Henry Hoover – The UK’s Most Friendly Vacuum

We take an in depth look at why Henry may just be the perfect cleaning companion for you. We cover all aspects of this fine cleaning machine!

See How we rated the Henry Vacuum Cleaner
  • Model: HVR200
  • Capacity: 9 Litre
  • Warranty: 2 years
  • Made In: United Kingdom
92 / 100 Overal Rating

The Henry Hoover is a family favourite and gets an ‘A’ for ease of use and suitability for home cleaning. If you are looking for a rugged, yet easy to use home vacuum then you will struggle to find a better canister vacuum for the job. We have done an in depth review below, showing all there is to know about Henry and his accessories.

Combination Floor Tool
Crevice and Dusting Tool
Large Filtration Capacity
Henry Great Suction
Rewind Cable
Wand Docking

Henry Hoover – A Comprehensive Review!

Henry was originally introduced back in the 80’s as a domestic counterpart to the commercial line of Numatic vacuum cleaners. People were finding that the commercially available machines were working that well that they wanted one for the home, and Henry certainly fulfilled this need.

Since then the Henry vacuum cleaner has been developed and tested (to destruction in some cases) continuously. From humble beginnings he is now a lean mean dust fighting machine.

Numatic Henry Performance Rating

Henry Hoover Energy Rating

Just like all other domestic appliances Henry now has to undergo thorough testing to ensure that he meets power constraints and can be compared to other machines on a level playing field when it comes to dust filtration, cleaning performance, and noise output.

He does very well when tested to the new EU standards as can be seen on the rating label, scoring an A for energy rating, a ‘C’ for both carpet and hard floor performance whilst only outputting 72dB of sound whilst working.

The latest version of the HVR200 is 620W in power, you may have noticed that there are a lot of sites listing other versions with different power ratings, these are all older models. We have summarised this bellow so you can understand what you may be buying if not getting the very latest machine.

Other Henry Models

HVR200-11 620W
This is the latest model; he has a 620W motor that performs just as well as all older models thanks to its superior newer design that is highly efficient.
HVR200-12 580W
This is an older model that was fitted with a 580W motor, it has since been upgraded to a more powerful 620W version listed above.
HVR200A 1200W
This machine had a 1200W motor that was twin speed, it featured a “hi-Lo” switch and an “AutoSave” feature that powered the vacuum up in low mode each time it was turned on. This feature has now been made redundant due to the new HVR200-11 model offering the same performance as the 1200W ‘hi’ mode whilst using only 620W of power!
85 / 100 Performance Rating

Performance – For performance we Give him a good 85 out of 100, he cleans as well as many other machines out there and gets extra points for doing this whilst saving power and money.


Ease Of Use

The Numatic Henry is very easy to use, even on stairs he performs well with the long reach of his hose allowing him to easily reach the centre of a standard staircase from the bottom and top. His combination floor tool has a simple kick switch that takes him from hard floor to carpet cleaning mode in less than a second, without any need to bend over.

Henry is good for people with back pain as you do not need to carry him around or push the whole weight of the vacuum around when cleaning, all that you move is the cleaning hose and floor tool. His long power cable also means that you do not need to unplug him all the time after running out of reach (less bending over). Do not fret though, the long power cable is easy to store with the vacuum as it winds easily into the head of him with a winding handle.

Wand storage is another plus when it comes to using the Henry Hoover, he has a nice sturdy docking point on his back that allows the wand to be stored away neatly when Henry is not in use, on other machines and previous models you were always searching for somewhere to lean the floor tool (and it often fell over!) with a modern Henry this is not the case.

All of the accessories are very easy to change they are mostly of a push fit design making switching from one task to another an absolute breeze. A selection of hand tools makes cleaning sofas, curtains, skirting boards and even dusting around the coving very easy.

Changing the dust bags is clean and simple to do, you just need to release two clips and the head can be removed, allowing the old dust bag to be removed and a new one fitted. The filters are easy to clean and simply need brushing off (not washing) into the bin. His large 9 litre bag capacity also means you will not need to change the bag that often, further improving the convenience of using Henry.

96 / 100 Ease of Use Rating

Ease of Use – We found the HVR200-11 an absolute pleasure to work with, if we absolutely had to pick a fault, it would be that there is a lack of storage on the machine for hand tools. Although not a huge problem, it did mean carrying the soft dusting brush from room to room separately whilst cleaning. For this reason, he misses out on the perfect score and gets a 96 out of 100.


Durability

With his history firmly embedded in a commercial environment we found him very durable. He is made from injection moulded hard wearing plastic for the drum and head, with many of the components being shared with models from the commercial and industrial ranges. For this reason, you can be sure that you are getting a very reliable machine.

Generally, this machine is known to be one of the most reliable machines in the marketplace, this is why he is so popular. His simplistic design means that there is very little to go wrong, and in the rare event that he does have a problem Numatic offer a 2 year long manufacturer’s warranty.

