Rating: 
-
If you are looking for a no nonsense vacuum, Henry is for you. No fancy variable power settings, just high and low. Who needs more? It just feels a solid, quality item with a really powerful suck and a massive cable that seems to go on for ever.
If you want a vacuum that wont't give up after a year, get a Henry. Just look around your local tip and see how many Dysons are there. Bet you won't see any Henrys. Why do all the cleaning companies use them?
Spares are cheap and easy to get as the model has not changed for years.
The only downside is the lack of on-board storage for tools, but we can forgive that. The best cleaner we have ever had.
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I have had Henry for more than 25 years and he has finally died despite being loved and cherished all those years by my mother, my kids and myself. He has never failed me until now. So I am about to purchase Henry Mark 2 as the family misses him.
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My husband was one of the very first people to stock Henry, so therefore I was one of the first people to own one. He had a heating spares company and the plumbers and heating engineers soon cottoned on to Henry and his brothers. They were different colours, blue and silver are the only ones I remember and they originally had different names to Henry.
I am still using my original one, by daughter had my mother in law's when she died and is still using hers every day too.
Obviously ours being the original models don't have all the new fancy bits and bigger motors, but even so, I wouldn't part with my Henry for anything. I sometimes wonder how a vacuum cleaner could have a personality and an almost 'cult' following. Clever Numatic! My husband also said they were very nice people to do business with. I hope they still are.
Rating: -
When I needed a vacuum cleaner, I didn't initially consider a Henry. A smiley face wasn't what I needed. It looks like a cross between a very basic 1970s vacuum cleaner and a merchandising tie-in with an old children's TV program. The Adventures of Henry and Hettie, CBBC, Thursdays at 4:30pm, or something like that. Bagged. No HEPA filtration. No DualTurbo Hurricane Dust Maelstrom blahblah system. 1200W, when 2000W is common. No pet hair remover tool (I have a lot of hair and shed like a pack of long-haired dogs, except that the hair is up to a couple of feet long).
So...an underpowered, overpriced children's toy vacuum cleaner with primitive technology. Not what I wanted, obviously.
I asked on a forum I use...and all but two people recommended Henry. People with more money than they knew what to do with were recommending Henry. Builders were saying that they used Henry to clean up plaster, wood chips, brick dust, even dry sand, anything at all.
So I bought one. 1200W not enough? Wrong. It's fine on the 600W setting, using a third of the power of normal vacuum cleaners. On 1200W, it'll clean your floorboards through your carpet. The airflow is greater than the 2KW vacuum cleaner I borrowed. No HEPA...sure there is, just use the HEPAflo bags. No pet hair tool...none needed, the normal head will easily get hair off carpets. It's also far, far quieter than any other vacuum cleaner I've used. I wanted ear protection with some of them. You could have a conversation while using a Henry.
Forget the cutesy children's toy image. Henry is serious kit. It fulfills the function of a vacuum cleaner without trying to look futuristic and without impressive-sounding gadgetry. Henry is basically better.
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As other reviewers have said, Henry hoovers are pretty much indestructible. I am a clumsy oaf, so I should know.
Coupled with his sturdiness, his tremendous reliability, huge capacity and gormless smile mean that Henry is truly the vacuum cleaner of the gods. He makes a great noise, too.
I have a particular affection for these little fellows due to fond memories of my university friend Huw making a drunken attempt one night to exchange one of our college's Henries for a doner kebab at the local kebab van. He was not successful, although this came as something of a surprise to Huw, given the relative monetary values of a) a Henry and b) a doner kebab.
Perhaps, in more enlightened times, we will come to use Henry hoovers as currency.
