Dyson's latest flagship vacuum cleaner was a big disappointment for me. You can read all about why in my Dyson V16 Piston Animal review, but it essentially boils down to a new floor head that's not fit for purpose and generally a pretty weak clean. It won't affect my ranking of the best Dyson vacuums anytime soon.
However, along with the changes that didn't work, there were a couple that actually worked. The first is the powder compression lever on the container and the second is the easy-swap attachment connectors. Both made their debut with the V16, but neither could make up for failures elsewhere.
Crush it
I'll start with the powder compression, because it's my favorite feature of the two. A lever has been added to the container section, and is pressed down to crush dust and dirt inside the glass and clear the way for more to enter. That allows for longer cleaning periods without having to go to the trash.
It also means that the dust container can be physically smaller while still being able to hold the same amount of waste. Keeping weight and size down is a priority for convenience and flexibility, but the best cordless vacuums need to find ways to do this without compromising other areas, and offering decent dust capacity is part of that.
When I was first shown the V16, Dyson had a screen that showed compressed and uncompressed powder capacity, and the difference is huge. It was also noticeable in use: when cleaning with the V16, I was able to cover more ground than with other vacuums and found that dog hair seemed to compress particularly well.
The lever itself has a couple of additional benefits. It is designed to clean fine dust from the inside of the container shell when pushed down, making these micro particles less likely to reach the mechanisms, where they can cause long-term problems. And it can also be used to blow dust out of the container when it's time to empty it, so you don't have to insert your fingers.
All in all, an unusually low-tech and simple innovation for Dyson, but extremely useful in several ways. The maximum score.
change it
To create its easy-to-swap accessories, Dyson has made two tweaks. First, on the top of the wand is a new red bracelet. You press this and it releases the attached floor head or hair screw tool on the end. The docking sections of these accessories automatically remain at a slightly vertical angle, allowing you to attach a different one, all without having to bend over. It's another clever piece of engineering that works very well in practice.
It's a shame that this particular upgrade has been introduced on a vacuum cleaner that only has a floor head – the previous flagships, the Gen5detect and V15 Detect, had an all-floor head and a hard floor soft head, and by swapping between the two, this mechanism would have really come into its own. As it stands, you can only really change the little hair screw tool, and I'm not sure how many people use it regularly on the end of the wand.
Another unfortunate consequence of changing the connection mechanism is that none of Dyson's older tools are compatible with the V16, and vice versa. So you couldn't, for example, take the old, better Digital Motorbar head and use it instead of the new All Floors Cones Sense head.
While I can't directly recommend the Dyson V16 Piston Animal, I am impressed with both of these new additions. We hope they both get a chance to shine in the next flagship to join the lineup.
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