Bagged vacuums are back - made better than ever by Dyson and Shark's former designer

The Halo Capsule XR Vacuum arrived on my radar out of the blue. As soon as I'd seen it, I couldn't get the Halo brand out of my head. Their vacuums aren't flashy, nor are they gimmicky, but they are seriously substantial. Created by a former designer from Dyson and Shark, Halo is the meeting point of two vacuum heavyweights, drawing on Dyson’s engineering ambition and Shark’s practical, user-first thinking.

When we all rushed toward cordless, bagless designs in the race for convenience, it felt like we’d reached peak innovation. The best vacuums suddenly became lighter, sleeker, and easier to empty, but somewhere along the way, we sacrificed deep hygienic disposal, large-capacity dust storage, and that satisfyingly powerful, sealed suction system.

Luckily, Halo spotted that gap and with the Capsule XR, they’ve tried to reclaim what many of us miss, without giving up the cordless freedom that's behind many of the best Dyson vacuums. Their vacuums know how to deep clean your home properly with almost unrivalled power, filtration, and capacity. The Halo Capsule XR doesn’t just promise convenience, it promises substance. And after weeks of testing, I have a lot to say about whether it delivers.

Halo Capsule XR Vacuum review

Who would the Halo Capsule XR Vacuum suit?

If you live in a larger property with multiple bedrooms, mixed flooring, perhaps a pet who leaves kibble and fur all over the floors, you'll be giving the Halo Capsule XR its perfect place to shine. Its 2-litre dust capacity is enormous in cordless terms, meaning you’re not constantly stopping to empty a tiny canister mid-clean. In fact, for context, many cordless models hover around 0.5–0.8 litres. Two litres transforms the rhythm of cleaning, so you can move room to room uninterrupted.

It’s also ideal if you care deeply about hygiene. The sealed bag system, combined with H14 HEPA filtration (which captures up to 99.995% of particles down to 0.1 microns), making it particularly appealing for allergy sufferers. For me, the biggest win is not having to reach into a bin chamber and release a plume of fine powder back into the air and around the bin.

If you’re someone who thinks that they know how to clean your home like a professional, this vacuum aligns beautifully with that mindset. It encourages slower, deliberate passes. It handles deep-cleaning sessions. It feels designed for people who care about performance over trend.

The Halo Capsule XR Vacuum is not for the quick once-over before guests arrive. It’s not for studio flats or light daily surface cleans. This is a serious machine for serious homes.

Unboxing the Halo Capsule XR Vacuum

The Halo Capsule XR Vacuum is an impressive model, which warrants some pomp around packaging. Whilst the box is both long and quite weighty, it's all in proportion for a vacuum that would suit large homes and substantial cleaning tasks too.

Most of the packaging is sustainable, save for some soft plastics, which will need to go to your local large supermarket if you want to recycle them. The important part is that the Halo Capsule XR Vacuum arrives in perfect condition - and it does.

Aside from the main body of the vacuum, Halo sends lots of accessories: a hard floorhead, a soft floorhead, crevice tool, upholstery tool, flexible hose, brush tool, and two batteries which promise 70 minutes of run time. They also include a set of bags, so you can start vacuuming straight away.

The bags themselves deserve mention. Sold at almost cost price, a deliberate decision by the founder, they’re made from plant-based and cardboard-derived materials. They’re sturdy, biodegradable, and large. It’s an elegant solution to the hygiene problem without creating landfill guilt.

What is the Halo Capsule XR Vacuum like to use?

Halo advertises a 2.8kg design. In the world of full-sized cordless vacuums, that’s impressive. For comparison, the Dyson V16 Piston Animal weighs approximately 3.4kg. On paper, 200–400g might not sound transformative. In practice, over a 45-minute whole-house clean, it absolutely is.

Initially, the capsule’s top-heavy silhouette makes it look bulkier than it feels. But once in motion, the glide across hardwood, linoleum, slate, and carpet is smooth and controlled. My shoulders and forearms were noticeably less fatigued compared to other large cordless models. That matters when you’re cleaning stairs, upholstery, and above skirting boards.

Before we get into the details of testing, it's also worth noting that this is a freestanding design. It is one of those features you don’t know you need until you have it. The Capsule XR stands upright independently, so I could leave it in the centre of the room to answer the door or rescue an overboiling saucepan. It’s a small, thoughtful piece of engineering that changes the flow of cleaning.

For testing, I distribute 100g of flour and sugar across hardwood, carpet, stone, slate, and lino. Fine particles reveal suction strength, airflow efficiency, and floorhead sealing.

