Hoover Platinum Lightweight upright

[orecklover]

Yesterday, me and my mother picked up a Hoover Lightweight upright to replace my grandmas 14+ years old Oreck. We got it at Sears for 300 dollars with the canister. Also at Sears was the Oreck Magnesium, which was quite odd looking and I couldn't believe how TTI messed up Orecks traditional styling with the Magnesium and the Touch. Though Oreck still manufactures Orecks that are like XL21 such as the Oreck insight, the brand still changed dramatically. Speaking of the Oreck Insight, that was also at sears but they had none and weren't getting any in stock. The Oreck Magnesium a was horribly priced at $300 and the insight was $350.

So I called my grandmother and told her that they had the Hoover which she liked and they had the Orecks. Like always, my grandmother would've went with the Orecks, but since the Hoover has better built quality and the canister, she went with that. On my way back from sears, I stopped at my grandmothers to assemble the hoover and vacuum for her. Once I assembled the Hoover, I vacuumed with it and I was surprised how loud it was, also how much effect the self propelled had. Also I was quite surprised that it has a high and low setting and a check bag light. I have to say that the quality of this hoover is strong and worth how much I payed. Also the canister it came with was also strong and had good build quality.

Out of all the trouble I went through, my grandmother excepted the Hoover as being better than an Oreck, but she is still ordering a used Oreck off of eBay. Also, I got something out of this Hoover too, I got my grandmothers old Oreck buster canister with all the attachment, now I have two.

What are your thoughts?

 

[myles_v]

I am pretty sure that Oreck came out with the Touch and Magnesium before being acquired by TTI.

 

[ralph123]

other lightweight options

The Hoover is a good cleaner, and it's ironic that it may have helped to kill Oreck.

I'm a big fan of the Riccar/Simplicity lightweights because (1) they are built in the USA, and (2) they are great performers. The least expensive Simplicity Freedom has a retail list price of $275.95 which is a bargain.

6 HEPA bags for these vacuums can be had for about $14 ($2.33 each) (http://www.totalvac.com/A812.html?g...965_a_7cA812&gclid=COqN4YDC6bgCFS1p7Aodwi8AWQ).

The Hoover platinum bags are more expensive - 8 bags for $32.11 or about $4 per bag.

http://www.totalvac.com/PLATINUM-BAGS-KIT.html

 

[ralph123]

other lightweight options

The Hoover is a good cleaner, and it's ironic that it may have helped to kill Oreck.

I'm a big fan of the Riccar/Simplicity lightweights because (1) they are built in the USA, and (2) they are great performers. The least expensive Simplicity Freedom has a retail list price of $275.95 which is a bargain.

6 HEPA bags for these vacuums can be had for about $14 ($2.33 each) (http://www.totalvac.com/A812.html?g...965_a_7cA812&gclid=COqN4YDC6bgCFS1p7Aodwi8AWQ).

The Hoover platinum bags are more expensive - 8 bags for $32.11 or about $4 per bag.

http://www.totalvac.com/PLATINUM-BAGS-KIT.html

 

[ncovert]

Those don't have self propel...

...it must be the brush roll!


In my opinion, I think they are great despite being made by TTI. I have heard favorable reviews about those.


 


Bags are expensive though, but the upright has much bigger bags than the tank. 


 


What's funny is on Hoover.com you can buy a single I bag (tank) for $2.19 or a 2-pack for $9.99!


 


single I bag: http://hoover.com/parts/details/985059002/type-i-bag/


2-pack bag: http://hoover.com/parts/details/ah10005/type-i-hepa-bag-2-pack/

 

[gottahaveahoove]

I have a Platinum

I like it. It's certainly NOT my favorite, but, it works very well.
i HATE that the handle release is on the WRONG side. The light is very bright. The bag is quite large. The little Portapower wannabe is very loud, strong, but the tools are little toys. All in all, i like the upright.

 

[jfalberti]

Big Lots

carries the Hoover Platinum (factory reconditioned, with warranty) without the canister for $99.  I have thought about picking one up, but keep talking myself out of it when I'm in the store.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

A silly little thing:

When you plug it in, a little blue power light goes on, and stays on as long as there's power. i KNOW it's plugged in, I PLUGGED it in. Now, isn't that a silly little 'feature'? And, those little 'mustaches" on the ends....well.... waste of bristles. But, my friends love to run it when they visit.

 

[eurekaprince]

I think the Simplicity/Riccar lightweight uprights are noisier than the Hoover Platinum.

I kinda like the blue "it's plugged in" light....a nice safety feature if you have gone far from the outlet and taken a phone call.

One of Hoover's nicest products of its TTI era....IMHO.

 

[mieles7]

I had a Platinum Upright for a short time. The only problem I had with it was with the paint scratching easily, but the performance seemed on par with my Orecks. Honestly, the Oreck Magnesium isn't a bad vacuum. I had the chance to use one recently, and the vacuum seemed to do a good job on carpets and bare floors.

 

[vacuumman206]

I am in no way in favor of TTI machines, even if they do work well. That said, I was working in this nice lady's house for 2 days painting some rooms, and she had that upright/canister pair. She let us use them to clean up some small messes. The canister as noted by fellow members is definitely a portapower want-to-be and sounds horribly identical to a euro pro. The hose while it's a stretch, is short and the cord wrap doesn't hold the cord good or allow for quickly unwinding it.
I didn't use the upright, but I spent a minute investigating it in use. Also as noted, the idiot light that tells you it has power is unnecessary. It is a very powerful sounding machine, actually sounds like it's winding up like a kirby when you turn it on. If I were to have designed it, I would have left the headlight on the base where it belongs. Another very minor downside I saw to it is Hoover should have set the rear wheels in further, because looking at the customer's vac the outer rim of the wheels was covered in paint from scraping against the baseboard, because when the nozzle is butted against the wall, the wheels hit the wall too, and it was evident because I could see marks all around the house on the base. Still not a machine I'd buy, but not as bad as I thought

 

[ralph123]

12 amp motor for direct air?

Just curious, what's up with the 12-amp motor for the Hoover? It's a lightweight with a direct air motor. I could see 12-amps for a bypass motor, but why for a direct air? I think a Kirby uses a 10 amp motor and it's self propelled, many Orecks use a 4 amp motor, the Riccar uses a 5.5 amp motor. How well do the motors hold up?

It's curious that Consumer Reports gave it a "very good" rather than "excellent" for filtration given that they use HEPA bags. does the bag holder have a design flaw or something?

For the record, CR does recommend the Hoover and rates it well.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

The cleaner has an unusual

start up, that's true. The little canister is not something anyone would 'run out and buy' alone. The upright holds a huge bag, hepa 'cloth'. It holds a lot of dirt. Still, not HOOVER'S finest hour, but not a bad upright. Here's mine during that infamour "demolition/restoration/renovation nightmare at the house.