Henry Pet200 review: an essential bagged, canister vacuum cleaner for homes with pets

As with the Henry (vacuum cleaner) we all know and love, the Henry Pet200 comes with all the same features with the added benefit of extra pet-friendly features. It's an appliance which will soon make itself at home, alongside the pets and their humans in residence.

We've been using this vacuum cleaner as the main vacuum cleaner in our home for a few weeks. We live in a 3-bed terrace with a steep, narrow staircase and a range of flooring to include carpets, rugs, wooden floorboards and tiles. Although we review vacuum cleaners for a living (and other small appliances), the floor seems to always be in a constant state of abuse from spilt cereals, crumbs, splodges and dust which is still settling from years of renovations.

Read on to find out what we thought of the Henry Pet200, and whether it is the right vacuum cleaner for your home. I personally think that it is one of the best vacuum cleaners you can have, with or without pets.

Product specs:

• Capacity: 9L
• Cleaning range: 26.4m
• Motor power: 620w
• Dimensions: 34 x 36 x 37cm (machine)
• Weight: 8kg (machine and kit)

Who will it suit?

Homes (big and small) with hairy two and four legged friends. It's also a very good option for households on a tight budget who are in need of a robust, quality vacuum cleaner.

Delivery, unboxing and set up

Arriving in an obviously Henry vacuum cleaner box which can be picked up single handed and carried to where unpacking can commence, the Henry Pet200 gave us some good first impressions vibes. 

To look inside the box meant that we needed to summon the scissors to cut the tape that secured the sides. There's layers inside. About 3; at the top, the hose is wrapped around a moulded cardboard board; bag of attachments and floor heads balanced on the top an the 3-piece handle is tucked down the sides. Henry Pet is revealed as the cardboard is lifted.

If you've used or seen a Henry before then you have an idea of how they should look - they are quite self explanatory. The instructions are easy and clear to follow, though, if you need.

The bag is already is situ so the 3 piece handle just needs slotting together, and the hose attaching. And, because it's mains powered, there is no battery to charge so once the bits and pieces have been clipped together, you're good to go.

Performance

The Henry Pet is made for pet owners. As with many of the best vacuum cleaners for pet hair, it has a special filter to reduce lingering pet odours and a tool to tackle stubborn pet hairs on carpets and stairs. 

The 190 Ecobrush clips on to the tapered adaptor (attachment) or the end of the 3 piece stainless steel tube. The first thing we noticed is that this attachment is noticeably louder than the universal floor head. We recorded a noise level of 71dB when the 190 Ecobrush was in use, whereas the universal floor head was just 62dB.

We don't have pets but we do moult and the hairbrush easily fills, so we tried the attachment with long hair on the rug. It was quickly removed with just one pass over but the hair wrapped around the roller bar. The smaller size is easier to use on stairs, rather the larger floor head, too.

The universal floorhead is suitable for use on carpets and hard floors. You can switch between the 2 using the foot pedal on the floorhead. We didn't find that any hair got stuck or in a tangle using this attachment - the only debris which we could see was the odd bit of fluff or rice crispy.

Suction was impressive on both floor types, too, no matter what we were vacuuming. Dust, dried cereals, dried plaster filler and daily crumbs were no match for this vac.  We adjusted it by turning the gauge clockwise or anticlockwise on the stainless steel tube. In this instance we used the higher suction power for rugs and carpet, and the lower suction power for hard flooring. You can also adjust the suction power when using other attachments.

To manoeuvre around the floor was OK, at both ground and first-floor levels. Just as with other Henry vacuum cleaners we've reviewed, we found that pulling it around on the wheels didn't present too much of an issue, although we would be the first to admit that, yes, it did get stuck around the bends in the hallway and, yes, being tethered by a plug did get a little annoying if we were aiming for a 'quick vacuum'. The cable is 10 metres long which is long enough to have it plugged in at the bottom of the stairs to enable a vacuum on the ascent up, but it fell short when trying to reach each every corner of the room without unplugging.

To lift the vacuum cleaner is also quiet heavy at 8kg. Carrying it up the stairs is not an easy task. The hose is quite gangling and wobbles around when stored on the main unit as you make the climb up the stairs. And in general, it is quite a bulky vacuum cleaner - especially when compared to the best cordless vacuum cleaners.

Other attachments which arrived with the Henry Pet200, and therefore we tried out, was the Crevice tool, Dusting tool and Brush and mattress tool. The brush and mattress tool was used on our upholstered furniture; dusting tool was used around the fireplace and the crevice tool was used along the top of the skirting. All did the job but we feel that a microfibre cloth was a lot quicker to get the same result on the dusting job. The brush and mattress tool was the most useful, we found anyway.

