The original
I was really interested to see how well the dedicated hard floor nozzle performed on the laminate flooring in my kitchen and hallways, where I usually use a standard brush. Furthermore, I was intrigued to see how the AiroBrush compared to the regular Combi Floor Tool, so I will be carrying out a direct comparison between the two in this review.
Is Henry Xtra right for you?
Henry Xtra offers extra features over the regular
- Better for Pets & DIY
- An extra 3 litres of dust capacity
- Heavier than the regular Henry
- Not great for stair cleaning
What’s the difference between Henry Xtra and Henry ?
Henry Xtra comes with a dedicated hard floor tool, as well as an AiroBrush that has a rotating brush bar for picking up pet hair. The original
Unboxing and assembling
In the box, I found the three floor head tools (combi floor tool, hard floor brush, and AiroBrush), the crush-proof conical hose, three extension tubes, the filter, and a spare dust bag (with a bag already installed). Also, you get the three attachments that you get with all
All of the machines in the
Cable Length
Henry Xtra comes with a long 10 metre cable, which is long enough to vacuum the entire floor of an average sized home, without having to relocate to a different wall socket. I found that I was able to plug in to the socket in our downstairs hallway, reach all the way up the stairs, and into the room above. This is a useful, practical feature that cuts down on your total vacuuming time, as well as the general annoyance of having to find a new plug every time you move into a new room.
Dust Capacity
Henry Xtra has a very large dust capacity of 9 litres, which is definitely on the larger side when it comes to cannister vacuum cleaners. This kind of capacity means that you are going to be filling up this bag for many weeks, and possibly months, before you need to change it. When it is full, all you have to do is lift the motor off the top (after releasing the two clips that sit on the side), remove the filter, and then slide off the bag from the interior nozzle. There is a flap that will prevent any of the debris from escaping, on your journey to the outside bin.
Attachments and what they’re for
Henry Xtra comes with the three core attachments that all of the
Upholstery Brush
The upholstery brush is a miniature floor tool, with firm bristles running around its circumference for agitating hair and dirt. It is intended to be used on flat(ish) surfaces that are too small for the combi floor tool, or AiroBrush, to be used on. This includes sofas, chairs, stair treads, car mats, etc. The bristles do create quite a bit of friction, so you need a bit of strength to stroke back and forth on your chosen surface, but I found the results to be very impressive, particularly on our stair treads and sofa cushions.
Upholstery brush before and after (multiple strokes)
Soft Dusting Brush
The soft dusting brush is small and circular, with a circumference of much softer bristles that are akin to horse hair, that are meant to prevent damage to delicate items that you need to vacuum. This attachment is useful for cleaning picture frames, light fittings, blinds, etc. I found this attachment to be particularly useful for cleaning my ceiling fans, (which are very flimsy and delicate when they are not rotating at high speed).
Soft Dusting Brush before and after (multiple strokes)
Crevice Tool
The crevice tool is a long, cylindrical attachment that will grant you access to those really tight gaps that are otherwise impossible to clean properly. This includes down the side of your sofa and the gaps between your car seats. Also, it will take care of the dust and dirt that sits between objects, like the edges of your carpets and skirting boards, items of furniture, etc. The noise created when the crevice tool is attached is quite immense, and the sound of bits of debris flying up the nozzle is intensely satisfying, as is the feeling that you have removed lots of horrible dust and dirt that sits in places often hidden.
Crevice tool before and after (1 stroke)
I was highly impressed by the results with the crevice tool. It made short work of the dust and hair that sat between our carpets and skirting boards and was even better in the car, removing bis of biscuit and countless raisins from the kids car seats.
Floor Tools
Combi Floor Tool
The combi floor tool is the workhorse in the
I found the combi floor tool to be effortless in terms of switching between my carpets and laminate in my home. The results were excellent on both surfaces.
AiroBrush
The AiroBrush is the real meat of the
The AiroBrush is really not suitable for cleaning up after DIY, because of this fairly delicate plastic fan. You really want to avoid sucking up anything hard or sharp, as the fan could become cracked or damaged. For anything DIY related, stick to the combi floor tool.
This floor tool produces a whirring sound, and it was certainly very good at removing pet hair, as well as dried on mud from the kids shoes.
Because the AiroBrush is one of the main selling points of the
AiroBrush vs. Combi Floor Tool Comparison
This test used a mixture of cat hair, human hair (from a recent family hair cut in our kitchen), lint, and other general dust and dirt from the vacuum cleaner bag.
Before
The combi floor tool is on the left, and the AiroBrush is on the right.
After (1 stroke up and 1 stroke down)
After (2 strokes up and 2 strokes down)
The AiroBrush wins this test, with noticeable better vacuuming results on hair in particular. That being said, the combi floor tool still did very well, and I am confident that you could achieve similar results as the AiroBrush on dog hair in particular; it would just take longer. One thing I did notice is that the AiroBrush’s rotating roll only seems to spin when you are stroking back towards yourself, so the strokes away (or upwards in this test) don’t seem to do much, compared with the combi floor tool. Both floor tools required multiple strokes to completely get rid of all of the hair and dirt.
Hard Floor Tool
I’m not really sure whether it is necessary to have a dedicated hard floor tool, when you consider that the combi floor tool does offer the ability to vacuum hard floors quite effortlessly. This does strike me as an unrequired accessory that helps to pad the
Dedicated Floor Tool vs Combi Floor Tool Comparison
I was curious to see whether there was truly any difference, so I set up a direct comparison between the two on our hard laminate kitchen floor, using some flour.
Before
The dedicated floor tool is on the left, and the combi floor tool is on the right.
After (1 stroke total upwards)
The difference in terms of results was negligible, but if I had to choose, I would say that the dedicated floor tool actually performed slightly better on this flour hard floor test. The dedicated hard floor tool also seemed to produce a cleaner edge, but I can’t think how this would matter very much. The difference is really quite hard to notice, though.
Lastly, there was definitely more flour left on the dedicated floor tool after this test, compared with the combi floor tool. The bristles seemed to trap a lot of it, which is probably something that would build up over time with regular hard floor cleaning, so it is worth bearing in mind.
Manoeuvrability
Numatic have really thought long and hard about the practicality of their machines for everyday use.
There is even more rubber on the
Storage
Henry Xtra is a little larger than the regular
Also included with the
Stair Cleaning
Even though I was able to get great results on the individual stair treads with the upholstery tool attached to the hose, the sheer weight of the
Furthermore, with the hose attached, I was only able to reach perhaps half way up the stairs. It could be possible to follow this approach, reaching up from the bottom of the staircase and then relocating the machine to the top, to reach back downwards, but I would be careful that you don’t accidentally tug the
In terms of stair cleaning, the
Final Verdict
So is Henry Xtra worth the extra money? It really depends on the price difference at the time of you reading this. It is quite common for that difference to only be £20, and if that is currently the case, it is worth paying a little extra for the
The dedicated hard floor tool really isn’t much to write home about, and the Combi Floor Tool does just as good a job on hard floors. The added capacity of this machine makes it very suitable for people with large homes, or who want to use it commercially, but you are trading off additional weight, which is not really worth it for everyday home users.
If you like the idea of the AiroBrush but don’t want the extra weight to deal with, you can buy the regular Henry and then just purchase the AiroBrush separately, which will add up to about the same total cost. I would recommend this if you are just looking for a vacuum cleaner to tidy up your home.
Where to buy Henry Xtra
- The Henry Vacuum Range – What are the Differences in 2024? - September 2, 2024
- Review of the Harry Vacuum - September 1, 2024
- Henry Quick Pet Review - July 15, 2024