Dyson V10 review (early verdict): cordless vacuum cleaners just got a new daddy with the Cyclone V10 Absolute

The Dyson V10 is like the iPhone X of cordless vacuums. Dyson, after all, pulled off a slightly Apple-esque trick when it first introduced its line of Dyson cordless vacuum cleaners, years back. It was hardly the first brand to offer handheld convenience when cleaning your car or stairs or down the back of the sofa. What it did was turn it into a highly lucrative market based around premium products. Expensive suckers (which is why we track the best Dyson deals elsewhere on the site).

Over the years it's been honing its battery-powered vacs, with the Dyson V6 being arguably the first such device that could replace a plug-in, 'proper' vacuum, at least in smaller homes with a lot of hard floors. Then the Dyson V8 Absolute really nailed it by finally fixing the bin emptying mechanism, and upping the suction and battery life. 

And now there's the V10, which is two better, obviously, making it one of the best vacuum cleaners you can buy. 

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Dyson Cyclone V10: improvements over the V8

I've only had this for 12 hours so I'm not going to deliver a binding and final verdict on the Dyson V10 (or Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute to give it the full name), but I do have highly positive, and yet slightly mixed feelings so far. All the most notable changes are improvements that customers have long asked for, but the overall product doesn't necessarily seem much better than the V8, at least for my purposes.

The most notable update to the Dyson V10 is that the motor now sits in line with the suction tube, rather than being turned through 90 degrees. As a result, where the V8 resembled a ray gun crossed with a sports car engine, the V10 is full ray gun. Pew pew! If anything is going to get men vacuum cleaning, it's making the vac look like a big gun from space, so full marks from me, there.

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The other obvious change, as you can see above, is that the Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute is significantly larger than the V8, not least because it's got a bigger dirt bin, as that's something everyone used to moan about. Personally I'd rather have a smaller one, and empty it more regularly, but there we go.

Despite that, thanks to clever engineering, the Dyson V10 is actually lighter than the V8 – or at least it is when the big bin isn't full. 

The most significant improvements for many users are that cleaning power seems to have been noticeably boosted even above the V8, and that battery life has also got a bit of a boost.

Dyson Cyclone V10: cleaning and battery life

There are now 3 power settings on the Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute instead of the two used in previous models. There's up to an hour of battery life on the lowest one, which is perfectly adequate for maintaining hard floors and cleaning up small spills. 

I actually vacuum my front room rug every day, or at least my robot vac does. So it was slightly terrifying to see how much dust, lint, gunk and crap the Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute lifted from it this morning. 

Dyson claims the motorised brush head for carpet is 25% more effective than what came with the V8 Absolute and I'm not sure I'd argue with that. In conjunction with the improved suction of the V10 digital motor, the power of the Cyclone is not in question.

My one concern – and this may turn out to be an early-days issue only – is that the trade-off to this is that the V10 handles less pleasingly than the V8, especially when used with the smaller brushes, and without the ultra-light, ceramic extension tube.

What Dyson has seemingly created here is a cordless vac that is designed to replace corded ones, and do a bit of handheld, spill- and dust-clearing work on the side. That strikes me as the opposite of the V8, which was more like the ultimate handheld vac, which could also do job of cleaning your carpets and hard floors.

Dyson Cyclone V10: seriously versatile

That said, the Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute is still more than capable when it comes to cleaning surfaces, ceilings (as demonstrated in the weirdly video-game-esque promotional photo above) and 'crevices' (via the 'crevice tool').

It just doesn't feel quite as perfectly balanced as the V8, so far. But as I say, it is early days. The larger size also makes it less suitable for leaving it plugged in on a window sill or shelf, ready for action at any moment. The different balance means that when it is sat on its base, it constantly seems on the verge of toppling forwards.

Dyson provides an excellent wall mount, which you might well want to use, and which would obviously immediately alleviate the above problems. I just happen to prefer leaving my V8 lying around. 

The changed shape mean the bin emptying mechanism has also been varied from the V8, but it works just as well. You just remove whatever attachment you have on, hold it over the bin and slide a catch to eject the dirt. Point-and-shoot dirt ejection will be big in 2018.

Dyson Cyclone V10: early verdict

If you have a lot of carpet and have been holding off buying a cordless vac because they don't appear powerful enough, this Dyson Cyclone V10 could be the one that finally persuades you. It is powerful enough to suck up a lot of dirt, and it has a relatively large bin in which to hold it all.

For those living in smaller homes with mainly hard floors, arguably the V8 remains the better bet, as it seems equally as good at cleaning non-carpeted floors and is more compact and perhaps more pleasingly weighted – I currently feel like it 'handles' slightly better anyway.

Which ever way you look at it, the Dyson Cyclone V10 is the current state of the art in handheld, cordless vacuuming, and a device that moves the corded vac one step closer to the beckoning dumper of obsolescence.

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