Numatic Little Henry Toy Vacuum Cleaner

I agree totally with the only other review that the durability was nil and not fit for purpose.. It was very
disappointing to buy a Christmas present for our grand daughter, who loved following me
around with her Little Henry, only to find it lasted 2-days as the hose was not
man enough for the job. Also my email to Casdon never received a reply so I will not
purchase from them EVER AGAIN.

25-ish years ago, I used to love toy replicas of my mum's real domestic appliances made by Casdon. And 25 years on there is no doubt about it: kids ADORE this toy replica of the commercial/domestic Numatic 'Henry'. Even kids who are petrified of real vaccuums! From the moment I bought this, this has been one of the most popular toys with my preschool class. The children wander round, happily vaccuuming the floor (with or without batteries), pulling or carrying 'Henry' along with them.

Unfortunately, the popularity of the toy is diminished by the poor build quality and some really daft design features. The 'body' and 'hat' of this toy Henry, though not what I'd call particularly solid, seem to be reasonably robust. However this is as far as it goes. The rest of the toy is poorly designed, poorly made and pieces are far too easily broken, damaged or lost.

The 'hose' is made from very thin plastic which damages easily, and the 'extension tube' and 'foot' don't attach to the hose well. These fall off easily and young children often need help putting them back. But probably the worst features of the toy Henry are the lead for the 'plug' and the magnetic winding mechanism on the 'hat' top.

The 'lead' for the toy Henry has been designed to conform to safety standards... and is made to break apart in the event that a child should put it around their neck. Whilst this is a good feature for safety, the narrow and fiddly design means that children will FREQUENTLY be applying to you to repair the cable on their toy - which breaks into several sections, including one which needs to be threaded through a hole in Henry's 'hat', none of which preschool-aged children have much chance of being able to repair for themselves.

The final problem with this Henry toy is the winding mechanism attached to the top of the 'hat'. The top plate for the winding mechanism is not permanently fixed, but instead attaches by means of small magnetic components (which merit a fairly scary safety notice on a slip of paper enclosed with the product re. the dangers of a child swallowing these). The magnetic fixings are necessary ONLY because of the design of the break-apart lead... and both problems could readily be fixed by changes to the design of this toy.

The easiest way Casdon could remedy the problem would be to eliminate the 'lead and plug' element altogether, and replace the detachable winding mechanism with a permanently fixed one (without actual function). This would only arguably reduce the 'realism' of the product: since electrical cables such as that being replicated here DO NOT fall apart! I would happily live without a suction cup in order not to be re-threading (or hunting for) sections of the cable every few minutes...

If the manufacturer were looking for a creative way around a safety dilemma, they could introduce a construction toy element to 'Henry', with perhaps an unscrewable winding mechanism and a fatter click-together cable that children could learn to put together with a bit of support. This might lack verisimilitude (but so does a pull-apart lead!), but would add educational value without diminishing safety. I know which I'd be happier to pay for!

agree with other reviews that this is not very well made, although my 2yr old son loves it. the top & bottom of the cleaner become separated frequently and he can't put it back together again himself. he became so frustrated with the cord not winding properly that i ended up pulling it off completely. the pipes cracked not long after we first bought it and had to be superglued together. all in all a terrible purchase, although as i have said, my son absolutely adores it