The other day Ben Johnson over at Toolmonger posted about the cutest little vacuum I have ever seen. Henry is a 2.4 gallon low-noise vacuum from the British company Numatics, and it is designed for general home cleaning. Apparently Henry is so popular that over 5 million units have sold!
Ignoring the cute smiley face for a moment, Henry has an impressive array of features. First, there are a LOT of accessories included with the vac, a trait that is not often shared by low to medium end vacs in the US.
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While most of the attachments look functional yet ordinary, Henry’s accessory wands are made from stainless steel. I imagine that stainless steel wands should mate better with hoses and accessories and should definitely be more durable than plastic wands would be.
Henry also includes a 33 foot power cable with a rewind system. 33 FEET! My lousy 6 gallon ShopVac only came with a 6 foot cable, and the higher up model only features a 14 foot cable.
Henry is also said to have an excellent filtration system, and its power savings setting ensures an appropriate amount of suction for low/medium duty and heavy duty cleanup jobs.
To truly appreciate Henry’s size, scroll down to the bottom of this page to watch a quick video tour of the product. Henry is SMALL!
Unfortunately, Henry requires 240V, and is quite expensive here in the USA, if you can even find one. The Henry vac and some of Numatic’s other vacuums are priced starting at $450 on Amazon.com yet are only $130-200 via Amazon.co.uk and other UK-based retailers.
Henry’s not a shop vac (although many folks apparently use it as one), and will probably be a bit cutesy for many of you, but from its description and specs, it looks to be a very solid performer.
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Over at Amazon’s UK site, there are 169 reviews for the Henry vacuum with 141 “5 /5” and 17 “4/5” ratings. Some users have called their Henrys “tough and indestructible.” I wish we had an affordable vacuum like that here.
Numatic Henry Vacuums via Amazon
Numatic Vacuums via Amazon.co.uk (Amazon’s UK Portal)
Product Info via Numatic
Ben Johnson’s post over at ToolMonger
IndyEngineer
I love the size of this little vac, the length of the cord, and the fact that it rewinds. Too bad it cost so much and that it runs on 240v. I wonder what country makes it? Europeans always make the best tools.
Phil
British made in Somerset. 600 employees, great people .
Stuart
From Numatics’ webpage, it sounds like their vacuums are entirely or at least mostly fabricated on-site in the UK.
Henry seems to be impractical for US use, but it looked to be worth mentioning nevertheless. Who knows, maybe Numatic will one day launch a daughter company in North America that will produce 110V versions.
Seven
Without a powered brushhead it would be worthless on heavy or thick carpets or even many rugs.
Henry’s Mother
How dare you talk about henry like that
diane
i am from the uk and i bring henrys over with me because they are the best vac out there one has just stopped working after 6 years i paid about 100 .00 gbps so i would say money well spent
Michelle
Hi Diane,
Do you mean you buy UK Henry vacs and take them out to the US? The voltage us different so how do you use it in the US?
Adam
I saw these used by the housekeeping staff of a cruise ship I was on. They are very quiet and seem to do a great job. The carpets were always clean! It stands to reason that if they are good enough to be used commercially and at sea, they will do just fine in any normal household. If only they made a 120v version.
Peter
I have one of these vacuums. They are imported to North America and run on 110v through NaceCare Solutions in Canada http://www.nacecare.com These are the best vacuums out there, by far. I own a NVQ-382 a little larger than the Henry, it is the commercial big brother to him. I used to repair commercial vac’s years ago. This is the only vacuum I have ever purchased, it cost me around $300, I think they list around $400-500. It does a great job and has never let me down. It has worked through 3 kids rolling it down the stairs, it was my work vacuum for carpet cleaning and flood restoration, it is about 12 years old and still works great. It is just about indestructible and has great power. There is a powered head available for it, which makes it much better for picking up dog hair. All in all one tremendous vacuum.
Dan
I have one of these but i do live in England, they are assembled in the UK and are actually very cheap compared to decent vacuums’, most commercial cleaning operations here use Numatic vacuums and they make a fair range and the henry is about the smallest, my Mums 1970’s brown and cream henry is still going strong so the do last well.
Sean
Vacuum collector here, (yes we exist lol)
Henry didn’t release until 1981 and the cream and brown came out in 1987 and ended in 1991 so it being 70s is impossible unless you have one of the oil drum prototypes somehow. Either way definitely a great vacuum and way better then diesoon