What do you want in a vacuum cleaner? Well, you want it to be light. You want it to have decent suction, and well, you want it to be easy to use. The Halo Capsule has all of this, and more. It’s one of the lightest vacuum cleaners around, thanks to its carbon fibre body and cleaning my two-bedroom apartment has been a pretty decent task. I never really once had an issue with the cleaning itself, but there are some things I would definitely change. But first, let’s discuss the product and what comes in the box.
Opening up the package you’re greeted with the cylindrical body which stands around 1225 x 120 x 120mm and only weighs 2.6kg which is insane in itself. The whole vacuum cleaner revolves around the main body, and you’ve got the handle as well as all controls at the very top of the body. It’s a refreshing take on traditional lightweight cleaners and almost follows Dyson in style. Though not quite as the Halo Capsule uses a bag. The bags though can hold 1.6 litres which are big, and they’re very inexpensive to replace.
From the body, you have a metal pole, which you connect either the motorised head to it, or there is a brush and crevice tool in the box too. Everything snaps into place with clips and it just feels very solid and robust. The motorised head can articulate, making it very easy to push around corners, and you can even lower the base right to the floor and still vacuum which helps when getting under coffee tables and sofas. There’s an audible click too when you move the Halo Capsule into its upright position and it’s fairly sturdy. One thing I wasn’t hugely keen on, is the fact it relies on a rubber pad when leaning it against a wall. In my box, I got a wall mounting kit which was useful enough as it just hung in place, but the power cord it relies on to charge is so short! This definitely needed to be a few meters long at least. Not all of us are blessed with plugs in a comfortable position for this unit.
Talking about power though, the Halo Capsule has three power modes, a Boost mode which produces the highest amount of suction, and Eco mode which produces the least, and a Performance mode in between. Depending on your flooring, you’re going to want to switch them, as for carpets I found it very hard to suction, but for my kitchen tiles, the highest power mode was great and got in the grouting and around the base of my cabinets and fridge. Battery life however is a mixed opinion, because it definitely depends on how often you vacuum and how big your house is. As I said at the start I’m in a modest two bed apartment, and it’s fine. Once I’m done, it goes back to its home and goes on a charge if need be. However, with the battery life rated at an hour on its Boost setting. Milage at this point may vary and it takes around three hours to fully charge from flat.
The cleaning performance was absolutely fantastic, and I couldn’t really find much of a fault with it, especially when it came to suction, and even on the Eco mode for when I was on carpet it was absolutely great and left nothing behind. Not that I make much mess though. I usually get dust and fluff from socks in the carpets, and it handled it fine. Edge cleaning could have been a little better, however, as when I used the motorised head it didn’t quite get right into my skirting, but I do have a crevice tool to use for those areas. Lifting the Halo Capsule up to get into the top corners of my room was a little awkward, as the handle is on the rear of the device. It’s not particularly heavy still, but it would have been nice to have a handle on the back or front for this type of cleaning. I must also say at this point that it’s pretty quiet, and that impressed me too. You won’t be able to do much midnight cleaning as the neighbours may mind if your houses are joined, but it doesn’t have that droney sound that vacuum cleaners usually come with either.
I know fully well that Halo is attempting to take on the current top dogs of vacuum cleaners with their Capsule, and I must say good for them. They’ve made an absolutely fantastic product which works well. Battery life kind of sucks, but again your mileage may vary, and it’s a shame it’s not bagless, but the silver lining is the bags don’t cost a lot and they’re huge so will hold a lot. For a vacuum cleaner that I’ve seen online for as little as £249 though, it’s wonderful. If you live in an apartment or smaller sized home and were thinking of getting something small, lightweight and essentially handheld, then the Halo Capsule could be the one for you. For more information head over to the Halo website.
