With my old vacuum cleaner in need of replacement, I put this Halo cordless model to the test to see how it fared on carpets, hard floors and pet hair – and it’s in a huge sale
Like many, I hate cleaning my house, so I’m always on the lookout for ways to make it as quick and easy as possible. So when my old Shark vacuum cleaner looked like it would be packing up soon, I jumped at the chance to try out the Halo Capsule X, the bagged vacuum with the biggest capacity cordless vacuum on the market.
And if, after reading this, you’re tempted to buy one then now’s the perfect time, as the Halo Capsule X bundle is currently reduced from £616.92 to £249.99 on the Halo website, where you’ll also find thousands of five-star reviews praising its performance.
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First up, there are a surprising amount of attachments and accessories inside such a compact box: hard floor roller, nozzle, fabric head, mini power head, extra battery, and more. It’s all very intuitive and easy to fit together, so you’ll be up and running in no time (Halo does advise fully charging the battery before using it though).
With carpets in the upstairs of my house, wooden floors downstairs, and two cats that shed plenty of hair, I was well placed to test the Halo Capsule X out to its full capacity. Starting on my carpets, I was immediately impressed with how light it was to hold and manoeuvre (I could easily do it with one hand) yet how powerful it was – it almost pulled me along with it! My carpets felt perfectly clean in minutes.
Halo Capsule X vacuum cleaner
£616.92
£249.99
Halo
Buy here
A lightweight-yet-powerful cordless bagged vacuum cleaner that’s perfect for smaller spaces.
Lightweight; powerful; clean to empty; nozzles are effective; power settings work across all nozzles; doesn’t take up much space
Hard floor roller didn’t work well for me; changing attachments requires two hands and a bit of effort; you will have to keep buying bags; doesn’t fold in half like some other makes
I had less luck with the roller head downstairs. Although definitely gentle on the flooring, I didn’t feel that it sucked up all the dirt and crumbs. I feel like it might work better on a linoleum floor rather than my uneven wooden one, and I instead switched to using the regular head on its lowest power setting (there are three settings to choose from).
The other attachments were also very effective. The nozzle got right into nooks and crannies, while the head for sofas and fabrics did a good job at removing hair (although the fabric my sofas are made of makes it tricky to get rid of hair completely). My one criticism is that removing the heads can be quite stiff and requires two hands, something that may be tricky for people with dexterity issues.
The bag inside can hold two litres of dust, with a red light telling you when it needs emptying when using boost mode. The bags are compostable and super-easy to fit and remove, and while there is the obvious cost of having to continuously buy these, it is far less messy than tipping out a bagless vacuum cartridge, and much better for allergy sufferers. Having never used a bagged vacuum cleaner before, I was surprised how easy and efficient it was.
Another feature that I liked compared to my previous machine was that the three power settings applied to every attachment and head – sometimes the nozzle, for example, can only be used at one air strength. In my bundle I also got a spare battery, which is handy if you forget to fully charge the tool before starting.
One downside compared to other models, however, is that you can’t switch between floor surfaces using the same head – you have to stop and manually change over the heads. There’s also nothing to neatly store all the attachments in; a basic tote bag in the box would have been handy.
Overall, though, this is an excellent lightweight-yet-powerful model for anyone looking for a compact bagged vacuum cleaner.
For something more traditional in style, and with larger capacity, the Hoover Bagged Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner is currently reduced from £139 to £99. And Shark’s machines are always popular; this is its most basic model, and now down from £249..9 to £179.99.