Oreck XL Handheld

[compamac]

I picked up this little Oreck XL handheld bagged vacuum form Salvation Army. I think it is a unique vac because of its size. It came with only 1 bag but I can pick up more. It was also pretty dirty too so I used a magic eraser and most of the marks came off easily. It does have a hose but it had no attachments. I went to look through my spare attachments bin and found a few tools like a wand, floor tool, and crevice and dusting brush. I will be using this quite often I think because the shoulder strap allows for easy cleaning. Like I said I think this little vac is awesome and it is compact! What do you guys have to say about this?

 

[blackheart]

They are quite convienent really.

Especially when it comes to cars stairs and furniture. Occasionally i'll use it for hard flooring too i don't really care for the sound of the machine but it works decently

 

[dysondestijl]

We have them in the UK. They go for about £40 on eBay here!

 

[compamac]

Wow.

I didnt know that the UK has these too. I like this one also becuase it is an older model. The newer models of this unit are louder and heavier.

 

[dysondestijl]

We have them in black

 

[compamac]

I seem to like the white ones better than the black ones but I dont know why. Do you also have Oreck XL uprights in the UK too? I would think so

 

[sebo_fan]

Yes we do but not the more modern uprights you have in the U.S. The black canister that we have doesn't come with wheels - you have to buy the wheels as an optional extra. However they have since replaced it with what looks like to be a better model.

 

[vintagerepairer]

The selling point of Oreck in the UK was that it came with a 'free' canister vac. As one woman once said to me, for the price of the upright vacuum cleaner and the fact that it has no provision whatsoever for being used as an above-floor cleaner, you would damn well expect a 'free' cylinder vacuum cleaner as standard.

 

[compamac]

Yeah...

I dont like ANY of Orecks newer models. The Oreck magnesium (pictured below) is the WORST vacuum cleaner I have ever seen!!! The thing is about 6 pounds and is all made in China. Now there is nothing wrong with it being made in China but many people think it is not. All of the other Orecks EXCEPT for this model are made in the US or at least assembled in the US. What do you guys think about this vacuum?

 

[sebo_fan]

We dont have that one in the UK. As I said previously we only have older models in the UK - see link to the UK website. We have an XL10 priced at £359-99; spend around £70 to £80 more and you can buy yourself a Miele S4 Hybrid!

To be honest I don't think the Magnesium is at all ugly - not when you consider that a lot of other Chinese made appliances for the vacuum cleaner market doesn't have half the style Oreck have added here. Of course, one's opinion of what is ugly and what is not is very much dependent on the individual.

Though not in any way affecting the performance and despite my name plate on here, I didn't ever consider Sebo's Felix Fun to be in any way good looking; the bright orange colour put me off in an instant - see stock photo - even the orange here clashes badly with light brown wood in a home!



http://www.oreck.co.uk/

 

[compamac]

Yup!

Well when you do get the Oreck Magnesium you will know how bad of a machine it really is. It is terrible with deep cleaning. I would rather have a Miele S4 than this Oreck.

 

[sebo_fan]

The Maggy can wait - Im interested in Oreck's newer bagless upright - see thread
(http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?19765)

The Oreck Touch

 

[myles_v]

I used to have an Oreck canister/hand vacuum. I really hated the way it sounded, however it was decent at cleaning.

 

[compamac]

Oreck Bagless

The bagless units I just don't get. Oreck spent YEARS trying to tell people that bagged was the way to go. Then they totally turned around and made the bagless unit. From the way it looks the dust cup capacity is very small. Also the bottom head is the same as the magnesium almost. It is just as cheap in my opinion

 

[sebo_fan]

I think its a sign of the times - after all Hoover originally made bagged vacuums, and soon they began bag-less ones too. It could well have a small dust cup so that it doesn't damage the bagged upright sales. That would make sense. As they say in this business though, don't knock it until you've tried it.

 

[compamac]

Well...

They ALWAYS advertised bagged being better though. Hoover never really did that until the had bag less technology. Oreck was wide open to bagless but they decided to stick with bagged.

 

[myles_v]

I agree with you, Nick, Oreck's new machines are really ugly. And it doesn't make sense how they used to say stuff like "Bagless is a BAD idea!" but now they have advertisements for their bagless machine, touting that it "Makes bagless easy."

 

[sebo_fan]

I agree with you but Oreck are a small company next to the likes of Miele and the rest of the Germans, even other European brands like Philips who make great vacuums (but are seldom available to buy in the UK) offer more - however everyone apart from the premium 2; Sebo and Miele are sticking to bags - Bosch produce bagless vacuums, but they're not very good IMHO. 


