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.

Severus wrote:

Hello SEVERUS:

I agree in theory with what you say.  In reality, I don't believe ORECK places much credence on Consumer Reports reviews and ratings.  In the latest CR tests, ORECK scored "good" for carpet cleaning with its latest products, which BTW were late to CR for their reviews.  The same may be true with the Edge and the October CR inclusion.  ORECK's overall score in March 2010 was 60 with the best rating of 73 and Kirby's rating of 67.   But, ORECK beat out Kirby Sentria for pet hair cleaning.  I believe you use 67 as the cutoff for a winner in the upright category, I may be wrong. 

More important IMHO to ORECK's profile, and I don't speak for it, is that it offers a range of decent performing vacuum products, primarily its lightweight upright, for all family budgets and cleaning needs, especially now.  As long as it stays in the mainstream of ratings with a 60 and/or above and a good score or better for carpet cleaning and pet hair, it's a winner for consumers.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

Carmine,

So do you think this more powerful Oreck Edge (who knows how big the motor is?) is a response to the 12-amp Hoover Platinum lightweight? 

although I don't mind pushing a round a heavy vacuum, I think there are a lot of consumers willing to pay a premium for an effective lightweight vacuum. 

Regarding the overall scores, I think CR splits vacuums into 5 groups - poor (<20), fair (20-<40), good (40-<60), very good (60-<80), and excellent (80+).    If you're a person who wants to keep things simple, you probably wouldn't miss too many good vacuums by eliminating any vacuum scoring below 60 points - if the CR tests seem relevant to your situation.  

Severus wrote:

Hi SEVERUS:

Could be.  The Pilot is ORECK's response to dyson's ball.  The Edge could be ORECK's response to the HOOVER Lightweight bagged, if it has a more powerful motor.  I trust the ORECK Edge motor is new and comes with more power than the existing ORECK uprights.  But I don't know that yet for a fact.  I like the new sharper sleeker look of the ORECK Edge upright over all existing lightweight uprights on the market currently.  $500 for a lightweight upright that performs as well as a full size upright along with a 10 year ORECK warranty/more is reasonable.  Especially if ORECK offers it's yearly tune ups free.  People do the math and say $50 per year is a buy for a quality vacuum product.  I believe ORECK is offering the Edge primarily for existing loyal ORECK customers who want to upgrade [read trade in and up which further reduces the price below $500/$550].  Hence, I say if the ORECK Edge does as well/even better than its existing icon uprights, it's a winner.  New ORECK buyers are a plus.  Icing on the cake. 

WRT HOOVER lightweight and ORECK Edge, I note that ORECK copied the wheel design and placement of its Edge staright from the HOOVER lightweight.  Smart move.  This should assist ORECK Edge to compete equally on higher carpets with HOOVER's lightweight bagged. 

Made in the USA, despite all the arguments against it, beats made in Mexico/China with American buyers too, especailly nowadays when the price is $500/$550. 

Carmine D.

Severus wrote:

Agree.  An ORECK vacuum buyer knows the product already [prior user, word of mouth from friends and family] and is already sold on it.  They may look to CR just as a backup to reacquaint/reinforce their purchase.  If ORECK Edge/other scores good-excellent on carpets and pets with a 60 or more in a field with 73 as best, it's a winner for ORECK buyers/users.

Carmine D.

Spending $550 on a vacuum that brings ZERO life-changing/industry-changing innovations, but instead brings a mirror-copy of his competitors vacuums (same use of tired-technologies) is hilarious.  And spending $200 on a easy-to-choke ‘tired’ portable is funny too!  I can’t wait to see how Dishonest Dave uses hype and gimmicks to sell this decades old contraption (chokes-like/works-like their competitors less expensive vacuums).

DysonInventsBig wrote:

My sentiments exactly...........for dumb dyson and Sir James.  Who in their right mind and pocket book would spend $550 on a weighty, ball wheeled, Malaysian contractor made, mediocre performing, over hyped/over hawked vacuum?  Or spend $300 on a 10 inch fan?  Or spend $1,400 on an electric hand dryer.  Or spend $200 on a ball barrow?  Or spend $5,000 on a contra rotating washer?  Or $12 on a small package of dysolv rug cleaner that doesn't remove stains?  History speaks for itself.  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  Or as Abraham Lincoln said:  You can fool some of the people all of the time; all of the people some of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.  There are alot of things one can say about his favorite hero's innovative product plunders.  But, the honest thing to say is that they were incredibly bad ideas and he/company got it wrong [over and over again]. 

Carmine D.

DysonInventsBig wrote:

Dustmite,

You're making a lot of assumptions about a product you know nothing about - nothing new.   David Oreck is a much more honest person than you are.  He certainly puts the best spin on his products that he can, but he is very careful not to lie.  Certainly Dave prices his vacuums to include the cost of the annual service.  James Dyson could learn a lot from David Oreck about running a business. 

Severus wrote:

Ole Dave could learn a lot from several brands about cleaning beyond a hard surface.  Like deep cleaning carpet.performance.

HARDSELL wrote:

Here's a news flash you missed.  ORECK increased market share in 2009 IN UNITS, which is the way the vacuum industry in the USA measures sales, and is poised to do so again in 2010 according to Trebor and Procare in their recent posts.  This in the worse economic recession and worse record of consumer spending since the 1930's.  How's that for cleaning up in hard times.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
By eliminating (filtering out) the competing manufacturers to Dyson and their representatives (competing small time brick and mortar dealers) and eliminating the group that's not happy with themselves and their lack of real-accomplishments...  then it turns out, Sir James has very few critics here in the US and UK - indeed.