This Under-$300 Airsign Vacuum Gives My $800 Miele a Run for Its Money

• Value: 20/20
• Functionality: 18/20
• Ease of Use: 20/20
• Aesthetics: 19/20
• Suction: 18/20
  TOTAL: 95/100

First off, the gizmo’s incredibly lightweight. It’s 10.8 pounds, which is a little more than half the weight of my 20-pound Miele. Airsign, like Miele, has HEPA filtering capabilities—which is essential for homes with pets and allergy-prone humans—and they both have 1200-watt suction power. This little (and I say little since the Airsign canister is about six inches shorter and just under a couple inches narrower than my Miele) vacuum is shockingly similar to my fancy canister vacuum—at less than half the price.

So…how does it actually clean? The powerful engine is quiet and easy to turn on and off with your foot via a toggle corner of the chassis. The multi-floorhead is lightweight, which allows it to glide smoothly over bare floors, although annoyingly, it sucks parts of my cowhide carpets up when I vacuum them. (The heavier-weight powerhead on my current vacuum holds the carpets down, which is more convenient.) The Airsign’s ergonomic hose handle, which I’d at first glance dismissed as a design gimmick, turns out to be genius for comfortably holding the hose at just the right angle to sweep the floor, making pushing the vacuum hose almost effortless. And the two fat wheels at the back of the canister roll along silently, without stumbling over carpet or scratching up wood floors.

The Airsign’s suction is top rate, so the functionality of this vacuum is almost perfect, though I docked it a point off because I needed to re-attach the top of the hose twice (it also earned a demerit for its nettlesome habit of the floor head sucking up area rugs). The look of the vacuum, too, is almost perfect, though I’m hoping future iterations come in some fun colors (for now it’s just matte black). The suction is great, although I noticed it had a little more trouble picking up pet hair than my Miele did, which again seems to be a function of the floor head, which is lightweight and only has two settings, neither of which sucked up the tufts of goldendoodle fur in my low-pile rug.

So long story short—forget waiting for your pricey dream vacuum. Buy the affordable Airsign now and breathe easy for less.