Oreck Signature® Plus II Upright Vacuum Review

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(More customer reviews)My review is for the Oreck XL Pro Plus II from Costco. According to "best vacuum reviews dotcom", Costco's XL Pro Plus II model is identical to Target's Signature Plus II, and Oreck Direct's Element and XL Classic.
I furiously researched my first vac 15 years ago, a Sharp 12TW series upright that was library quiet and did a great job in a very basic package. It needed only a few minor do-it-yourself repairs over the years (parts off the internet), and in general my only complaints were the short cord and short hose. The motor finally quit and I figured it was time for a new unit. I'm wishing now I had a little more than my BlackBerry to research this purchase in the aisles of Costco, although, to be fair, the Costco.com user reviews are mostly stellar for this vacuum.
Let's talk about the good points:
+ The Oreck was extremely easy to assemble out of the box. Remove two screws and a plastic pull-tab, insert the handle, and re-install the two screws. Ready to go.
+ This vacuum is indeed lightweight. Oreck's comparison is their vac to a gallon of milk, versus their competitor to a tire off of a small car.
+ The cord is both long, and heavy duty. I noticed on my Sharp's too-short cord that it would become extremely supple after just a few minutes of use, most likely due to the gauge of wire they chose to use heating up as the current flowed. This is definitely a more suitable cord, especially for the long length.
+ Very maneuverable in that the vacuum head is narrow, so it easily goes between chair legs and around coffee tables, and gets farther under some low furniture because of its low height.
+ Unencumbered by attachments and dangling hoses. Very purpose-built, a machine for vacuuming carpets.
+ Super heavy-duty filtered bags. These things look like fluffy hand towels all folded up. Purportedly dust trapping, hypoallergenic. Not that I've ever had a complaint about my Sharp's paper-style bags.
+ Simple fabric bag bag. Er, that is to say, no overly complicated fancy-looking plastic body; no unnecessary parts to break. Just a fabric bag and a zipper. Simple.
That's all well and good, but now for the not-so-good points:
- Despite its light weight, I find it unnecessarily difficult to push around. The old Sharp has fairly conventional 2 or 2½ inch rear wheels and little tiny roller wheels under the brush, and rolls quite smoothly. This Oreck has tiny roller wheels all around, and is -- I don't want to overstate this -- a bit of a chore to push around on our very low-cut berber carpet. Maybe because the carpet isn't tacked down so well everywhere and is actually being sucked into this machine's brush? Maybe... or maybe just because of its teeny-tiny wheels! Whatever the cause, it's not as free-wheeling as its light weight might predispose.
- The edge suction is truly abysmal. The machine has two small edge brushes astride the roller, and these bristly protrusions to indeed grab tufts of pet hair if contacted. But half the time they deposit that tuft right back on the carpet a few feet later. For a vacuum with this much claimed suction, concentrated under such a small head, I'm baffled that this is a problem.
- It's noisy. It's not whiny loud like a $79 vacuum, or even like a commercial vac or Shop Vac, but compared to the "library quiet" Sharp it's replacing, the Oreck is noticeably louder.
- Worthless headlight. Honestly, why even bother with these? It's not like I stick the vac under the couch, then get down on my hands and knees to look underneath and see what it "sees."
- Narrow head. I know I listed this in the "plus" list, but it also means more back-and-forth strokes to get the same amount of carpet clean.
- No tools means no hose. My wife and I were both OK with no onboard tools or wand, but after using it she mentioned she misses being able to disconnect the hose and quickly dab at something or other with just the free hose end. The way this cleaner works is the suction goes right up the handle into the bag, so there is no hose to detach. You want that, you've got to break out their handheld unit.
- Awkward maneuvering from room to room. Missing those bigger wheels right at the rear of the machine, I guess this machine isn't intended to be wheeled around like a hand cart when just moving it around the house, as is the case with every other vacuum I've used. Not a deal breaker in and of itself -- due to its light weight -- but just one more tick on the "dislike" list.
I think, out of all the "cons" I've listed, the one most serious deal breaker is the poor edge suction. I'm pretty sure I could overlook everything else, even the lack of a hose. My old Sharp wasn't great on edges, either, but at least I had the option of pulling off the hose and sliding on the carpet brush for that type of detail work. If I end up keeping this Oreck, it'll be a two-pass job where I have to double back with the included handheld unit.
Update 4/16: After writing this review and the wife and I independently using and deciding we didn't like this vac, I decided to give it another go, rationalizing "it couldn't be *that* bad." I finished cutting one of the dogs, and true to form, he ran inside the house and shook just inside the front door. I got the Oreck out and vacuumed this fur-covered area first, generally satisfied with the results, then the living room and then one of the bedrooms, still noting my displeasure with the lack of edge suction. When I completed, I walked around and noticed the vacuum dropped random tufts of fur here and there. My suspicion is this is being caught up by the edge bristles, but never makes it into the machine, instead falling off at random places. Really unacceptable. I reluctantly boxed the Oreck up and returned it to Costco the following day -- reluctant because I really wanted this comparatively simple US-made product to work for my needs.


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