henry (Numatic HVR200-22)

Member Name: fairclaire

Product:	Numatic HVR200-22
Date:	21/12/04 (3568 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good suction, cable storage

Disadvantages: heavy and awkward, hard to store

When our old vacum cleaner gave up the ghost, my other half and I had a very heated debate on what to replace it with. I wanted a stylish, popular Dyson like all my mates. He wanted a Henry 'cos my mum's got one'! hmmmm

So, we eventually 'agreed' on a Henry, because it was alot cheaper...on the proviso, that if he wanted it and i didn't like it, the hoovering was his job from now on!

Henry cost £109.99 (not sure, but I think you can get him a bit cheaper). He arrived all red and shiny in his box. He came with all the usual array of 'extras'. A small brush, a crevice tool, a long thin tool thing...good for corners. And he even comes with a free 'Henry' Baseball cap.

So the good things about Henry:

Well he does indeed have good suction. I expect that's why we always see cleaners in shops and public buildings using him. He is especially good at vacuming pet hair up. I have a very hairy Golden retriever and Henry does make a good job of getting his hair up out of the carpet.

He has a mechanism on top to reel the cable in. I like this. It means that the cable is neatly stored when it's not being used and there's only as much cable as you need when you are using it. The cable itself is pretty long. I haven't measured it but i can do one whole floor of the house without changing sockets so it's certainly long enough for my needs.

The bags are quite large so they last for a decent amount of time before they need changing. They are pretty sturdy and I've never had one bust or tear yet. Thay are also easy to get hold of, I find. I have bought them in various different shops and the usual price is around £2.99 for 5. Personally I think that's decent value.

The not so good things about Henry:

Henry is quite, heavy bulky and awkward to pull around. I personally feel he's just a bit on the heavy side. I think this would be a problem for older people, or people who for whatever reason wouldn't have the strength to pull the weight around for too long.

I find stairs to be the worst problem. Due to the round, bulky shape this machine is to big to sit one stair whilst you hoover the higher up ones, which is what i would normally do. Neither is the hose long enough to leave it at the bottom of the stairs and do it that way. So, I find that I have to sit it, hanging over the edge on a stair and keep it in place with my knees whilst trying to stretch up and hoover the stairs. Not ideal really and very uncomfortable.

Storage is the other gripe I have with this hoover. It doesn't fit neatly in any corners because it's round. When I put him away (he lives in the cupboard under the stairs) I find there is nowhere for the hose to go. I put Henry away and the hose just sort of flops on and around him. Very messy!

On reading back over my review, I guess the negative and positive things I've found about Henry are pretty equal. So, I won't recommend him, I think something should have alot more positive than negative to be recommended.

I'm sure there are other vacum cleaners that have equally as strong suction, without Henry's drawbacks.

Summary: