Well it is day 1 of the battle between Oreck and Kirby. I received the new Kirby today and played with it for a while. My wife came home, who is the general operator of these machines, and she started to work.  The Kirby after vacuuming most of the house showed a big difference over the Oreck, which my wife loved until now. I looked in the bag and there was stuff that the Oreck did not pick up.  Also, the Kirby lifted the knap on the carpet; the Oreck did not do that.  
 
Next test: The Oreck canister, that can pick up a bowling ball, vs Kirby as a canister. My wife dusted with the Oreck on a piece of furniture that was real dusty. She did the remainder the piece of furniture with the Kirby attachment. The Kirby won hands down, you could see the difference. The Oreck left a film of dust the Kirby did not.  I checked the suction power of both; the Kirby had more suction power. To do that, I used the attachment for the massager on both the Kirby and Oreck, My wife and I could feel the difference.  
 
Once again, thanks to all who gave me their opinions on my last post, should I or shouldn’t I.
 
Mark

I will post a few pictures if I can figure out how to do it on this forum. I did not get the bare floor attachment, but according to the DVD it just snaps on. Turning it into a canister was not hard an the attachments go on easy.
 
Mark

It has been 3 weeks since we bought the Kirby. My wife does not use the Oreck or the hand held Oreck any more. She loves her Kirby, She even  sent off for information to sell Kirbys. She is a born sales person.  
 
She has e-mailed Oreck a few times and they say Oreck wants there customers happy, so she is going to ask for her money back in  a pro rated amount.
 
It has been a great machine. If you are looking at one you can get them to come down. Mine was listed at 1995 but we paid 850( about the same amount we paid for the Oreck). That was with the 3 yr warranty and the lifetime rebuild.
 
So for now (Time will tell) We are a Kirby family.

No, it is the ultimate dimond editon,  the Sentria Kirby was not out yet.

I will do that. I don't think Oreck will do any more than send an e-mail.