Dyson‘s latest flagship vacuum was a big disappointment for me. You can read all about why in my Dyson V16 Piston Animal review, but essentially it boils down to a new floorhead that’s not fit for purpose, and generally rather weak cleaning. It won’t be troubling my best Dyson vacuum ranking any time soon.
However, alongside the changes that didn’t work were a couple that really, really did. The first is the dust compression lever on the bin, and the second is the easy-swap attachment connectors. Both made their debut in the V16, but neither could make up for the failings elsewhere.
Squish it down
I’ll start with the dust compression, because that’s my favorite of the two features. A lever has been added to the bin section, and you press it down to squish together dust and dirt inside the cup to clear the way for more to make its way in. That allows for longer cleaning spells without having to traipse to the trash.
It also means the dust cup can be physically smaller while still being able to hold the same amount of debris. Keeping weight and size down is a priority for comfort and flexibility, but the best cordless vacuums must find ways to do this without compromising in other areas, and offering a decent dust capacity is part of that.
When I was first shown the V16, Dyson had a display that showed the dust capacity compressed and uncompressed, and the difference is massive. It was also noticeable in use – cleaning with the V16, I was able to cover more ground than I could with other vacuums, and I found dog hair seemed to compress especially satisfyingly.
The same lever has a couple of other knock-on benefits. It’s designed to wipe fine dust off the inside of the bin casing when pushed down, making it less likely these micro-particles will find their way into the mechanisms, where they can cause issues in the longer term. And it can also be used to shoot dust out of the bin when it does come to emptying, so you don’t have to go in with your fingers.
All in all, an uncharacteristically lo-tech and straightforward innovation for Dyson, but extremely helpful in a number of different ways. Full marks.
Change it up
To create its easy-swap attachments, Dyson has made two adjustments. First, at the top of the wand is a new red cuff. You press down on this and it releases the connected floorhead or Hair screw tool on the end. The docking sections on these attachments then automatically stay in an angle that’s just off upright, enabling you to slot a different one on, all without ever having to bend down. It’s another clever bit of engineering and one that works really well in practice.
It’s a shame that this particular upgrade was introduced on a vacuum that only has one floorhead – the previous flagships, the Gen5detect and V15 Detect, had an any-floor head and a soft head for hard flooring, and in swapping between the two, this mechanism would have really come into its own. As it is, it’s only really the small Hair screw tool that you could swap on, and I’m not sure how many people are regularly using that on the end of the wand.
Another unfortunate consequence of changing up the connection mechanism is that it means none of Dyson’s old tools are compatible with the V16, and vice versa. So you couldn’t, for instance, take the older and better Digital Motorbar floorhead and use that in place of the new All Floors Cones Sense floorhead.
While I can’t recommend the Dyson V16 Piston Animal outright, I am impressed with both of these new additions. Here’s hoping they both get their chance to shine in the next flagship to join the lineup.
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