I have had many vacuums in my time, but have to admit that this was the first Oreck I've ever owned.  I was also very excited to try out Oreck's handheld vacuum, since it reminded me of a canister vacuum, which I've always heard cleaned surfaces better than anything else.  In my opinion, the Oreck Edge is more of a cleaning system, since you receive both an upright and a handheld vacuum, guaranteed to be able to tackle any job both large and small.

The Oreck Edge arrived in two separate boxes; one for the upright and one for the handheld.  I've shown what was included in each box in the pictures above.  One of the things that surprised me about the Oreck Edge upright, was how minimalist its design was.  I've never seen an upright before that only had one attachment and contained absolutely no dials or knobs on the main unit.

This vacuum didn't even have the obligatory lever to release it from the upright position!  To do this, you simply step on the top of the unit and pull back on the handle, and VOILA...you're ready to clean!

I have to admit that I was a little perturbed right away when trying to install the handle on the Oreck Edge upright, for the directions left out an important step.  In order to put the handle on, you must screw in two screws to secure it.  The directions tell you to lay the vacuum down on the ground, but they never tell you that you have to disengage the vacuum from the upright position in order to have the room to screw the screws in.

They don't even tell you how to unlock the vacuum until the next page.  Finally, my husband figured this out and we were on our way, but I definitely recommend that Oreck include this essential step in their instruction booklet.  Later, I found this missing step included in the quick start guide, but not in the actual instruction booklet, which is what we were referencing at the time.

The Oreck Edge upright has several neat features, which I have never had the pleasure of experiencing in any other vacuum I've owned.  First, this is an extremely lightweight vacuum cleaner, weighing in at only 13 pounds!  So much so, that I was actually pulling it off the ground at first when using it on my carpet.  I was so used to the brutally heavy vacuums I've owned in the past, that I couldn't believe how little effort this Oreck upright required.

The large orange handle on the back of the upright is the carrying handle and this vacuum was indeed easy to carry around and move from room to room.  The only attachment on the upright is the crevice tool, which can even extend further to make it easy to reach extra high places, as shown in the upper right picture.

I thought that the Oreck Edge upright was fairly quiet when in use and has several other features setting it apart from the rest, including:

• More powerful than any other Oreck upright
• Zippered outer bag, made of heavy duty cloth material, not plastic
• Variable speed control - with the touch of a button, you can control the speed of suction on both the upright and the handheld vacuums
• HEPA Quality filter system
• 30-foot long electrical cord
• Long-lasting Endurolife belt
• Versa-Glide true floating head - perfect for cleaning any type of surface from shag carpeting to hardwood floors and it automatically adjusts to the appropriate height
  

As for the Oreck Edge handheld vacuum, I have to admit that it was a love-hate relationship.  There are so many reasons that I absolutely LOVE this handheld vac, namely that it has the suction power I have never seen before in any other vacuum!  This little guy packs a real punch!

I was using it to clean some of the baseboards in my kitchen and suck up some cobwebs I found underneath my kitchen cabinets.  It was actually sucking up the dirt, dust and hair I found, several inches before I even got to it with the crevice tool!  Now that's powerful suction!  I also love how compact this handheld vacuum is and that you can control the exact speed of the motor too.

Unfortunately, there are a few areas I think could be improved, which would make this the best handheld ever!  First, the handheld vacuum is a little heavy for carrying around, in my opinion.  It weighs 8 pounds and when it is strapped to you while you are trying to reach and clean, it seems rather heavy.

Next, there are no wheels on the bottom of the handheld, which would be wonderful for cleaning nooks and crannies both high and low.  When I tried to set the handheld on the ground and pull the suction hose just a foot away, the handheld vacuum would fall over, meaning that it HAS to be strapped to you at all times or carried in one hand at all times, just to use it efficiently.

Because the handheld vacuum only comes with one shoulder strap, you also must try and balance this vacuum on your hip or sling it around to your back when moving around and vacuuming various places.  I found that it often slipped off of my shoulder or hip and even slung around at one point and chipped some of the paint off of one of my walls!

I wish that the carrying strap would have been more of a backpack type design, so that the weight of it wouldn't feel so cumbersome and the vacuum couldn't slide off of your shoulder so easily.

I also didn't like the tool caddy, which was just a small bag with a few shallow pockets in it.  This is supposed to clip onto the Oreck Edge handheld vacuum so that your attachments are always right there within reach.  Everytime I moved around too much, I found that the attachments constantly fell out of the caddy and onto the floor, causing me a lot of frustration.  I wish that Oreck would have made the caddy a permanent fixture on the handheld vacuum, so that there wouldn't be this constant issue with the attachments falling out.

Finally, I was very impressed at the 10-year limited warranty Oreck includes with this vacuum, which even guarantees 10 free annual tune-ups!  I've never owned a vacuum from a company providing this level of service before and it makes me feel very reassured that Oreck will check everything out and fix any issues I may be having once a year.

Want to watch me in action with the Oreck Edge?  Check out the following video whereby I illustrate the features of both the handheld and the upright vacuums and show you how well they cleaned my house!

Although in my opinion, the Oreck Edge handheld vacuum has some design flaws, I still think that the Oreck Edge Vacuum is a great vacuum cleaner that can suck up anything in its path!  If you have high traffic areas that always seem to accumulate a ton of dirt, dust and hair rather quickly, then I think the Oreck Edge could help you keep your house very clean, while keeping your actual cleaning time to a minimum.

If you are looking for a top of the line gift this season, then make the ultimate cleaning investment and purchase the Oreck Edge.