Oreck XL Power Vacuum

I have tried out a lot of vacuums. From Hoover to Dyson and Oreck to Roomba, there isn’t a vacuum my household of 1 child and 4 cats hasn’t broken in and put through every conceivable (and disgusting) way of cleaning.

While this article isn’t related to comparing them against each other and I will clearly have my favorites for specific tasks, I did want to share my most recent experience testing out the Oreck XL Power Team Vacuum.

This is the vacuum I tested in my home for 2 weeks.

You will noticed that it comes in a tag team of two separate pieces. You have an upright bagged vacuum and a 5 lb hand vac. (As a side note, I found it really awesome that this special edition vacuum was available with $25 of each purpose going to Susan G. Komen foundation.)

The very first thing I noticed once out of the box was how TALL this vacuum was. Or maybe I was reminded how short that I am. Either way, the handle was quite tall and I could see this vacuum being a favorite for men. It stood inches over my other household vacuums in handle length and had the appearance of a powerhouse. The vacuum arrived assembled and already had the bag in place.

Now lets talk about bagged versus bagless vacuums. There always tends to be a discussion on which is better, but what I really think is it boils down to are your needs. Clearly a bagged vacuum is a better fit for your family if you are allergy prone or trying to keep dust from circulating back into the air. The simple ease of tossing out a bag after so long makes sure everything you collect stays trapped, while a canister vacuum loses some of that dirt and dander back into the air every time you empty it.

I have researched the ups and downs all over the internet on which is “better” but it appears that most studies are even or lean slightly on the bagged side.

I know, your shocked.

But for overall cleanliness, which is what a vacuum is for, bagged vacuums tend to fair better.

Scent

Another benefit that I never considered but discovered in the test is the ability to add a carpet air freshener into the bag which lets out a nice fresh scent every time you vacuum. While using this vacuum, I found that my house always SMELLED fresh for hours afterward and it was a nice added touch to cleaning. There is something about looking clean AND smelling clean. I can honestly say that none of my previous or current vacuums can claim that same point.

Ease of Use

Oreck has a reputation for being a very light vacuum. I will hand it to them. I could literally carry this vacuum with one hand up and down my stairs with zero huffing and puffing. After all, its only 9 pounds!

If my 4 year old was taller, I bet she could too. But this is where this ended for me. Pushing the vacuum appeared was more difficult then carrying it and I did burn some calories doing my cleaning. Not that that is a bad thing, it probably isn’t. But the weight distribution pushing it versus carrying was not the same. Going around corners in the house or up and down on the rugs required more strength and maneuvering.

Now one of the worst things about cleaning if you own a 2 story home is your stairs. Oreck made this easy by running a combo pack with a portable hand vac with a variety of attachments. It also has a shoulder strap to make stairs and car cleaning easy. The plus side is that no matter what kind of vacuum you use, getting it to reach from the top to the bottom without moving the vacuum almost never happens.

With the shoulder vac, there was zero issues going around the house zipping up the cracks and corners, cleaning the stairs, and taking care of all the window sills. My negative was that since a hose was not hooked to the main vacuum I had to clean the floors and then go back through the house with the hand vac, rather then whipping out a hose where I was at. Again, the ease of this and how it helps you will depend on the layout of your home, if you have pets, and how often you clean hard to reach areas in your home.

My mom, whom has arthritis in her hands, appreciated how easy the canister vac was to use throughout the home. (She came over and helped me clean one day!) Actually, she was giddy over this vacuum. She is SUPER into pink.

Performance

Now the biggie you wanted to know about…does it WORK? Does it actually clean and does it clean well. My answer is yes. It cleans great. If you are a fan of the floor streaks that show where the vacuum lines are, you will be thrilled with this vacuum. You get floor streaks and it looks so pretty when your done. Its easy to tell the house is CLEAN.

And while it pains me to say, it works as well as my Dyson DC-25. I honestly didn’t expect that. I actually found on the rugs, it works BETTER then my Dyson and had more power in sucking action. I am not claiming to like one over the other right now as this isn’t a full blow comparison, but did want to put out there that it works as good, if not better, then my current vacuum.

To recap:

Pluses:

Lightweight up and down stairs

Separate canister for stairs/car cleaning

Extremely powerful in cleaning

Fresh scent

Tall handle

Bags keep dust/dander trapped for those with allergies

Negatives:

Harder to push then some vacuums I have used

Doesn’t have attached hose for easy cleaning

Have to change/purchase bags (this can be positive or negative depending on your allergies)

Appearance isn’t as modern

Oreck also carries a variety of other vacuum types that also include this new Halo that claims to kill flea eggs. I could REALLY see the benefit of this for pet owners.

Vacuum information for the Oreck XL Power Team:

Advanced Cleaning Help…Oreck Power Team Vacuum

Powerful yet lightweight and easy to use

engineered with direct suction for ultimate power,

hypo-allergenic filtration, IntellaShield Technology for bacteria and odor control,

ultra light design for easy use and patented self-sealing inner disposable bags for peak filtration, cleaner disposal

Dual cleaning system:

9-lb. upright for cleaning carpets,

bare floors and 5-lb. handheld vac for above-the-floor cleaning, stairs.

Direct suction makes vacuum lighter, more powerful Multi-stage filtration system helps rid the home of dirt, dust, allergens.

Self-sealing disposable vacuum keeps dirt, dust, allergens locked in until disposed, unlike dirt cups in bagless vacuums that can leak particles into the home, onto hands, the face, into eyes.

Oreck XL Gold Power Team Vacuum Cleaner, available at $499 at more than 475 Oreck Clean Home Centers across country and at oreck.com.

Purchase your Oreck Today right at Oreck.com, which right now includes FREE SHIPPING for a limited time.

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Want to win an Oreck XL Power Vacuum?

We are having a twitter only contest.  To enter, just follow us at @MomDotRocks and twitter about our contest (please @ us so we see it!).

You can enter as often as you like throughout the contest. If you use a hashtag, please use #WinAnOreck

We will Twitter (and DM) BACK the winner Sept 18th.

Make sure you add your twitter entries here in the comments so we can random.org the winner.

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Disclosure: Oreck Special Edition was sent as a sample for this article to appear on MomDot.com. It has been donated to another family after its testing. I did not receive compensation for this article.