Dyson V16 Piston Animal first impressions: Dyson’s best new vacuum is surprisingly under $1,000. Is it worth it?

Content

Dyson has just released a new cordless vacuum for the first time. Launched in the US on June 2, the Dyson V16 Piston Animal is Dyson’s first flagship in three years. However, the Gen5absolute and Gen5outsize flagship vacuums of 2023 did not feel very innovative compared to the existing Dyson V15.

The Dyson V16 finally picks up where the Dyson V15 left off, and there’s more than one upgrade to discuss. Does it automatically move my list of best wireless slots? Here’s how my first week with the V16 went.

The classic Dyson chrome has been replaced with black, but we haven’t abandoned the turquoise and orange.
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

The new compressor lever creates a 30-day worth of dust before emptying.
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

What’s so special about the Dyson V16 Piston?

People have been asking for years: Can a cordless vacuum replace a corded vacuum? I’ve always been a firm “yes” based on recovery alone. But with the V16, you couldn’t make up for the slightly weaker suction power to free yourself from the wall. The V16 Piston Animal is Dyson’s first cordless vacuum to exceed 300 AW (Air Watts) of suction power. This means that The Dyson cordless vacuum is ultimately Dyson’s most powerful vacuum on boardeven ditching straight-wired models that once felt unbeatable. Dyson’s most powerful option, the Dyson Ball Animal 3 Extra, comes in at 290 AW.

The V16 Piston Animal also comes with a Fluffy Optic hard bottom head and two handheld attachments.
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

The V16 Piston Animal (right) is more powerful than the V12 Detect Slim (left).
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

Other major changes include a new pressurized dustbin that can hold dust for up to 30 days and a new robust anti-blow cleaning head. It’s more rounded than the previous Dyson Motorbar, featuring two side-to-side cone-shaped rollers that suck long hair up the middle to prevent tangling. The V16’s All Floor Cones Sense cleaning head uses alternating strands of hard bristles and soft bristles to pick up dirt and hair on hard and soft floors. I focused on this new cleaning head for my first test, as I am familiar with the Fluffy Optic cleaning head after three years with my Dyson V12 Detect Slim.

In auto mode, the V16 senses what type of floor it’s cleaning and the level of debris it’s dealing with, automatically adjusting suction and brush speed accordingly — you can feel this happening while cleaning. You can switch to eco or boost mode with a button on the handle that looks a lot like an on/off button.

Dyson V16 Piston Animal on carpet: Very strong, a little stubborn

I don’t have any fully carpeted rooms, but V16 Piston Animal has been putting out some great rugs for our place and runners: a flat-print Ruggable with a pad underneath, a Faux fur Tumble rug, and two medium-pile rugs that feel like traditional carpet.

I can really hear the brushes digging into the fibers of the rug, and the amount of cat hair and gray fluff that accumulated in the dust bin after the first day was proof enough. I really enjoyed watching the V16 pluck stubborn fuzzies and small balls of discarded rug fibers from the tanned carpet in my bedroom, considering the many robot entrances I test them with.

This pattern is really good at hiding cat hair, but the V16 got it.
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

I knew the V16 would pass its lint roller test when the raga lines were this good.
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

For testing, I also sprinkled panko breadcrumbs and protein powder on a flat kitchen runner and sprinkled on a fancy woolen wheel. Almost all the breadcrumbs and sprinkles were taken in one direction. A few more passes were needed to pick up the V16 debris that had blown out of its cleanup lane. The V16 only took a few passes to make the white powder spot disappear, which is impressive given that some may have fallen on the Ruggable’s flatweave.

Going in, my biggest question about the V16’s carpet cleaning wasn’t even the level of bearing – it was whether or not it would stick to rugs like the old Motorbar did. The V16 Piston Animal seems to hold up a bit more than the previous four Dysons I’ve used. A new cleaning head should have an improved airflow system that better prevents cyclonic forces from creating that frustrating mark on rugs. Getting caught? This is only true when the V16 is in eco mode.

When I tried to clean the carpet in auto or boost mode, the cone rollers almost jammed and stopped turning. It’s surprising that you can’t make full use of the 315 AW power without running into this classic Dyson glitch. Even the eco mode requires elbow grease to push and pull the vac around the lap, although the glide is much smoother when I use my other hand to slowly pull the vacuum from the floor – this worked well even on my soft bath mats. Fortunately, even the V16’s weakest setting rarely leaves visible debris after the first pass or two.

Dyson V16 Piston Animal on hardwood: Very effective in one area

The V16 Piston Animal’s performance on hardwood and tile has been excellent so far, especially with the All Floor Cones Sense cleaning head. More often than not, the V16 Piston Animal’s debris collection on solid floors is so well done that a second pass after the first forward swipe is unnecessary. I still do that back and forth motion out of habit, but usually it’s not because the V16 ends up out of place.

I dumped more trash than my cats out to test the power of the V16.
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

The rear track of the V16 was spotless after one forward pass.
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

On hard floors, you can really see what boost mode can do. It’s been great to keep up with the various types of cat litter followed by two litter boxes, crumbs of all kinds deposited under the counter, and lots of long hair that ends up on my bathroom floor every day. The first week with the V16, someone in my family got a new fish tank and made an aquarium substrate mix all over the hardwood kitchen floor. In boost mode, the V16 picked up rocks so well that cleanup took maybe a minute — including small pieces that fell into the cracks of the hardwood.

I appreciate that Dyson has added a green laser to the cleaning head that faces the carpet. Basically every room in my apartment has both hard floors and rugs, and my daily mopping routine is quick without having to change cleaning heads depending on the type of floor. With my Dyson V12 Detect Slim, I used the laser cleaning head 24/7 despite the fact that it is not suitable for deep cleaning. I didn’t feel like digging the Motorbar out of the closet that badly, and emotionally, I needed access to the LED dust detection every time.

But the new cleaning head design doesn’t block bullets completely. It’s bulky and doesn’t fit under hanging shelves or credenzas like the Fluffy Optic head does. I am very confused as to why the front edge comes to a point instead of being completely flat. It prevents the head from pressing fully into a corner or up against a wall, where dust tends to collect. The Fluffy Optic head is great for this reason, so thank you Dyson threw that in the box.

Why?
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

Dyson V16 Piston Animal in portable mode: Powerful but heavy

In terms of hand-holding, the V16 Piston Animal is not the most comfortable or comfortable stick vacuum I’ve ever had in one hand. It makes the Dyson Gen5outsize feel like a brick and the Dyson V12 Detect Slim feels light enough for a toddler to use.

A small pet hair tool worked well on the velvet upholstery and this soft material.
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

I swear the base of the cat tree and the nearest window spawns new fur and dander every hour.
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

In one session with the small hair screw tool, I went through the entire couch and leveled each cat tree with a pillow. My arm got a little tired towards the end of those five minutes, but I also paused to take pictures for this review. The cat tree cushions aren’t attached to the perches, but I was surprised that the V16 could be towed gently without sucking it up. The thick layer of cat fur on the sofa chaise was gone with one swipe.

Switching to the scraping tool, I used the booster mode to get the cat litter out of the informal spaces behind the toilet and the air conditioner gunk out of the gaps. Although I wish the V16 was easier in manual mode, it gets the job done much faster.