Test Drive – Dyson V6 Absolute
The engineers at Dyson have not disappointed with the new and improved Dyson V6 Absolute.
As an owner of the previous model (Dyson Digital Slim) I was dubious the Dyson V6 Absolute could really improve upon the Digital Slim, turns out the improvements are the addition of two new heads – ensuring this nifty handheld unit can now pretty much tackle any surface.
Cost: Dyson V6 $499, V6 Animal $699, V6 Fluffy $799, V6 Motorhead $799, V6 Absolute $899, from Dyson.com.au and select retailers
18 months on from my test drive of the Digital Slim and there is nothing I would add to that review (you can read it here) – I use my Dyson almost daily and love how efficient, lightweight and agile it is. My hand held Dyson is my go-too whenever my house needs order – and as I rarely take it out of “boost” mode I have also perfected the art of vacuuming the living, kitchen, main bathroom and high traffic areas in under 10 minutes.. sometimes I even get a couple of bedrooms in there too if it’s just a touch up vacuum before guests arrive (as opposed to a thorough going over).
So when I got the call to come along to see the new model being demonstrated I jumped at the opportunity – could they really improve on this amazing little machine? Or would it just be a chance to eat some cupcakes and say hi to some of my blogger friends.. turns out it was all those things.
The most exciting improvements of the V6 come in the shape of two new heads – the “Fluffy” and the “Motorhead”.
In my previous review of the hand held Dyson I share an incident where cornflakes are spilt on the floor… the standard head for the V6 (and Slim Digital) is ideally designed to be used on carpet. It’s shape is such that when it travels along the floor (namely carpet) it creates a seal allowing maximum suction – that combined with its stiff nylon bristles ensures fine particles of dust and dirt are removed. So when you use the standard head on floorboards (or any hard surface) it quickly looses its seal when it comes into contact with things bigger than small particles of dirt. Sand, rice and things of that nature are sucked up efficiently – but try to clean up bigger objects, like cornflakes, and the regular head struggled. Introducing Fluffy the soft roller cleaner head!
Fluffy is a super clever design that allows continual seal with hard floors so that the V6 can do its job – even when it comes into contact with items like cornflakes. If you live in a house with kids and floorboards Fluffy is going to be something to get excited about.
I also use my Dyson for cleaning out the car – being cordless and handheld it makes cleaning the car easy (and again you don’t need more than 10 minutes to vacuum out the car so it’s perfect for using in boost mode). To date I have used the smaller nozzle attachments and they have done a great job in and around the seats.. but when it comes to the floor I have had to labour a little harder as the regular head is too big to use in the car and the nozzles are better suited for hard to reach places. Introducing the second smaller cleaner head, Motorhead, which offers 75% more brush power!
This nifty second cleaner head is fantastic for smaller high traffic areas – like stairs and cars. Because the kids were so enthusiastic to try the V6 out, the boot of the car was practically vacuumed before I managed to turn my camera on to capture it on film, but I did get some of it on video (see below). Before Immi started on the boot (of my mums car) it was filled with dirt (from what I assume was an over turned pot plant), plaster dust (from a half used bag which was inside a plastic bin liner but some had escaped) and cement (which had come off some old pavers she had transported) – my mum is always renovating or landscaping so the back of her car is a bit like a work truck. Within moments the V6 had retuned the carpet in mums boot to new.. I had a go too and the suction is amazing!
One final note – in the past 18 months my little machine has run like a dream every time bar one. For some reason it wasn’t sucking (although the motor was working) and so I pulled out the manual to see if there was any troubleshooting tips it might mention there.. the manual encouraged me to call the help line – so I did, half expecting to get some complicated automated menu system and then be put on hold, but that wasn’t the case at all. I spoke to a real person, she asked me what model I had and she very patiently and happily got me to do a couple of things – it was a super easy fix and that personal service really blew me away.
COMMERCIAL DISCLOSURE: WE WERE PROVIDED WITH THE DYSON V6 ABSOLUTE TO TEST DRIVE AND KEEP. ALL VIEWS ARE MY OWN.
