Miele. https://9to5mac.com/2011/03/07/how-steve-jobs-picks-a-washer...
Seconded: the Miele that my family insisted on buying us for the wedding is well beyond 8 years and we haven't had a single problem.
10 years warranty but rumour have it they might easily last up 20 years although you might have to change parts somewhere between 10 and 20 years.
Oh, and I think it cost something less than USD1000.
Win-win it seems? Miele has a reason to optimize for long life, customer has a basic expectation of a long device life time and a possibility to buy peace of mind?
I think there's a market for a "heirloom" edition that costs 40% more and has a 20 year warranty.
1995 - GBP50 for 2nd hand Miele tumbler dryer - looked 20 years old then (chocolate brown 70s stylecontrol panel) - repaired twice - quite noisy - but still going strong age around 40 years
2001 - GBP1000 for top-of-the range Miele washing machine (wanted 1600RPM spin speed) - rubber seal replaced twice - still going - would probably buy bottom/mid range now to get adequate spin speed
2009 - GBP900 for Miele fridge and freezer - no problems yet
Yep.
I once carried a Miele washing machine up 3 flights of stairs with a friend. We thought we were about to die.
Later I looked up the specs in the manual: its counterweight weighs 120kg :´-(
The machine is (I think) around 30 years old, still going strong.
It had lasted through 21 years of regular use, by multiple owners.
My dishwasher is a Miele, too. I have owned it for ... 13 years now, and I got if pre-owned, so I guess it is at least 20 years old. Has not given me any trouble, yet.
(My washing machine is some no-name brand, though, and it has worked well for 11-12 years now, so sometimes one can get lucky.)
My Miele vacuum was handed down to me by my mother when she died, and it's like a decade old and has zero issues.
And even if it does have issues, replacement parts for it are still sold (mainly because today's models are virtually identical).
Also, without the HEPA filter addon, it meets HEPA requirements (they're just not allowed to say so because HEPA sues anyone that didn't pay the idiot tax to license the name); and a box of 4 huge bags and both the inside and outside non-HEPA filters (you change them every 4 bags, comes in the box with the bags) costs around $20.
Most vacuums I've seen my neighbors own over the years cost like $15 for 2 bags, and you have to buy the filters separately. Miele TCO is dramatically lower, just a slightly larger upfront cost.
Also, all of the house cleaning people I've met over the years all swear by Miele, and they abuse theirs far more than I do mine.
We'd killed a couple of other vacuums previously (when you shave a St Bernard for a Texas summer...).
14 years later, I've never had to do any sort of major repair. Any problems I've ever had with the unit were fixed by taking it apart (without tools) and clearing the jam/clog.
Problem is, the HEPA filter in the Animal is about as good as modern Miele bags and non-HEPA filters... /w Miele's HEPA filter instead, it increases filtration rate 10x.
I looked into Dysons for my mom when she bought this... they're good vacuums, but they're not the best. I compared them to being an Apple or Cisco kind of product: everyone knows who they are, everyone thinks they're the best, but if you look around you can get something better.
As in, for every Apple there's a Microsoft (ala Surface), for every Cisco there's a Juniper, and for every Dyson there's a Miele.
I don't want the most expensive, or in some cases even objectively the best: I want something that has the lowest cognitive load of ownership: something that always works, something I don't have to question if I should have bought something else, something that has no killer flaws, something that is good across the board. Something I can be happy with.
Very few brands or product lines have ever made me a fan, all companies eventually ruin a good product, but Miele is on that incredibly exclusive list of companies that have made me a fan. When the end of this vacuum finally comes, I'm buying another Miele without hesitation.
Worked for me at least: when I had a problem, and I will buy the same brand again.
There were other similar brands but they've all gone bankrupt or been acquired (I had a UPO Pesukarhu washing machine which was maybe 15 years old when I bought it second-hand as a poor student, and it worked another 10 or so for me, and I only got rid of it because the 1970's color of the device didn't fit the interior in our new house, and later I regretted this. Now I've had the Miele for around 10 years.)
Bought another Miele, and that is running just fine after 4 years.
