Oreck's Have Gotten A Bad Rap = here's why...
The reason to why Oreck have gotten a bad rap as you say, is because of the design and the elevated price! I had an Oreck XL for 5 years, oh it went well everytime it started up but it was the older model with the push on bag design and bags were forever coming off. I tried the XL21 when it first came to the UK and really liked it - but they have nothing to improve the motor noise and there are still problems with cleaning flat to the floor.
I like the Oreck brush roll. The grooming effect that these models leave on carpets is fantastic but I found whenever the upright was made to clean flat to the floor, the floor head/roller brush just doesn't lay flat on the surface - this is because the central handle design point doesn't go down far enough or is stopped by the last of the rubberised bumper and flush fitting sole plate.
Another issue is that plastic sole plate - it's easy to pierce if you run it over any exposed carpet frame screw heads and the wheels at the back that are also similarly flush fitting means you can't put it on its hind wheels and wheel it back to the cupboard - it always has to be lifted or carried - one of its benefits for being lightweight I suppose.
Another factor is that the Oreck XL in the UK is highly elevated and unjustified - especially for what you are paying. A lot of owners report that the dust bags don't fully fill up to the 13 litres as suggested, thus the dust bags don't always work out value for money. In terms of filtration, all they have the dust bag itself and that's all very well if they did the job. It's fine on cat hair, but dog hair which is the worst for bad smells finds its way back into the room, if the Celoc bags dont stay on the older bag-push-on-pull-off tab.
Another issue is the plastic fan - it shouldn't be fitted to such a high price vacuum cleaner if its going to continually shatter or break. I ended up swapping our XL for the red commercial upright. It had a more modern slip in bag holder, which ended the bag fall off situation, and the red ones have metal fans. Noise level still high, still failing to remain flat to the floor and still requires to have the side brushes bought every once in a while to replace the ones that flatten out - why Oreck can't have edge cleaning is beyond me -
I'd happily buy Oreck again if the machines were quieter, had a lightweight stretch hose on the back of it and associated tools (if Sebo can make a 500g flexible hose, Oreck could do similar.) Sadly for me though, my money goes to Sebo which is far better thought out, albeit a lot heavier but far more efficient and quicker.