The Capsule XR delivered crisp suction lines immediately. On hard floors, one slow pass was typically sufficient. On carpet, a second pass occasionally refined the finish. There were rare moments, during deliberately excessive flour distribution, where I saw a faint trailing line. However, this did not occur in real-life cleaning scenarios, only under exaggerated lab-style conditions. This suggests that Halo is really delivering on a strong airflow performance combined with effective floorhead agitation to get that satisfyingly deep clean.

The lifted bumper design is intended to prevent “ploughing”, which is where larger debris gets pushed forward rather than suctioned. I poured 100g of muesli (including oats, lentils, raisins, and rice) across mixed surfaces.

At maximum speed and brisk movement, some ploughing occurred. However, when I slowed my pass, as one naturally would in a deep clean, the Capsule XR handled everything cleanly. The key is controlled movement. Once adjusted, it picked up everything in a single measured sweep.

Hair wrap is the enemy of many vacuum rollers. I tested how well the Halo Capsule XR Vacuum could pick up 30g of hair extensions alongside embedded dog hair in carpets and upholstery.

The anti-tangle design performed exceptionally well. There was no visible wrapping around the brush bar, which meant no need for scissors post-clean. Suction remained strong, and removal from carpet fibres was thorough, which I'll class as a big win for this vacuum.

The Halo Capsule XR Vacuum comes with two batteries, each rated at up to 70 minutes. In reality, runtime varies depending on mode, floor type, and tool use. However, across weeks of testing, including extended whole-house cleans, I rarely exhausted a battery fully. The 2L capacity meant I wasn’t interrupting the clean to empty constantly, which also preserves airflow stability over longer sessions. I struggled to remember the first time I needed to recharge, which, in the cordless category, is rare praise.

Cleaning the Halo Capsule XR Vacuum

Battery claims are notoriously optimistic in the vacuum world. Here, performance aligned closely with expectations. Lower and mid-power settings allow extended cleaning without noticeable drop-off in suction. Even at higher power, the batteries held strong, so if you're worried about battery life, this is a vacuum that you'll be able to rely on.

As I mentioned earlier, after intense flour testing, I noticed minor residue on the roller. However, it brushed off easily over the bin. In fact, I used the vacuum itself with a crevice tool to remove it, a satisfying, slightly meta cleaning moment.

As you might expect from a bagged vacuum, emptying the bin is a clean, closed system. The base pops off and the bin pulls out, without a dust cloud in sight. The H14 HEPA filtration is clinically impressive too, in tests it's proven to be capable of trapping 99.995% of particles down to 0.1 microns. That places it in a filtration class often associated with medical-grade environments. For allergy sufferers, this will be a godsend.

How does the Halo Capsule XR Vacuum compare?

One of the most pressing questions that I had when I began testing the Halo Capsule XR Vacuum was how it would compare to the likes of Dyson and Shark.

Dyson models are known for advanced cyclone technology and sleek engineering. Shark excels in user-friendly innovation and affordability. Halo sits between them, combining high suction performance with a hygienic bagged system neither brand currently prioritises in their cordless flagships.

Compared to Dyson, you gain larger capacity and superior sealed disposal. Compared to Shark, you gain filtration refinement and a more industrial-feeling airflow system.

If you prioritise lightweight agility above all else, some slimmer cordless models may suit you better. But if your priority is deep cleaning performance, capacity, and hygiene in a cordless format, the Capsule XR feels purpose-built.

Should you buy the Halo Capsule XR Vacuum

The Halo Capsule XR Vacuum is a thoughtful correction to the cordless trend, reclaiming power, capacity, and hygiene without sacrificing mobility. It borrows the engineering confidence of Dyson and the practicality of Shark, yet carves out its own identity through its bagged, H14-sealed design.

It’s not the lightest or smallest cordless on the market. It isn’t designed for quick surface skims. But for thorough, satisfying, whole-home cleans, which I think plenty of keen cleaners will find reassuring.

How we test vacuums

At woman&home, we have a series of standardised tests that we put all of our vacuums through. I set up tasks which test a range of debris types, from fine flour and sugar (like dust), cereal (larger debris), and hair. This is scattered across different floor types, ranging from carpets to hard floor and linoleum to see how versatile the vacuum is.

I compare it to different models on the market to give you a good idea of whether the vacuum is the perfect fit for you and your home. If you want to find out more, you can visit our dedicated page for how we test vacuums.