Our In-Depth Review
Design
Canister vacuum cleaners like the Miele Olympus S2120 are naturally very versatile. The Miele S2120 vacuum has the motor and bag all rolling on the floor.
A long hose, which is attached to the telescopic wand, comes from the central unit. We most often used the adjustable floor brush for cleaning the flooring, and then used the on board tools for cleaning upholstery, tight corners, or in a car.
If you haven’t used a canister vacuum, they do take some getting used to. The Miele Olympus is incredibly light compared to pushing around bulky upright machines.
It also has three wonderfully designed 360-degree castor wheels. As you clean the floor, the canister follows you around very smoothly, rolling and spinning according to the direction you move.
With its lotus white veneer and its sleek design, the Miele Olympus looks very modern. The inside of the unit is also very advanced. The most important factor that the Miele Company considers when producing a vacuum is the filtration system.
There are three filters, and the vacuum bag, which acts as the fourth. The filters not only keep the dust in the vacuum bag, they also prevent dust recirculation back in the air, and from running through the Miele Olympus motor so it will operate effectively for years to come.
We liked several things about this canister vacuum by Miele. The canister has great maneuverability because of the three 360-degree castor wheels. It also features variable suction power. This is nice for two reasons.
First, you can change the suction according to if you are cleaning hard floors, carpeting, upholstery, or lightweight curtains (sheers.) Second, you can set it lower if you want a quieter noise level. The last thing we enjoyed was how light this unit was.
Most Miele vacuums are a bit costly, but this model has a lower price tag, typically under $300 USD. The reason for the higher cost is because of its great durability. Vacuum specialty stores sell this brand often because they know they won’t see them again in for repairs.
We did notice one thing that wasn’t ideal about this vacuum. It doesn’t have a power brush bar.
This means that all the attachments don’t have a spinning head to dislodge any deep down dust in a carpet. Because of this, we liked it more for homes with a lot of hard flooring or only a few rooms with low pile carpeting.
Performance / Using the Miele Olympus S2120 Vacuum
Use the Miele Olympus if you have a large amount of hard flooring. It performed very well in these situations, but doesn’t do a great job on rugs and carpets. The machine is specifically designed for hard floors, so make sure you consider this before your purchase.
The Miele S2120 Olympus is considered one of the top of the line canister vacuum cleaners on the market. We enjoyed testing it because of its versatility.
It can clean up your whole house, and even be taken out to the car to make that clean as well.
The variable suction is such a nice feature because we were able to clean the floor first, and then adjust the suction for different situations. A normal vacuum is too powerful on the standard setting for upholstery.
With the variable suction, we could clean drapes, which could include sheers, and furniture easily without the upholstery brush grabbing and sticking as we cleaned.
Performance on Carpets
Set the suction power to the highest setting before you get to the carpet. The Miele Olympus S2120 registered just over 80 inches of water for suction power.
This is just above average for a standard canister vacuum. Also, before you start cleaning the carpet, adjust the floor brush to carpeting.
Once again, make sure you use the Miele Olympus for large areas of hard flooring. It does a decent job on short pile carpets and rugs, but it doesn’t have a power brush bar. A power brush bar spins and helps dislodge debris from a carpet or rug.
This machine can only suck up the dust that lies on top of the carpet. Also it didn’t smoothly roll over the carpet. It was extremely hard and awkward to push forward on the carpet.
Pulling back was easier when vacuuming. At one point while testing we almost found it most effective to lift up the head of the vacuum and only vacuum using backward strokes. Again, this wouldn’t be very efficient if you had much more than a few rugs in your house.
One thing we did notice was the adjustable floor brush doesn’t turn very easily as you vacuum. There are two very small rear wheels on this attachment. As you vacuum, you can only turn at about a 45-degree angle.
If you want to turn any more than this, you have to lift up the head of the floor brush. This is important to know because if you are vacuuming straight towards the wall, you won’t be able to turn quickly to vacuum the whole side of the wall without lifting up the brush.
Performance on Rugs
Overall, the Miele S2120 did a decent job on any type of rug. You do have to make some adjustments to clean effectively according to the type of rug you are cleaning.
The adjustable suction comes into play for rugs on the Miele Olympus. Some rugs aren’t very thick or dense.
This causes a typical vacuum to suck and pull the rug right off the floor. This did happen with the Miele Olympus. The suction was too powerful at times and caused the rug to lift off the floor.
The adjustable floor brush also would stick, and not roll very well because of the suction power. We recommend setting the suction power lighter in these situations and the S2120 will still clean the rug easily.
Performance on Hard Floors
Hard flooring is where the Miele Olympus excels. Switch the floor brush to hard floors and then you can get right to cleaning.
The head of this floor brush is very low, so you can easily get underneath the kitchen cabinets or any furniture.
Once again, we used flour to test the effectiveness of the Miele Canister on smaller particles.
It did very well, but we noticed one small factor. The floor brush has what looks like teeth that rub against the floor.
If the flour was in front of the teeth, it would get pushed forward instead of fitting under the vacuum suction. This made it so we had to do more than one pass to clean up all the flour.
The next test involved using large particles. We took our crushed up crackers and tossed them on the ground. The teeth once again pushed these bigger bits forward. We had to lift the vacuum head up off the ground to get these pieces underneath and sucked up. The suction power was excellent on hard flooring.
We performed one more unexpected test with the Miele. The stove was moved and we found an absolutely disgusting amount of debris underneath.
