If you were to visit my home, it would not be immediately obvious that there is a pet living in the house. However, eagle-eyed visitors will notice the scratched-up sofa and the home-made cat flaps in our stair gates. Due to an unfortunate squeeze of a tail and a retaliatory whack on the head between my then 1-year-old daughter and our short haired cat Scamp, he doesn’t spend much time in the house during the day. However, once bedtime has arrived and he knows the coast is clear, he shows up at the back door.
Scamp doesn’t tend to malt a great deal of hair, and certainly not the quantity that a dog produces. However, there is still evidence of his presence on certain spots on the carpet, as well as on our two sofas. I had been wanting to test out the Henry Pet for a while but was conscious that I didn’t have as much of a reason to purchase one, compared to the average dog owner. However, I did have some idea as to how stubborn pet hair can be to remove from carpets, so I wanted to try my best to recreate the conditions for a vacuum cleaner, specifically designed for pet owners, to thrive in.
So, this review will use a mixture of Scamp’s fur, our neighbour’s cat’s fur, and our own human hair (from a family-wide hair cut in our kitchen this morning).
The Henry Pet vacuum cleaner is the green brother to Henry, and he has been specifically designed to tackle stubborn pet hair. He is a cannister vacuum cleaner, meaning that dust, dirt, and hair are sucked up into a bag and he has a large number of strong, sturdy and versatile attachments that make him really useful at all vacuuming tasks and not just for lifting up pet hair. However, this is a no-nonsense machine that lacks the latest advancements in vacuuming technology, so if you are looking for something fancy, then you might want to look elsewhere. That being said, if you want a machine that will last for years without complaint, and if you are a dog owner in particular, then read on.
What’s the difference between Henry Pet and Henry?
Henry Pet comes with the attachments that Henry comes with, including the combi floor tool, soft dusting brush, crevice tool, and upholstery brush. However, it also includes a special floor tool with a rotating brush bar, which lifts up stubborn pet hair much better than the standard combi floor tool that you get with the Henry. Additionally, Henry Pet has a charcoal infused filter, which is better at removing pet odours.
In terms of size, Henry Pet has a much larger dust capacity (9 litres) compared to the standard Henry (6 litres). Henry Pet is also a little bigger (340 x 360 x 370mm), compared to Henry (320 x 340 x 345mm) and he weighs 0.5 kg more.
Unboxing and assembling
Inside the box is the body of the Henry Pet, the crush-proof hose, three extension tubes (that stick together to form the wand), an upholstery brush, a crevice tool and a soft dusting brush. Additionally, there is the Combi Floor Tool and the EcoBrush (for pet hair). Lastly, you will likely get a dust bag pre-fitted, as well as a spare one for future use. All of these machines are very easy to put together, and the Henry Pet was no different. All I had to do was push the three tubes together to form the wand, and then push the floor head onto one end and the extension hose onto the other. Then, I screwed the hose onto Henry Pet’s nose and plugged him in to a socket.
The large red switch on top illuminated, which told me that we were ready to start.
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
Cable Length
Henry Pet comes with an impressively long 10 metre cable, which is the same length as all of the different models in the Henry range. For our house, which is a 3-bed Victorian property, I was able to vacuum an entire floor without having to relocate to a new power socket. This is a really practical and beneficial feature for this machine, as it avoids the annoyance of having to keep unplugging and plugging in as you move between rooms. To illustrate this length, I was able to plug into the wall socket in our downstairs hallway, reach up the stairs, and across the landing, into our master bedroom.
Storage
The Henry Pet is not a difficult vacuum cleaner to store, in spite of its very large dust capacity. Indeed, I found it very easy to quickly disassemble the wand and pack the machine away in an Ikea storage chest. It also fit very well into a wardrobe and under our stairs. In an ideal world, I would like to store it fully assembled, so that I can quickly use it and put it away, ready to be used again immediately. However, we are short on space in our home, and besides, it really wasn’t much of a bother to take the wand apart.
At the back of the Henry Pet is a storage caddy, which offers the ability to store two of the three attachments while you are on the move. Also, there is an additional bracket for the combi floor tool to clip into, with the extension wand and hose attached, which is really useful for keeping everything neat and compact when you store it away (if you have somewhere suitable to store it vertically, that is).
Dust Capacity
Henry Pet has a massive 9 litre capacity dust bag, which is a full 3 litres larger than that which you get with the Henry and Hetty models. Unfortunately, the machine that I was able to get my hands on didn’t come with a bag, so I don’t have a picture of one. However, I did have a few spare dust bags for my Henry in a drawer so I slotted one of those in instead. It was actually quite good to know that the bags for Henry will work with the Henry Pet.
On the side of the machine are two clips that, upon release, will allow you to lift off the motor that sits in the head of the Henry Pet, exposing the filter underneath. Underneath the filter is where the bag sits, slotted into the interior end of the extension hose.
