Dyson V7 Motorhead Cord Free Vacuum

 The Dyons V7 is an upgrade to the previous V6, at a cost of about $100 extra (less if you keep an eye out for deals). So is it worth the extra money?

Let me preface this by saying that the Dyson V6 was the best stick vacuum out there. I’ve tried a ton, and none of them have the power, the versatility, the battery life and the ease of use. The suction is top-notch, the brush head can fit anywhere you need with that Dyson ball-hinge mobility, and the battery lasts long enough to get my upstairs done (900 square feet). So you really can’t go wrong. That said, the V7 is an improvement on an already stellar product. Whether it will be worth the extra money to you comes down to a few things: battery life, noise, ease of use.

Battery life: The V6 gets about 15 – 20 minutes of power depending on how much you use “max” power. The V7 gets 25 – 30 minutes. That is enough of a difference to be worth the cost alone, for me. That’s enough extra life to get the stairs, the floors and the ceiling of my upstairs (900 square feet) – something that took two charges to do in the past. One nice thing about the battery is that instead of slowly losing suction, when the Dyson is low on battery, it just shuts off.

Noise: The V7 is noticeably quieter. Check out the video for a demonstration. The noise of the V6 isn’t awful, but it is loud. The V7 is quiet enough that I can hold a conversation. There isn’t quite the difference in noise when the vacuums are on “max” suction, but in normal, the volume difference is distinct.

Ease of Use: The V7 is an improvement over the V6 in several ways. First, the attachment release is built into the attachment now (rather than the body) and it is much easier to push and release. It just moves, clicks and releases more smoothly. The second big difference is the cup release. The V6 has a little latch on the side of the cup that you release (check out the video). While it is easy to maneuver one-handed, crap got stuck in between the cup and the filter in the middle of the cup, and you’d have to sit and wrestle the cup free to get all the caught gunk out. The V7 has the cup release on the top of the body, which you pull up. When you pull it up far enough, the cup bottom drops out – so you are essentially opening and removing the cup from the filter at the same time. No more stuck gunk. It is a definite improvement, though it took me a few tries to figure out how to work it smoothly.

Other changes: The V7 has a wider, shorter cup than the V6, which prevents stuff from getting trapped at the entrance of the cup and getting clogged. The “max” suction button has been moved from the rear to the top of the body. You don’t have to hold the max button down any longer, you can just flip the switch to max and go about your business.

Overall, the V7 adds to what was already a stellar product. You can tell that Dyson is constantly looking for ways to improve, even if it is just moving a button or adjusting the size of the cup. While the V6 is an excellent product, and it will work for most people, if you want a little extra battery life and a slightly more usable product, I would definitely splurge on the V7.

Awesome vacuum. Sweet spot for me price wise. It has double the power of the V6 but much cheaper than the V8. All around this seems to be the best priced model value wise. I was skeptical and researched quite awhile before deciding. This thing is soooo convenient. My apartment is much cleaner now just because I can just grab this thing and fly over my floors rather than hauling out the vacuum cleaner and having to plug it in three different places because the cord doesn’t reach. The swivel is just genius.

The suction is really good. One thing to know that on max suction the battery only lasts 6 minutes. This wasn’t obvious to me when researching. Otherwise, it lasts 20m on normal mode or 30m for handheld at regular suction.The handheld attachments are nice and way easier than using a dusting cloth. It has been a game changer for me.

Some minor complaints is that it feels weird pushing this on my carpet. My carpet is low profile and suited for it, but it doesn’t roll smooth like on wood floors. Maybe this to be expected, but much different than a regular vacuum. Not a biggie though. On the wood floors, it’s a champ. Another minor complaint is that it doesn’t tend to get bigger particles. I think because it sets so low, it tends to push them. This can be worked around by lifting it and sitting it on the particle. It’s not as strong as a plugged in Dyson, but for me it’s perfect and worth the trade off. Max suction is pretty decent though and I can drag my bar stools via the suction.

However, If you hit a totally flat surface where it can’t breath it will cut off a brief second — not sure if it’s by design or not. Maybe it needs just a tiny bit of airflow. This only happens when cleaning my bar stool tops though — because they are super flat perhaps.

I highly recommend this product.

My Dyson V6 finally died and I decided that it was time for an upgrade. The V6 is still available for sale, but I’m glad i chose the V7. The slight bump in price is absolutely worth it.

The V6 had some major design issues — the worst of which was the dust/dirt container and how it is supposed to be emptied. Usually this required banging the top many times, sticking your finger up into it to scrape off the edges. Completely unsanitary… But thankfully they realized how poor this design was and completely redesigned it! Pulling up the lever on the top will lift the center column up and out of the dust bin allowing everything to drop out without needing to touch any of the filth. The V7 has a larger dust bin compared to the V6 which also helps.

The battery life on the V7 compared to the V6 is hardly noticeable, especially if you only use the ‘burst mode’. The +10 minutes advertised probably equates to about +1 minute in ‘burst mode’

In my opinion, The larger brush head does do a better job of cleaning and it’s much easier to clean out long hairs that get wrapped around it.

If you are still shopping, just keep in mind that the “Animal” versions just have additional attachments and aren’t necessarily any more powerful. Also, if you are also considering the V8 model, the only upgrades you are getting are a slightly more powerful motor (100 W vs 115W) and an additional 10 minutes of vacuum time on the low power mode (30m vs 40m).