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George Vacuum – Read our Review
We at the Henry Range are dedicated to providing you with the lowdown on each of the different members of the family. Those who have used a Henry before will be delighted to know that his big cousin George isn’t just a vacuum cleaner… he’s a soft furnishings whizz, to boot.
That’s right: George provides you with full powered vacuuming, then couples this with fabric and upholstery cleaning. When it comes to getting your carpets just right, this big green smiling machine has got your back.
We took an in-depth look at the George vacuum cleaner, to give you an idea of whether or not he is right for you. So huddle up and let’s get down to business. Exactly why should you choose a George, anyway? What makes him so special?
- Power: 1,060 watts
- Capacity Dry: 15 litres
- Capacity Wet: 9 litres
- Cleaning range: 26.8m
- Weight: 11kgs
- Cost: Around £260
- Perfect for Pets, DIY & Emergency Cleaning
Pros
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- Great reach and high versatility – clean and vacuum your carpets, furniture and car!
- Fantastic suction power, both wet and dry.
- HEPA filtration system fights allergies.
- Huge storage in the dustbin category.
- Does a brilliant job against pet hair.
Cons
- Bulky and big to store.
- It’s a little heavy at 11 kgs.
- Hard to carry up and down stairs.
The George Vacuum Cleaner At-a-Glance
The key takeaways of the George vacuum are as follows:
- Vacuum cleaner capable of wet and dry suction.
- Carpet shampoo tools combined with vacuum cleaner tools.
- 9L wet dustbin capacity.
- 15L dry dustbin capacity.
- Reach of 26.8 metres.
- Reasonably quiet running noise.
- 11 kg weight.
- Bagged with HEPA filter, multi-purpose cleaning machine.
Now that we have given you the main points, we can get to the details…
Why Choose George the Vacuum Cleaner?
First of all, George isn’t the only green member of the Henry family, so be sure you’re not looking at a Harry, instead. Those big grins get confusing. Harry is lovely but he is liable to blow up if you try to shampoo a carpet with him.
The main reason anyone has for buying a George vacuum cleaner is that he cleans, literally, rather than just sucking up messes. In fact, he does such a good job of cleaning and shampooing carpets that he comes with all sorts of added bits to help him along the way. Did you know, for example, that George can be used to unblock drains, clean up leaks, and do all sorts of other handy spillage clean-ups? Not many people do.
George is that little bit more special than his brothers and sisters. He keeps your home clean and fresh from top to bottom. He can spruce up upholstery, easily remove trodden dirt and keep high traffic areas in tip-top condition. George is the multipurpose Henry… and that’s why he is so often chosen as a favourite from the range of Henry vacuums.
Product Specifications
- George, and all his outside parts, come in at 11kg. Not too heavy, not too light. You probably don’t want to carry him up and down too many flights of stairs.
- He is green and black – there is no negotiating this particular aspect.
- He stretches up to 26.8 metres from the socket.
- He gives out 78.7 dB of noise… anything below 80 dB is considered fairly quiet.
- George has a 9 litre dust bin however he has different capacities for wet and dry dirt. For dry dirt only his capacity shoots up to 15 litres.
- This vacuum cleaner operates using 1060 watts (that means he’s pretty powerful in terms of suction).
- George is a bagged vacuum cleaner, He runs using regular, one-size-fits-all Henry Range bags. They do not cost much.
As you can see, George isn’t excessively heavy, is able to hold copious amounts of wet and dry dirt and can even be used throughout the majority of a small house, without having to unplug. If that doesn’t get you suitably excited, then stick with us. Hetty’s big cousin comes with more attachments than you can shake a stick at.
What’s Included with the George?
601142 Crevicing tool
To get into corners and small spaces.
Extension Tube
So that you can reach farther and grip something sturdy.
Double Taper Hose Adapter
A little pipe that joins things together.
Soft Brush
For dusting the cobwebs off the ceiling.
Upholstery Nozzle
That lets you see all the gunk you suck off your furniture.
Combination Floor Tool
This does a combination of things.
Nuflex Bayonet Hose
Screws on to make George’s nose.
Cleanex Extraction Nose
Which does the same thing but for wet suction.
Extra Nozzle
Used to remove wet shampoo.
Wet Pick-Up Nozzle
With a handy scrubbing attachment.
Fishtail Extraction Nozzle
In case you need double the scrubbing power.
Tritex Filter
A tritex filter to remove even the most ingrained stains.
Car Cleaning Attachment
A brush that you clip on to the upholstery nozzle to make cleaning your car a cinch.
Trigger Valve & Spray Tube
A trigger valve and spray tube which are essential for carpet cleaning.
The phrase ‘value for money’ springs to mind. The boxed George when bought new has more than 15 separate attachments. There are very few vacuum cleaner manufacturers who can claim to include as much in a single product.
