Vacuum Cleaner Needed - Numatic?

[Paul Hutchings]

OK the Vacuum Cleaner has seen better days and it seems pointless faffing about repairing it with prices as they are.

Don't have any allergies or pets, and I don't shed hair either so as I see it all I need is something that cleans carpets well, and is reliable.

I've done some digging and it seems the best regarded Vacuum cleaners are Miele, Sebo, Nilfisk and Numatic.

At the moment I'm leaning towards Numatic as they seem "no-frills" and pretty much every cleaner I've ever seen uses one so I assume they are good Vacuums and don't break often?

So, which one, and where from?

Dixons list the Numatic Henry at £78 with free delivery, which seems too good to be true from Dixons of all places, but I notice the spec states "1000w" which makes me wonder if it's a previous model or just a simple c*ck-up on their website?

Also what's the difference between their domestic and commercial ranges? I'm looking at, say, the James and the NVP180. Both around £70, so what's the difference as the NVP180 looks more powerful for similar money?

TIA, Paul

[Lobster]

We have a Numatic Henry - totally wonderful machines. Very powerful, tough and reliable.

You'll notice they mention an "Airo" brush which adds quite a bit to the price, and is particularly reccommended for long-haired-pet-households. Definitely worth having even without pets; it enhances cleaning ability no end.

Dunno. But in virtually every office I've ever worked at the cleaners have used Henrys, so maybe that says something?

[Dave Liquorice]

Oh you do but if it short it doesn't get tangled around things. Going by= your theory the only perosn in this house to shed hair is No.1 Daughter =

as hers is the only hair that gets tangled in the vacum. She has hair down to the small of her back everyone else has short hair, clear of shoulders.

None of those you mention have a rotating beater bar. IMHO the "beats, a= s it sweeps, as it cleans" action does make difference to the amount of effort you need to put in to get the same level of clean.

=A378 inc VAT delivered is good for a Henry.

[Colin Wilson]

Out of interest, how noisy are they ? - the last vacuum cleaner we had of that sort of design was an old aquavac and you needed bloody ear defenders to use it !

[Lobster]

The Henry 'Airo' attachment which I mentioned does just that. Excellent. Although my Daughter No 1's hair regularly needs removing from it as it gets tangles round the roller!

David

[The Medway Handyman]

Miele are just domestic machines. Best upright on the market is Sebo, tub vacs average.

Nilfisk are without doubt the best in the world, but the price tells you why. If you are over 30 there is a good chance a Nilfisk will out live you.

That's just about spot on.

Probably made for Dixons with a smaller motor to keep the price down.

Mainly motors & tools. I notice both come with aluminium wands - you are better off with the A1 kit which has SSteel wands. If you can get the NVP180 for the same as a James go for it - it has a more powerful motor.

As to where, Google for Numatic and buy online.

[John Rumm]

*massively* quieter than an aquavac (had one of those years ago - your right they are 'kin loud).

[Paul Hutchings]

That was one theory, a quick Google for "Numatic Henry 1000W" suggests it might be an "A1" which looks like a bit older model? Though as I said it could just be a c*ck-up on the Dixons website.

It's about seven quid more so not worth worrying about. I wasn't sure if I was being naive in thinking if it's £75 and has the 1200W motor why do I need spend the extra on a Henry?

[Paul Hutchings]

Fair point, spose what I was getting at was that I don't have any entangled pet hair to deal with - seems a lot of expensive vacuums make great play out of being able to deal with a setee covered in the stuff etc.

[Robbo]

You can't beat a Henry (Or the others in the Numatic range) for longevity, power, reliability and robustness. The hire shop I used to work in a few years ago had 50. Bloody damn fine machines that took everything in their stride (Water excepted). They do a Wet Vac version, a twin motor version and as others point out many tools for them for all sorts of applications. At £78 delivered they seem quite good compared to full retail. You can get one on EBay for half that. DON'T go for a refurb as they can be a little temperamental if not reassembled correctly, especially the ones with the cable retractor handle on the top. The tangs of the contacts inside sometimes break off and you lose power.

[HLAH]

Do the instructions not have a warning along the lines of "do not use this vacuum cleaner on children or pets" ;-)

H

[Paul Hutchings]

Not sure I can be bothered trying to track down a used one, obviously it could break tomorrow etc.

So far it looks like these are the options:

Numatic James (£68 delivered) or NVP180 (£77 delivered) from

for £78 from Dixons but I smell no stock/hassle/old stock.

An NVH-200 off eBay brand new for £75 inc delivery, looks the better model but can't see it on the Numatic website?

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

Colin Wilson typed

My 7-year-old Henry is fairly quiet. I don't worry about the neighbours if my partner decides to use Henry at 2am. We can't quite hold a conversation, but Henry is *much* quieter than my Hoover Junior.

[Ian Stirling]

I get mildly annoyed with my Henry, due to the relatively small capacity of the bin, when doing DIY. The visible bit of the bin is taken up quite a lot by the filter. Get the taller one - if you might be using it for more than domestic stuff.

[Robbo]

Yeah, the NVH has the same spec generally as the Henry. Do you *need* the Tritex filtration system really? Has a better storage space in the lid for tools.

1200w motor is useful, same as Henry one.

If you really want to go the whole hog look out for George GVE370-2 There isn't much it don't do, but it is around £149 generally.

There isn't much *that* machine won't cope with

[HLAH]

Definitely the most pleasant vacuum cleaner noisewise we have had. Not very quiet but not oppressive at all. The £15 Kenwood I just got from Amazon is maybe slightly noisier but has a much more unpleasant "whining" sound.

H

[Paul Hutchings]

Honestly not a clue :-)

Basically it's just a bit confusing when you see three models from the same manufacturer all at around the same price and you can't readily spot what makes one model the one to go for out of the three!

cheers, Paul

[Chris Game]

Quite noisy; although there is a toggle switch to reduce the fan speed and airflow, on mine that makes the fan stop and start every few seconds (after an initial few mins when it's ok). I guess there is a cooling problem there somewhere. So I run the thing flat out, lots of suck and lots of noise.

[JP]

If you are wanting it for carpets and not clearing out your shed, the Miele is the one to go for. It is extremely quiet, brilliantly engineered, and a host of tools for every job. The Cat and Dog is the one to go for, comes complete with 2 turbo brushes, one for small jobs like the car and upholstery the other brushes beats the hell out of the carpet. (ignore the Cat and dog name it gives you the all essential turbo brush) Miele has consistently won best buy in Which reports. The Numatic is fair but noisy and you really need the airo brush to get anything like decent carpet cleaning qualities, which pushes up the price to close to the miele. Even then you will have a 1100w against a 2200w motor.

I strongly recommend finding a dealer to demonstrate you the sophistication of this product, it is a different league to the Henry. In Engineering terms One is Morris Minor the other is BMW.

Froogle for the best price. Target around £156 delivered. Loads of recommendations on acukd&b.

[bronco]

The Henry will last years, most trades people use them. I have used one to clear bits of broken plaster up. The other expensive makes are just that - you pay for a name. Don't even consider the Dyson, very poor quality reinvention from an expired patent and now made abroad - the company should be forced to give back UK grants paid before sacking workers. To compare prices do what others do - use a price comparison site such as Kelkoo or Pricerunner. Also look at discount codes on hotdealsuk.