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Miele Blizzard CX1: two-minute review Product note

The Miele Blizzard CX1 range is available in multiple territories, but in various different configurations. These have the same base model, but different tools and accessories. For this review, I tested the Blizzard CX1 Flex.

The Miele Blizzard CX1 is a bagless cylinder vacuum that plugs in via a power cable for endless vacuuming time. It offers four suction levels and four vacuuming accessories in addition to the main floorhead.

Miele is a German brand with a reputation for quality across many appliance categories. And since it's been making vacuums for around 100 years, it knows a thing or two about designing the best vacuum cleaners. Miele offers two distinct ranges of bagless plug-in cylinder vacuums, the Miele Blizzard CX1 range and the Miele Boost CX1 range.

There are a few different CX1 options which use the same base model but have different tools and accessories. For this review, I tested the CX1 Flex.

On the whole, its size, coupled with features like its large dust canister make it well suited to larger homes. And while performance was good, it's not the best I've tried on carpet and it isn't suited to homes with pets either. But it's quiet and easy to use, plus the super long flexible crevice nozzle allows you to clean those awkward, tight spaces between your large appliances and the wall.

(Image credit: Future) Miele Blizzard CX1 review: price & availability

• Various options in Blizzard CX1 range, depending on territory
• Price: $479-$999 / £429-£499 / AU$849

The Miele Blizzard CX1 range is available in multiple territories, but exactly which models you can get depends on where you live.

For this review, I tested the Miele Blizzard CX1 Flex, which is only available in the UK, and costs £429. It can be bought directly from Miele, or via large electrical retailers such as Currys or Hughes. In the UK there are four Miele Blizzard CX1 vacuums ranging from £429 to £499 and at the time of writing some of them were available at a discounted price, so it's worth shopping around, especially around the time of seasonal sales.

In the US there are three Miele Blizzard CX1 models, which have the same main vacuum as the one I tested, but different accessories and floorheads. They range in price from $479 to $999.

In Australia there's one model available, it's the Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog Powerline and it'll set you back AU$849. Take a look at the Miele website in your country, for more details on the models available.

No matter which model you go for, the Blizzard CX1 is in the premium price bracket, and while that's not unexpected for this brand, I think it's a little overpriced given the overall performance.

• Value for money score: 3.5 out of 5

Miele Blizzard CX1 specs Miele Blizzard CX1 review: design

• Big and bulky for a cylinder vacuum
• Not all tools stored on board
• Good size dust canister

When I first removed the Miele Blizzard CX1 Flex from its box I was surprised at how chunky it felt. And maybe that is in part because I've just reviewed the super compact Miele Boost CX1, nevertheless it's worth checking out the dimensions if you're short on storage space.

The cylinder itself measures 51.5 x 31 x 29cm/ 20.3 x 12.2 x 11.4 inches (h x w x d) when stood upright on its end. The advantage of a larger vacuum is usually a larger dust canister and the Miele Blizzard CX1 has an ample 2 liter bagless canister. Though I would argue that its 7.5 meter/ 24.6ft power cord is on the short side.

(Image credit: Future)

This particular model comes with an upholstery nozzle and crevice tool, both of which are stored on board the vacuum, at the back. There's also a dusting brush, which frustratingly isn't stored on the vacuum. And lastly, there's an extra long and bendy crevice nozzle that's ideal for reaching down the sides of large appliances such as a fridge or dryer.

The crevice nozzle is what makes this the Flex model, the standard UK Miele Blizzard CX1 is exactly the same but without the flexible crevice nozzle. Other models in the range include different floorhead types such as parquet floorhead for very delicate hard floors, or a motorized floorhead for optimized pet hair pickup.

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(Image credit: Future)

The floorhead included with this model is called an EcoTeQ floorhead and Miele describes it as being designed for energy efficient vacuuming with maximum cleaning. For the best performance cleaning carpet and collecting pet hair, you'll need to fork out for the top-of-the-range Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog model which comes with the motorized floorhead.

The controls are very simple, there are just two buttons and a dial on the body of the vacuum. The power button and the cord rewind button can both be foot operated to avoid the need to bend down. But when you want to switch between the four suction levels you will have to bend down to adjust the dial.

The only other control is the foot pedal located on the floorhead. The position of this switch dictates the position of the brushes on the underside of the floorhead, and you have to adjust it depending on whether you're vacuuming carpet or hard floors.

(Image credit: Future)

Between the floorhead and the handle is a telescopic wand, which is an adjustable height tube. That means you can adjust it to suit your height, or, if you're trying to reach under furniture, you can extend it to lengthen the reach.

