Dyson has always priced its vacuums at the top of the market, and at $1,199, the 360 Vis Nav is no exception. It's banking on its brand and the fact that it delivers six times the suction power of other robotic vacs to sell itself. Is it worth the hype or price, which is up to three times that of other manufacturers?
The 360 Vis Nav uses Dyson's powerful Hyperdymium motor, a 360-degree camera up top for visual navigation, and a fluffy edge-to-edge vacuum brush to pick up dirt and debris – even from the side. It's a few hundred dollars more than the well-reviewed iRobot Roomba j7+. Still, I love Dyson vacuums, and if this robot cleans and performs as well as the latest cordless stick vacuums I've tested, it might be worth that higher price tag for those who want the ultimate in suction.
Read more: iRobot Roomba Combo j7+: a Worry-Free Mop Vac for Low-Traffic Floors
Stellar suction power
With a maximum of 65 air watts, Dyson claims the 360 Vis Nav has six times the suction power of any other robot vacuum available. Of course, that's using the robot in its highest "boost" power mode, which will use your battery much quicker. In other power modes, such as "Auto" and "Quick" cleaning runs, it will use about 10.5 air watts, which is still plenty of suction for a premium robot vacuum. Dyson measures suction in air watts instead of pascals (PA), which is the measurement used by most robot vacuum makers.
It now cleans edge-to-edge
There's a new, triple-action brush bar in the Vis Nav robot with three elements. The stiff nylon bristles are used to dig into carpets, the anti-static carbon fiber bristles will remove fine dust, and the fluffy nylon brush works great for picking up larger bits of debris and keeping hard floors clean.
The brush bar now covers the entire width of the robot, allowing for edge-to-edge cleaning.
Read more: Dyson Gen5 Stick Vacs Set New Standards in Performance and Convenience
Rather than depending on round side sweepers towards the front of the robot to draw dirt into the path, Dyson added an extending side duct that redirects suction power to the side of the robot, letting it clean along baseboards and walls as it navigates.
Small, but not self-emptying, base
The 360 Vis Nav isn't designed to be autonomous like other similar-priced robot floor cleaners; you'll have to do your share of work when it's cleaning time. The smaller, more compact base doesn't take up a lot of space in your home. However, it also doesn't have a self-emptying bin to hold eight weeks' worth of debris like the Roborock and Ecovacs robots.
Read more: Review: Roborock's Set-and-Forget S7 MaxV Ultra Robotic Floor Cleaner
When the onboard bin is full, it needs to be manually emptied. It's not difficult; Dyson put in a relatively large dustbin and designed it so that it's easily removed and released with the push of a button. This really is a matter of personal preference. If you're okay with emptying the debris more frequently, it won't be a problem.
Squared-off shape and bold look
Dyson stayed far away from the traditional black or white round robot design with this robot vac, opting instead for a D-shaped robot, something we saw recently on the EcoVacs X2 Omni. That squared-off edge is what helps the robot navigate into corners for a closer clean.
Read more: From Round to Square: Ecovacs' Deebot X2 Omni Promises Better Cleaning
And while its bright blue-purple color is in keeping with Dyson's design sense, it is not what I would call unobtrusive. I love purple, but users who want their cleaning tools to fade into the woodwork may be disappointed.
You can get a premium self-emptying (Roborock S8 Pro Ultra or Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni) and self-cleaning combo robot mop/vac on sale today for about the same price as the Dyson 360 Vis Nav, which is great if you want a floor cleaner that does all that.
However, if all you want is a powerful, well-designed robot vacuum that works with an app, uses Voice Control (Alexa and Google Home), and doesn't take up a lot of space in your home, the 360 Vis Nav looks promising. We'll know more once we're able to review it fully.
The Dyson 360 Vis Nav is available on Amazon for $1,199. It is currently sold out on Dyson, with stock expected in April.
[Image credit: Dyson]
Andrea Smith is an award-winning technology broadcast journalist, reporter, and producer. Andrea was the Technology Producer and an on-air Technology contributor at ABC News for over two decades before becoming the Lifestyle Channel Editor at Mashable, where she explored the ways in which real people, not just geeks, began using technology in their everyday lives.