Who is Best Suited to the George?
We are not sure that there is anyone who wouldn’t be glad to have this tough, durable cleaner in their cupboard. That being said, there are those who will get the maximum use from it. People that live an outdoor, active lifestyle are likely to use the George vacuum cleaner five days a week to clean dirt out of their cars. Likewise, people with pets seem to love it for cleaning up little accidents…
The George is great for those who have plenty of storage space. Our first (and possibly last) complaint about it is that it is a little on the large side. If you have a really small house, if you live in a mobile home or if you are otherwise spatially challenged then the George might be too big for your household. If this sounds like you then we will lovingly direct you towards the Henry Micro. He might not clean wet and dry messes, but he does give you all the benefits of the Henry name in a smaller package.
George is brilliant for people who need a regular carpet shampooer due to allergies. The way Numatic have designed this machine allows for the dirty water and the clean water to remain separate at all times.
If you think about how a regular mop and bucket works, you can see how the same dirty water is swilled around with the clean water. It becomes harder to keep surfaces clean this way. Unless you have a very strong detergent and boiling water you won’t get all of the bacteria, or particles, that set off your allergies in the first place.
George keeps the dirty and clean water separated to keep your house fresher. If you are really struggling with allergies, the HEPA filtration system used by the entire Henry range should help you out. We’re going to examine just how that works, directly. For the moment, we just want to remind you of the Henry Micro, which has the extra special attention to allergens that most other vacuum cleaners lack.
The HEPA Filtration System
HEPA, meaning High Efficiency Particulate Air, is a type of filter usually used in vacuum cleaners. HEPA filters have been specifically devised to improve air quality in the home by filtering particles of dust out of the air.
HEPA filters are able to process 99.97% of air particles to a fine clarity. This leaves the air almost allergen free, giving you the best chance at a normal life (minus all those sniffles). Numatic use a HEPA filter in all Henry vacuums. The idea being that they want to minimize the dust in your home.
All this being said: there are lots of fakes on the market. Some products brand themselves as ‘HEPA-type’ filters, which is obviously not the same thing. A true HEPA filtration system has the brand name and its own serial number on it. Unfortunately, you might need to take your vacuum apart to check.
The moral of the story here is that you shouldn’t accept anything less than a proper, marked, distinguished HEPA filter if you have allergies. George has one, so you’re on the right track landing on the Henry Range pages. We give the George vacuum cleaner a 9 out of 10 for allergen removal. The seriously allergic should see the Micro, instead.
Next (and while we are on the subject of allergies) let’s talk dogs and cats. If you have a hairy pet can George keep up? His big green grin seems confident.
George vs Dog and Cat Hair
Reviewers mention this aspect decisively. The George has the same HEPA filtration as the Harry, which is the model from the Henry Range that was designed for catching pet hair. Since they have already expressly designed a pet hair sucking vacuum cleaner, the George is never going to be as good as that model in this area.
That being said, the George isn’t bad at cleaning up messes of all sorts. One of the things it has that the Harry doesn’t have is the ability to remove said pet hair from furniture as well as carpets. So you might lose a little in regards carpet-to-pet-hair-removal, but you gain it in furniture-to-pet-hair-removal.
We would confidently give the George vacuum a 9 out of 10 for pet hair removal. It’s acceptable as long as you’re not allergic. If you are allergic you may want to re-think your choice in pet, rather than your choice in vacuum cleaner.
George vs Your Car
This is one of the areas where George excels. That nearly 27 metres of allowance in reach lets you plug in at the door and vacuum out the car in the driveway. At most, you might need an extension cord if you don’t have a driveway.
It’s not even just about vacuuming. If you have a dog, then you have a dirty car. We can almost guarantee it. If you spend a lot of time outdoors then again, you are likely to be constantly scrubbing car seats. It might even be that you are not that active outdoors – but that you are exceedingly proud of your high-end car. Totally acceptable, as long as you can keep it spotless… and George lets you keep it as clean on the inside as you keep it on the outside.
With the handy tools and attachments for upholstery, you can run the shampoo over the seats to remove all sorts of dirt and grime. Give your car back a little of that ‘new car smell’ that you miss from when you first bought it… or even just get rid of the smell of damp. It all depends on what type of driver you are…
Asides from performance, the George is a little on the bulky side for moving around your car. We are perfectly willing to overlook this, however, owing to the fact that it saves you the cost of a full valet service.
We gave the George a 10 out of 10 for car cleaning. It’s even able to get the pet hair out of the foot mats and that’s a first.
George vs Carpets
George performs marvellously on carpets, whether wet or dry… that’s why millions of customers love it so much. It’s a little bulkier than some of the more lightweight models (if lightweight is important to you, we direct you towards Charles, his bluer, lighter cousin).
