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.

Trebor wrote:

Hello Trebor:

ORECK wins so far on the roll out of the latest and greatest lightweight upright over all the competition.  At least for the year so far with its Edge.  Others will have to play catch-up for the rest of the year which is generally not the time for new vacuum products.  Most big box retailers and TV shopping networks are offering ORECK's and/or models that compete with ORECK's lightweights.  Perhaps Dave is upstaging Sir James in the vacuum industry gamemanship.  Like David and Goliath in the Valley of Elah.  Big upset with underdog winning over the supposed reigning king with engineers up the kazoo.

Carmine D.

Mike_W wrote:
So what size motor does the Oreck Edge have?  Is this a 12-amp motor like the Hoover Platinum lightweight?

Trebor wrote:
Despite the complete goading on here of filter problems, in the UK where dust isn't as much as most parts in the U.S, the filter design means less cleaning per emptying. Their models still outweigh having to clean out the dusty paper pleated cone cups that Dirt Devil and other cheap brands are still using. It is getting better though with TTi industries copied cyclone plastic mesh that means less cleaning each time you're using it. Dyson however hasn't been a brand to compare up until now because of this fact.

An improved bag material still clogs even though I'm not a fan of bagless. I use bags because its cleaner for me but when I work for a cleaning company, I prefer bagless because of the time taken to dart around and empty when the vac needs to be emptied and if I'm given a Dyson I know that I won't have to empty it to get around a 14 bedroomed house! Whilst you have your reasons to knock down Dyson, I assume you are referring to the uprights only? Their cylinder vacs are very versatile but $#%*bersome over the more compact design like Miele. Dyson also offer great accessories; their soft polishing brush is one of the best I've seen on the market for a long time.

vacmanuk wrote:

Hi,

If you can start your day with a clean bin and give14 regularly used rooms a thorough going over once a week and not have to empty the collection bin until you're through, that's of undeniable merit.  Nonetheless, I have yet to have had any clogging problems with the high-filtration bags I've been using and am getting lots of use out of them before time to empty.

I've done large homes with both dinky capacity American Electroluxes and better capacity machines like Kenmore, Panasonic and Hoover.  Never had a problem even though the disposable bags used were not the new-fangled type I'm using now.

Venson

Venson wrote:
Venson. Clogging isn't the problem - usually with SOME bagged vacuums - its about speed of cleaning and getting the job done when working commercially and to coin a phrase from Bissell, the intention for the employees to take on is "we mean clean!" Of course no cleaning company is the same and there are a number of requirements including cleaning out every use of equipment not just restricted to brushes and buckets.

When working for a cleaning company we use three different vacuums; Sebo commercial uprights for more prolonged clean up of large conference rooms and heavy traffic areas, Dyson for the same and Henry tub vacuums with longer hoses and suction only floor heads for hard flooring and uncarpeted stairs.  Employees don't have a preference although we did have Oreck models which constantly clogged and in the UK the bags for the Oreck are usually twice the price than U.S. Personally if it was me I'd take my Sebo Dart with me but the 3.5 dust bag capacity is full after 7 or 8 rooms has been done with it. The beauty of any bagless and in this case Dyson, is that you don't have to keep spending money on bags; just use, empty if needed and go. It's all about the time restraints, doing rooms and getting the job done.

I will say this honestly as I have done before - Dyson for me is the ultimate for getting the dust out of carpets because of its constant suction principle AND if the vacuum is maintained properly. I once tested the Dyson against the Sebo with a new bag and was shocked to find the Dyson picked up a thin line of dust AFTER the SEBO commercial upright had been used on the same carpet. Now I'm a big fan of Sebo products, but even with a bag on board a commercially and internationally known upright model sold globally and generally trusted, the Dyson upright I used to test what the Sebo left behind was surprising - a thin line of dust spun in the bottom of the Dyson canister. I also carried out the "7 sweep" carpet test when Miele offered me their S7 upright vac and pitched it against my tiny little Dirt Devil/Vax Dynammite model; the bagless Dirt Devil picked up more dust than the Miele in the same area of flooring.

Now this test has to obviously have implications set: fresh bags and the dust bins of bagless vacs cleaned and viewable to see nothing on the eye line and no use in pitching an upright with a manual height adjuster as that does improve pick up or deter it in comparisons against a vacuum with none. I'm not using a UV light to check the dust here - it is clearly viewable of the dust bunnies spinning in the bottom of the cyclonic dust bin once the bagless has been pitched against the bagged. Also the "7" sweeps and steps is something I've preferred to do myself. You could go over any amount of carpet at any amount of time with a bagged vacuum against bagless to see what the bagless picks up and what the bagged vacuum leaves behind. It would be biased using a vacuum that has a half full bag though - the test I carried out was using fresh bags each time against a cleaned out, dirt free bagless "cup."

Now this may have nothing to do with Clogging - but the Dyson's easy to take part air inspection tubes "in an instant," compared to dismantling an Oreck when pet hair clogs is a prime example. Also, clogging can also incur at the mouth of the bag dependent on the vacuum cleaner in question; many have complained about the SEBO Felix's hose clogging with dust before it reaches the bag but in all my years with both the Dart and Felix uprights, I've never come across it.

Hello Vacmanuk:

Let me recall here a grievance filed by 39 dyson users and two vacuum makers with ASA against dyson for the constant suction claim and never clogs mantra.  As well as the grievance filed by dyson against Electrolux Eureka Intensity by dyson.  In the former you should know the outcome.  If not, let me know and I'll restate.  In the latter, the claim was that electrolux/eureka intensity [with a full bag which I might add is on the smallish side because it is after all a lightweight upright] outcleaned un upright mode a dyson DC 14 with an empty/clean bin.  On the accuracy and validity of the Intensity claim, the ASA upheld Intensity and denied Sir James/dyson.  The question one should ask is why?  Why would a full bagged Intensity out perform/outclean in upright mode an empty bin dyson DC14?  Anyone who reads here should know the correct answer.  Anyone familiar with both vacuums, DC14 and Electrolux/Eureka Intensity, should know the correct answer.  In the interests of redundancy, I won't repeat it but let me know if you would like for me to post again.

Carmine D.

Just a PS on dyson use in commercial cleaning modes and environment.  The warranty is void.  There currently are no dysons for sale in the USA that are approved for commercial usage with valid warranty for such.  None.  After almost 9 years.  Why? 

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

Seems as if the deck was stacked.  39 unsatisfied users and millions of delighted users and the courts favor the 39.  Most likely they clogged it with leaves, garbage or other debris that the vacuum is not designed to clean up.

There is always an exception as in the case of the Intensity.  Of course Oreck wouldn't even challenge with its electric broom.

HARDSELL wrote:

The ASA is the Advertising Standards Agency of the UK.  It establishes the parameters for truth in advertising by manufacturers of consumer products in the UK.  The ASA is a facilitator between aggrieved consumers and manufacturers to avoid the courts.  In the case, dyson and Sir James agreed to abide by the ASA findings, which upheld the arguments of the 39 users and 2 vacuum companies.  No court proceedings were necessary.   The dyson mantra, never clogs and never loses suction, was scrubbed in all printed dyson advertising and product literature.

If the exception is that truth always prevails over falsehoods, mistatements and exaggerated claims, then I agree. 

ORECK was an interested party along with the 39 dyson users and another vacuum brand against Sir James and the mantra.  So it not only was a "challenger" it was also the winner.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

The truth is that 39 idiots won.  I understand now since you say that Oreck was in that group.