Henry HVR160 Review: Why a 620W Vacuum Still Cleans Like a Big One
The small red Henry is the vacuum half of Britain already owns, and the reviews say there is a reason. A bench test, several hundred eBay buyers and thousands of retailer ratings all land in the same place: strong suction, a long cable and a bag that lasts — at the cost of weight, bulk and buying bags for life. The 620 watts on the box is not the weakness it looks like.
Where the reviews line up
Our evidence comes from three places: a hands-on test by Trusted Reviews, 670 ratings on eBay's product review page, and the rating blocks at Currys and Marks Electrical, each of which carries more than 4,000 reviews. Tech Advisor and Mumsnet have also tested it, and they say much the same.
Three things come up everywhere. Suction is the headline: Trusted Reviews cleared flour from carpet in a single forward-and-back pass and cleaned right to the skirting, and eBay buyers write that they have to turn it down because it lifts the carpet. Reach is excellent — a 10 m wind-in cable plus the hose gives you rooms, landings and the car without moving the plug. And the 6-litre bag lasts: testers and owners alike say weeks between changes, with no dust cloud when you do.
The complaints are just as consistent. It is 7.5 kg and you drag it behind you, the combination floor head can push debris ahead of it on hard floors, the hose and tube are untidy to store, and you will be buying HepaFlo bags for as long as you own it — around £1.40 a bag at the prices we found.
The buying decision is about the type of vacuum, not the model. If you want a light, bagless, grab-it-for-crumbs machine, this is the wrong tool, and our Shark Stratos cordless review covers that side. If you want a corded machine that cleans a whole house on one plug and lasts for years, the Henry is still the default — and £160–£185 is the going rate, so do not pay much more.
The three reviews this summary is built from
- Trusted ReviewsHands-on test with measured suction (408 air watts) and noise (68.1 dB). Undated on the page.
- eBay product reviews4.8/5 from 670 ratings, 619 written reviews, checked 5 October 2026.
- Currys & Marks Electrical4.8/5 from 4,179 and 4.8/5 from 4,300 — on pages that sell it.
Before the review: which Henry is the HVR160?
The vacuum on sale now is the HVR160-11 (often listed simply as HVR160 or “Henry Compact”), rated at 620 W. Numatic also sells a Henry Eco HVR160 rated at 420 W, which it says uses 30% less energy — same shell, different motor, so check which one a listing is offering. Higher-wattage vacuums left the market when the EU's Ecodesign rules capped vacuum motors at 1,600 W from September 2014 and 900 W from September 2017. Wattage is power drawn, not cleaning done: Trusted Reviews measured 408 air watts of suction from this 620 W motor, which is why low watts and strong pickup are not a contradiction.
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Motor | 620 W rated (Henry Eco HVR160: 420 W) | Numatic product pages and data sheet |
| Measured suction | 408 air watts full power; 314 with the air valve open | Trusted Reviews' own measurement |
| Airflow and sealed suction | 31.54 l/s; 2,300 mm water gauge | Numatic data sheet. RS Components lists 48 l/s — figures disagree |
| Capacity | 6 litres drum, HepaFlo bags | Numatic; every retailer agrees |
| Replacement bags | Pack of 10 from £11 to £13.91 (about £1.10–£1.40 a bag); packs of 3 from £4.49 | Mumsnet, Wray Bros, Trusted Reviews |
| Cable and reach | 10 m wind-in cable; cleaning range 25.8 m with hose and tube | Numatic data sheet. Tech Advisor quotes 26.1 m |
| Hose | 2.4 m (Numatic data sheet, RS, Trusted Reviews) or 2.2 m (Currys, Mumsnet) | Sources disagree |
| Weight | 7.5 kg ready to use; 8.3 kg boxed | Numatic data sheet |
| Noise | Numatic: up to 70 dB(A). RS: 64 dB(A). Marks Electrical: 72 dB. Measured: 68.1 dB (Trusted Reviews), 72 dB (Tech Advisor) | Five figures from five sources — see below |
| Dimensions | 320 × 340 × 345 mm | Numatic |
| Floor tool | 280 mm combination floor tool with a hi-lo carpet and hard-floor setting | Numatic data sheet; Currys gives 29 cm |
| In the kit | Floor tool, crevice tool, dusting brush, upholstery nozzle, stainless steel tubes | Kit name varies by listing (AS0, AS36) |
| Filter | TriTex filter, wipe-clean | Numatic |
| Guarantee | 2 years at Currys and Marks Electrical; MyHenry says 3 years when bought from MyHenry and registered with the serial number | See “What we could not check” |
| Typical UK price | £164.99–£184.99; £179 at Currys, £179.99 at Marks Electrical | Checked 5 October 2026 |
Trusted Reviews
This is the most useful test because it measures rather than describes. The reviewer recorded 408 air watts at full power, dropping to 314 with the handle's air valve fully open, and 68.1 dB of noise. On carpet a single forward-and-back sweep cleared a flour spill completely; along the skirting it cleaned “right to the edge”; on hard floor it picked up rice with nothing scattered. Pet hair came up, but tended to bundle in the head before it was sucked away. The verdict calls it a design classic and “exceptionally powerful”, with two marks against it: it can be hard to push on some surfaces, and it is untidy to store.
