Hands on Review: Dyson V11 Intelligent stick vacuum

Now those are words you never thought you’d see in close proximity did you? Intelligent and Vacuum. That’s just crazy. But – it’s true.

Why the bloody hell do you need a vacuum that does anything other than turn on, suck up the dirt and turn off. Well, if that’s your view, you ain’t doing much of the cleaning around your place.

The Dyson V11 takes the design principals of last year’s Dyson V10 with the straight barrel and stick design, but adds a bit of tech to both the main vacuum and a new high torque head.

Where to start. The fancy little screen.

A Vacuum with a Display?

Why do you need a computer display on your vacuum? Seems like the answer to a question no-one is asking right? True, but once you see it you’ll understand.

At it’s simplest, it’s for switching between motor speeds. Instead of the Standard and Max mode “switch”, there’s a small button under the screen that when pressed switches between the three speed modes (Eco, Medium and Boost).

Where it gets exciting is the data that it shows, of course it tells you which mode you’re in, but it also gives you an estimated remaining run-time. That’s critical when realising that it’s Boost or Max mode that’s draining that battery, if you are just doing a general tidy up the Eco mode – particularly on hard floors will be just fine, and you’ll get 70+ minutes of that.

Considering research shows the average Aussie spends 18 minutes vacuuming at a time, that’s plenty.

Up in Boost mode you’re looking more like a 10 minute run-time, that’s for the gritty carpets you are tackling and isn’t intended for regular use.

Medium speed will give you the usual 40+ minutes of vacuuming. Solid stuff.

The screen comes in handy too when you have a blockage in the system. It will attempt to help you find the blockage with small graphics, similar to how a printer might help you find a paper Jam.

And then there’s maintenance – you’ll get reminders to clean the filters and so on, something that most people simply forget about.

Intelligence

You’d think the fancy screen was the intelligent part. No No. The new High Torque head is the smart bit.

Standard on all three variants of the V11, this new head is made for both hard floors and carpets – it – wait for it – detects the surface and adjusts the speed accordingly.

No bullshit. I’ve tried it, and it’s just ridiculously cool.

Going from our hard floors which dominate our place, to the rug in the kids playroom, the head detects the new surface and ups the speed of the motor and brush to compensate. It does this by testing hundreds of times a second the resistance in the brush head. Amazing.

While in the Pro model you still get the soft roller for hard floors, you don’t need it. You are meant to be able to use the High Torque head on all floors, and Dyson assure me they’ve done extensive testing to ensure it doesn’t damage your floors in any way.

Worth it?

Starting at $1099, this ain’t cheap. But Dyson’s aren’t known for their low cost items. Especially the new stuff. Innovation costs money, but as someone who has switched between heads and spent much time wondering how long that battery really had left – I’m already appreciating the intelligence of the device after just a few days.

There are three models:

Dyson v11 Torque Drive, $1,099 – Fuchsia

This is the basic model with the High Torque intelligent head,

Dyson v11 Absolute, $1,199 – Blue

This one includes the soft roller head for delicate hard floors.

Dyson v11 Absolute Pro, $1,249 – Gold

This one includes the soft roller, plus a bunch of other tools, extensions and more.

The entire range goes on sale today at Dyson Online, and will hit retailers in the weeks ahead.