The dust canister lifts straight up and out of the vacuum simply by grabbing its handle and pulling upwards. Then it's easily emptied by pressing the bright yellow release button which flips open the bottom of the dust canister, allowing all the dirt and debris to fall directly into your bin.

(Image credit: Future)

Once the dust canister has been removed and emptied, there are two filters inside it that can be cleaned periodically. The filter frame slides out from inside the canister and the pre-filter can be found at the back of the canister. Both should be cleaned when obviously dirty by removing dust and rinsing.

The main fine dust filter can be removed and cleaned manually in water. But it also has a handy self clean function called ComfortClean. When it reaches a specified degree of soiling, the vacuum will switch off for around 20 seconds and carry out this cleaning process. Or, you can start the ComfortClean process simply by pressing the ComfortClean button.

• Design score: 4 out of 5

Miele Blizzard CX1 review: performance

• Quiet in use
• Not effective at hair pick up on carpet
• Excellent edge cleaning

In general I found the suction to be effective on all hard floors and was particularly impressed when I tested the pickup at the sides of the floorhead. I did this by sprinkling flour along baseboards and no matter which side of the floorhead I vacuumed with, the results were flawless and no flour was left lingering at the edges of the room.

Due to there being no brushes at the front of the floorhead, it does feel like it clatters along on my uneven, rustic slate tiled floors as opposed to gliding smoothly. And if I had very expensive or delicate hard floors, this might concern me more. On my wood floors, which are flat and not uneven, it glides more smoothly.

(Image credit: Future)

To test the performance on very fine particles I dusted flour onto my hard floors and vacuumed it back up again. For the most part it collected the flour in one sweep. On wood floors it collected all the flour that had settled into the grooves between the boards but I could see that some flour was still embedded into the wood grain and this took a couple of sweeps to remove.

Depending on the direction I vacuumed towards the flour it did sometimes push a small pile of flour out in front of the floorhead. It was swiftly and easily sucked up by approaching it from a different angle, but I'd prefer this didn't happen in the first place.

(Image credit: Future)

Overall pickup on carpet was good, but it wasn't faultless. I've got both a wool carpet and a synthetic carpet. On the synthetic carpet the suction felt really strong and I had to turn it down in order to actually be able to vacuum the room. It left the floors looking very clean.

On the less fluffy wool carpet, suction was fairly decent and having just reviewed the Miele Boost CX1, I do think the Blizzard CX1 offers better suction on carpet. But it still didn't feel like it was giving the carpet a thorough clean; I'd much prefer a motorized floorhead.

Picking up hair was effortless on hard floors, but on carpet, the hair got dragged around and clumped up before eventually being sucked into the vacuum after several passes. If you've got pets and carpet, you'll find models better suited to your needs in TechRadar's guide to the best vacuums for pet hair.

(Image credit: Future)

The body of the vacuum could just about balance on a step when vacuuming stairs, but it hangs over the edge of the step. So in all honesty it's a bit too big, and I didn't feel confident that it wouldn't topple. I found it best to move it up with me one step at a time and position my body in front of it, so it could only tilt into me and not fall.

By attaching the main floorhead directly to the handle, I found vacuuming stairs to be pretty quick and easy. When needed I could grab the crevice tool from its position onboard the vacuum to easily get into corners and edges.

I like the long crevice nozzle that gave me the opportunity to vacuum some areas that I can't normally get to with most vacuums. Awkward thin gaps like down the sides of my washing machine were finally within reach. Admittedly, I couldn't easily see how well it was doing, but I could hear debris being sucked up the pipe so it's safe to assume these areas were left cleaner than they started.

(Image credit: Future)

The upholstery tool is a bit basic in my opinion and it's also very small. And I found it frustrating that unless I remembered to push it very firmly into place, it would end up falling off mid-use. Having said all that, it works fine for sprucing up sofas and chairs.

(Image credit: Future)

The dusting brush is good and effective. I like that by twisting it, the angle of the brush adjusts, so you can set it up perfectly for the job at hand. It made short work of dusting a huge shelving unit in my living room.

Overall, in my small home with its cottage proportions, this cylinder vacuum was quite simply too bulky. In tight spaces it can feel like the vacuum itself is always in the way. It was much more at home and user-friendly in larger, more open spaces.

(Image credit: Future)

In the car I was able to use the main floorhead to clean the boot, but had to switch to the upholstery tool for most other jobs including the seats, mats, and carpet. The issue is that it's a very basic and small upholstery tool, so this took a bit of time.

The crevice nozzle was able to reach down most of the awkward gaps. For the really hard-to-reach spots, I got out the long bendy nozzle and it managed to reach some areas down the sides of the seats that have long been neglected. The dusting brush was useful for the dashboard and other hard surfaces.

