My uprights simply would not work on frieze carpeting and I read about this Oreck Conquest Pro and how good it was supposed to be on frieze carpets and decided to give it a try. After one hours use this is my opinion.
It arrived well packaged with all pieces. The instructions on assemby and use were easy to understand. The floor brush worked great on my hardwoods and tile. The brush worked great on my upholstered furniture and my cat tree. The power head worked wonderful on my long shag rugs and on all my frieze carpeting. I like the lighted head which helps vacuuming in closets and under beds. It has a powerful suction and quickly sucked up the cat litter from my tile floors. I was pleased with the extension wand and found it easily adjusted to where I was vacuuming. Changing from one head to another was accomplished very easily. The best thing about it is being able to vacuum my frieze carpeting without having the machine lock up or the belt catch on fire or come off.
Now the negatives. The wheels are very small and I do not think it rolls easily as it should even on tile and hardwoods. The crevice tool is a joke. It is only 5" long and would not even go between my couch cushions. However, if you have one of the handheld canister vacs that Oreck sends with its upright, the crevice tool for it fits this vacuum perfectly. The onboard tools are the brush and crevice tool. There is no storage for the floor brush nor anyway to hook it to the vacuum cleaner.
The biggest negative out of the box is that it comes with only one bag, one belt, and one HEPA filter. The bags are low capacity and after vacuuming only three rooms my bag is almost full. Which brings me to another big negative. There is nothing in the instruction manual to indicate the item numbers for the bags, filters, or belts. Amazon does not sell the bags at this time so I called Oreck. It took Oreck some time to find the item numbers for the HEPA filter. (It is 82342-01 and cost $5.59 each.) Then I told Oreck I wanted to order a spare belt. I was first told they were unavailable! I asked what would happen if mine was broken. Oreck then said they would look for it. Finally, they located the belts (item # 82392-01 at $2.60 each). The bags come in packs of 12 for approximately $14 and the item number is 19261877. Oreck had free shipping at this time or there would have been an additional shipping fee of $7.95. It takes 5-10 days for the bags to arrive so since my new bag is full I will not be able to use my vacuum for at least one week. Putting an extra bag in with the new vacuum would have certainly been a plus and gone a long way towards customer satisfaction.
The most irritating factor of this vacuum is that you have to turn on the unit at the canister, turn on the switch on the handle and then turn on the power head switch to get it to work. I am sure there is some safety reason for this but it is so irritating to have to turn on three switches to get it to come on. If you are starting and stopping due to moving rugs or furniture it really is annoying.
The price on Amazon was the best I could find and $100 less than directly from Oreck. Plus Amazon had free shipping. I plan on using this for the next thirty days and if I can get new bags, filters, and belts I will most likely keep this vacuum. I will just have to live with the small wheels, low capacity bags, and the switch problem. That is a small price to pay in order to have a vacuum that will properly clean my frieze carpet.
UPDATE 12/31/2011
1. I have now been using the Oreck for over five months. I have gotten over the minor issues with having to turn on so many switches to get the motorized head to work. It is now second nature.
2. I received my supply of bags, belts, and filters from Oreck and it did not take a full week to get them although they arrived on different days in different packages.
3. The vacuum is wonderful on frieze carpeting! I am absolutely pleased with the results! Finally a wonderful result on my frieze!
4. It also works wonderful on hardwoods and tile.
5. I am still not particularly pleased with the crevice tool. It is very small and short. I remedied that by using the crevice tool from my Oreck compact vacuum which fits pretty well.
6. I do not think it is well balanced and would NEVER try to balance it on my steps and vacuum as there website photos indicate. It is very unsteady and turns over very easily.
7. Like all canisters you do have to take a little time to maneuver it through the house which is not a problem with uprights. However, the results from this vacuum are worth the extra effort. ( I no longer conside this vac "worth the effort".)
UPDATE AGAIN 4/2013: After having this vacuum almost two years I had grown very frustrated with the tools, wand, switches and it turning over. I was ready to purchase something else. I went to turn it off one day and it would not stop running. The only way to shut it off was to unplug it. I called Oreck and they were very nice and told me they would have to replace it. I mentioned there was an Oreck service center nearby and they said they didn't think the service center could replace the switch. They emailed me a free UPS return label and told me to only send the canister back they didn't want any of the attachments. I did as directed and within one week of return I received my new vacuum. The new vacuum had all the hoses, attachments, etc. Since I had a new vacuum I decided to keep using the Oreck and not make another purchase. Seemed a shame not to use the new one.
UPDATE AGAIN 11/1/13: I have been using the new vacuum six months. It has a "burning rubber" smell every time it is used. At first I just thought it was the "new" smell like my first one had but it isn't going away. (After a few uses this ceased in my first vac.) The belt seems to be okay and I have changed the filters to no avail. It runs properly and cleans frieze beautifully. Now I have to fumigate every time it is used to get the smell out of the room.
Another issue I did not originally note is the way the hose attaches the vac. It turns downward where it attaches to the vac and when you try to vacuum something high like ceiling fan blades or blinds this causes the vac to tip over when you try to raise up the hose. I have to put the vac in a chair when I vacuum anything over head high (I am 5' 3")to keep it from tipping over.
All in all I must admit that there are more negatives than positives to this vacuum and I have decided to take this down to three stars. Unfortunately the reasons have little to do with how it vacuums but rather the design and tools. Most importantly in deducting another star: the small crevice tools, the fact the wand is very difficult to remove from the hose, you have too many switches and it is constanly turning upside down due to the small wheels. After 2 1/2 years use I would recommend this only if you needed to vacuum a small area of frieze carpet or hardwoods. Changing the tools and wand are a hassle and it not rolling in carpet and staying upside down all the time are just too frustrating. Its only redeeming quality is that it does clean frieze carpet beautifully.
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