 


The hardest task Oreck will face will be trying to convince their loyal fans that their bagless vacuum is better. They may try a different tactic.

 

[compamac]

Many collectors....

Many collectors HATE the Oreck vacuums! I being a collector myself do like them but a TON of other ones don't. The tube that leads to the bag is very narrow and can clog easily. The free canister vacuum is probably better than the upright itself many would say. However I like Orecks but I think they are coming to an end eventually. There sales have been dropping. What do you guys think of Orecks themselves?

 

[vintagerepairer]

Oreck

Oreck initially stuck to selling only via mail in the UK. I have no idea how they do it now as I've not seen an advertisement on TV or in a magazine for a good deal of years. Their success seemed to be in selling to people who buy anything mail-order, and the elderly who needed a light weight cleaner. Of the cleaners which came to me for attention, the owners were almost universally past retirement age. They didn't strike me as a young persons choice.

 

[sebo_fan]

Not a fan, sadly.

I've commented before on Oreck XL vacs. I wish I could like them and had my parents not had one, I'd probably have bought an XL7 by now. My parents had a light grey XL with a black bumper. Bought brand new in the 1990s and had it for a couple of years but they couldn't stand the noise or the fact as you say it has a narrow dust channel up the back of the spine. The other problem we had was that our XL was particularly hungry for drive belts though I did like the side door slide out access for changing one around and the hidey bit on the sole plate. What I didn't appreciate was that our older model had a bag snap on fixing - not the slider holder that current ones have - so the bag could eventually come off no matter how many times I ensured the bag tongue when over the plastic bit on the oval dust channel. 


 


The other downside is that I have never appreciated the fact that the Oreck never cleans flat to the floor. Oh it can fall to the floor, but the brush roll doesn't actually sit flat like a Sebo X1 and you can't wheel the XL away after use, it always has to be carried. I notice that the XL10 and XL7 have a partition at the back that allows you to wheel those vacs away after use. 


 


The only things I like about the Oreck XL is the long 10 metre cord length and the brush rolls - they seem to groom carpets extremely well - but having to replace the side brushes every couple of years is a bit of a nuisance and the UK market/Oreck UK at that time charged a high cost for the dust bags, with the Celoc white ones being quite hard to buy as they were constantly out of stock.

 

[myles_v]

I think Oreck is pretty popular in the US. They sell them in infomercials, at "Oreck Clean" stores, and now I've even seen some in Targets (a "superstore" like Walmart and K Mart). I've also seen the Oreck steam mops in Walmart. People typically seem to think that they are the best vacuums for some reasons. I personally don't like them. I've had two uprights. One was very loud and needed a new fan, and the other was just not a very good cleaner and was a bit noisy. My local vacuum store told me about how bad vacuums they are, because of how small the fans in them are. The brushroll is what really cleans. I do kind of like their bag system, how it automatically closes.

 

[myles_v]

I JUST saw an Oreck Touch commercial on TV. It was a woman who was in a room with Post It notes on the walls. She said that she isn't an engineer, but that she would like vacuum attachments to be easier to use. Then they talked about the Oreck Touch being made to be easy to use.

 

[compamac]

Yea

The Oreck Touch just I dont see being worth it. Very cheap design! Small bagless capacity. I heard the stretch hoses were known to tear

 

[compamac]

Oreck says

I emailed Oreck, last night I forgot to mention. They said that they make bagless vacuums to bring in a bigger amount of sales. But if they only have 2 models sold in stores where are the sales then

 

[sebo_fan]

Just give it a chance....

If there are only two models, that's enough - they'll have tons of internet sellers they can depend on for sales out with the stores - Amazon.com for one, which already sells the bagged uprights and then there's the independents.

 

[compamac]

Maybe?

Well yes indeed, but many people run to the store for a vacuum and buy one. But like you had mentioned there are also online buyers. It probably will be stable enough for them. I just dont see the bagless units taking off for them though. After all the people that Oreck had convinced to buy the bagged Oreck are getting confused by Oreck making bagless ones I bet

 

[compamac]

Orecks are...

Orecks really are not that powerful though good cleaners. They dont do good with deep cleaning which many people dont think about. Many people like I said just buy whatever they find without comparing models.

 

[sebo_fan]

Yes but people are different. My guess is Oreck's new bagless will probably suit those who are fed up of bags or want something a bit more modern with a hose attached.