Miele Duoflex HX1 cordless vacuum review – an impressive cleaner that makes light work of hair, dust and dirt on all surfaces

While Miele's presence in the vacuum market is more famously attributed to their lineup of canister vacuums, they also have two sleek cordless sticks for more convenient cleaning.

The Miele Duoflex is the more affordable out of the two, promising 55 minutes of powerful and intelligent cleaning across all floor types, 99.99% dust retention and a lightweight build.

Of all the 18 best vacuum cleaners I've tested for H&G, the Miele Duoflex might be one of my favorites. Find out why after testing it in my home, in our dedicated test center, and in a local cat and dog shelter.

Tested and reviewed by

Tested and reviewed by

Dan Fauzi

I tested the UK-available Miele Duoflex Cat & Dog. It's the same as the Miele Duoflex HX1 Total Care but in a different color scheme.

Miele DuoFlex HX1: Specifications

Miele DuoFlex HX1: Unboxing and setup

The Miele Duoflex has all the components of any cordless vacuum you'll buy these days. A set of attachments, parts for a wall dock and the main vacuum cleaner are inside the box, as well as a manual on how to properly use and assemble it.

The attachments included vary from model to model, but can include: crevice tool, upholstery tool, motorized pet brush and dusting brush.

Miele DuoFlex HX1: Design and features

I'm personally a fan of Miele's line of cordless vacuums. Miele is a premium appliance brand, and it's clear from the aesthetics of the Duoflex that they're keen to maintain a certain image with their products.

The Duoflex has the key features you'd expect from a cordless vacuum at this price point. It has two suction modes – normal and boost – to be able to keep up with varying levels of mess around the house. It will detect dirtier areas of the floor or when you pass onto carpets and rugs to automatically up the suction power when it's needed, but you can also manually select it yourself.

Boost mode is a welcomed feature in any cordless vacuum as you can prioritize using the battery life on messier areas, but in all honesty, the Duoflex cleaned so well that I rarely had to use it.

The Miele Duoflex doesn't use an officially certified HEPA filter, which would mean that it captures 99.97% of fine particles as small as 0.3 microns (more on this in my vacuum jargon buster). Instead it uses two-stage filtration that's said to retain 99.99% of fine dust. So while it can't rank in our guide to the best HEPA vacuums, it should still be great for allergy sufferers.

The floorhead is universal making it a multi-surface vacuum, designed to thoroughly clean all floor types while protecting more delicate surfaces like tile and hardwood.

And although the model I tested is called 'Cat & Dog,' any Miele Duoflex is designed with pet owners in mind. It has a motorized, spinning brushroll to dig up hair from your floors, as well as a separate, smaller motorized attachment for cleaning hair from upholstery and pet beds.

One thing I noticed about the Duoflex is how quiet it is. The product sheet lists it as 78dB but that's on the highest setting. I found that it ran at around 65-67dB in normal operation, which is quieter than the other best cordless vacuums I've tested.

My only concern is a slight scratching sound that it makes on hard floors, which might pose a scratching risk when cleaning hardwood floors. But the sound appears to be coming from the wheels turning as the floorhead itself seems delicate enough to not cause any damage.

Miele Duoflex HX1: Flour and sugar tests

In our test center, I tested the Miele Duoflex using flour and sugar as proxies for dust and dead skin, as well as being a strong visual test to see what the vacuum is capable of picking up.

The Miele Duoflex performed better in this test than almost all other vacuums I've reviewed, even rivaling the best Dyson vacuums that typically outperform the competition. On hardwood, it picked up pretty much everything in a single pass, leaving behind only tiny amounts of residue between the panels that were easily picked up with the brushes afterwards.

On linoleum and carpet, everything was vacuumed in one pass. Multi-surface floorheads don't often excel on both soft and hard flooring but the Miele Duoflex's brushroll is just as good at digging dirt out of carpet than they are on smooth surfaces.

Miele Duoflex HX1: Pantry tests

I tested cereal and lentils with the Miele Duoflex in our test center to assess its ability to handle larger pieces and common household messes.

On linoleum and wood, the Duoflex struggled slightly to get every piece, especially with the cereal. It vacuumed everything eventually but it took a fair amount of lifting the vacuum up and placing it on top of each piece. This is a common issue as many vacuums aren't big enough to pick up such large debris, but the best vacuums are able to crush these pieces down. The Duoflex, with its soft, multi-purpose roller, could not.

The performance was better on carpets as the friction from the soft flooring meant that the pieces were getting crushed down and it was able to clear it all in just two passes.

Miele Duoflex HX1: Pet hair tests

I also tested the Miele Duoflex in a local pet shelter, Bristol ARC, to assess its performance when dealing with pet hair and the messes that come from high-traffic areas.

I quickly realised that the Miele Duoflex is a strong contender for the best vacuum for pet hair. Its hair pickup is excellent on all floors. On hard floors, hair was pulled in from an inch or two away, and on carpets, it whirred into higher suction mode with faster brushroll spin speed and picked up pretty much every visible hair (except for a few at the edges).

The trickiest test at the pet shelter is barrier matting at the entrance, a high-friction material that sees foot traffic all day. The Duoflex cleaned most of the longer hairs but struggled with the smaller ones, which is impressive considering how stubborn the fabric is.

I tested the Duoflex alongside the Miele Triflex and the Ultenic U16 Flex and, by the end of the session at the pet shelter, the Duoflex's dustbin was the most full of pet hair.

The only real downside however is that the brushroll is absolutely not anti-tangle. It didn't take long for the brushroll to become completely wrapped with hair. I also used the Duoflex to help a friend of mine move out of her apartment, and after finishing vacuuming, the hair was about as thick as the brushes.

Miele Duoflex HX1: Cleaning and maintenance

Aside from having to manually remove hair from the brushroll, the rest of the Duoflex is straightforward to maintain. Dust doesn't get caught in the dustbin and you can easily pull out the filter to shake off any stubborn residue.

The wand, crevice tool, upholstery tool and dusting brush are all washable, and the floorhead and mini motorized brush can be taken apart for thorough cleaning.

Miele Duoflex HX1: My verdict

The Miele Duoflex is a seriously impressive cordless vacuum, with superb cleaning performance across all floors when dealing with all types of mess, particularly pet hair. It's quiet, easy to take care of and has a premium feel to it. However it falls short in how easily hair wraps around the brushroll, which is a let down considering this is otherwise such a strong pet hair vacuum.

At this price point you could alternatively opt for either the Dyson V15 Detect or the Dyson V12 Detect Slim which are two of our best-on-test vacuums ever. They're similar to the Miele Duoflex in cleaning performance, suction modes and floor detection, but they instead use two separate floorheads for different surfaces which can add a bit of time to your cleaning. But, with the Dysons, there's no hair wrap.

Next, check out our guide to the best Dyson alternatives to find out what you can grab for a fraction of the price.