Why are Oreck's so rubbish?

[parwaz786]

Well not rubbish, but not as powerful as Hoovers or Kirbies? I mean the Hoover Turbopowers have like the same sized fan and both have powerful motors, so why is it that the Hoover is much better? I understand Kirby is miles and miles better cos of the motor and fan being large etc

 

[vacuumlover]

Well a hoover turbopower says it all lol

 

[JDrums0789]

Orecks

I wouldnt call them rubbish. They are great performers in certain situations.

Example: Glued down commercial carpeting.
A Kirby has so much suction that it clamps down hard, cutting off airflow and become very hard to push. Models with tech drive do better, but you can hear the transmission straining.
An Oreck has a very dense, high speed brush roll which does a much better job at flicking up dirt into the airflow. Even with low suction, it maintains good airflow with the large dirt bag. That huge dirt capacity is also great for commercial work. Their lightweight is also nice when you have to lug them all over a large commercial building or up stairs. They are also quite durable, which puts it ahead of alot of modern Hoovers.

Now I wont argue that they are rubbish on high pile plush and frizze. The company even knew this, hence the XL21 redesign, vast improvement on thicker carpets. I have a Pilot and its performance is hard to knock. No, its not a Kirby, but its not trying to be. Apples and oranges.
But I wouldnt bash it too hard. Its been around a long time and has been highly successful. Its design has been copied many times as well. That in itself should show that it has many good qualities.

Just try to be more open minded before calling something rubbish.

Believe it or not, but Orecks are some of my least favorite vacuum cleaners!

 

[cb123]

Perhaps, absurdities, balderdash twaddle, tripe garbage, but I would never call an Oreck rubbish, well, just maybe.

 

[turbo500]

The suction on the Oreck is pretty poor. The fan is MUCH smaller than on a lot of other dirty fan cleaners and not very well made either, so it didn't generate much airflow to begin with. Couple that with the narrow air path from the cleanerhead to the bag AND the cheap, screaming motor used in a lot of Orecks, it doesn't make for a fantastic vacuum.


 


However, they have a pretty impressive brushroll in them which does a lot of the work, so they are really good for commercial, low pile carpets.

 

[turbo500]

Its design has been copied many times as well.

It's so funny that you should say that, because Oreck wasn't an original design to begin with. David Oreck just bought an unwanted patent from Whirlpool and started manufacturing it. We had Oreck uprights in the early 70's branded "McDonald Electric", which was the original version of that design. It wasn't a big seller and was discontinued after a short run, which is when David O picked up the patent.


 


Always amuses me when he claims to be the "inventer of the Oreck vacuum". Such a big fat lie.

 

[hvrvaclvr]

Their fans are very small and brittle. They clog up and break very quickly.

 

[sebo_fan]

The main difference between Hoover, Kirby and Oreck is that Oreck uprights are lightweight and use a soft bag much like the Hoover Junior "proper" design, even including the last U1104.

The wattage is also fairly low. Around 350 watts or 400 watts AND no beater bars or agitators on the brush roll unlike Hoover. Everything on the Oreck design is made to be lightweight, which is why very little sound insulation is built in, making the motors very noisy. The only helpful additions to the design in my experience is the helping hand handle, a good brush roll and the long cord.

A lot of owners over the years have had replacement fans, to the point that most buy the metal fans from the red commercial model, or eventually seek out the red commercial upright version because of the metal fan. Not as fragile then when picking up harder dust.

I know of plenty elderly people that refuse to give up their Orecks. Clearly there is still a market to have an "upright only" design that the Hoover Junior design left behind. The Vax VCU02 I have is very much like an Oreck but the motor inside has so much better protection. I don't mind the noise from the Vax when it picks up dirt reasonably well.

 

[loganvac]

I have medium pile carpeting and I still use my Oreck on it, but that's only because it picks up the pet hair so well from my boxer on the surface of the carpet.

 

[jade_angel]

Orecks have their place - heck, I'd probably have one for quick pickups, if not for one thing. That one thing is the Riccar Supralite/Simplicity Freedom, which seems to do everything Orecks do, but better. That said, I haven't tried one on glued-down commercial carpeting. On medium-pile household carpets, though, the Freedom does a bang-up job, even with the bottom-of-the-line wooden brushroll.

 

[hvrvaclvr]

My girlfriend uses an Oreck to clean the carpet on her front porch. I always have to unclog the fan, then again she's picking up leaves and stuff like that. I tell her all the time that if she won't use a shop vac to use her Dyson DC24 out there. But she refuses to.

I did use it at my house after I fixed it the one time and it does groom the carpet very well, and it picks up the dog and cat hair in one pass, but to me it doesn't seem like it deep cleans very well.

 

[sebo_fan]

Like Kirby though, the American Orecks are too over priced. For the same cost of an Oreck in the UK brand new and direct from Oreck, you may as well buy a Miele S7 or SEBO upright. For the tech that's being offered, the Oreck products should be far cheaper to buy.


In the U.S the Magnesium model is $399 or $599 for the SP edition which is just about £272 or £408 currency wise.

Yet the UK market Magnesium model is £299. For a rather updated but simple non-hose lightweight upright only, that's a steep price.

No wonder buyers flock to auction sites. Cost prices for little used Orecks are mega cheap, most than 50% less.

 

[turbo500]

Not to mention, Nar, Oreck no longer include the handheld cannister vacuum and upright as a package, so there is NO above floor cleaning on the models you've posted above.

 

[parwaz786]

Kl Thanks guys

 

[suckolux]

Orecks and Kirbys around here CL cheap!

 

[parwaz786]

Jason, just curious but were you Jasongreen98 on YouTube? You also got a DC25 Animal new for youer birthday or somethng and a DC14 All floors for your birthday?

 

[alexhoovers94]

Sebofan, the 80s style Hoover Juniors are appalling.

 

[human]

My girlfriend used to have an Oreck until she borrowed my Kirby Heritage Turbo HD1. The next thing I knew, the Oreck was nowhere to be found. She said she pitched it in the dumpster. Considering how it performed—or rather didn't perform—compared to the Kirby, I can't much blame her. Of course, it'll now be that much harder for me to ever get that Kirby back.

 

[sebo_fan]

In what context Alex? They were best buys from Which magazine. And they seem to last a lot longer than a lot of TP series vacs.