While long runtime and useful mop are great to have at this price too. On the top of the unit you’ll find the familiar dome housing a 360-degree camera. The robot uses this for navigation, as bissell crosswave cordless opposed to LiDAR, used by much of the competition. No data is transmitted to the cloud, and there’s no option to view the live feed, so anyone worried about privacy or security can rest easy.
Dyson’s design choices have downsides, too; the height of the machine means that it can’t squeeze under couches or low tables to clean those hard-to-reach areas. Roomba’s devices are much shorter, but wider, allowing them to sneak under furniture much more easily. The fix is that you’ll have to move your furniture out-of-the-way once in a while, which ultimately isn’t that bad of a workaround given 360 Eye’s other advantages.
Like Dyson’s handheld vacuums, its robot vacuum operates using cyclonic action, which reportedly allows it to capture particles as small as pollen. The company claims the 360 Eye sports the strongest suction of any robot vacuum, thanks to being equipped with Dyson’s proprietary digital motor. That said, the 360 Eye is frustrated by a couple of things bissell crosswave cordless in my home. Specifically, it has issues with sloped pedestal stands for chairs, including ones found on my living room lounger, and those which support my kitchen bar height stools. The Dyson bot regularly tries to climb these, seems to hesitate about it halfway over the lip, and then essentially gives up, freezing until I come and reposition it.
“Engineers are dreadful — they always have better ideas. I don’t mind that — I think it’s quite a good habit.” The point being, he continues, that his company spent a lot of money in 16 years “to make the right product.” The gap sensors that prevent it from taking a tumble down stairs work well, but unlike my Roomba, it doesn’t think the black portions of my area rug are pits into which it might tumble. With the Roomba, I was able to work around the issue by taping pieces of paper over the gap sensors and walling off the open stairwell to the basement with one of its virtual wall emitters. Its smaller footprint makes a difference in its ability to get in and around table and chair legs, and it takes up less space when sat on its dock, which makes it a lot easier to live with in cramped flats and terraces. Taking the bin out and emptying it is quick and easy, but it is a small bin and you might have to empty it mid-run if you have particularly dirty carpet. Of the dozen-plus autonomous floor cleaners we’ve tested to date, it holds its own alongside the best of the best.
And, as the label on the top of the machine says, the new vac will be powered by one of Dyson’s new “Hyperdymium” motors. This is the name that Dyson has given to its new brushless motor, which allows it to create powerful, lightweight machines. How long they will work before you need to empty them depends on the size of your home and how messy the people living there are. But expect to empty them every 1-3 runs and you won’t be disappointed. The EufyHome app is as intuitive as we would like, and – once we switched our router to the correct bandwidth (it only likes 2.4GHz) – we were able to connect, control, add schedules and do spot-cleans with ease.
Dyson has also revamped the controls and information dial on top. Scheduled cleaning – It’s nice to be able to just program the vacuum to run on select days, or at a specific time each day, so that the floor is generally clean without any human interaction. Using a combination of the camera and infrared sensors the vacuum is able to create a digital blueprint of the house using key landmarks to help it navigate.
Chunky wheels able to move in and out of the frame also increase that clearance when needed. Dyson goes even further, using a tank track-like underside rather than wheels. However, a good non-mapping vacuum will still be able to find the way back to its charging station. The main benefits of the smart sort are an ability to approach floor coverage a bit more efficiently and, perhaps more important, setting “no go” areas. While the battery life and suction has improved greatly, this is not a fast cleaner, and if you have a large, cluttered house it will almost certainly need a halfway recharge before completing the job.
It can’t get under as many things as a Roomba, it still bumps into thin things and it still can’t clean everything, meaning it’s not the only vacuum you need to own. Out of the 0.2 ounces of pet hair, it collected 0.17 ounces on the mid-pile carpet, 0.19 ounces on the low-pile carpet, and 0.19 ounces on the hardwood floor. Since we’re talking about 0.01 differences in some cases, this result is still excellent. It also has that classic Dyson aesthetic going on, even though this is the brand’s first robot vacuum. Since I tend to like Dyson products from a pure design-appreciation standpoint, I like the 360 Eye’s looks, too. Specifically, it’s swathed in a glossy gray finish with bright blue accents.
Just be sure to look at the competition before you buy, because other brands offer more impressive bots for less. As first reported by the Verge, Dyson filed documents with the FCC that give a sneak peek at what may be the US’ first available Dyson robot vacuum cleaner. The robovac looks like it’ll be called the Dyson 360 Hyperdymium, which likely means it’ll be equipped with the brand’s strongest motor, the Hyperdymium — which you’ll find in the Dyson V11 to the Dyson V15 Detect. More advanced Wi-Fi equipped robot vacuums tend to only require Wi-Fi for certain features linked to a companion app on your phone. These include scheduling via your phone and the vacuum letting you know it has become stuck. Lower-end models often come with a remote control similar to a classic TV remote instead.
The highlight of this vacuum is hinted at in its name, using a laser to reveal microscopic dust – making sure you can spot everything and get it picked up. The V15 also smartly adjusts its suction power, ramping it up when needed. Fancy tech doesn’t drain the battery life either, with up to 60 minutes – which should be plenty, even if the laser has you meticulously cleaning every nook and cranny.