Oreck Vacuum Cleaners

[cube_rat]

Anyone own an Oreck vacuum cleaner? What do you like or dislike about it?

 

[BarbaraAnne]

I have owned an Oreck for about 25 years.  I really love it!  It is very lightweight, which makes it easy to carry upstairs in our 2 story home. It has been very reliable all these years and except for belt replacement (very inexpensive) has needed no maintenance...It does a great job!

 

[BUM]

They are ok. Wanna buy mine? I just installed hardwood floors throughout. If I never see wall-to-wall carpeting again it'll be too soon.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Light. Expensive. Medium quality suction.

What exactly do you want to vacuum and why is the oreck appealing?

We tried out a lot of vacuum cleaners a year and a half ago. Went with a self propelled hoover bagless model. Good suction, good price, doesnt matter that it weighs a bit as it moves itself. Not so good for stairs though, but I'd have gone with a canister model if we had a bunch of those to deal with, or used a cheap secondary lightweight for those.

 

[cube_rat]

Light. Expensive.  Medium quality suction.

What exactly do you want to vacuum and why is the oreck appealing?

We tried out a lot of vacuum cleaners a year and a half ago.  Went with a self propelled hoover bagless model.  Good suction, good price, doesnt matter that it weighs a bit as it moves itself.  Not so good for stairs though, but I'd have gone with a canister model if we had a bunch of those to deal with, or used a cheap secondary lightweight for those.

Your new moniker freaked me out for a moment

I have stairs in my house I'm sick and tired of hauling my elephant of a vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs. So the appeal of an Oreck is the weight, quite honestly.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

I had an Oreck in Chicago and I noticed all the maids in the building used them. Must be pretty good.

Not to change the subject but anybody know of a good loofa sponge on a handle. You know for washing your back, etc.? The ones from Bed, Bath and Beyoncy seem to fall apart after 2 weeks. ?

 

[cube_rat]

I had an Oreck in Chicago and I noticed all the maids in the building used them.  Must be pretty good.

Not to change the subject but anybody know of a good loofa sponge on a handle.  You know for washing your back, etc.?  The ones from Bed, Bath and Beyoncy seem to fall apart after 2 weeks. ?

OAP: Try the Body Shop in the Embarcadero Shopping Center. They should have nice wooden ones with long handles.

 

[Martha]

We have an Oreck.  I got it partly because of the stairs and the fact that it wasn't a big clunker.  I don't like it.  Over priced for what you get.  I don't think the suction is all that great.  We also have had to get it repaired twice at the Oreck dealer, which is inconvenient. 

It works ok to do stairs, but a vacuum with attachments probably would work better.

 

[cube_rat]

We have an Oreck.  I got it partly because of the stairs and the fact that it wasn't a big clunker.  I don't like it.  Over priced for what you get.  I don't think the suction is all that great.  We also have had to get it repaired twice at the Oreck dealer, which is inconvenient. 

It works ok to do stairs, but a vacuum with attachments probably would work better.

You have pets, right? How does it work on pet hair?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I got a separate vac for the stairs in my old mcmansion. I got a lightweight bissell from costco with an extensible handle for $29, weighs about 1/3 what an oreck does. Nice suction. Bagless. Great for the stairs I dont have anymore. Vacuums cars pretty well these days.

 

[Martha]

Pretty good but not the best at getting the dog hair and bird "stuff."

Most of our floors are wood and we have several large oriental rugs.  We also have a carpeted staircase and hallway.  We "swiffer" the bare wood and vacuum the rugs, hall, stairs and the furniture.  At least the Oreck is light enough and small enough to do the stairs and the furniture.   But I think if I had to make a choice now, I would either put in a central vacuum system or get the canister type vacuum with attachments I could use everywhere.  It isn't the best at getting corners and I think the suction is only so so.  IIRC, consumer reports recently had an issue on vacuum cleaner and the Oreck one wasn't rated that highly.  

 

[HFWR]

12yo Dirt Devil...

 

[Indexter]

They suck.

Sorry but someone had to say it. We went with the consumer reports Eureka Boss Vac and are happy with it.

 

[Nords]

I think vacuum cleaners have become commodities, barely worth the trouble to shop for price. In a couple decades we'll all be wondering how we lived without our $10 Roombas.

We bought a Eureka Boss in 1992 for $230, just before we started a family. We put about $30 of bags & belts into it before it died. I remember it being clunky, noisy, and notorious for scraping black rubber skid marks onto the molding in every room.

We bought a Eureka Bravo in 1999 for $67 and ran it into the ground. It finally died a spectacularly stinky death last year when its roller brush locked up a bearing and smoked the belt. (Attempts to repair the "sealed" bearing resulted in a spray of little bearing parts that probably would've cost more than a new vacuum.) The bearing was clogged with blond hairballs, and before it died it was regularly choking on long strands of hair that seemed to pile up wherever I rested my ponytail.

We replaced it with a Hoover U5172-900 bagless vacuum. (I couldn't resist the sexy model name.) It cost $60 and we won't ever need to buy it a bag-- notice the price/maintenance and hedonics trends over the last 14 years? It'll suck Oreck's bowling ball through a garden hose and it never chokes on hairballs. We never get those little spurts of dust that come out of vacuum bags and even our teenager can tell when the clear plastic canister is full.

