Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Today I fortuitously stopped at the local Oreck dealer. 

Mike, the owner of several Oreck franchises and a few multi-brand stores had brought his new Edge upright from home, as stock had not arrived yet.

It has a more powerful motor, with a true  floating head. LED lights, infinite speed control AND and on-board stretch hose with a permanently attached telescopic crevice tool that is automatically active when the handle is in the upright position.  It lacks the Pilot's pivot head and the Halo's germ killing light. A model incorporating all three features is under development.  It is still easy to push, although it weighs 10 lb and requires a bit more effort than previous models.

There is a commercial OBT upright made by Stein (Sebo) that is very nice at only 450.00.  Oreck WILL be offering a bagless upright, but dealer participation is optional.  The new canister is color matched to the Edge and designed to be leaned on as the user vacuums stairs. Odd looking bare floor/crevice tool, no swivel neck. The bristles fold in to form the crevice tool, and the wand is inserted into a neck that curves more than 60 and less than 90 degrees, much like the OLD bare floor tools made of wood with the metal neck screwed on. A turbo tool is included and a dusting brush.

A cute little bagless canister is available for 49.99  Oreck has increased market share and has 89% brand recognition as a vacuum cleaner. They have become #1in  air purifier sales. (Mike did not say if that was dollar volume, or units or both.

The price of the Edge and matching canister will be about 750.00

Oreck is still marketing, still developing product, and still building a loyal customer base.

retardturtle1 wrote:

Turtle:  Dyson's DC28 is a vast improvement over all previous dyson models primarily due to the brush roll adjustments which is called Airmuscle technology.  4 settings.  low, medium, deep and barefloor which shuts off the brush roll.  You can tell and feel the differences in each rug setting during use.  If you haven't tried one, you should.  DC28 automatically defaults to medium when it is turned on and requires human manual adjustment.  Just like any other vacuum rug adjustment.  Cost is $599.  Steep for providing what's already the status quo in the industry, namely rug height adjustments.  Most dyson retailers are offering incentives on DC28 now with purchase.  Should be able to easily find for $500 plus dyson giveaways.  After the big box retailers' incentives on the older dyson models sell off enough stores' inventory, DC28 will be offered at lower prices and with buyers' incentives to sell.  It's dyson's TOL upright so the high price is status quo now for a little while longer. 

ORECK'S function well on all styles and heights of carpets except for very high shag.  Difficult to push and pull even at only 8 pounds.  The new Pilot is it's latest and greatest.  If you haven't tried one yet, you should.  Handles nicely.  Gives the user alot more lateral movement around and under furniture.  If you haven't watched the video on the ORECK web site, you might want to view it. 

Not sure about what's available on-line for past CRI and CR ratings.  Probably catalogued and available to members/subscribers and the general public for a fee.  Just don't know.  However, both entities have revamped and updated their test criteria over the years.  Except for nostalgia and historic purposes, and possibly brand trends, the old information is no longer relevant to today's buyers and circumstances.

Carmine D.

Carmine,

The Pilot is no longer the latest and greatest from Oreck,. That designation now belongs to The Edge, which I described in the post which began this thread. More power, you can feel it grab the carpet, true floating head design, and of course the very convenient telescopic crevice wand/hose arrangement. I do believe this new  Oreck could hold its own against a Sanitaire or a Kirby.

Regards,

Trebor

Trebor wrote:

Thanks Trebor.  I haven't seen it yet and it's not on the ORECK web site yet.  Looking forward to both.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

Ilooked at the airmuscle tech....seems like an over coplicated height adj. ..but im also still partial to a floating head .wonder if a dc7 would perform as well if it had the 28;s type brushroll? With $500-600 price range and all its new tech yet some say it still cant deep clean, I look forward to checking one out..thats not tied down. perhaps the next time im at sears.But would love to test against a shark nav, side by side and actually see the results for myself tho.  

I havent been to the oreck store in some time...saw a nice big one in savannah while on vacation...that was a no go tho. ill ask them about the newer one and try to get some info on it while i check out whats there the next time im in chatt, tenn.  so whats your views on the xl21's....youve not said alot about them nor have i ever used one outside of the shop...hows it size up versus the rest of the oreck line up?

Thanks anyway for your input on the ratings and all,,,just curios how my 8925 scored.....but by luck and right place right time.....while doing inventory  my boss and i ran across a radiance today...had been put up and forgotten about for over a year...was a return used a couple months, ,,,owner gifted to me so i look forward to doing alot more research on this one. so id say its been a pretty good day.

turtle

HARDSELL wrote:

One would hope with what they cost..never had one come my way to ever try out. In this area bosch and riccar are not well known.....many never knew panasonic made vacs.

But one would think that with  vacuum companies paying to have the cri..ect to test/evaluate and publish results that it would be somewhat biased...in favor of those paying. did they ever at any time pick at random and test without anyone paying for the testing.....could some vac companies just not trust or know more about  what really goes on with the cri,,, and dont feel the need to have that seal?that its poss. not unbiased.

turtle

retardturtle1 wrote:

I purchased a RICCAR 8900 from an indie friend that was a display model.  It is a terrific rug cleaner.  Maintenance free almost.  Just belts on occasion, bags and bulbs.  

Carmine D. 

retardturtle1 wrote:

Recently vacmanuk made the same observation about the British Allergy Foundation which certifies European vacuums as asthma and allergy friendly.  The question to answer is this:  Can entities like BAF and CRI and Good Housekeeping provide a useful consumer service.

Carmine D. 

retardturtle1 wrote:

Just to provide a post script.  Consumer Reports does what you suggest.  CR tests and rates products without the brands providing them free and antying up money for the service.  You see the mixed reviews CR gets.  It's an imperfect world.  Perfection is to be strived for but rarely attained.  As SEVERUS points out CR is enhancing their own reviews and ratings with on-line customers' feedback.  CR is going the extra mile to refine and improve its consumer effectiveness.  Kudoes to CR for doing so. 

Carmine D.

Carmine,

While the Edge may appear on the website soon,  it is supposed to be a dealer exclusive to sell. If I were adding deep pile carpet to my home instead of removing it, I would consider the Edge.

CarmineD wrote:

CR is taking a real risk allowing consumers to provide vacuum reviews that in many cases whine about their vacuum not doing as well as it should in CR's tests.   As a famous radio host says, it's a real career risk to turn the job over to amateurs.  Amateurs do NOT use carefully designed studies with strict standardization of methodology and replication.   Although youtube.com has been flooded with vacuum comparison videos, I've yet to see one that provides meaningful tests to compare 2 vacuums.   Most people just aren't familiar with what it takes to design a valid experiment with randomization, replication, and standardization of procedures.  They assume that if one vacuum picks up dirt that was missed by the first vacuum, that the second one is better.  Since no vacuum removes all of the dirt from carpeting, it's just not a valid test.   A fair test gives each vacuum an equal opportunity to perform under the same conditions.  We can argue about what the standard conditions should be, and whether CR should make modifications, but CR's testing provides meaningful results.