They offer this warranty as they are confident in their product, they test Henry literally to destruction (let’s hope Hetty does not see this!), you can see video of how they test them on YouTube, they really do give him a hard time and make sure he can take a hard day working without flinching.

If you use him for work you are still covered under this warranty as are all of the machines in the family, this is why you will frequently see the cheeky smile of Henry cleaners in offices and schools all over the country.

95 / 100 durability Rating

Durability – For durability we rated Henry 95 out of 100! He really is that reliable and well made, this is a hard score to beat, and we rarely see any other machines come close to this durability in the marketplace.


Accessories

This little red cleaning demon is known for coming with a plentiful supply of accessories allowing him to carry out almost all dry cleaning tasks around the home from floor to bookshelf, to ceiling.

Henry comes complete with everything shown in the below image (we have numbered everything up for you so we can explain what they all are and what they do.

Henry Hoover Accessories

  1. Flo-Max Hose – This 2.4 metre hose gives him a great reach further adding to how high, or how far from the nearest plug socket that He can clean. The inside is specially tuned on this hose so that it gets the best performance from the 620w motor. It is also an “anti-crush” design.
  2. 290mm Combination Floor Tool – This floor tool incorporates a kick switch that allows for easy transitioning from hard floors to carpet, it is also very easy to push along the floor. Just make sure that the brushes are down on hard floor, and up on carpets.
  3. Stainless Steel Tube Set – This 3 piece set forms the upright of the floor wand, it can also give extra reach for dusting cobwebs from the ceiling and light fixtures. Not many people realise but the “bend pipe” can be turned around to make the wand taller or shorter depending on the height of the user, it also features a neat “volume control” allowing you to adjust the suction to the application at hand.
  4. Soft dusting Brush – This little brush is BRILLIANT. You can use it for dusting cobwebs, picture frames, the desk, skirting boards, just about everywhere. We found it really good for cleaning air vents in the car!
  5. Crevice tool – This is especially good for getting into corners in the back of the sofa, and again we found this tool brilliant when cleaning the car.
  6. Upholstery Brush – If you have pets, you will know their hair becomes tangled into sofa fibres, this tool is brilliant for getting them out. The stiff bristles brush them out and they are then sucked away. This brush also worked really well for us on stairs.
  7. Double taper tube adaptor – This allows you to attach the hand tools direct to the Flo-Max hose without needing to use a stainless pipe, this can be handy when working in tighter spaces, like cleaning out the bottom of kitchen cupboards.
89 / 100 Accessories Rating

Accessories – Overall the Base kit on Henry is very comprehensive, there are other accessories out there such as the Airo Brush that further improve his performance that come with some of the other models like the Henry Xtra, for this reason we give the standard Henry a respectable 89 out of 100.


Value For Money

This vacuum generally retails for under £100 with delivery, which in today’s market is excellent value for money. Sure there are cheaper machines out there, but you won’t find that they will last anywhere near as long, or deliver the kind of dependability that Henry has to offer.

With such a comprehensive accessory set available, and cheap spares and accessories available off the shelf you will find that your home cleaning performance will drastically improve, all whilst saving money by having one of the most energy efficient vacuum cleaners on the market.

Replacement bags are the only real consumable to consider and these are very cheap, with non-genuine items starting at around £2 for a set of 5 bags and genuine bags being around £ 3-5 for a set of 10! Their large capacity means they last for ages too, we found a bag in our house test lasted around 1 month before becoming full. He also comes with a single bag to get you started, so you don’t even need to buy any bags right away!

95 / 100 Value For Money Rating

Value for Money – With this much on offer we give the HVR200-11 a well-deserved 95 out of 100 when it comes to value for money.


Conclusion

Henry really does offer some of the best cleaning performance regardless of price range, there are a few other machines out there from his family that include extras to give further functionality, but these extras may not be necessary for you.

If you are looking for a great value, easy to use, reliable vacuum cleaner then he really is your man. Overall Henry scored a fantastic 92 out of 100!

92 / 100 Overall Rating

Further Reading

The NRV200 Commercial Henry

Hernry Hoover vs Commercial NRV200

Although they may look very similar there are some subtle differences. The NRV200 has a slightly longer power cable, a lower powered 580w motor and a lesser accessory kit containing only the very basics. There is a nice front bumper ring to protect the front wheels, but other than that he is very much the same machine.

Can Henry be used Without bags?

Yes… but, we do recommend that you use bags. The bags act as part of the filtration system and protect the motor and filters from debris. You will find that he will work fine without bags, but performance may suffer in the long run and ultimately cause issues with reliability in the long run.

Henry Creeps Me Out!

That’s ok, his face can be removed (I guess that may be even creepier?!), it simply unclips and can be removed. This is handy for those who have children who do not like things with faces or for those who just don’t like being watched whilst they clean.

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