A thing to consider with this vac is that cleaning the car with it could be tricky. It is bulky and not the easiest vacuum cleaner to move around quickly. Plus, being a corded vacuum cleaner means that you will need to be parked within 10 metres of your home, which is easier said than done if you live in a terraced house with no driveway.

Cleaning, maintenance and storage

The Henry Pet is a bagged, cylinder vacuum cleaner. This means that all of the debris is stored in a disposable bag. We love this. We know that not everyone does because of the price (a pack of 10 is £9.99 on Amazon) but if you're fed up of getting dust anywhere but inside the bin, then this is the vacuum cleaner for you. Those vacuum bags hold a lot of debris by the way and we can't imagine you'll get through more than one pack within the year, unless all you vacuum is DIY dust and rubble, of course.

When it is time to fit a new bag, just unclip the sides of the main unit and lift off the top of the Henry Pet using the handle.

The floorheads and brushes may need a little de-fluff and de-tangle, too, as part of the general maintenance of the vac. This is easy enough to do by hand but for anything which is being stubborn to remove, a damp microfiber cloth will do the trick for the fluff and a pair of scissors for the hair.

As with all of the Henry vacuum cleaners, they have on-board storage which is great. It means that you don't need to keep remembering or trying to find where you last put the attachment you need, because most of them are all on the vacuum cleaner already. Most of them means that not all attachments can be stored on board. The Ecobrush 190 (pet tool) didn't have a space for it to clip on to so keep this in a memorable, out-of-reach place.

This is not the most compact of vacuum cleaners so it'll need a corner of the room or a large cleaning cupboard to be stowed in, too.

How does it rate online?

Henry vacuum cleaners have been around for decades and is a brand which is available on a global scale. On myhenry.com, you can by the Henry Pet and his friends direct. Here he has scored 4.8-out-of-five stars. There's so much love for this vacuum cleaner. Recent comments include that it's a 'great classic, durable and does the job', 'very powerful and easily works on my carpets and rugs that have pet hair', 'l think my Henry Pet is fabulous it's easy to use. very efficient and a lot quieter than my old hoover'. It's not easy to find any negative comments, although I have seen one remark that a lady in her 70s can't push it - despite adjusting the floor type and suction.

On Argos, Henry Pet has received 4.9-out-of-five stars with 97% of customers recommending this product. Comments includes how happy the customers are with their new vac; how good the suction is and how powerful it is, too. One customer has remarked that it is noisier than their previous Hetty vacuum, however.

Also available from AO.com, Very and Currys, we're seeing a lot of stars for the Henry Pet which means that there are a lot of very pleased customers out there.

How does it compare with other vacuum cleaners?

There aren't many bagged, canister vacuum cleaners to chose from to make a fair comparison, especially at this price point. Miele do have the Complete C3 and although we can't deny that this is a good vac, it is double the price of the Henry / Hetty / George / Charles or James vacuum cleaners by the Numatic brand.

We've reviewed the Henry HVR 160 for our sister site,, which has the same 620W power, but a smaller capacity (6L) and therefore smaller dimensions (320 x 340 x 345mm). Last year, we also reviewed the cordless Henry who weighed in a little lighter than the HVR 160 and, of course, doesn't haven't a cable.

Should you buy the Henry Pet 200?

We think that the Henry Pet200 is a fantastic choice for any one who is in need of a vacuum cleaner, especially if there are pets resident. Although it is corded, there is enough cleaning range to clean the areas within a 10 metre proximity to the plug. It's really easy to switch between the attachments - especially because they are being stored on-board.

Priced at £139, we think that this is an affordable vacuum cleaner which is both durable and reliable. It's a solid piece of kit which is easy to maintain. Buying the vacuum bags is a consideration, however, but with a capacity of 9L you will need to do a lot of vacuum cleaning to get through a pack of 10, as they are commonly sold for.

A thing to note is that this vacuum cleaner may not be suitable if you want an appliance to vacuum your home and car. It is a bulky vacuum cleaner and, again, it is corded so unless you have a driveway or a guaranteed parking space outside your home, the Henry Pet may not be the vacuum cleaner for you.

About this review – and our reviewer

Jennifer (Jen) Oksien is Homes Editor on TechRadar. Previously she has written for Ideal Home, Real Homes and Homes & Gardens as our Appliances Editor.

She was sent the Henry Pet200 to review at home to find out how it performs across the various floor-types with varying amounts (and types) of debris. Her three-bed house has hard wood flooring and limestone tiles downstairs, and a relatively new carpet running up the stairs, across the landing and into the three bedrooms making it the perfect space to review vacuum cleaners.

We are not given any compensation for our reviews, but we may be gifted the product meaning that we can test it over a greater length of time, and update our reviews if required. We also receive affiliate commission for some products brought through our site.