Again, you can clean up wet or dry dirt from your carpet using the George. Better than this, you can even then shampoo the last of the dirt out of the carpet to make sure your home is fresh and clean. The range of tools – like that crevicing tool – lets you get into all the nooks and crannies around the house. There really are no complaints.
The shampoo and hot water go down using the clean function, you go back over it and catch the dirty water in the vacuum. It’s really simple to use. The most complex part is deciding which of the five hundred attachments you need. We’re exaggerating, but you get the picture.
Lastly in the carpet category, George doesn’t have an assigned A, B or C class as far as we can tell. What we can report is that Amazon reviewers give suction on this machine a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars. That’s dang near excellent.
We gave the George a 10 out of 10 for carpets. You can’t just vacuum them, you can shampoo them, clean up stains, and use it on the furniture, too… which brings us to our next point.
George vs Furniture
The same reasons that the George performs well in the car is the same reason it performs well with your upholstery. There aren’t many fabrics that we would caution against using it on. We would perhaps avoid cleaning silk or very delicate materials with your George – but we don’t foresee you having much of that lying around with your soft furnishings.
The George generally works on hot water alone, but shampoo can be added. We would suggest that if you do this you keep it to a particularly gentle shampoo for your soft furnishings, just to be on the safe side.
All cautions aside, the George vacuum can clean your sofa so thoroughly that you will be disgusted by the streaks made by the first stroke. Be warned: if you clean one part of the couch you can’t stop there. You need to do the whole thing. We suggest only cleaning your upholstery if you are feeling energetic!
We gave the George a 10 out of 10 for furniture cleaning. Be sensible, don’t use it anywhere near any paint or varnish. However, the right amount of patience and attention to detail will leave your soft furniture as good as new.
Size and Practicality
In terms of size, the George isn’t perhaps the most practical vacuum cleaner on the market. If you live in a tiny house with tiny cupboards, then storage might be an issue. It’s a little on the bulky side at 11kgs. If you are in poor health carrying it up and down stairs might be a no.
However, you have to remember that the George has extra weight because it is a multi-purpose machine. It has extra weight when it has water in, it has extra weight because the bag is soaked – there are all sorts of reasons it weighs that little bit more, and all of them are good.
Another thing that is less-than-practical are those attachments. There are so many of them that you need to clean out a drawer and dedicate it to your new vacuum cleaner. Again, because it both vacuums and shampoos, the George has twice the attachments. However, it is an all-in-one.
We gave the George vacuum cleaner an 8.5 out of ten for size and practicality. You have to consider that you can have a single George, or a vacuum cleaner and separate carpet shampooer. The George cuts the need down to one machine that performs exceptionally well in both areas.
Suction Power
As we mentioned above, we couldn’t locate a suction class for the George. What we can tell you is that it runs at 1060 – the maximum suction power allowed by the EU. This is the power level that both provides good suction input while simultaneously minimizing harm to the environment through energy usage.
We gave the George vacuum a 9 out of 10 for suction… it can unblock your drains.
Cleaning Types & Versatility
The thing that makes George really shine is the versatility you get when you buy him. George has so many more uses than the majority of vacuum cleaners on the market. Even the famous Vax brand struggle to compare – at least according to reviewers on Amazon.
George can be used on your curtains, in your vehicle, to clean your walls, windows and carpets. It can be used anywhere you want to remove ingrained dirt from material, and it has enough reach to stretch all the way around a small house – or outdoors, if needed.
We gave George a 10 out of 10 for cleaning types and versatility. The attachments take it from cleaning type to cleaning type with ease. George doesn’t have a scrubbing brush tool so we wouldn’t use it to scrub hard floors (as one consumer asked) but for everything else? George is a go-to cleaning tool.
George in the 2023 market
The George vacuum cleaner has the durability of an old Nokia 3210. If you are old enough to remember the first few makes of mobile phone, you will remember that you could throw them off a wall and they wouldn’t smash. That is what George brings to the table in the 2020 vacuum cleaner market. The durability and longevity of the Henry name coupled with the ability to shampoo your carpets.
Our Verdict
If you know and love the Henry range already then this will complete your collection. If not, and you are in the market for a new vacuum cleaner, consider the George. He eliminates the need for a separate carpet cleaner, can freshen your upholstery, and has plenty of reach ready to keep your car fresh.
If the only downside from all that good work is a little bulkiness? We accept that. IF it can’t scrub floors? Well it isn’t a deck scrubber, it’s a vacuum cleaner. It comes with great performance, years of reliability, and every tool you could ever possibly need.
Our verdict is that George lives up to – and even exceeds – the family name. He’s the type of vacuum cleaner that you only need to buy once in a whole lifetime. That level of quality speaks for itself.
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