Dyson PencilVac Review (2026): Limited but Handy

Nena Farrell GearApr 24, 2026 8:01 AMReview: Dyson PencilVac FluffyconesDyson’s newest stick vacuum has a fresh, streamlined look and some limitations. But I still keep reaching for it.Courtesy of DysonTriangleUpBuy NowMultiple Buying Options Available$599 at Amazon$600 at Best Buy$600 at DysonCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyRating:7/10Open rating explainerInformationWIREDSuper compact, lightweight design that’s great at getting in tight spaces. Magnetic charging base. Compresses debris so it doesn’t need a massive dustbin.TIREDLimited to hard floors. Short battery life. Sometimes spits hair back out instead of into the dustbin.Dyson vacuums have had a pretty consistent look for the past few years. Each model in the famed brand's series of powerful stick vacuums features a hefty handle containing a dustbin, battery, and motor that’s connected to the head of the vacuum by a long tube. It's a design you'll find across other brands' cordless vacuums, too. But with the new PencilVac model, Dyson breaks the mold.Announced last spring and initially launched in Japan and Korea last year, the PencilVac Fluffycones cordless vacuum fits all of its components into a 4-pound package with a slim 38-mm (1.5-inch) handle. There are a few trade-offs with this streamlined design: It's got half the battery life of Dyson's other cordless vacuums and can only be used on hard floors.Even with those caveats, it's still the vacuum I find myself reaching for to keep daily debris and my cat's litter tracks under control. It makes for a great companion vacuum to a robot vac-mop that does the bulk of the work every few days, and it's as lightweight and easy to maneuver as a Swiffer broom. It's a vacuum I genuinely enjoy using, and I'm hoping it's a design we see more and more in Dyson vacuums.Fresh FormPhotograph: Nena FarrellThe PencilVac gets rid of the bulky topper you'd find on any other cordless vacuum, hiding the motor, battery, and dustbin into a 38-mm-wide handle with two buttons and a small screen. Dyson manages this by shrinking the Hyperdymium motor down to 28 mm while still packing in a decent amount of power. It's not as strong as a traditional Dyson stick vacuum—the PencilVac has 55 air watts, less than a quarter of the V15 Detect's power—but for cleaning hard floors, rather than pulling dust and debris up from carpets and rugs, that works just fine.Dyson PencilVacRating: 7/10$599 at Amazon$600 at Best Buy$600 at DysonThe battery and dustbin also shrank in size compared to Dyson's other vacuums. The dustbin holds a mere 0.08 liters, but the PencilVac compresses debris to make every bit count. I was able to vacuum most of my main floor (a kitchen, dining room, bathroom with a litter box, and a long hallway of hardwood in the living room that doesn't include my rug) without completely filling the dustbin.Photograph: Nena FarrellMeanwhile, the battery life has a maximum of 30 minutes, which is half the time you'd get on a Dyson V15 Detect (on sale right now for $620) and less than you'd get on the much, much cheaper Bissell I recommend as a budget stick vac pick. Even fully charged, my PencilVac usually reported it had only about 24 to 25 minutes of vacuum time on Eco mode (the lowest of three power settings). It's only a few minutes I lost out on, but that's significant when it had so little to begin with.While I'm quick to point out how short the battery life is, it wasn't actually a huge problem in my…

This excerpt is published under fair use for community discussion. Read the full article at WIRED.