Two cautions. The page carries no date, and it quotes a £149.99 price that is below what the vacuum costs now, so the test may be some years old. Tech Advisor's Editors' Choice test (Rachel Ogden, September 2022) and Mumsnet's one-week staff test (82/100) reach the same conclusions, which suggests the findings still stand; Tech Advisor also noted some debris dropping from the head when the motor is switched off.
Watch: Numatic HVR160 Henry Compact Unboxing Review & Brief Demonstration
A look at what comes in the box and how the tools fit together, with a short cleaning demonstration — the closest match to what Trusted Reviews tested.
Watch on YouTube ↗eBay product reviews
The spread matters more than the average: 602 of the 670 ratings are five stars, 39 four, 11 three, 4 two and 14 one. That is a lot of very happy owners and a small but real group who are not. eBay reviews are tied to the catalogue product rather than to a confirmed purchase, so read them as community opinion, not proof.
The themes match the testers. Suction is the thing people mention first — one owner turns it down because the carpet was lifting. Capacity comes next: it does not need emptying every time, and emptying is easy. Several are repeat buyers replacing an old Henry with a new one, which says more about durability than any spec. One description we would not lean on: a few owners call it lightweight. At 7.5 kg it is not, by modern standards — it just rolls rather than being carried.
Watch: Henry HVR160 vs PET200 vs HVR160-11 vs Hetty HET160-11
A side-by-side of the Henry family. Useful if the model codes in a listing confuse you, because buyers on eBay often mix them up.
Watch on YouTube ↗Currys and Marks Electrical
These are ratings hosted by shops that sell the vacuum, and the two totals are so close that they may share a review feed, so we treat them as one large signal rather than two. Cite the numbers, not the verdict.
What these pages do settle is that the HVR160 is still a current product: both list it in stock, Currys at £179 and Marks Electrical at £179.99, with B&Q and OnBuy at £184.99 and Robert Dyas the cheapest we found at £164.99 (all 5 October 2026). Both retailers list a two-year guarantee and the same headline specification — 620 W, 6 litres, 10 m cable, 7.5 kg — and Currys stresses that it works on carpet, vinyl, laminate, tile and stone. Marks Electrical is also the one retailer quoting a noise figure, 72 dB.
Watch: Henry HVR160 Bagged Cylinder Vacuum, 620 W, 6 litres, Yellow Overview
A product overview of the same 620 W, 6-litre machine the retailers list, here in the yellow livery.
Watch on YouTube ↗Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- Suction: 408 air watts measured, and single-pass pickup on carpet.
- Reach: a 10 m cable and roughly 26 m of cleaning range from one socket.
- A 6-litre bag that lasts weeks and seals itself when you take it out.
- Cleans to the edge of the skirting, which many uprights do not.
- Simple to own: no battery to wear out, a wipe-clean filter, and owners buying a second one.
- Low running power — 620 W, well inside the 900 W limit, for about 0.62 kWh an hour.
What people complain about
- 7.5 kg, and you pull it behind you rather than carry it.
- The floor head can push debris forward on hard floors; the hi-lo setting is manual.
- Bags are an ongoing cost, at roughly £1.10–£1.40 each.
- Bulky and untidy to store, with a long hose and tube.
- Pet hair tends to bundle in the head rather than go straight up.
- Noise figures range from 64 to 72 dB depending on who you ask.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you want one corded machine for a whole house, carpet and hard floors alike, stairs included, and you would rather pay for bags than for a replacement battery in three years. It suits homes with plenty of carpet, people with a cupboard to keep it in, and anyone who has owned a Henry before and wants the same again.
Look elsewhere if you live in a small flat with no storage, have trouble carrying 7.5 kg up the stairs, or mostly need quick tidies rather than a weekly clean — a cordless stick will suit you better. If you have a long-haired pet, the HVR160's plain floor head is not the best tool; look at a version sold with a turbo brush.
What we could not check
- The guarantee. Currys and Marks Electrical say two years. MyHenry's support page says machines bought from MyHenry get an extra year when registered with the serial number (under the handle or on the back of the hat), for three in total — but it also says, in the same section, that “all machines have a 3-year warranty”. We could not resolve which applies to a Henry bought elsewhere, so register it anyway and keep your receipt.
- Noise. Numatic says up to 70 dB(A); RS Components lists 64 dB(A); Marks Electrical 72 dB; Trusted Reviews measured 68.1 dB and Tech Advisor 72 dB. Test conditions are not given, so we cannot say which is right.
- Airflow and hose length. Numatic's data sheet gives 31.54 l/s and a 2.4 m hose; RS Components gives 48 l/s; Currys and Mumsnet give a 2.2 m hose.
- The bag part number. Numatic's data sheet lists the 10-pack as “NVM-1CH” and the manual lists the same part number as “NVH 1CH”. Buy by the part number 907075 or by “HepaFlo for Henry 160”, and check the listing names your model.
- The exact kit in the box. Listings name it AS0 or AS36, and the tools named vary slightly between them.
- An energy label. Numatic's data sheet and the retailer pages we read carry no energy rating, so there is no official running-cost figure. At 620 W, an hour of vacuuming uses about 0.62 kWh.
- The age of the Trusted Reviews test. The page is undated and quotes a price below today's.
- The videos. We confirmed each video's title and address in two separate search listings rather than by opening them on YouTube, and the listings did not name the channels.
Sources last checked 5 October 2026. Prices change — check them against the listing in front of you before ordering.