Dyson just dropped a new flagship cordless vacuum for the first time in forever. Launched in the U.S. on June 2, the Dyson V16 Piston Animal is the first new flagship Dyson in three years. Even then, the 2023 flagship Gen5absolute and Gen5outsize vacuums didn't feel overly 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 shake up my list of the best cordless stick vacuums? Here's how my first week with the V16 has gone.
What's 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 hard "yes" based on convenience alone. But with the V16, you wouldn't be settling for slightly weaker suction power just to free yourself from the wall. The V16 Piston Animal is the first cordless Dyson vacuum to surpass 300 AW (Air Watts) of suction power. This means that a cordless Dyson vacuum is finally the strongest Dyson vacuum across the board, even beating out the corded upright models that once felt unsurpassable. The reigning most powerful Dyson option, the Dyson Ball Animal 3 Extra, maxes out at 290 AW.
Other big changes include a new compressing dustbin that can hold up to 30 days' worth of dust and a new anti-tangle conical cleaning head. It's more rounded than the previous Dyson Motorbar, featuring two side-by-side cone-shaped rollers that suck long hair up the middle to prevent wrapping. The V16's All Floor Cones Sense cleaner head uses alternating strips of stiff bristles and soft fibers to pick up debris and hair on hard and soft floors. I'm strictly focusing on this new cleaning head for my initial testing, as I'm already familiar with the Fluffy Optic cleaning head after three years with my Dyson V12 Detect Slim.
In auto mode, the V16 senses which type of floor it's cleaning and the level of debris it's dealing with, automatically adjusting suction and brush roll speed accordingly — you can hear this happen while you're cleaning. You can manually switch to eco or boost mode with a button on the handle that looks way too similar to the on/off button.
Dyson V16 Piston Animal on carpet: Super strong, a little bit stubborn
I don't have any fully carpeted rooms, but the V16 Piston Animal has been dishing out some potent suction on my area rugs and runners: a flat printed Ruggable with a pad underneath, a faux fur Tumble rug, and two medium pile tufted rugs that feel like traditional carpet.
I can really feel the brush rolls digging into the rug fibers, and the amount of cat hair and gray fluff that accumulated in the dustbin after the first day was proof enough. I particularly enjoyed watching the V16 snatch up stubborn fuzzies and little balls of shedded rug fibers from the tufted rug in my bedroom, considering most robot vacuums I test struggle with those.
For testing's sake, I also spilled panko bread crumbs and protein powder all over the flat kitchen runner and sprinkles on the plush fur rug. Almost all of the bread crumbs and sprinkles were picked up in a single forward pass. A few extra passes were needed to grab the breadcrumbs that the V16 blew out of its own cleaning path. The V16 only took a few passes to make the white powder spot disappear, which is impressive considering some of it probably fell down into the Ruggable's flatweave.
Going in, my biggest question about the V16's carpet cleaning wasn't even the pickup rate — it was whether or not it'd get stuck on rugs like the old Motorbar did. The V16 Piston Animal seems to get stuck less often than the previous four Dysons I've used. The new cleaning head must have an improved airflow system that better prevents the cyclonic power from creating that frustrating seal on the rug. The catch? This is only true if the V16 is in eco mode.
When I tried to vacuum a rug in auto or boost mode, the cone rollers almost immediately got jammed and stopped spinning. It's a bummer that you can't take full advantage of the 315 AW of suction power without running into this classic Dyson glitch. Even eco mode requires some elbow grease to push and pull the vac across a rug, though the glide is much smoother if I use my other hand to give the vacuum a bit of lift off the ground — this even went smoothly on my fluffy bath mats. Luckily, even the V16's weakest setting rarely leaves visible debris behind after the first pass or two.
Dyson V16 Piston Animal on hardwood: Highly efficient in a single pass
The V16 Piston Animal's performance on hardwood and tile has been pretty immaculate so far, specifically with the All Floor Cones Sense cleaning head. More times than not, the V16 Piston Animal's debris pickup on hard floors has been so thorough that a second pass after the first forward swipe technically isn't even necessary. I still do that back-and-forth motion out of habit, but it's usually not because the V16 keeps missing spots.
On hard floors, you can really see what boost mode can do. It's been phenomenal for keeping up with different types of cat litter tracked out of two litter boxes, crumbs of all sorts lodged under the counter, and so much long hair that ends up on my bathroom floor every day. During the first week with the V16, someone in my household got a new fish tank and made a mess of aquarium substrate all over the hardwood kitchen floor. In boost mode, the V16 picked up the rocks so efficiently that cleanup took maybe a minute — that includes the tiny pieces that fell into the cracks of the hardwood.
I appreciate that Dyson added the green laser to the carpet-forward cleaning head. Basically every room in my apartment has both hard flooring and a rug, and my daily vacuuming routine is much faster without having to switch cleaning heads depending on floor type. With my Dyson V12 Detect Slim, I used the cleaning head with the laser 24/7 despite the fact that it's not ideal for deep rug cleaning. I didn't feel like digging the Motorbar out of the closet that badly, and emotionally, I needed access to LED dust detection at all times.
But the new cleaning head design isn't completely bulletproof. It's kind of bulky and doesn't fit as far under low-hanging dressers or credenzas as the Fluffy Optic head does. I'm most confused about why the front edge subtly comes to a point instead of being completely flat. It prevents the head from fully squeezing into a corner or up against a wall, where dust famously loves to gather. The Fluffy Optic head is elite for this exact reason, so thank goodness Dyson threw that in the box.
Dyson V16 Piston Animal in handheld mode: Powerful but heavy
In terms of going handheld, the V16 Piston Animal isn't the most comfortable or the least comfortable stick vacuum I've ever had to hold in one hand. It makes the Dyson Gen5outsize feel like a brick and the Dyson V12 Detect Slim feel light enough that a toddler could use it.
In one session with the mini hair screw tool, I went over the whole couch and each cat tree level with a cushion. My arm got a little tired toward the end of those five minutes, but I was also pausing to take pictures for this review. The cat tree cushions aren't attached to the perches, but I was pleasantly surprised that the V16 could be gently dragged across without sucking them up. The thick layer of cat fur on the chaise of the couch was basically gone in one swipe.
Switching to the crevice tool, I used boost mode to pull kitty litter out from awkward spots behind the toilet and sticky air conditioner gunk right out of the vents. Though I wish the V16 were lighter in handheld mode, it does get tasks done super quickly.
