What does the Henry Eco vacuum have that a classic Henry doesn't? We tried one to find out

The Henry brand from Numatic is renowned for its hard working professional cleaning prowess so I was excited during this review to see if it lived up to its reputation. We recently had an extension built and pretty much every tradesperson who came by had a Henry in their van for post-carpentry/installation cleaning up. A good friend, who has a busy holiday let, loves Henry and thinks it's the best vacuum out there for its unfailing ability to vacuum all manner of post-guest mess.

The difference between the Henry Classic and the Henry Eco, which I’m testing in this review, is the energy-efficient motor – 420W compared with 620W. The lower motor water equals less electricity used, which is a good selling point in a cost of living crisis. Although in a household test, it is hard to prove the claim. 

I decided to put Henry Eco to the test across a busy week in our family household. With ongoing renovation jobs, an open plan living/kitchen area and two teenage boys, there’s a fair amount of detritus on the floors so I’m a zippy cleaner!

Numatic HVR160E Henry Eco vacuum specs 

• Model: Henry Xtra HVX200
• Cable length (corded): 10m
• Number of settings: One
• Drum size: 6L
• Bagged or bagless: Bagged
• Suction power: 260W
• Weight: 7.7kg
• Accessories: Crevice tool for nooks and crannies; Dusting tool takes care of delicate surfaces – shelves, ornaments and picture frames; Upholstery tool is ideal for smaller and soft surfaces, such as the stairs, sofa and car seats; Eco brush for stubborn dust and pet hairs. 

Who tested the Henry Eco vacuum?

Rhoda Parry

As the former Editorial Director of Ideal Home, and its sister titles, 25 Beautiful Homes and Style at Home, Rhoda knows how important it is to research and invest in good value appliances and products that will stand the test of time. Plus as a house-proud Interiors and Gardens journalist, she's spent my career tracking the trends, interviewing the experts and reviewing the best products for inside and outside living spaces, while also renovating my house from a dated bungalow to a contemporary family home.

Unboxing the Henry Eco vacuum 

The Henry Eco comes in a neat cardboard box (47cm high x 38cm wide). On delivery, it was easy to carry from the front door. The box clearly illustrated all the benefits of a Henry Eco on the outside, including high efficiency, powerful cleaning, reliable and huge capacity. On opening the box, the components were held in place by what looks like recycled cardboard – in fact, according to the box logo, 80% is made up of recycled packaging. The accessories were all neatly bagged.

What strikes me is how simple and straightforward all the pieces are. There is the Henry unit itself (with its cute black and red bowler hat and face); two tool heads - the Combi and the Eco brush; a black plastic flexible tube; three metal tubes; two dust bags; and various cleaning attachments for specific jobs.

Assembling the Henry is very easy thanks to the illustrative instructions. I like the smallness of the main unit - measuring 320mm x 340mm x 345mm (W x L x H). There are options to assemble the wand for tall or short people by using either two tubes for short or three tubes for taller bodies. 

This is useful if you prefer not to bend over when vacuuming and often the reason why people choose upright-designed vacuums. I chose three tubes as my height is 5ft 8in. The flexible tube inserts and twists into Henry’s ‘nose’. Side clips pull out easily to lift out the Microfresh filter to insert the disposable HepaFlo dust bag. 

The drum has good capacity with the maker claiming to have ‘five times more capacity than many bagless vacuums’. The wand docks into a no-nonsense and sturdy insert on the back of the vacuum and tools are fitted into the tool tidy. In less than five minutes, I was ready to get vacuuming.

Who will it suit? 

The Henry has an excellent reputation for hardworking cleaning and this corded vacuum looks like it's good for all-manner tasks - from gentle surface cleaning to deep pile carpets. Serial DIYers will love it for completing heavy duty jobs in the garage and workshop.  

 What is it like to use?  

The Henry Eco is reassuringly low-tech looking and as a result extremely easy to use. I tested it on the following surfaces:

Tiled floors
My first job was to clean the grey porcelain tiles in our kitchen area and around the island where the bar stools are. Breakfast often gets eaten at the kitchen island so cereal and toast are regular visitors to the floor in this area. With the Combi Floor Tool in place and the high suction button down, the Henry vacuumed these up immediately including everyday fine dust. You could really feel the powerful suction and I was really impressed. The head was easy to manoeuvre underneath the cupboard overhangs - another area that accumulates debris from food prep. 