I don't think I care about brands or quality. I'd shop the major brands, buy cheap on a sale, and run 'em into the ground. If you're still working for a paycheck then your research time is probably worth more than the cost of a perfectly acceptable vacuum cleaner.

What's really paid for itself is our Bissell Quicksteamer upright carpet cleaner. ($95 two years ago.) It's been perfect for those unexplained spots that seem to follow our teen around, and it's simple enough for her to operate without parental supervision.

I have stairs in my house I'm sick and tired of hauling my elephant of a vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs. So the appeal of an Oreck is the weight, quite honestly.

We "solved" that problem with a crappy $20 used vacuum from a garage sale that we keep as the "upstairs" vacuum. It cleans up well enough that we haven't had to bring the big one upstairs yet.

I think 90% of vacuuming is avoided by banning shoes inside the house. The other 10% probably involves a haircut but I'm reluctant to conduct the research...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

We bought a Eureka Boss in 1992 for $230, just before we started a family.

So what you're saying is, if you dont want kids, dont buy that vacuum?

I have that same steam cleaner but I've had it about 6 years. Its earned its keep around here. I'd probably get a better one the next time, since this one leaks a little dirty water and has needed two repairs already. My dads got the hoover v2 cleaner and it does a much better job more quickly for 2x the price...spread over 6-8 years thats not so bad.

 

[starry night]

Had an Oreck for awhile. I liked that it was handy (ergonomic grip) and lightweight, but didn't like lack of suction and bag management.

Have upgraded to a Dyson bagless and it's the best vacuum I've ever had!!! (and I'm kinda a vacuum cleaner junkie). Dyson lives up to its rep for suction and no clogging. Love the pushbutton bagless release, and it's the quietest vacuum I've encountered.

Think I better vacuum this morning. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[unclemick]

Sooooooo

How's the Dyson on cat and dog hair - our nemisis around this house.

heh heh heh

 

[wabmester]

We've got the Dyson. Best vac ever. No problem with pet hair (and you can see it in the translucent canister). Lots of little plastic gizmos, though. It's held up well so far, but I'm sure something plastic will break on it eventually.

On the steam vac front, we dig our new Hoover SteamVac Agility.

 

[Nords]

So what you're saying is, if you dont want kids, dont buy that vacuum?

All the time we saved with that vacuum cleaner was quickly used up by other activities...

 

[AltaRed]

Central vac is the way to go. We have had them in a number of 2 storey houses. A huge blessing with stairs with a little rug rat attachment. A cheap Hoover is as good as any for the cannister unit. That part just gets tucked away out of sight in the garage and there is little difference between 107 or 140 inches of suction (except McMansions where you want to go with more suction due to longer piping travels). The place to spend your money is in the hose and attachments with a good powerhead.

However, had a Kenmore cannister in our last bungalow in Hoston based on Consumer Reports at the time (2002). Had all ceramic tile floors except the bedrooms so used it sparingly. And in our current place in Calgary, all hardwood except for bedrooms... so the cannister will have to do for those rooms... and swiffer the hardwood.

 

[Martha]

Greg is gone for a few days so I have been doing chores today. Yuck.

I vacuumed using the Oreck. Sucked up something and the belt broke. Don't know if we have more belts or where they are. Damn vacuum. Took a lunch break. Cook? I don't cook. I bought a Spanokapeta and heated it in the oven. Carried the plate over here to the computer. Dropped the plate on the freshly vacuumed rug. Broke plate. Cleaned up the Spanokapeta and ate it anyway. Tossed plate. Cleaned rug again.

Argggggh!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

When we did our last vacuum cleaner purchase, I bought a bunch and returned what we didnt like.

Frankly, the dyson was nothing special at all. I liked the ease of emptying it out and it was pretty cool looking, but for the price it didnt outperform the far cheaper hoovers, and the dirt devil platinum force had the best suction of all the ones I tried. The dyson (I think it was a dc07?) was the biggest pain in the butt to use with tools.

Plus I could smell the marketing campaign, replete with the guy with the english accent, adding about $150 to the price.

Not that theres anything wrong with it. I've found that dyson owners will swear its the best vacuum made. Perhaps for their carpets and needs, but not mine.

Another middle of the road performer if you go for the consumer reports stuff. In fact, all of the $400-1000 landed in the middle of the pack.

Maybe they last longs, but is it just me or after 5-6 years, dont you really want a new vacuum and not the same old smelly skanky one?

 

[Martha]

I am resurrecting this old thread. My Oreck, probably about 8 years old, is now on its last legs. The metal handle has a crack and it is just about to break off. We brought it in to the Oreck dealer who said $150 to fix. Thank you, no. They would discount a new vacuum by $20 though. Ha!

Getting a Hoover bagless cannister vac.

 

[HFWR]

Duct tape...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Well sure, duct tape gets the dog hair up pretty well, but can it clean as deeply as a product backed by a foreign sounding guy?

I think not.