Should you get a Dyson V6 Fluffy? An honest, unpaid review

If a vacuum cleaner were to look like candy, the Dyson V6 Fluffy, with its metallic cobalt blue wand and fluffy red and blue striped brush bar, would be it.

And it performs like a dream, too.

The good folks over at Dyson were kind enough to loan us a unit for review when they launched the Dyson V6 handheld vacuum series in September, and here’s my verdict in a nutshell: It’s so good that, in the couple of months the Dyson V6 Fluffy has stayed over, I haven’t had any reason to touch my own (corded) Dyson DC26 vacuum cleaner.

Performance

You see, it’s as powerful as a full-sized vacuum cleaner. Plus, that furry, 10-inch candy-striped brush bar is not for show – it’s motorised and is a magnet for all the fine dust, strands of fallen hair and pet fur which come across its path. The soft nylon roller (the red and blue bands) picks up large debris and the rows of carbon fibre filaments (the black strips) scoop up dust. It’s actually an improvement over the regular hole-type vacuum nozzles and nylon brush heads, which have to be cleaned often in order for the vacuum cleaner to do a thorough job.

A filtration system like no other

I don’t mean to put down my Dyson DC26 or other Dyson models with bristle brush nozzles, but the red-and-blue candy-striped brush really has no peer. It can be detached and washed, and when I did that for my loan set I was happy that I didn’t have to contend with any icky hairs which usually cling to the parts responsible for picking them up. Like other Dyson vacuums, the dust box can be emptied at the press of a button and taken out for a rinse. But the Dyson V6 Fluffy is one step ahead of its brothers and sisters – even its post motor HEPA filter can be detached and washed. This is the first time I’ve heard of a washable filter – which means many years of easy maintenance without any need to buy expensive filter replacements.

This is also where the Dyson V6 Fluffy is different from the DC74 Motorhead Complete, which looks like the identical twin of the Fluffy. The DC74 too runs on a V6 engine, comes with the same attachments and has the same fancy soft roller cleaner head I’m in love with, but that’s where the similarities end. The DC74 isn’t decked with the post motor HEPA filter you see in the photo below. This small smurf-blue cylinder is the magic seal which keeps allergens and bacteria as small as 0.3 microns from re-circulating into the air as you vacuum.

Battery life

The Dyson V6 Fluffy comes with a full array of accessories which can help you clean any type of nook or cranny in the house and car. When fully charged, it can last up to 20 minutes, which is more than enough for me to vacuum either my 70 sqm flat or my Ford Focus hatchback, and it takes only 3.5 hours to recharge. I love that it’s not some half-baked handheld vacuum whose suction power gets progressively weaker as the Li-ion battery drains – the Dyson V6 Fluffy is a hungry monster right up to its very last breath.

Comparisons

You might have noticed that I haven’t really mentioned other brands of vacuum cleaners so far – that’s because I haven’t really used vacuum cleaners which are of the same price point as Dyson. To do a point-to-point comparison of Dyson’s gadgets with the garden variety vacuum cleaner would be grossly unjust. That said, I do have a locally-made handheld vacuum cleaner which has a HEPA filter. I got it a few years ago thinking that it would come in handy for general cleaning, when I’m too lazy to take out the Dyson DC26 for a thorough vacuum. But with the Dyson V6 Fluffy around, my old handheld, which never did pick up more dirt than a broom or a Magiclean wipe, has completely become obsolete.

In summary

To help you decide whether this beautiful piece of engineering belongs in your home, I have summarised the pros and cons of the Dyson V6 Fluffy below for you.

Pros:

• Fluffy brush head efficiently picks up fine dirt, dust, fallen hairs and pet fur, right up to the edges
• From large sand particles to fine dust, this machine can suck it all up. Removes 99.97 per cent of particles as small as 0.3 microns, such as allergens or smoke
• Its post motor HEPA filter prevents 99.97 per cent of the dust particles in the dust bucket from re-circulating into the air
• Debris doesn’t stick to the velour brush bars, which can be detached, washed and dried
• No dust bag, dust box can be rinsed with water
• The post motor HEPA filter can also be rinsed with water
• Cutting-edge cyclone technology sees dust being sucked up at a powerful 110,000rmp – same as a full-sized vacuum cleaner
• Only 2kg in weight and compact in size, perfect for small households, and not too much of an arm-breaker when you need to vacuum spots up top
• Cordless – no cables to trip over
• Full array of accessories, including a crevice tool (for tiny corners and skirting), a combination accessory tool (for grooves and air-con vents) and a mini motorised brush head with nylon bristles (for fabric surfaces like the duvet and sofa, as well as carpets) – means that the Dyson V6 Fluffy can do triple duty as a car vacuum cleaner and mattress vacuum cleaner
• No loss of suction up until the battery is completely dry
• Only 3.5h required for a full charge, unlike most handheld vacuum cleaners which need to plugged in almost all the time
• Up to 20 minutes of fade-free (normal) suction; or 6 minutes of extra powerful suction
• It’s very pretty – even if you don’t stow it away, it looks great as part of the house!

Cons:

• It doesn’t operate when plugged in to charge, so let’s say that you’ve drained the battery but aren’t done with housekeeping just yet – you’ll have to leave the device to recharge properly before resuming your chores.
• It doesn’t come with a car adapter which will allow you to charge it on the go. You will have to recharge it at home before bringing it out.
• The V6 wand isn’t interchangeable with Dyson vacuum cleaners from another range, which means that you can only use the Dyson V6 Fluffy wand with a chassis from the same range.
• Although the furry brush bar looks like a mop, it can only do dry housekeeping. It cannot steam-vacuum or mop the floor.
• If you have a very big house and will take more than 20 minutes to vacuum your entire floor area, this device obviously cannot finish the job at one sitting.
• The Dyson V6 Fluffy is designed for hard floors (use the Dyson V6 Motorhead for carpet flooring), but if your tiled floors happen to have very wide and deep grooves, the soft roller won’t be able to pick up fine debris stuck in these grooves. But of course you can go over these parts again with the crevice tool.
• The roller attachment is too bulky to fit under really low sofas. I’m nitpicking a little here, of course.
• At $1,049, it’s a very expensive home appliance.

That said, if you have $1,049 to spare to buy someone you love a Christmas gift, I couldn’t think of anything better. For me, the pros certainly outweigh the cons. As the owner of a small apartment, I can argue that this is the only vacuum cleaner that I need, thus justifying the four-digit price tag. If you understand what it means to be in the business of clean, you’ll know what I mean.

Details:-

Price: $1,049
Where to buy: At all leading electrical stores and online

End note: This is not a paid advertorial. All views belong to the writer and the loan set is from Dyson.

Credit for featured image goes to: www.trendsderzukunft.de