The Olympus did a Herculean job cleaning all of these loose pieces off the floor in only a few passes. It picked up all the debris and we just had to scrub the remaining grim that was stuck on the floor with soap and water.
Edge Cleaning
Obviously, you can clean any edge effectively with the crevice tool on the Miele Olympus. We tested the ability of the Miele to clean the edge with the main adjustable floor brush.
It did a sufficient job, but we had to go head on and lift up the head of the brush at times to get all the debris we pushed into the corner cleaned up.
Filtration
In the maintenance section above, we touched on the filtration system. The standard filtration system included when you purchase the Miele Olympus is very good.
To put it simply, the air you breath is filled with more particles that the air that is emitted from the exhaust of this canister vacuum.
When we tested the filtration with our Air Particle Laser Scanner, the amount of dust and debris being emitted from the exhaust was minimal.
If you want a HEPA filter instead, you can purchase one, which turns the Miele Olympus 2120 from a great filtration system, into the top of the line-filtering vacuum, which traps particles down to 0.3 microns. We only suggest this filter if you have allergies from dander, pollen, or dust.
Attachments / Onboard Tools
The Miele stores all the on board tools right on board. That might sound silly, but some vacuums don’t have room for the on board tools.
You can even clip the larger floor brush onto the front of the Miele Olympus when it is not in use.
The three tools all work as expected. The crevice tool has an incredible amount of suction because of the smaller opening.
The upholstery brush has very nice soft bristles, and the stair brush is a simple attachment that helps you clean the staircase.
Ease of Use
The Miele Olympus Canister vacuum is very easy to use. The push button cord rewind is a nice feature.
We have already touted the versatility of this unit because of its adjustable suction and lightweight design, but there are a few other features we should touch on.
Some people are not fans of a bagged vacuum because it can be hard to tell when the bag is full enough to empty. The Miele Olympus addresses this concern by having an airflow indicator light, which turns orange if the bag is full.
Also the bag has a self-sealing top so when you pull the clip to take it off, no dust will escape. The bag also clips into place when it is in use, so you won’t have to wonder if you installed it correctly.
Getting Started
Open the box, and the Miele has a little assembly required. The main unit will all be in place. The filters and bag will already be installed in the central unit.
You will have to attach the hose to the unit, and piece together the on board tools, telescopic wand, and the adjustable floor brush.
There is also a clip with three circular parts that you should attach to the base of the hose. This is where the three on board tools are kept when not in use.
Maneuverability
Equipped with three 360-degree castor wheels on the bottom of the unit, the Miele Olympus practically floats across the floor. It is incredibly easy to maneuver, and is one of the biggest assets of this canister vacuum.
It rolls around nicely, which makes this a very light and easy to use machine. Another very underappreciated fact is that this vacuum can rest easily on a stair as you clean a staircase.
It also is a very small package. When cleaning up a car, you don’t have to leave the base unit on the ground.
You can lift it up and place it right on a seat while you suck up the debris that collects on the ground or between the seats in your car.
Ease of Use on Stairs
We really loved not only the performance of this canister, but also its design when we cleaned the stairs. The Olympus is very light, so we could carry it by the handle as we went from stair to stair.
It also fits and sits on a stair very easily. You simply clean a few steps, pick up the Olympus and go up to your next area that needs cleaning.
The adjustable suction is a nice option too as you clean a stair case because it might need more power for carpeted stairs, or less suction for a wood staircase.
Noise
Even at max suction level, the decibel reader only reached just under 75 decibels on our decibel noise meter. The average household vacuum noise level is 80 decibels.
You can turn the suction level down to whisper quiet levels of 60 decibels even. It might be quiet at this suction level, but it still operates effectively. We used it at the quietest setting to dust off furniture and drapes.
Maintenance
Maintenance won’t be a major issue for this vacuum. You will have to change the bag when the dust bag indicator light turns on. This snaps out of the vacuum very easily, and the bag self seals, so you won’t get a face full of dust.
There are three separate filters that come with this unit. The major filter is the super air clean filter, which does have to get replaced with every four bags. When you buy one package of four dust bags (for a price of usually just under $20 USD), a super air clean filter is included.
Changing the Bag
Don’t worry about dust when changing the bag. The G/N Air Clean dust bag features 9-ply construction and a spring loaded, self-sealing collar.
Open up the unit by pulling on the white clip right below the vacuum handle. This opens up the top of the vacuum, which exposes the vacuum bag.
Pull the opposite direction of the arrows on the tab of the air clean dust bag to detach it from the unit. Toss this bag in the garbage.
Take the new bag and line up the arrows. Push it into place and you will hear it clip. You will know if you installed it improperly, because the lid of the Miele Olympus will not shut unless it is aligned.
Value For Money
The Miele S2120 Olympus performs well in many different cleaning situations. The only downfall is it doesn’t have a power brush for cleaning medium to long pile carpeting.
We recommend this for smaller homes or apartments that have hard flooring throughout. This vacuum is a bit more expensive than other canisters, but the Miele Company engineers their vacuums to last for 20 years. It is backed with a seven-year warranty.
Final Vacuum Verdict
You won’t be disappointed with a Miele vacuum.
This unit is for people who like canister vacuums, and are more accustomed to using bagged vacuums.
Make sure to couple your purchase with at least one box of four vacuum bags.
The Olympus only includes one bag in the box.