Likewise in our heavy-use porch area that has muddy boots and trainers regularly dumped, both the Combi and the Eco brush removed dried mud, small pebbles and general dirt from both the porcelain tiles and the doormat. 

Wooden floors
Cleaning the wooden floors throughout the house was equally effective. With wooden floors, you tend to get a lot of dust gathering in corners, but the design of the Combi head means it very efficiently accesses and sucks up fluff balls. The Combi Floor Tool also did a no-nonsense job tackling small wood chips from underneath the log basket.  

Concrete floor
My partner had recently been constructing new shelving in our garage and the concrete floor was littered with wood shavings and sanding dust. Again the Henry Eco did a good job tidying.  

Carpets and rugs
We don’t have fitted carpets in our house, but we have lots of large-size rugs on wooden floors. I flipped the button up on the Combi Floor Tool as recommended and moved on to the living room deep pile rug. The suction was impressive and I could see the pile visibly lifting as it cleaned. I was particularly taken by how adept it was transferring from rug to wooden with suction being maintained. The Eco brush – with its hair collecting bristles – was very useful under furniture thanks to its nifty head size. On closer examination I could clearly see hair from humans and visiting dogs. 

Upholstery
The Crevice tool is a practical addition for tackling down the cushions on the sofa and the brush Upholstery Tool good for crumbs. I also used the soft-brush Dusting Tool to skim over a chest of drawers that had a fine coating of dust and it handled it no problem.

Shelves and stairs
I found the Henry particularly useful on our wooden stairs that can be a bit of challenge with our existing upright vacuum. The expanding tube was adequately long to pull up my steps without mishap and the Crevice tool made light work of nooks. 

Cleaning

With Henry Eco, the large sized drum with two-stage filtration, traps all mess in an innovative ‘HepaFlo’ bag. This means that you don’t need to empty every time you use it (which is what I do with my existing bagless upright). Even after a week’s usage the bag was nowhere near full. A big plus is that there are no escaping dust clouds when you come to change the bag with a self-seal tab making emptying quick and clean. 

I like that, but also was a bit worried from an environmental point of view that I was adding another bag to the waste bin. New bags cost £12 for a pack of 10 from Argos (so £1.20 per bag) and are readily available online. I was interested to note that some online reviews claim that the Henry is worse than other brands when it comes to retaining bad smells, but during the testing period I wasn't aware of any nasty odours.

Storage and maintenance

When fully assembled, you need a tall utility unit to store this in freestanding. The wand hooks into the back of the main unit and there is a handy tool tidy on the back. 

 Should you buy the Henry Eco? 

At £169.99 RRP, this is a no-nonsense corded vacuum at a great price. Its beauty is in its basicness. You just plug it in, flip the green rocker button and off you go. It's not afraid to tackle heavy duty jobs so for those who are renovating this is a big plus. 

Some reviewers say that Henry vacuums are hard to push and I do have to say that after about half an hour my back did ache a bit, but then I’m used to an upright version of one of the best cordless vacuums. The Henry Eco claims to be the ‘Highest Efficiency’ motor, delivering a ‘30% reduction in energy consumption and reduced energy costs - I’ll have to trust the makers on that, as it's a hard thing to quantify. 

I do think that the Henry is robust, effective and the perfect all-rounder for hard floors, stairs, carpets and rugs and DIY. The cable rewind system is smooth and handy. I’m quite sensitive to loud noise and the Henry Eco is noticeably quieter than my current vacuum with a less than 70 decibel sound rating, which is the equivalent to a dishwasher. My only concern, from an environmental perspective, was having to purchase and dispose of the dust bags. All in all, after this week-long trial, I would definitely consider buying the Henry Eco – it's a failsafe cleaning companion with a cheery, friendly face that makes household chores a pleasure. Definitely a win win!

About this review, and this reviewer 

As part of our commitment to how we test products at Ideal Home, Rhoda spent a week with Henry Eco, helping me to keep on top of the chores.