Dyson Vacuums

James Dyson spent roughly five years and about 5,127 prototypes on a bagless cyclonic vacuum before the first one, the G-Force, went on sale in Japan in 1983. He set up his own research centre and factory in Malmesbury, England in 1993, moved production to Malaysia in 2002, and moved the company's head office to Singapore in 2019. The company still sells corded machines, but most of the Dyson models listed here are cordless sticks, alongside the Ball Animal 3 upright, a canister, the Car+Boat handheld, floor washers and a few robots.

The sticks form a ladder. At the bottom sits the V8 Cyclone at $300, a 2025 rebuild of the older 115AW V8 Absolute with 150AW, a 60-minute battery and a power button instead of a trigger; the V8 Absolute itself is now listed at $590. The V11 Extra at $645 adds a screen and automatic suction, and the Detect models (V12 Detect Slim at $450, V15 Detect at $830, Gen5detect at $917) add the green dust-revealing light and a particle counter that boosts power on dirty patches. The Gen5outsize at $859 is the big-bin, two-battery version. Off to the side sit the 3.9 lb PencilVac from $450 and the V16 Piston Animal Submarine at $1,100, which swaps in a wet roller head; the hard-floor Omni-glide and the V15s Detect Submarine are now discontinued. The Ball Animal 3 upright is $490, and its Extra and Complete trims, which shared the same 290AW machine and differed only in the tools in the box, are now discontinued.

Owners return most often to the green light: V15 Detect and Gen5detect owners say it shows dust on floors they thought were clean and changed how thoroughly they vacuum. The V15's hold-down trigger is the most repeated complaint against it, and the button on the V12 Detect Slim and Gen5detect is the reason many owners prefer those. Durability is the other theme. Owners of the V11 Extra, the V15s Detect Submarine and the Gen5detect describe batteries fading and machines failing near or just past the two-year mark. On the corded side, Ball Animal 3 owners with several cats call it the first vacuum that cleared embedded fur, and also say it seals so hard to plush carpet that pushing it is a workout.

That two-year mark matters because it is where the warranty divides. The cordless models listed here carry 2 years, while the corded uprights and the canister carry 5. Bin size is the other thing to check: the V12 Detect Slim holds 0.35 L, and owners with pets empty it partway through a clean.