Dyson V6 Animal Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner, Purple › Customer reviews

Top positive review

Positive reviews›

5.0 out of 5 starsDoes exactly what we bought it for!

Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2015

Great as a second vacuum to be used without having to haul out the canister unit. It has at least as strong suction as our Meile canister vac… we were amazed at how much it picked up from what we thought were clean floors! The absolute is light, easy to handle, and comes with a dual HEPA filter. I usually have to leave the house while my wife vacuums due to allergies, but I can do the vacuuming myself with the V6 with no problems at all. Other reviewers mentioned the short battery life, but I was able to get 10 minutes out of it on high power, with occasional stopping to move a chair or two out of the way. The hard floor attachment is perfect, with microfiber rollers that actually polish the floor as you vacuum. The regular carpet attachment works great on carpet and large rugs.

A couple of tips: I saw a few reviewers comment about having to use fingers or a butter knife to get extra dirt out of the top end of the dirt canister. The canister can actually be easily removed for quick and through cleaning. First, slide the red dirt removal button down to pop open the dirt canister over a trash can. Shake out as much dirt as you can. Then, slide the red dirt removal button down again all the way, while tilting the clear dirt canister out and away from the motor. It’s designed to pop on and off for easy cleaning. Use the small non-motorized brush tool to brush off the red vacuum cone and the gasket around the top edge, which tends to collect dirt. You don’t have to do this each time, but if you overfill the canister, it makes cleaning a lot easier.

Second tip, I recommend mounting the charging hanger directly into a stud in the wall, rather than just into the drywall between studs. That will keep it secure when you mount and dismount the vacuum. As you remount the vacuum in the charging station you will be pushing upwards on the spring-loaded top of the charging station to insert the vacuum. Screws that don’t go into studs could tear the drywall up after a time.

As others have mentioned, a battery and separate charger would be great as a future product add-on; if Dyson doesn’t come out with one, someone else surely will as an after-market add-on. I did find a work-around for this problem. Spare batteries are available from either Dyson or by after-market vendors such as this one:21.6V 2.2Ah Replacement Battery for Dyson V6 DC58 DC59 DC61 DC62 Animal DC72 Series. If you do not use the wall bracket for charging, your charging cord can actually charge the spare battery without the battery being installed in the vacuum. If your cord is installed in the wall mount bracket, you can get a spare one here:Dyson Charger, Dc58/59 Dc59 Motor Head. This cord will plug directly into the spare battery and it will be charged and ready to go when your V6 vacuum battery runs out. Two small black phillips head screws come right out, the battery pops out, and the new one pops in. Not as easy as a snap-in replacement battery, but it only takes a few seconds to swap one out. For someone who loves the incredible power, HEPA filter, cordless convenience, and versatility of the V6, but needs a spare battery solution for longer jobs, it’s worth it.

Even with the one battery supplied with the unit, the V6 works great for quick clean-ups in between a whole house cleaning. I can vacuum our large kitchen, laundry room, and guest bath all on high power before the battery needs recharging, which is perfect. Later, after a recharge, I can do the master bedroom, bath, and study on another charge. After a few times with the full power, the lower power setting does a great job, as you only need the high power booster occasionally. Most houses could be vacuumed completely on the lower power setting.

If Dyson comes out with a kit that includes a quick change battery and charger for the V6 line, I will be a lifelong supporter and customer.

****UPDATE: To really make this vacuum versatile, I ordered the flexible extension hose here:Genuine Dyson Extension Hoseand a set of attachments to go with it, here:Dyson Asthma & Allergy Kit. They all attach easily to the V6 and expand its capabilities!

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

1.0 out of 5 starsReally not impressive. Better vacuums by cheaper brands hands down.

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2018

I have had this product for about 3 months and have tried to make sure that I have my full thoughts before reviewing. Overall I’m pretty disappointed and wold not recommend this product to anyone with carpets/pets.

Suction: Okay this is the most IMPORTANT part of my review so I put it first. I justified the whole cost of this little vacuum based on the power in suction it was supposed to have. When on hardwood floors, it’s really fine. It does a good job pulling up any debris or pet hair on the hardwoods/tile. But on carpet, this vacuum is almost useless. I have to run over the same spot 8-20 times (seemingly dependent on nothing, idk), to get the pet hair up, and even then, there’s hair embedded in the carpet. I’m not sure if I got a defective product, but it does NOT want to pick up the pet hair from the carpet. This coupled with the battery life means it takes AGES to clean one room.

Canister: When I first decided to buy it, I did not the canister would be fairly small, and decided that was a fair payoff for what is reviewed as an extremely powerful hardwood/carpet vacuum. The canister is very small, as previous reviews and product details mention. What it doesn’t mention is that not only is the canister small, but very difficult to clean if you do have pet hair. My dog is mid-long haired and if the hair even goes a bit above the filter level, I literally have to dig the hair out. To prevent this, I need to empty the canister about 5-6 times for a small room. If it were easy to dump, that’d be more manageable, but it’s actually quite difficult to fully empty and VERY difficult to clean should you want to actually clean it as opposed to just empty it.

Battery life: TERRIBLE. The battery lasts maybe 12-15 minutes and shorter if it’s on the power mode. I wish that the vacuum would operate when plugged in (similar to a phone) so it could charge while I used it from outlet power or so I could at least finish cleaning with an extension cord.

Attachments: These are pretty okay. There are several and they’re handy for various tasks.

EDIT: I just finally bought a new vacuum (after under a year with this) and the difference is ASTOUNDING. Will submit a video soon.