Even on maximum suction, this is a quiet vacuum. On carpet it averaged 70-75dB and it was slightly louder on hard floors at 75-80dB. The noise level decreases as you decrease the suction, so even though it's not particularly loud, you can still make it quieter.

(Image credit: Future)

In practice, emptying the dirt was straightforward, though when the base of the canister flipped open, it often didn't open up as wide as it could, and in these instances some dust and debris would settle on it and need a quick shake to remove.

• Performance score: 3.5 out of 5

Should you buy the Miele Blizzard CX1? Buy it if...

You live in a larger home

The two liter dust canister and longer power cord make the Miele Blizzard CX1 range more appropriate for larger homes than the Miele Boost CX1 range.

You want a vacuum that doesn't need charging

It might seem obvious, but a plug in vacuum offers you endless vacuuming time and removes the worry of running out of power, which is a common problem with cordless vacuums.

You want a straightforward vacuum

With just four power levels to choose from, this is a straightforward vacuum that's easy to operate and maintain, it won't befuddle you with unnecessary settings and controls.

Don't buy it if...

You're on a budget

If money is tight and you want a Miele canister vacuum, take a look at the cheaper Miele Boost CX1 range, the vacuums are smaller but much cheaper and still come with the Miele pedigree.View Deal

You've got pets

Due to the style of floorhead, this vacuum isn't designed for homes with pets. For effective and efficient pet hair pick up you'll need a vacuum with a motorised floorhead.

You lack storage space

This isn't the most compact canister vacuum you can buy from Miele, so if storage space is tight take a look at the Miele Boost CX1 range instead.

How I tested the Miele Blizzard CX1

In my career testing and reviewing home appliances I've tried out well in excess of a hundred vacuums. This gives me a pretty good understanding of what makes a good vacuum and what features and design details will quickly become annoying.

I set up this vacuum in my own home and used it for my regular cleaning tasks. Not only that, but I cleaned my car with it, and set up some tests to see how well it performed very specific tasks such as cleaning right up to the edges of a room.

I also checked the noise level, maneuverability and comfort in use. Furthermore I checked that any maintenance wouldn't be too complicated or overwhelming, and that emptying out the dirt would be easy and mess-free.

Read more about how we test vacuum cleaners.

• First reviewed November 2024

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The Washington Post , shown above, was rejected by the paper's editorial page editor.'/>

Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigned after an editor rejected her sketch satirizing tech chiefs, including the Post's owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

• Broadcom reportedly secures large HBM order from SK Hynix
• These chips will likely be used in AI hardware for at least one major CSP
• This is part of a broader trend to reduce reliance on Nvidia

Hyperscalers such as Google, Meta, and TikTok owner ByteDance are increasingly seeking to diversify their AI hardware supply chains, reducing their reliance on Nvidia, which has long dominated the sector.

Broadcom is playing a growing role in this shift, and in its recent earnings conference call, CEO Hock Tan told investors the company has three hyperscale customers who are each planning to deploy one million XPU clusters by 2027, and that it has been approached by two additional hyperscalers who are also in advanced development for their own AI XPUs.

Although Broadcom hasn’t named names, it is widely believed to be working with Google, Meta, ByteDance, and OpenAI on custom AI chips. The firm is also thought to be collaborating with Apple to develop the iPhone maker’s first artificial intelligence server chip, codenamed “Baltra,” providing the advanced networking technologies essential for AI processing.

Bad news for Nvidia

According to TheElec, Broadcom has now approached South Korean memory giant SK Hynix to provide the HBM it plans to use in custom AI chips for a "major" (but predictably unnamed) tech company.

TheElec’s sources say that Broadcom actively pursued SK Hynix to supply its verified HBM solutions and has secured a large order of the in-demand memory, with shipments expected to begin in the second half of 2025.

SK Hynix, Samsung’s biggest memory rival, is a key supplier of HBM to Nvidia, which likely won’t be thrilled with this latest news.

To meet the increased demand from Broadcom, SK Hynix is reportedly adjusting its production capacity. TheElec says the company will boost its 1b DRAM wafer output (used as the core die in its HBM) from 140,000–150,000 units to 160,000–170,000 units in 2025. There is a knock on with this expansion however, which is that it could delay the rollout of SK Hynix’s next-generation 1c DRAM as the company prioritizes its immediate production needs.

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• Broadcom is making some major changes to stop VMware exodus
• OpenAI is talking to Broadcom to produce AI chip capable of rivaling Nvidia
• Broadcom says three hyperscalers want to deploy 1,000,000 GPUs by 2027

• Apple Intelligence needs 7GB now, up from 4GB
• The increase is due to new features in iOS 18.2
• Expect the requirements to go up even further

Over the last year or so we've heard plenty about Apple Intelligence and how it's going to transform the way we use our Apple devices – and it seems the AI tech is also going to take up more internal storage on those devices too.

