Oreck XL Handheld

[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. 

 

[compamac]

Yes...

Many people I am sure will follow that. What about Orecks competitors? They sell more models in stores than Oreck does in stores. If they did sell Orecks at more stores and more models I am sure they would make way more proffit than internet. What do you think?

 

[myles_v]

The Oreck Touch does seem very cheap. I saw one video of it, and it was very high pitched and noisy, sort of like a Euro Pro vacuum.
I think that they would make many more sales if they sell more machines in more stores. And I do know that they (the bagged uprights) are pretty good at cleaning surface dirt, but they really don't deep clean well at all. I wonder if the Oreck Touch would deep clean any better...

 

[sebo_fan]

Well I can't speak for the rivals because the UK don't have any; we did have a Hometek Chinese built upright that was similar to the Oreck. It hung around for a few years, a few members on here bought one as well as me - they're okay but they attracted an older crowd of people and seemed to do quite well even for the lack of dust bags since the bags were of largish capacity.


 


Only in the last couple of years Vax have a commercial upright, the VCU-02 - there's a separate thread about that one on here I'm sure.

[this post was last edited: 4/2/2013-06:21]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Commercial-Vacuum-Cleaner-Upright-Capacity/dp/B004QN47GK

 

[compamac]

Oreck

The Oreck Touch will last maybe a year tops. Yes the Euro-Pro machines are similar with the ear ringing high pitched noise. And no Oreck designed it the same as a Magnesium just with a different dust capacity system. They even used the same bottom or head of the unit

 

[compamac]

Just...

Just went to my local Vac Shop. They sell the model I have for $129.99!!! Isnt that a little expensive

 

[sebo_fan]

Thing is, as I've noted in the other post regarding the Swift upright, countries have different exchange rates etc and a lot of sellers in the UK are over pricing these vacuums for a lot more profit -sometimes charging astronomical prices for products that shouldn't be that expensive to buy. Buyers are none the wiser unless they check comparing websites, but even then not all sites are included to get the best deal.

Thus one shouldn't really compare a vacuum cleaner going by price alone.

 

[compamac]

Ok

Well I was just thinking about price but its ok. I do notice though that this thread has gotten a lot of replies! Thank you for all of them

 

[compamac]

I JUST saw these!

I saw the Oreck Touch and Versavac at Best Buy today. The VersaVac was very high quality but O thought it was not based on numerous reviews. However the Oreck Touch really wasn't a quality product at all. The stretch hose was really stiff and did not move easily. The VersaVac was way much better. It had a good steam feature which I know somebody had mentioned it but until I saw it in person I thought that it was really small and narrow. But the great thing is that it is not! What else do you his think of the VersaVac because I don't think it was mentioned as much as the Touch?

 

[myles_v]

The Versavac seems really odd. I have a Shark Vac Then Steam, and on that the vacuum is only for hard floors. At first I was't sure if the Versavac could be used on carpeting, but I saw a video of it and now I know it can be used on carpet. I don't think it would clean carpets very well, it seems like something that someone who wants to save time and space would buy and find useful.

 

[thermokid]

I used to hate Orecks!

Until I got my XL21. That machine is the quietest Oreck I have ever had. I only use it for quick picking up through the house. I use my Kirby the rest of the time. I just recently bought one of the new Oreck Pilots, and I like it as much as the XL21......Dan