Dyson’s PencilVac Fluffycones evaluation: a pleasant, solely pointless vacuum

As The Verge’s resident robotic vacuum reviewer, I don’t have a whole lot of time (or area) in my life for stick vacs, and albeit, those I’ve used have largely disenchanted me. Top-heavy, cumbersome, at all times getting clogged or working out of battery — they’re so… guide. But then I met PencilVac Fluffycones, Dyson’s new $599 cordless stick vacuum, and it was love at first raise.

The identify PencilVac Fluffycones completely describes this delightfully overengineered broom. If extra vacuums had such whimsical names, my life could be a lot fuller. It’s very skinny and light-weight, like a pencil, and it has fluffy, cone-shaped rollers that glide throughout flooring as in the event that they’re flying.

While I don’t suggest shopping for this as a software to wash your whole residence (it doesn’t clear carpets!), with its slim design and simple maneuverability, I’ve discovered it to be an ideal complement to a robotic vacuum. The robotic can do the laborious work of vacuuming and mopping your flooring, and this light-weight machine, which sits prettily in a magnetic charging dock, will be available for touch-ups and when it’s time to deal with stairs and baseboards.

Touted by Dyson as “the world’s slimmest vacuum cleaner,” the PencilVac suits all its elements into its 1.5-inch-diameter deal with, which runs the size of the vacuum. Packed in listed below are the electronics, the battery, the dustbin, and a tiny 28mm-diameter motor that spins at 140,000 RPM to generate 55 air watts of suction.

This is identical motor as in Dyson’s Supersonic R hair dryer, and the deal with is identical width round, so that you’re mainly utilizing a reverse hair dryer to wash your flooring.

Impressively, the PencilVac weighs lower than 4 kilos and, mixed with its maneuverability enabled by 4 caster rollers that enable it to pivot in a number of instructions, it’s as straightforward to deal with as a brush or Swiffer. Even my husband, who simply had main shoulder surgical procedure, was in a position to make use of it to wash the kitchen ground with no points.

The PencilVac’s different distinctive promoting level is its fluffycones — 4 fluffy, cone-shaped curler bars within the vacuum’s head. The thought is that lengthy hair ought to transfer down the 4 cones and out from the sting of the vacuum, then be sucked up with a swipe. In observe, this labored pretty properly, until the aforementioned bundle of hair received too thick — by which case, it couldn’t at all times suck it up.

While the PencilVac appears and strikes like a brush, it additionally sort of vacuums like one. Its suction energy is half that of Dyson’s lowest-end cordless stick vacuum, the V8. It does nice on mud, small tufts of hair, and light-weight particles like Cheerios and dried oatmeal. But give it something thicker to deal with, and also you’ll be annoyed.

This is why it really works properly as an add-on to a robotic vacuum that repeatedly sweeps and mops your flooring. Judging by Dyson’s press images, it’s additionally being marketed as a trendy choice for many who dwell in immaculate residences which can be magically principally spotless.

Unless you reside in a type of residences, I don’t see the PencilVac working as a major vacuum for cleansing your home, particularly you probably have any carpets or rugs. But for fast touch-ups and getting mud bunnies off stairs — two areas robotic vacuums don’t actually do (one not simply, and the opposite under no circumstances … but) — it’s an ideal, albeit costly, answer.

Less cumbersome than any stick vac I’ve used, it’s tremendous straightforward to make use of on stairs, and it was easy to discover a area for its small, slim dock in a kitchen or lavatory, areas the place you may want a high-powered broom available.

It’s extra maneuverable than a stick vac, pivoting easily to go round furnishings legs and mendacity fully flat to get beneath sofas and beds.

For deeper cleansing, the PencilVac’s included crevice software/dusting attachment did an excellent job on baseboards and windowsills, and will attain as much as lights and cobwebby corners. It additionally simply received into areas robotic vacuums can’t — just like the hole behind the TV console.

I’ve solely been utilizing it for a few days, however I rapidly received used to the dearth of a deal with. It actually is rather like utilizing a brush.

The greatest drawback is suction; it’s not a strong vacuum, particularly in comparison with Dyson’s stick vacs. It struggles with bigger clumps of dust and something larger than a fluffy mud bunny. As talked about, it simply flat-out doesn’t work on carpet.

It additionally solely runs for half-hour on low and round 20 minutes on medium, which I discovered myself utilizing most frequently. (There is a lift mode for some additional energy.) All of which makes it nice for a fast touch-up, however not for a whole-house clear.

One different factor to notice: that is Dyson’s first stick vacuum to hook up with the My Dyson app. This isn’t a plus, at the least not but. Functionally, it’s restricted to software program updates and filter-cleaning alerts. It additionally makes use of Bluetooth, so it’s important to be close to the vacuum to replace it, and the app saved insisting that I give it everlasting entry to my location for no clear cause.

Between the restricted suction, brief runtime, and incapacity to deal with carpet, the PencilVac Fluffycones isn’t even pretending to be a whole-home cleaner. If you’re searching for a correct home cleaner on this worth vary, Dyson’s V8 Absolute is a better option. It’s beneath six kilos and has twice the suction. While barely much less maneuverable, it’s going to choose up all of the dust and clear your carpets, baseboards, and the whole lot else.

But is it as enjoyable because the PencilVac? Not even shut. The PencilVac is Dyson at its greatest: a wildly overengineered machine that’s pleasant to make use of, solely pointless, however one thing you’re most likely going to essentially need anyway.

Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge