Anthony feel free to read my review if you wish about the Hometek upright: http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/vacuum-cleaner/home-tek-ht835le/1062401/

I had the blue one and the red one. They're just like what people are saying; a cheaper rendition of the Oreck XL. The fan or general spares may be able to be obtained direct from Hometek UK:  www.hometek.co.uk/contacts.html...

Just email them and ask; it won't hurt to try.

Yes, that's true but then thanks to its minority aspect, at least finding bags and consumables for Oreck is a lot better. 

Having been on EBay this morning though, there's a fair amount of Oreck uprights that are being sold at cheaper prices. Far cheaper than the prices new that JL stores are selling the Oreck models - and we don't get the more modern ones that the U.S have. It seems at long last, the UK are beginning to see the truth of Oreck and its claims. They're good machines but they're not worth the £300 to £400 asking prices  - I'd rather spend that on a TOL Miele or similar - the Gtech Air Ram is a good idea but Id much prefer a mains power option rather than rely on batteries alone. 

If Miele had a proper, smaller lightweight bagged upright, it could effectively knock Oreck off - or even Hoover, like a true Junior model instead of that silly Athyss hand stick that appeared years ago. I always liked the Miele D'Art system but for elderly people, having to bend down to the floor to change the bag (and same with the canisters) isn't always  convenient. The Hometek is a neat and well priced vacuum that just needs a little more user friendliness in terms of maintenance and spares.

Thank god!
My Dyson overpriced hatred aside, Oreck are the biggest heap of overpriced, overhyped and cheaply made rubbish I've ever used. The motor and fan are so tiny it barely generates any suction. They're also ear-splittingly, earth-shatteringly loud - if they are used in hotels across the globe as claimed, I wouldn't want to stay in one for fear of being abruptly woken up by someone vacuuming 3 floors away.

Due to the lack of suction, their edge cleaning ability is virtually nothing. The Oreck's 1 saving grace is that it has a pretty good brushroll which does a great job of grooming the carpet, but this simply makes the cleaner nothing more than a noisey carpet sweeper.

I don't think it is unusual to see older lightweights still remaining - its like old cars - people are hanging onto them if they are efficient and keep going without paying massively for parts. Lightweights are easy to keep going (as all are vacuums) IF there are widely available parts. In the case of the Hometek though, it may well be a copy of an Oreck, but I have a feeling the motors aren't the same despite the fact that they may look the same. 

Yes Trebor but its like that with everything these days. As consumers higher power is better - even when it comes to cars. Ironically in the UK, unless its on a test track you'll never really get to test how fast or how quick the actual product is. 

When it comes to vacuums, power is always advertised as being better than the rest. In the case of the Air Ram, it's just GTech moving on from their established (and pretty good) cordless sweepers with a "new" sweeper but has a suction motor fitted to it. The real test is knowing how long it will run for - and Gtech SW20 Premium sweeper which is cheaper to buy has the same battery but requires one more hour to charge it for the similar run time and does without the suction motor. 

GTech sweepers are made in China, so it doesn't surprise me that Shark are passing them off - some of their upright vacs were Chinese made vacs that Morphy Richards sold here under their own label which were originallly TTI Dirt Devil models. 

The GTech sweeper in Australia is also currently being sold by Vax under their VS-102 model number.

Hometek are almost exclusively a Chinese company and the company name are UK traders. The Redi_vac is most probably the same.

Worrying about vacuums with high watts/power is small fry. There are more things to worry about to be eco-friendly these days. The cost of power alone is pretty high and some of UK population have begun to get wood burning stoves in to replace gas stoves/electricity. For some, a vacuum cleaner could well be a luxury.

Well said Benny - only thing is, some American consumers are now going with the "UK/European" side loader, known as our conventional washing machines because they use less water compared to the bigger top loader style that America has always enjoyed.

The U.S were far greener than us back in the 1970's too - they were one of the first countries to adopt laws for cars that ran dangerous emissions. Volvo were one of the first pioneers to patent the Lambda Sond fuel patent that gave lower emissions, especially a priority for the smog that was produced back then and cars of that period had been burning too much oil, not to mention the oil crisis; one of my mum's family members emigrated to the States in the early 1970s and worked for Volvo and that patent with Bosch. 

However, in so far as other appliances are concerned, as Benny says, the UK aren't eco-friendly, but the older generation, especially those born in the 1940s have adopted an old fashioned approach of either keeping their existing appliances or just making do with whatever the basics are. Its in the 1980s that young professionals and those born after that period have adopted a high-power attitude, probably not helped by the Japanese who advertised everything with "high fidelity," "high power," and "high status."

Also Trebor - whilst the "savings' of a power plant are significant, it is the type of power plant that interests me more. Whilst we, as a global nation are trying to level out the power that every home uses, the nature of where or how the power is achieved is of more concern with me. Out with Nuclear please and more with more, traditional means but then you're stuck in a Catch 22 situation because of the cost of production.

Well said, toilvac.

Well its like the Oreck in the sense that it makes a similar noise and similar design! I had both so I know.

I do like Oreck's brush roll though - always have done and always will - their wooden rolls look nice but the brushes are fantastic at grooming and fluff up carpets a real treat. The Chinese made Hometek/Redi-vac/Douglas had nothing like that but both used the design of hollow handle and spine acting as main dust channel to the bag.