Ok now I admit that when I was offered to test the S7 Bolero upright vacuum from Miele I was not expecting much. My wife pretty much had cleaning our home down to a science using our old Kirby vacuum. Convincing her to give the Miele a try was a task in itself. When I got the Miele home I quickly unwrapped the unit and put it on our home scale. It weighed in at 13 lbs. Almost 10 pounds less of what our Kirby was! My next comparison was suction capabilities. The Miele was incredible at removing everything from our carpets. This vacuum is so smooth and almost impossibly quiet. I could talk all the time I was vacuuming and instead of that smelly old vacuum smell we used to get with other vacuums , we were both surprised at the clean smelling air that the vacuum was expelling back in our living area. What is really great about the Miele bolero is that the beater bar in the Power brush is driven by a separate motor, which can be switched on and off. This is great for cleaning wood floors and tiles. You truly can feel the quality of this superb vacuum cleaner . Over all we gave the Miele a perfect 10 for usability and quality. Needless to say we are keeping the Miele and putting the old Kirby on craigslist. We love our new Miele S7 upright vacuum cleaner.