Oreck XL Pro Plus Features and Reviews

The Oreck XL Pro Plus is a very lightweight, yet powerful upright vacuum cleaner. Weighing in at only 9 lbs. (4 kg) it is one of the lightest, most maneuverable uprights you can buy, even receiving an Ease-of-Use Commendation from the Arthritis Foundation.

It only takes a few minutes to unbox the XL Pro Plus, attach the handle, plug it in, and start vacuuming. We were immediately impressed by how easy it was to use and its excellent suction power.

The XL Pro Plus employs what Oreck calls, “Direct Suction”. Direct Suction delivers dirt in a straight, efficient path, directly into the vacuum bag. Most bagless vacuums move dirt through a convoluted maze of tubing, which requires a larger motor to achieve the same suction power. With Direct Suction, the Oreck XL Pro Plus produces 102 mph of air flow and yet the smaller, more energy-efficient motor uses only one third the electricity of other vacuum motors.

We tested the XL Pro Plus next to our Dyson DC07 and found that, like the Dyson, it easily picked up the surface debris and pet hair we threw at it as well as the deep down dust and dirt in the carpeting. The only thing it didn’t do well was edge cleaning. It picked up little to no debris next to baseboards, furniture, etc., while the Dyson got up everything. It is also quite noisy, much more so than the Dyson.

The low profile head got under furniture easily and the handle laid flat to the floor allowing for cleaning deep under low tables, beds, etc.

The XL Pro Plus is not suitable for solid flooring, however. There is no way to shut off the brush bar and damage to the flooring could easily occur. The Deluxe Handheld Vacuum with its two 19-inch extension wands and 10-inch wide floor tool is required to vacuum solid surfaces, which it did effectively.

We didn’t like the location of the wheels on the XL Pro Plus which didn’t allow you to grab the vacuum and easily drag or push it to a new location. You must either pick it up and carry it or release the head so it lays flat to the ground, allowing the wheels to make contact with the floor.

There are no hoses or onboard tools with the XL Pro Plus. To clean anything other than carpeting you need to use the included Deluxe Handheld Vac with its eight accessories and two extension wands. It only weighs 5 lbs. (2.25 kg), but some find it inconvenient to have to tote around a second vacuum (and eight loose accessories, as the included tool caddy doesn’t adequately hold the supplied accessories) to do their housekeeping. Also, with only a four foot long hose and two 19-inch extension wands it is difficult to impossible to reach very high places.

The XL Pro Plus comes with large 9.37 quart, Hypo-Allergenic Celoc® Filter Bags that act as both the filter and the bag. Consisting of a 5-layer outer bag and a 3-layer hypo-allergenic inner bag with an odor shield, they remove odors and 99.99% of all particles down to .3 microns. The Saniseal® system on the bags automatically seals shut, locking the dirt and debris inside the disposable filter bag, eliminating all mess when changing bags. New bags are very easy to install, just insert it into the bag dock & snap closed.

The heavy duty, 30 foot power cord is nice, but the headlight is too dim to be of any use.

Overall this is a pretty good vacuum if you have a lot of carpeting and don’t mind having to use a second, handheld vacuum to clean everything else in your home, including near baseboards and furniture, stairs, hard surfaces, and hard-to-reach areas. If you have mostly solid flooring, or don’t like the two vacuum setup, then this isn’t the vacuum for you.

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