The Henry Hoover range is one of the most popular in the UK – and for good reason. Numatic vacuum cleaners are powerful, reliable and often sold for very reasonable prices. If you need a vacuum you can trust, almost any of the Henry range can do a great job (although the best option depends on your personal requirements). In short: no. The only differences are that the Hetty comes in a fetching pink colour scheme and has a set of eyelashes. Aside from that, the Henry and Hetty are exactly the same.

Another popular model in the Henry Hoover range is the Harry. While it has many of the same features, it’s specifically designed for people with pets (hence the paw print). For people with pets in their homes both the Henry Pet and Harry would be better options than the original Henry, whilst George and Charles are also more favourable than Henry if you want a wet and dry vacuum.

In addition to their suction capabilities, Henry Hoovers also offer a range of additional features to make cleaning even easier Instead, the Micro comes with a more effective MicroTex filtration system that stops allergens escaping. This has been approved by the British Allergy Foundation as suitable for people with dust allergies, so it’s a great choice if you’re an allergy sufferer. There are some missing features though. The James doesn’t have an automatic cable rewind system, you need to manually coil the cord at the top of the machine (see photo). It also doesn’t have the TriTex filtration system, so it’s not as suitable for people with allergies. One difference is the drum shape. As you can see from the photo, the HVR240 has a furniture guard above the wheels to protect fixtures and fittings. The Professional also has switches at the front of the machine for easy access.

Older versions of Hetty came with a green switch for controlling suction power, giving you the option of either high or low power. But due to restrictions on the motor power of vacuum cleaners first introduced by the EU in 2014, Numatic heavily reduced the motor power that the new Hetty model has, which has resulted in the newer versions of Hetty no longer having a suction control switch. Instead there is just a simple on off switch.

Henry is the model that started it all – although he’s had a number of upgrades over the years. With a charming exterior and simple design, you could be forgiven for thinking it can’t compete with more expensive models. As we found in our Henry Hoover review, however, this is far from the case. The frugal member of the family, James Hoover is a slightly smaller vacuum cleaner and comes with a couple of other alterations.