Never thought I'd ever say this about my old friend Henry...

[eldar]

grumbledoak said:

It's "horses for courses", really. A Henry is nowhere near as good as a Dyson on carpet, but it will survive pretty much anything you throw at it.

This. Dysons are fine for carpets and domestic stuff, but fail to cope with garage duties. Henry does the latter admirably, and easily withstands trauma that would have Dyson terminally wounded.

[Wozy68]

You go on just about any refurb or building site where they are in the process of finishing and tidying up and see what vacuum they are using.

Pretty much guarantee it will be a well abused (though bizarrely, normally much loved) Henry.

Imagine a Dyson being able to hack it?

[Morningside]

I have an old Hoover wet and dry vac thing. Its great for the car as it has massive suction power and also can soak up liquid so its ideal when you have a leaky sunroof!
It can also Hoover the shed floor and just about everything.

No matter what task I give it I have failed to kill it off.

As for this Dyson stuff, I would never buy one. Lots of people have and had to replace the plastic tat bits or the bearing have fallen out.

[eskidavies]

I can't do without Henry vital for my job ,I use it as a hop up aswell,stand on it to reach the top of boilers I'm servicing,i used it to Hoover my decking and front steps the other day,the OH also has a hettty the pink one

[jmorgan]

My main concern are the filters what with having asthma and all. Sod the make, though the dyson is now in the garage as it had a tendency for the wheels to catch a bit of grit and gouge the wood when we had wood flooring put down. On the carpet it coped fine. On another brand now but never an issue apart from the stated with the dyson.

[otolith]

Laurel Green said:

otolith said:

You unclip the cylinder, hold it over the bin and press a button. Why would you clean it?

...because the filters will need cleaning on a regular basis to prevent the lack of suction from such occurring - can be very messy with the larger filters.

Filters aren't peculiar to bagless cleaners.

[Laurel Green]

otolith said:

Laurel Green said:

otolith said:

You unclip the cylinder, hold it over the bin and press a button. Why would you clean it?

...because the filters will need cleaning on a regular basis to prevent the lack of suction from such occurring - can be very messy with the larger filters.

Filters aren't peculiar to bagless cleaners.

I agree. Having said that; I use the Numatic Henry HEPA bags and find that the filter only has to be cleaned perhaps once a year. Unlike my old Dyson DC02(still have but never now used)which had to constantly be cleaned to prevent loss of suction(how do they get away with that in their adverts?).

ETA: 'Twas an DC02 not DC01, not that it matters.

Edited by Laurel Green on Sunday 27th July 20:01

[minipower]

I have yet to buy any vacuum cleaner that has fully taken over from Henry. I was using my one to clean up the crap from a garage conversion yesterday. Still going strong and it was purchased in the eighties.

[eliot]

otolith said:

You unclip the cylinder, hold it over the bin and press a button. Why would you clean it?

Because filters - they need cleaning or replacing. Resulting in clouds of dust that you have just 'cleaned' up.

Imagine a cleaner where the filter and dirt container were combined into a single unit. That single container would be very cheap as its made from paper and quick and easy to dispose of.
By Jove I think I'm onto someuthing - I will call my invention a 'vacuum bag'

[otolith]

Modern high performance hoovers have filters whether they have a bag or not. If you choose something that just has a bag, all the crap that something like a Miele's filter catches is just being blown around the room.

[Foppo]

minipower said:

I have yet to buy any vacuum cleaner that has fully taken over from Henry. I was using my one to clean up the crap from a garage conversion yesterday. Still going strong and it was purchased in the eighties.

Agree.Dyson is hype he never invented anything it is a industrial concept.

We have two Henry's best simple vacuum cleaner on the market.

[monthefish]

dickymint said:

It's now been re-classified as a heap of junk and has been banished to the garage to serve out the rest of it's days sucking up wood chippings!!

It took all of 5 minutes with my new shiny shiny to change our minds. Dyson DC 59 Animal absolutely rocks. The official welcoming and wall hanging ceremony will be taking place later - pride of place on full show in the lounge.

My apologies Henry but you suck (not). Thanks for the many years service but I'm afraid there's no gold watch for you laddy.

So true.

thepeoplespal said:

Dyson's & rubble do not make happy bedfellows, Henry will be back, mark my words. :-)

Rubbish.

I bought one of the original Dysons, a DC-02 in 2002.
About 5 years ago, the Mrs wanted one of the newer, prettier Dyson models so my original became the 'property developing' one, and it has been dealing with building sites since without issue. I just clean the tub regularly and replace the filters (which you can buy for a couple of quid on amazon) and it just works.

On the other side of the coin, I have never known an old Henry vacuum to be anything other than rubbish. They are heavy and cumbersome to use, and they take about 3 passes before it'll pick anything up. I can't believe so many people have been duped buy the manufacturer painting a smiley face onto it to try to mask the fact that their products are complete rubbish.

[worsy]

You know for 70 quid you can get a Dyson serviced with all new parts replacing worn ones?

[BigBen]

worsy said:

You know for 70 quid you can get a Dyson serviced with all new parts replacing worn ones?

I think I read that on here a few years ago. Either way I read it somewhere and last week a man from Dyson came round, looked at our 12 year old Dyson, did not have the bits so came back two days later and pretty much rebuilt it, with a new motor the lot, all for £70.

Having said that the Electrolux bagged cleaner inherited from my Granny is about 35 years old and still going strong in the garage

Ben

[Pheo]

I didn't know that - thanks!

[Dave_ST220]

Can't say I rate them. Pipe always seems to split, to be fair it took all of 3 minutes to the free phone number & a new one was on my door step in 3 days.

[Burnham]

Just bought a DC35 (couldn't stretch to the Animal!), to compliment my Henry. Certainly wont replace it, but very handy for a quick nip around.

Was not sure £200 would be justified, but its certainly useful.

[paulrockliffe]

I bought one of the lightweight portable Dysons recently, great bit of kit.

Just picked up this on eBay for when some proper suction is required:

IMAG0184 by paulrockliffe, on Flickr

Not sure Henry is going to beat that!

[Laurel Green]

paulrockliffe said:

Not sure Henry is going to beat that!

No but, Henry beats it on taste.

[fatboy b]

Dyson marketing rocks. Their products don't.