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It’s hard to get excited about vacuum cleaners, but if one company brings innovation, it’s Dyson. The company changed the game in the Nineties with the world’s first bagless vacuum, and the brand looks set to change everything once again with the new Dyson pencilvac.
The vacuum isn’t entirely without precedent. It looks like a refined version of the Dyson omni-glide, which also had two rollers and a slim profile.
But the new vacuum has a feature I’ve never seen before – I’ve covered vacuums for years, and unlike every other vacuum on the market, this cordless vacuum has no visible dustbin. Most vacuums have a big, bulky bin attached to the pole, but Dyson’s model hides the dustbin inside the handle. The idea is that this makes for a tiny vacuum that’s perfect for storing in flats.
The new vacuum has a capacity of just 0.08l, which seems miniscule. But, Dyson says it has a new “air-compressing” design that separates dust from airflow and compresses it, so the actual capacity is five times higher than listed. That would make the capacity roughly 0.4l, but this is said to depend on use. I’m looking forward to testing this for myself, I suspect that this works well on dust but may be less effective on hair and crumbs.
This unique dustbin hugely cuts down on the vacuum’s dimensions and weight. Dyson calls it “the world’s slimmest vacuum”, and I have to hand it to them; I can’t think of any vacuum as slim as 38mm. The vacuum can lie flat, allowing it to clean under gaps of just 9.5cm, and it only weighs 1.8kg.
Dyson has also developed its smallest motor yet. Without getting too technical, the motor is just 28mm wide. This does mean that it’s far from its most powerful motor. Air watt ratings vary depending on use, but for context, it’s about 20 per cent as powerful as the topline gen5dectect, and just less than 50 per cent as powerful as older Dyson cordless vacuums like the V8. So it’ll be interesting to see how well this vacuum will handle heavy debris like crumbs.
However, the floorhead is designed to tackle the dreaded hair wrap. Like many cordless hard floor vacuums, the pencilvac has two soft brush bars split into four cones, which Dyson calls “fluffycones”. The idea is that as these spin, they eject hair towards the edge of the vacuum, stopping it from wrapping in the middle. A unique feature here that I’ve never seen is that these brush bars protrude out of the sides of the vacuum to clean closer to skirting boards.
I’m happy to see two lasers on these floorheads, too. Years ago, when I first saw lasers on Dyson vacuums, I was skeptical, but I’ve been converted. They’re perhaps not as sci-fi as the marketing claims, but they genuinely illuminate unseen dust, so this should be a helpful feature. This is also Dyson’s first Bluetooth-enabled cordless, connecting to the MyDyson app to give users maintenance alerts.
In short, this could be one of the lightest, slimmest vacuums on the market – but time will tell if that tiny motor can stand up to deep cleaning.
The Dyson PencilVac will launch in the UK in 2026.
If you can’t wait until next year, it’s worth considering the Dyson v15 detect absolute. In our tests of the best cordless vacuum cleaners, our reviewer Zoe Griffin calls the v15 “a dream”. It has a Piezo particle sensor that tells you the size of dust to the micron, and automatically adjusts its power depending on the level of dirt. In the end, Zoe gave a pretty good summary: “If you really want to know your house is clean, no other vacuum comes close.”
For automatic cleaning, check out our tests of the best robot vacuums
English (US) ·