Miele Duoflex HX1 review: Quality comes at a price

Price When Reviewed

£449

Best Prices Today: Miele DuoFlex HX1 Cat and Dog

£449

£449

£449

£449

£449

While Dyson vacuum cleaners are justly well known, there’s another brand that makes equally effective high-end vacuums. Miele’s floor cleaners may not have the same instant name recognition, but they’re among the best we’ve tested, with clean, modern designs and quiet colour schemes that could prove attractive, especially to people who need to keep their vacuum on display.

In this review, we’re looking at Miele’s new cordless model, the Duoflex HX1. It’s a more budget-friendly model than the brand’s flagship cordless, the Miele Triflex, so there are a few compromises to be made where features are concerned, but its build and performance are top-notch.

Design and Build

• Two power settings
• Maximum 55-minute battery life
• Basic battery life indicator

There are a number of different Duoflex HX1 editions: the CarCare, the Total Care and the Cat & Dog. The price and attachments vary depending on which you buy.

We’re testing the HX1 Cat & Dog, which comes with a specialist attachment for removing pet hair from upholstery and car seats.

In the box, you’ll get the vacuum cleaner body, which can also be used as a handheld, a metal wand and cleaning attachments. These include the main MultiFloor electrobrush (the main, motorised cleaning head), which will detect and automatically adjust to floor type, a dusting brush, upholstery nozzle, crevice nozzle and the electro compact brush (the motorised pet hair attachment).

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

The wand is gunmetal grey and the cleaning attachments all have a matt black finish. Everything is nicely designed and all parts click together and separate beautifully.

The vacuum body also has a matt finish, with a textured pattern below the grip. The transparent, easy-open dustbin has a 0.3-litre capacity. Compared to rivals, this really is tiny. For instance, Dyson’s flagship model the Gen5detect, has a bin that’s over twice the size at 0.77 litres.

This means you’ll need to empty it often. At the very least, that’s easy to do, with a quick-release button on the base of the bin. Still, like all smaller bins, if you vacuum up a lot of pet fur, you’ll probably need to remove the hairballs manually.

The vacuum’s controls are simple. There are two buttons on top of the vacuum’s grip, well in reach of your thumb. One is the power key and the other switches from low to high vacuuming power. Most of the time, I found that low power was enough to get the job done.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

There’s no screen on the HX1, which was a feature I missed while testing it. Although a digital display might seem like a bit of unnecessary tech on a vacuum, battery life countdown timers are genuinely useful on cordless vacuums.

Instead, the HX1 has a three light battery indicator, so you’ll know if your battery is full, has two-thirds, or one-third of its life left. More detail would be nice but on the plus side, the HX1 has a maximum running time of 55 minutes – although that’s on the low setting, without a motorised brush head attached.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

However, according to Miele, when using a motorised attachment, you’ll only get 12 minutes of vacuuming time on the high setting. Most of the time, you’ll likely get around half an hour of vacuuming from the battery but it’s hard to be exact.

What’s a shame is that the HX1’s lithium-ion battery can’t be swapped out, which means there’s no option to buy a spare and double the running time. This means you must keep an eye on the not-very-precise battery indicator as it can drop in just a few minutes for a third full to empty.

The vacuum also comes with a dock that you mount to the wall with the aid of two included screws, although you can charge the vacuum without using it, just by plugging it in.

Performance and Features

• 3.1kg weight
• Pet hair tool effective
• Powerful vacuuming

The HX1 weighs 3.1kg, which is lighter than the Gen5detect’s 3.5kg but not nearly as light at the Halo Capsule X’s 2.6kg. (The Capsule X also has a huge, 2-litre bin and several other outstanding features.)

It feels light when vacuuming on the floor, but I did find it heavy on the wrist in handheld mode when using it overhead to clean blinds.

The main motorised cleaning head (the Multifloor electrobrush) is good on both carpets and hard flooring – with a couple of caveats. If you want to give carpets a deep clean, you’ll need to use the high setting, which will only give you 12 minutes of vacuuming time before you need to recharge.

Its performance on hard flooring is excellent but I found that it can scatter larger debris, so if you’re picking up cat litter, you’ll need to go over the area a couple of times.

I also found that long hair tends to wrap around the brush roll and needs to be pulled away by hand. This, however, isn’t too much trouble as the brush roll pops out for easy cleaning.

Among the rest of the cleaning tools, there’s accessory for every job, although we did miss the jointed tool that top-flight Dyson and Samsung vacuums have, which lets you create a 90° angle for cleaning high shelves and hard-to-reach spots.

The motorised pet hair removal tool is one of my favourite things about this vacuum. It’s very effective in removing dust and pet hair from upholstery and can also be used to vacuum your mattress. This tool does bring up the price of the Dog & Cat model, but if you have pets, I think it’s worth it.

If you want the Duoflex but aren’t sold on the need for the motorised pet hair tool, the Duoflex HX1 or HX1 Extra are cheaper options. You can see all the models at Miele.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Price and Availability

At this stage, the Duoflex is not available in the US. If you want a cordless Miele, have a look at our review of the Miele Triflex, the brand’s flagship cordless model, which you can buy in the US and the UK.

In the UK, you can get the Duoflex from John Lewis, Currys, Marks Electrical or direct from Miele, for £449. This puts the vacuum firmly in the mid-range price bracket. It’s not as expensive as top-tier Dyson models, such as the flagship Gen5detect (£750+) or the V15 Detect, both of which surpass it in terms of specs and features.

The problem is that it’s pricier than similarly-featured models, such as the excellent Halo Capsule X (£399.99) or the budget-friendly Shark Detect Pro (£229). In the end, it’s not that the Duoflex isn’t a good vacuum, it’s just that in the current, crowded marketplace, there are plenty of alternative options and it’s hard to find a compelling reason to spend a bit more to buy it.

Should you buy Miele’s Duoflex HX1 Cat & Dog?

The Duoflex HX1 Cat & Dog is a robust, well-made vacuum – and that’s what you’re paying for when you buy. But it’s still expensive and you’ll need to compromise when it comes to the size of the dustbin, the battery life and the not-very-specific battery indicator. In the end, this would work best as a second vacuum or quick runaround to be kept in the kitchen.

If this isn’t the right vacuum for you, have a look at our top recommendations in our round-up of the best vacuum cleaners we’ve tested.