As spotted by 9to5Mac, the recently launched iOS 18.2 update needs 7GB of free local storage to install Apple Intelligence, according to Apple's website. When the AI features started appearing in iOS 18.1, the requirement was 4GB.

It's no surprise that the iOS 18.2 update requires so much more space on your device: it includes a wealth of new AI tricks, including the integration of ChatGPT with the Siri smart assistant, Genmoji, and Visual Intelligence.

The first batch of Apple Intelligence features that showed up with iOS 18.1 back in October included Writing Tools and Notification Summaries. These upgrades are going to continue to show up gradually as we make our way towards iOS 19 next year.

More to come

Apple Intelligence is an optional extra (Image credit: Apple)

Apple likes as much of its AI to run locally as possible: not relying on the cloud means faster response times and improved user privacy. As we're now seeing though, there is a cost in terms of storage space.

You can turn off Apple Intelligence if you want to: the setting is under Apple Intelligence & Siri on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. You can also choose to not install it in the first place, because it's not enabled by default on these devices.

However, you can't pick and choose the AI features you want: It's all or nothing. If you're running low on storage space on your device, then you may have to think twice about having Apple Intelligence enabled (or buy some more iCloud storage space, of course).

And it's likely that Apple Intelligence will demand even more storage space as we go through 2025: it's expected that iOS 18.4 will bring with it a host of new AI updates, including smarter features for Siri.

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• Privacy is more important than AI for the next iPhone
• This is the year AI had in 2024
• How to set up Apple Intelligence on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

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• amp fitness, a new AI-powered strength machine, is on display at CES 2025
• It’s backed by influencers such as online strength coach Chris Heria and actor Terry Crews
• amp officially launches in January 2025

When it comes to fitness, there are all kinds of gadgets designed to optimize our workouts, improve our health, and shoehorn technology into our otherwise-offline physical pursuits. From the best smartwatches and running watches to the best fitness apps and connected kit like Peloton, right down to the wacky stuff like continuous glucose monitors, technology has woven its way into our exercise and diets.

However, one area where technology hasn't so far been able to gain a foothold is strength training. Sure, there have been attempts – Technogym’s AI-powered dumbbells spring to mind – but while running and outdoor cycling got Strava, hiking got AllTrails and spin classes got Peloton, the barbell has yet to see any real tech-based innovation.

(Image credit: AMP)

That’s because, by its nature, strength training is a primal, offline, natural activity, one with little scope for enhancement beyond having a device to count your reps for you with mild inaccuracy, or to plan your next workout. You can’t measure muscle growth with a sensor. There are plenty of apps that help with programming, but in hardware terms, there’s nothing that can really enhance strength training beyond perhaps a rest timer.

That may all be about to change, however. Showcased at this year’s CES 2025 conference and available to pre-order now, amp takes the old-school gym-based cable machine and jazzes it up with a futuristic design and AI smarts. It’s a machine that might just be strength training’s 'Peloton moment'.

It’s essentially a slick-looking, highly adjustable cable machine with a camera and a companion app that you attach to a wall in your house. You can choose multiple kinds of resistance electronically, from a start-to-finish static mode to 'band', mode which starts out slack and becomes more resistant as you reach the peak of your movement, aping the use of resistance bands. You can control the level of resistance with a simple dial.

It’s got challenges and leaderboards to get those gamified Peloton addicts onboard, and follow-along workouts and programming produced in partnership with popular fitness influencers, such as YouTube star Chris Heria. A press release states the device “features an AI system that adapts workouts in real-time, ensuring users are always challenged and supported on their fitness journey”.

It’s endorsed by bodybuilders like Larry Wheels, and Brooklyn 99 actor Terry Crews has also thrown his (considerable) weight behind it.

There’s no denying it looks good, like a Hydrow (another connected fitness success story) mounted on the wall. It seems incredibly simple to use, and while I was initially skeptical about the benefits an AI-powered machine could bring to strength training, I can certainly see amp at least being a mild success, in an arena where other post-COVID home workout strength tech has failed dismally to generate any excitement. If it had been released in 2019, it probably would have been a roaring triumph.

We can’t wait to put it through its paces with a proper strength workout. amp will cost $1,795 in the US (around £1,450 / AU$2,900) – not cheap, but cheaper than a Peloton. It's available for pre-order now, and will release in the US initially in early January.

(Image credit: Future)

We’re covering all of the latest CES news from the show as it happens. Stick with us for the big stories on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok for the latest from the CES show floor!

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