built into the nozzle, so the other floorhead is the only thing to carry while cleaning.

But a major design flaw is how heavy the vacuum's handle is. Canister vacuums benefit from the versatility of not lugging around anything heavy and instead just lifting the handle, tube and floorhead as you clean, but the Blizzard CX1's handle is tough to lift up into the air, demanding two hands when cleaning certain areas like stairs and curtains.

Another slight downside is the vacuum's handle, which is positioned in a way that means it turns to its side whenever you need to carry it. You really need two hands to carry it without it making the wand stick out which can be cumbersome when going up and down stairs.

Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog: Flour and sugar tests

On wood and linoleum I tested one cup of flour and sugar. Using the EcoTeQ floorhead, I watched as it vacuumed a large amount of the fine powders while pushing forward the rest, and it took a few more passes to be able to clear the rest of it. I even ended up using the TurboTeQ floorhead (with a brushroll that isn't recommended for hard floors) to be able to clear the remaining stubborn mess.

I tested the Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog in our test center using flour and sugar on wood, linoleum and carpet, as they're great visual tests that demonstrate the vacuum's performance on high amounts of dust and powders.

Immediately I noticed the Blizzard CX1's high suction power. On the max setting, the vacuum is relentlessly powerful, so much so that it suctions itself to the floor.

On carpets, it cleared almost all of the flour and sugar after two passes, then I went to highest suction mode to clear the rest. Impressive cleaning performance although a few spots of flour were left behind, despite the TurboTeQ’s deep carpet cleaning claims. Suction power is seriously strong with the floorhead almost sticking to the floor, and I would appreciate an air inlet valve to adjust this like in the Boost CX1

It's worth noting that we test high volumes of flour and sugar to put vacuums through their paces, but real-world messes aren't usually this difficult.

Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog: Pantry tests

I tested one cup of cereal and lentils to find out how well the vacuum can handle larger debris and common messes found in the kitchen.

The cleaning performance wasn't great with the EcoTeQ floorhead on hard floors. Larger pieces don't fit into the floorhead and lots of the cereal was actually flung forwards. But when I removed the floorhead and switched to suction mode three, all pieces gravitated towards the nozzle and cleaned up without any issues, showing how powerful the suction is.

On carpets with the TurboTeQ floorhead, the performance was excellent. It crushed the cereal down and vacuumed almost all of it in one forward pass, which some of the best carpet vacuums I’ve tested haven’t been able to do. I’d prefer if there was an air inlet valve to adjust suction on carpets as maneuvering was a bit of a challenge, but it worked great regardless.

Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog: Pet hair tests

I then tested the vacuum in a local pet shelter, Bristol ARC, to test its performance on pet hair and high-traffic messes.

The entrance barrier matting to the pet shelter is always the most challenging to clean, as the high-friction material is a trap for all dirt, fur and mess. The Blizzard CX1 did well considering no vacuums have ever truly cleaned this mat. Most of the hairs were cleared and it was able to move across it smoothly, even on the highest setting.

On low pile carpet, the performance was again amazing. vacuuming every bit of pet hair, crumb, stone or dust that I could see, as well as an obvious amount of hair that I couldn't see as evident from the dustbin afterwards.

On hard floors, I saw hair and dust being pulled into the nozzle from inches away, once again highlighting its impressive suction power. And on a thick rug, all the dirt and hair was cleaned in a single pass thanks to the TurboTeQ's strong cleaning power. The Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog is easily a contender for the best vacuums for pet hair.

Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog: Attachments

I tested the crevice tool, dusting brush and upholstery tool in the local pet shelter and in my own home.

The crevice tool works like a dream, vacuuming anything that's nearby with complete ease as if you were wiping the surfaces by hand. The dusting brush is just as impressive, cleaning dust off surfaces as well as the most capable dusting cloth ever could.

The upholstery tool was decent at removing pet hair from soft padded chairs but a few stubborn hairs remained (which isn't uncommon for this kind of fabric). On a sofa, it had no issue vacuuming everything in one pass, although the tool did stick to the fabric a fair amount.

Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog: Cleaning and maintenance

The Blizzard CX1's self-cleaning ComfortClean feature is a real game-changer here, clearing fine dust from the vacuum's internal parts for you in just 20 seconds, either manually or automatically. It makes a strange clunking noise during operation but works as described.

Otherwise, the vacuum is cleaned just like any other. It's intuitively easy to take everything apart, and everything besides from the electrical components are rinse-able and washable.

It also has a huge two-liter dustbin that allows for long cleaning sessions before having to empty it. When you do, I found that nothing got stuck inside the container, and it's easy to take the smaller parts out (like the post-exhaust filter) for more thorough cleaning.

Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog: My verdict

The Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog is a seriously powerful vacuum cleaner with some of the highest suction power I've ever seen. During testing, it fell short when vacuuming large amounts of flour and sugar or cereal and lentils, but I should mention that these amounts aren't common messes in the home, they're for us to assess the vacuum's performance.

This issue isn't down to the suction, either. The EcoTeQ floorhead that's designed for hard floors is actually quite poor, with a small intake nozzle that struggles with larger pieces. When the floorhead is removed, the vacuum has no problem whatsoever vacuuming large pieces and high volumes of mess. And when using the TurboTeQ floorhead, messes are cleaned up flawlessly, but this floorhead isn't recommended to use on hard floors as it may damage the surface.

The vacuum's performance on pet hair is the real star here, and the canister vacuum's promises of reliable performance on fur are not exaggerated. The TurboTeQ floorhead and all the attachments work as well as I'd hoped too, although the almost-$1,000 price tag still seems a little harsh. For that price, I'd recommend the Dyson Gen5detect or the Shark POWERDETECT as strong alternatives.

Next, take a look through our guide of the best Dyson alternatives for strong cleaners at affordable prices.