All of the bags from Numatic are made from a thick, tough Hepaflo material, and they have a self-sealing tab that will prevent any of the dust, dirt, and hair from escaping when the time comes to remove it and pop it in your outside bin. This kind of capacity means that you are unlikely to have to change the bag for many weeks, or possibly months.
MicroFresh Charcoal Filter
The filter in the Henry Pet is different from what you find in the Henry. It boasts charcoal-activated filtration, which is meant to trap pet odours as you clean around your home. From what I understand, the smell of a dog can be particularly off-putting, even to dog owners, so this seems like a rather attractive feature for owners of our four-legged friends.
Attachments and what they do
Henry Pet comes with the same set of attachments that all of the vacuum cleaners in the Henry range come with, which is only good news for pet owners as they are all strong, durable, and incredibly versatile. The Henry Pet really thrives when you work your way through the attachments as you go, swapping them out depending on the type of surface, nook, or cranny you are working with. All of these attachments can connect to either the hose, or the fully assembled wand (or just one of the wands), depending on the reach that you need.
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
Combi Floor Tool
The Combi Floor Tool is the standard floor tool that comes with all of the vacuum cleaners in the Henry range. It has two litter pickers above and below the suction hole, with a brush bar that can be lowered using the foot pedal, for easy transition between hard and soft floors. This floor head should be used for the majority of your floor cleaning, and I found that it produced great results across its entire width (rather than concentrated in the middle, near the hole). It definitely does require a bit of strength to stroke back and forth on deep pile carpet, though.
EcoBrush
The EcoBrush floor tool is what sets the Henry Pet apart from the regular Henry. It has a rotating brush bar that has been designed specifically to lift up stubborn pet hair. It is far narrower than the Combi Floor Tool, because it is intended to be used on smaller surfaces (rather than the whole carpet) where pet hair has accumulated, as well as on sofas and chairs in particular. The machine is a lot louder with this floor tool attached, due to the noise that the rotating brush bar creates.
EcoBrush vs. Combi Floor Tool Performance Comparison on Pet Hair
I was really intrigued to see how the EcoBrush would perform on the hair that I had gathered for this review. To keep things fair, I spread an even amount of hair out on a medium pile carpet.
Before
The EcoBrush is on the left, and the Combi Floor Tool is on the right.
After (four strokes total, up and down)
Once again, EcoBrush is on the left and the Combi Floor Tool is on the right.
As you can hopefully see from the picture above, the EcoBrush definitely produced better results on our pet hair test. I was actually surprised at how well the regular combi floor tool did, with a small amount of pet hair left after four strokes in total. However, the EcoBrush came out on top, with only a few strands of hair left, and I can see that it would be beneficial to dog and cat owners.
There was quite a bit of hair left on the brush bar afterwards, which I had to pick out with my fingers.
Floor Head Tools Reach
I find one of the trickiest areas of my home to vacuum is under the beds, and I was curious to see how easy the extension wand and floor tool combination would be to use in this often under-vacuumed area. It turns out that I was able to reach approximately 1/3 of the way across the width of our standard double bed, which is pretty good but not ideal. However, I was able to quickly swap out the combi floor tool for the upholstery brush (more on that down below), which did indeed reach the rest of the way across and allowed me to spotlessly vacuum the entire space under the bed.
Upholstery Brush
The upholstery brush is a much smaller version of the combi floor tool, with a circumference of bristles that are designed to agitate dust, dirt, and hair and send it up the hose. This tool is perfect for when you want to vacuum sofas, chairs, car floors, and stair treads. Essentially, any flat surface that is too small for a regular floor head tool, is what you will want to use the upholstery brush on. I liked how easy it was to slide this attachment onto the universal adapter and then onto the end of the hose, and the tough bristles around the edge allowed me to really scrub our sofas and particularly, the floor of our car (more on that later) and the stair treads. All in all, I had great results using this attachment in our home.
Upholstery Brush Before and After (Multiple Strokes)
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
Soft Dusting Brush
The soft dusting brush is circular in shape and has a circumference of much softer bristles than the upholstery brush, akin to horse hair. The purpose of this brush is to prevent damage to delicate items that still need vacuuming, such as light fittings, blinds, picture frames, clocks, etc. Such things are likely to become scratched or worse, if you use the upholstery brush instead.
I found this brush really useful to suck up the dust that had accumulated on my ceiling fans, as well as the gaps between my house plants on my kitchen window sill and the various light fittings around our home.
Crevice Tool
The crevice tool is long and thin, with a narrow nozzle that will slot into the very tight nooks and crannies in your home, where a regular hoze nozzle simply couldn’t fit. This is definitely the most satisfying attachment to use, as it allows you to clean areas where dust and dirt have likely accumulated over a few years. For instance, down the sides of your sofas and at the point where your carpets meet your skirting boards.
