Henry Quick review: cordless vac with quick-release dust bag will put a smile on your face

Welcome to our review of the brand new Henry Quick, a cordless stick vacuum cleaner that uses disposable bags for dust-free emptying. And has a cheeky, smiling face emblazoned on it. You don’t get that from Dyson.

Aah, Henry, the only vacuum cleaner in the world with a personality. Actually I’ll rephrase that – the only vacuum cleaner in the world that lasts for decades, can be thrown down a flight of stairs and dropped from a first floor window without so much as a light scratch across his silly grinning face. You’ll often see Henry hanging out with his mates on a building site because every building site has one. He can vacuum up anything, including nuts, bolts, sawdust, soot, you name it. And if he can handle that, he can certainly deal with a domestic carpet or litter-strewn hard floor.

I had a Henry for 25 years before lobbing him on a skip, but only because I review so many vacuum cleaners I knew I wouldn’t need him any more. But I was wrong because the moment we moved into our new home we needed to sweep up the sooty contents of a badly maintained wood burner and no vacuum cleaner I’ve ever used is capable of doing that without choking and then quickly dying. 

I still miss the old fella though I swear I saw him hanging out in a bar with some builders the other day, effing and blinding about the bastard wot threw him in a skip while sipping on a pint of Hawkstone. That’s typical of Henry – he just won’t die. He’s an unswervingly dependable workhorse that just keeps on going no matter what you throw at him. 

But that’s enough anthropomorphism for one day because I’m hear to tell you about a new kind of Henry that runs on a battery. The new Henry Quick is Numatic International’s first cordless stick vac and it’s a bit different to all the other similarly-styled stick vacs in our best cordless vacuum cleaner chart.

Want to know more? You know what to do.

Henry Quick: price and availability

The new Henry Quick will initially be available in the UK only, direct from the MyHenry website, priced £299.99.

Thereafter, the Henry Quick should also be available from Argos, Currys, Amazon, Very and JD Williams.

Henry Quick review: design and features

Henry Quick is a stick vac so it won’t stand up on its own. That’s the first of two things I don’t like about it because it means spending 10 seconds resting it against a piece of furniture or the wall while I juggle with loose rugs, and 10 seconds of extra vacuuming for me means 10 fewer seconds spent lounging on the sofa with a pizza. Yes, it comes with a wall-mount like other stick vacs but that doesn’t help when I’m actually using it. And besides, I’ve never mounted any stick vac to my wall because the one time I tried, I hit a mains cable with the drill and blew up the house.

The other thing I’m not happy about is the overly firm fit of the brush roller into the extension tube. Now this could just be the results of an early product run but I had to put half of my might into plugging the brush head into the extension tube until I heard the reassuring click, and all my might – plus a pair of tacky rubber gloves – to remove it. If you’re quite frail, I can guarantee you’ll struggle to get the brush head off again once it’s been attached. Just as well it’s not really necessary to remove it once it’s on, unless you want to reach an inaccessible part of the house using the supplied detail nozzle.

Thankfully, you’ll be pleased to know that everything else about this new vac is pretty marvellous. For instance, I love the way it seems to be mostly made from the same indestructible plastic as its world-conquering stable mate, the electrically-powered pull-along Henry. Granted, the type of plastic used makes it look cheaper and a little tackier than its main Dyson and Vax competitors but I don’t see this as a major spoiler. It means you don’t have to be too delicate with it.

I also like the fact it doesn’t have a trigger like a Dyson which almost always engages the motor while I carry it upstairs. Instead, it has a simple ON button, a separate button to engage the spinning brush head when required and a third power boost button, all in the same area. As I alluded to above, the Henry Quick can also be used as a hand-held unit so it ships with a slim nozzle and a wide-headed nozzle for reaching parts the brush head can’t. And for those darker recesses of the home, you’ll be pleased to hear that it also comes with an LED headlight.

So far it’s all quite standard for a stick vac. However, unlike most sticks that are predominantly bagless, the Henry Quick uses sealed disposable bags – or pods – that simply pop into the cylinder. This is a stroke of genius in my humble opinion because it means I can empty all the crap it’s collected into the bin without even the slightest hint of dust escaping. It is a quite literally a dust free experience emptying this thing and that’s a stupendous bonus, especially for anyone with allergies. Also for those who hate the smell of carpet dust, there’s a rubber tab on top that houses a scent capsule – but you only get one in the box.

At 3.2kgs, the Henry Quick is heavier than the Dyson V15 but lighter than the new Vax Blade 5 so it’s about average weight for a stick vac. You won’t notice the weight when using it with the floor head but you might find it a strain on the forearm when using it above head to sweep dust off shelves, etc.

The Henry Quick is available in three flavours – standard red, sleek graphite and Hetty Pink, which has the name Hetty sprawled all over one side of the dust canister instead of the word Henry.

Henry Quick review: it’s all about the bin

As you may have noticed from some of my other vacuum cleaner reviews – especially the Gtech AirRam Platinum – I’m very partial to a good bin-emptying system and this one is up there with the very best, mainly because it comprises a disposable and recyclable bag – or pod – for fuss-free emptying.

The Henry Quick’s bin has a capacity of one litre which is bigger than all bar the Vax Edge Dual Pet & Car Cordless Upright. Moreover, the level of vacuum it creates compresses all detritus into the bag so it actually holds more, at least in terms of weight.

I adore the smooth springy action of this bin. Just press a button and the lid pops open. There is zero dust with this system because the entire bag – which is sealed with a one-way rubber gasket – simply falls out into the rubbish bin. I’d hazard a guess that it would take several single-room clean ups or one entire house-worth of vacuuming before the bag is full.

Yes, I know we were trying to get away from using bagged vacuum cleaners for the convenience of not having to buy more bags in the long term. But, against all expectations, the Henry Quick ships with a substantial 26 spare bags which should last bloody ages, if you ask me.

Henry Quick review: performance

Since I have a houseful of pets I tried the Henry Quick on hard floor, carpet and several rugs and it swept everything I could see remarkably well. It also collected a shedload of dust and other stuff I couldn’t see and it didn’t snowplough larger items on the hard floor like some vacs I’ve used. In fact, it didn’t leave much behind for my yardstick Gtech AirRam to collect, so a high five for cleaning performance in my book.

The brush head itself is 24cm in length and the single roller is 21cm so it’s not the widest brush bar I’ve ever seen and that invariably mean’t I had to perform a few more passes up and down the floor. Also, because the roller itself is a little shorter than the housing unit it may miss some dust along skirting boards. But hey, that’s the case with many vacs I’ve tested.

According to the stats, the Henry Quick should run for up to 70 minutes in standard mode and 16 minutes in boost. About average, I'd say.

Henry Quick review: verdict

I can’t vouch that the Henry Quick is as efficient at collecting industrial waste like its mains-powered sibling, but for home use it really does bring something new to the table in the form of that clever pod system. This feature alone is a boon for anyone fed up with being hit in the face by a plume of dust every time they empty the bin. At £299.99, it’s very reasonably priced, too.

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