Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I would like to hear the experiences of owners/users of the following lightweight bagged uprights in comparison to the Orecks and each other

HOOVER PLATINUM

BISSELL, now available as Karcher, Tornado, Powerflite and MaidLight

RICCAR and SIMPLICITY

HOOVER and ROYAL clean n' light

any others I have missed/neglected to mention

with regard to deep cleaning an various carpet/floor surfaces, surface litter/pet hair pickup, bare floor cleaning, edge cleaning, cleaning under furniture (nozzle raising up or not) noise, ease of use, and cost of maintenance

Hello Trebor:

Let me be the first to opine on the 3 I'm familiar with.  Probably repeating myself for those who read and post here regularly. 

Best of the lightweights for quality and performance is probably RICCAR/SIMPLICITY.  Next best for quality and performance is ORECK especially on low to medium carpets.  Close second is the bagged HOOVER TTI lightweight which Consumer Reports ranked number 2 recently for uprights.  Especially for higher pile.  Quality wise I rate HOOVER/TTI lightweight less desirable than ORECK. 

BTW, FWIW, some retailers are selling the HOOVER lightweight with compact canister for $219.  Down from the $399 MSRP.  Almost by 50 percent.

Carmine D.

Trebor wrote:

HI TREBOR

I gotta agree with CARMINE.....except i find the Oreck to be more sturdy than the Riccar lgt/wt.......but would you consider the panasonic jet-flo 5amp as a light wt.......its awsome...takes a beating by many ....day in day out....and wont quit......riccar-panasonic-oreck-hvr.....in my view are by far the best  from what ive seen first hand.....many wont agree.....but for the money/service life/workhorse..........i think these are the best out there.

turtle1

retardturtle1 wrote:

Hello turtle1:

ORECK is the icon of lightweights.  I know some RICCAR pro's who made the jump over to ORECK and say the same as you about ORECK quality vice RICCAR. 

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

HI CARMINE

Love the power of the riccars.........but solid build/quality goes to oreck. ...a larger fan wouldnt hurt. but its pretty great as is.

Seen some of the royals come in with locked up motors......so i assume hoovers clean and lite versions also may suffer this ....not sure.

Heard from a few about the bagged platinum.....most love it ,a great deep cleaner....some say way to loud......but happy overall....wish i had one to test/try out

but none come in...

turtle1

Thanks to all who responded, but what about the former Bissell lightweight, now marketed by Tacony under 4 different brands?
It has dual suction fans

Trebor wrote:

HI TREBOR

I like the twin fans as a deep cleaner.......but have heard so so feedback on the reliability of them... have used them a few times and do a great job,

Most say its way too loud....a screamer it is.....but ive heard louder......id say its yet to prove itself to be a solid and reliable performer......reguarless of who made it.

and not seeing it lasting in a heavy use enviroment....just my views and word of mouth from some users.

I would take one in a second and use it to death... fix flaws/make repairs as needed along the way....reg services ect.....only because i have the res. to do it at no cost or very little.....

turtle1

I would say Oreck wins the under $300 title while the high end goes to the Riccar SL5 with it's metal agitator and lifetime belt.  One thing I have noticed with our customers is that the majority of female shoppers prefer the feel of the Riccar unit and especially the handle (SL3's and up) over the Oreck D grip.

Dusty

Oreck has just introduced a new TOL  XL called ' The Pilot'  It has a swivel neck and a new double helix brush roll..
Offering upright, hand held canister, battery electrikbroom, and 12 V car vac as a package. No wonder Hoover cut their price!

Trebor wrote:

I like the platinum pilot...nice...but even with the extras its overpriced...even if it is an oreck. I like the $300 oreck set up...great bang for the buck with many years of service life.....some really great  upright vacs with a long life are availiable at or under $300.....seems like a good place to start looking...in my view.

turtle1

dusty wrote:

I totally agree on your sl-5 views.....i only wish it [ sl-3 -sl-5 ] had a metal handle shaft like the orecks.....that to me would make it the champ overall...or at least pretty darn hard to beat.

turtle1