Crevice Tool Before and After (One Stroke)
Stair cleaning with Henry Pet
Henry Pet is not a very good vacuum cleaner for stair cleaning, mainly because of his shape and how much he weighs. He is impossible to balance on a regular-sized stair tread, and he is also quite heavy, which is a downside because you have to carry him in one hand as you vacuum with the other. The James vacuum is the best machine in the Henry range for stair cleaning because he is the lightest. However, none of these machines are particularly well suited for this task.
That being said, if you don’t have any strength or mobility issues, the upholstery brush does produce very good results with stair treads. I think this is a minor criticism of the Henry Pet, but it is still worth mentioning.
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
Car cleaning with Henry Pet
The three attachments that you get with the Henry Pet, which can either slot on to the end of the hose (using the universal adapter) or the end of the extension wand, are really useful for car cleaning. The two floor heads are simply too big to use in the car, but the upholstery brush is the perfect size for vacuuming the car floor, car mats, the sides of the rear seats, and the boot floor. The firm bristles did a really good job of agitating the crusty mud from our winter family trips outdoors.
The soft bristles on the dusting brush were perfect for vacuuming up the dust that builds up on the dashboard, as well as the smaller dirt and bits of snack wrapper that had collected in the cup holders. I also found this attachment useful for the car seats, including the children’s in the back.
And lastly, the crevice tool, which was a revelation because it allowed me to suck up all of the debris that had fallen into the very tight gap between the seats, where I couldn’t even fit my hand. I think this was my favourite attachment to use in the car overall.
All in all, the Henry Pet is a great vacuum for car cleaning. The attachments cover every type of surface, and the suction power is more than enough to pick up the stubborn dirt that seems to accumulate in cars. The long cord also means you are likely to be able to reach your car on your drive, or even parked on the road. However, you can always use an additional extension lead to increase the range.
Manoeuvrability
As I navigated the various rooms in my home, I tended to lead with the extension wand in front of me, trailing the body of the machine behind me, using the hose to pull him along. This means that there were a few occasions when the Henry Pet bumped into door frames, coffee tables, and other furniture. I was therefore pleased to see that he has a strip of rubber that runs all the way around his belly, which acts as a buffer to prevent damage to the casing (or my door frames!).
The two rear wheels and front casters also have a rubber coating, which means that they are very unlikely to damage any hard flooring, such as in your kitchen or hallways.
Final Thoughts
Henry Pet is a machine that retains all of the performance and functionality of the original Henry, with added ability when it comes to lifting up stubborn pet hair from carpets. The Ecobrush floor head is definitely better at removing pet hair, compared with the regular combi floor tool. The added charcoal filter will help with pet odours, and the increased capacity is a welcome bonus.
If you have a dog in particular, then you should definitely consider opting for the Henry Pet. The attachments are strong, tough, and practical, and the cleaning results on both carpets and hard floors are excellent. This is a basic vacuum cleaner that performs very well, and it will likely last for years.
However, this vacuum cleaner is heavy, and it can be a little cumbersome to drag around, so if you have any issues with mobility or strength, I would opt for something more modern and lightweight.
One final word, if you already own a Henry, Hetty, or one of the other machines but you want better results for specifically pet hair removal, consider purchasing the Ecobrush separately, as it will slot onto any of the machines from Numatic.
James Cook is an expert of the range of Numatic Henry vacuum cleaners from the UK. Having reviewed all of the Numatic vacuum cleaners over the course of the last 6 years, James is highly experienced at helping you choose the right model for your specific needs. His work has been featured in major publications such as Helping.co.uk, TheWhoot.com and Simplemost.com. Visit our About Us page for more information regarding James. Alternatively, you can contact him on Linkedin.
I am new to using a henry hoover, have always used dyson but was getting a bit fed up with them not lasting more than a few years even in a tiny bungalow. everyone raved about a henry so thought i’d try one. decided on the henry pet. put together and tried out for the first time only to find it too hard to push, doesn’t glide at all on any surface !!!! and i don’t have a deep pile carpet either. what am i doing wrong…..
Have you tried using the bleed valve on the top of the extension wand on the handle? You should be able to reduce suction this way and that should make it easier to vacuum. I would also try raising the brush bar using the foot pedal, as this does make it harder to glide along.
I am new to using a henry hoover, have always used dyson but was getting a bit fed up with them not lasting more than a few years even in a tiny bungalow. everyone raved about a henry so thought i’d try one. decided on the henry pet. put together and tried out for the first time only to find it too hard to push, doesn’t glide at all on any surface !!!! and i don’t have a deep pile carpet either. what am i doing wrong…..
Have you tried using the bleed valve on the top of the extension wand on the handle? You should be able to reduce suction this way and that should make it easier to vacuum. I would also try raising the brush bar using the foot pedal, as this does make it harder to glide along.