Henry Quick Review
A fun vacuum cleaner
Verdict
With the cute face and familiar branding, the Henry Quick is a fun vacuum cleaner that uses a clever disposable pod system for mess-free emptying. With six pods in the box, you’ll go a long time before you have to replace them. Performance is very good generally, although a mid-level power setting would have been useful so that there’s less need to switch between the current standard and boost settings so much. If you’re after a cheaper stick cleaner, then this one’s a great choice overall.
Pros
- Great value
- Cleans well
- Dust-free emptying
- Long battery life
Cons
- No onboard tool storage
- Edge performance could be better
Availability
- UKRRP: £299.99
Key Features
- TypeThis is a cordless stick vacuum cleaner
- Battery lifeThis cleaner lasted over an hour in its standard power mode
Introduction
Aside from slapping a battery pack into a regular Henry vacuum cleaner, Numatic hasn’t made much of a foray into the world of cordless vacuum cleaners. Something that’s a little surprising given how well-known its products are. Fortunately, the wait for a proper cordless cleaner is over with the Henry Quick.
Design and Features
- Takes replaceable pods
- Cute design
- Replaceable batteries
The Henry Quick is a consumer version of the commercial Numatic Quick. Here, you get the same range of features (give or take), but the vacuum cleaner is finished in the company’s traditional red colouring and a face featuring on its front.
Call me a sucker, but I love the Henry branding. That face might not do anything for performance, but it certainly gives this cleaner a bit of personality.
Design-wise, the Henry Quick is similar to other cordless stick cleaners. The main handheld unit is nice and comfortable to grasp, feeling good in the hand, weighing just 3.2kg in total.
There’s an extension handle in the box, too. This offers a bigger, even two-handed, grip on the vacuum cleaner. I didn’t feel the need for it, but if you struggle to hold a regular vacuum cleaner, then this is a good choice.
There’s a power button on top, plus two additional buttons: one to turn the motorised brush bar on the floor tool off, and the other to switch the vacuum into its turbo mode.
Note that the Henry Quick does feature some differences over a normal stick vacuum cleaner. First, there’s a flap at the rear that accepts a “scent disc”; this looks a little like a big Polo mint. With this installed, the Henry Quick blows out fragranced air while you clean – it certainly makes vacuuming that little bit more pleasant.
Second, the bin is designed to hold 1-litre pods (disposable bags). These not only trap dirt inside them, but they self-seal when ejected, so there’s absolutely no mess when emptying this vacuum cleaner. The only other vacuum cleaner that empties so cleanly is the Samsung Bespoke Jet, but that model is a lot more expensive and required pairing with the emptying dock to achieve this trick.
Numatic provides six pods in the box, with replacements costing £12.99 for a pack of 10. If you’re particularly sensitive to dirt, they’re money well spent for the ease of emptying alone.
There’s only one battery in the box, although it can be removed and replaced.
The accompanying wall dock simply holds the vacuum cleaner in place; I still had to plug the power adapter into the battery to charge it. The dock offers space for the two main accessories, although there’s no storage on the vacuum itself, which is a shame.
The Henry Quick comes with a crevice tool and a two-in-one dusting brush/upholstery tool. These will prove fine for most jobs, but I’d have welcomed a mini-motorised tool for tackling pet hair.
The standard floor head with bristles is able to agitate dirt. Note that it isn’t an anti-tangle head, so it will need cleaning from time to time.
Performance
- Standard power enough for most surfaces
- Hard floor cleaning is best with brush turned off
- Long battery life
I measured the vacuum cleaner’s raw power at the nozzle in AirWatts. It’s low power setting came in at 23AW, which makes this cordless a little more powerful than the Dyson V12 Detect Slim in its Eco mode. There’s no mid-level mode here, with the boost mode jumping up to 192AW – which places this vacuum cleaner towards the top end of the performance table.
I used my real-world tests to judge how that raw performance translates into actual power. I started with my carpet test, sprinkling a teaspoon of flour onto the surface. A sweep through the centre of the mess on standard power saw the cleaner collect most of the dust, but there remained a small amount in the carpet fibres, particularly towards the outer edges of the floor head. Switching to boost mode was enough to clear everything.
Moving on to the tricky edge test, I sprinkled flour up against the skirting board. Standard power did a reasonable job of cleaning, but you can see that there’s some dust left on the floor, particularly at the very edges.
Moving to the boost setting, the vacuum managed to pick up all the flour.
Pet hair removal was spot-on, with all of my combed-in cat hair removed on a single pass through the mess.
Next it was on to the hard floor test, where I sprinkled some rice onto the floor. Here, I had to turn the brush bar off to stop the cleaner from flicking the grains of rice around the room. On standard mode, I managed to pick up every grain of rice without anything falling back out onto the floor.
Battery life measured in at 1hr 9mins on standard power and 16 minutes on the boost setting. A mid-level mode between the two would have been useful – say, pushing battery life down to around the 30-minute mark. Such a power would have likely been sufficient to clear most types of mess without having to resort to boost mode. As it stands, I had to switch between regular and boost on a number of occasions. Overall, that probably means real-world battery life of around the 45-minute mark, which is still good.
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Should you buy it?
If you want a cordless cleaner that’s quick and easy to use, and offers mess-free emptying, this is a superb choice.
If you want a cleaner that’s a little more flexible with a bit more power on its standard setting, then look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
It’s taken the Henry brand a while to deliver a true cordless vacuum cleaner, and in my opinion the Quick has been worth the wait. It’s fun to use, smells fresh and the pods mean it’s completely clean to empty. An extra power mode between the standard and boost options would have been useful – but without, it’s simply a matter of switching between the two or having to go over mess with a few extra sweeps. This vacuum cleaner is great value, too; but those who prefer a bagless cleaner should check out my guide to the best cordless vacuum cleaners.
How we test
We test every vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main vacuum cleaner for the review period
Tested for at least a week
Tested using tools to measure actual suction performance
Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
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FAQs
No, you need to use the pods, since they also act as a filter.
It lasts for more than an hour on the standard setting, but only 16 minutes on boost.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
