Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

 The new Riccar SL5 now has a V belt with lifetime warranty.  Anyone think Oreck will finally make a change to their system to keep up?  With the SL1 and SL4 faring so well in Consumer Reports I would think David and the gang may want to finally change how their machine works.

Dusty

In All fairness Carmine,a few customers have complained about the XL21 sticking to their carpets,i have seen this first hand.The corner brushes well are not brushes anymore but plastic teeth.I believe this is the cause of the problem,you might want to contact ORECK and put in some imput,and see how they respond.

MOLE

MOLE:

They know already and that's where I learned.  These are usually high pile shag carpets.  The ORECKS including the XL21 Titanium as I understand are not suited for them.  Need an upright with a manual height adjustment for best results.  I noted that in the ORECK thread, if I recall correctly, when I talked about the ORECKs. 

ORECK store managers and staff are told to ask potential customers if they have high pile shag rugs and nix the sale.  Why?  In part, these ORECKS usually come back within the 30 day free in home trial. 

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
According to the Riccar website, the Superlites come in at less than 8lbs.

Dusty

mole wrote:
Riccar call it a Kevlar belt, I would describe it as a V belt.  Either way it's considered a lifetime belt and is covered under warranty as long as you own the machine.  The new agitator is also metal so I suspect (haven't had a chance to see it yet) that it's the same roller that's in the Radiance. 

Dusty

dusty wrote:

Hey Dusty:

According to the latest Consumer Reports, it's 9 pounds.  I'm sticking with my facts until I can verify the weight myself.  But, thanks for the info.

Carmine D.

The Riccar uses a poly V belt (like the fan belt on a car) which is Kevlar reinforced. For belt protection it has a Hall sensor that measures the speed of the brush and stops the motor immediately if it gets jammed. This also has a steel brushroll. In my opinion this is a much better machine than the Oreck in pretty much every way.

CarmineD wrote:

The XL doesn't have a manual height adjustment , doesn't have a brush cut off switch and the motor is too small.  Among other faults it clogs easily and belts wear out all too frequently even if it is not used.  It has inferior performance to heavier vacs and lighter vacs.  It is praised mostly for its weight and not performance. Free gifts have to be included with it in order for it to sell. Ol Dave must have had it designed to weigh in at 8 lbs so it would be in a seperate class from all other brands and could be best in class.  What a genius.

The Oreck isn't even best in its own class now.  The Tacony and TTI-made lightweights have since surpassed the Oreck in terms of cleaning performance AND value.  Proof that you can still be a lightweight machine and a REAL vacuum cleaner vs. a glorified electric broom or hair dryer on a stick.  And in the case of the Tacony models, also proof that you can use a lifetime belt on a single-motor upright without any problems.  Not that having a disposable belt prevents the Oreck from burning out the motor due to an obstruction in the brushroll...

A couple of years ago at the Hoover store, they had their very short-lived (due to the TTI buyout) Tacony-made Ultra Light Weight (ULW).  One of the comparisons they showed was an Oreck fan next to the ULW's fan.  The Tacony fan was considerably larger and had more blades, I forget the exact count but it was a lot more than 5

-MH

Motorhead wrote:

Hey Motor:

The problem with HOOVER outsourcing the ULW to Tacony was getting after market parts for it.  Especially the fan.  HOOVER [hence the end user customer] couldn't buy/replace the fan as a stand alone part item if it broke.  The user had to buy/replace the whole motor.   HOOVER employees and HOOVER ULW users were furious over this problem.  Wondering if that, more so than the TTI takover, resulted in the short lived ULW sales. 

ORECK fans are, and have always been, readily available and replaceable as a stand alone part item.

Carmine D.

I don't see how a Hoover dealer receiving aftermarket parts from Tacony would be any different than an independent licensed to carry Riccar or Simplicity.  Unless of course the ULW-specific fan (or other parts as such) had the Hoover name on it

At any rate, I wouldn't consider the TTI-made Hoover Clean & Light as a step backward, just Hoover going from one decent machine to another for whichever reason.  Those I've heard who have bought them love them.