Dyson V6 Absolute cordless vacuum review

Cleaning the carpeted stairs in our home is one of the banes of my life. I dread the thought of clunking my heavy vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs, precariously balancing on a tread and inevitably falling/hitting the wall/scaring the kids. Nightmare. So I procrastinate and never do it; unless people are coming over. And that makes for an un-pretty situation re: the stairs.

Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity to receive and review the new Dyson V6 Absolute cordless handstick. It has a trigger control and futuristic style that reminds me of a Ghostbuster's GhostZapper gun. Or maybe a robot's hair dryer. It looks cool, but will it solve my procrastination issues around the problem spots in our house and car, and will I ever have clean stairs without the effort? Read on for my experiences using the V6:

The Test Area
So these are my stairs in our 1973 Pettit and Sevitt home. They are carpeted with a low-pile wool loop and are not exactly new. The struggle for me has always been managing a vacuum cleaner on the stairs, and dealing with the cord. I've tried a very cheap handheld vacuum with no luck - the suction just wasn't enough to deal with the dirt that is trod into the stairs on a daily basis.

The Experience
The Dyson V6 Absolute assembly was really straight-forward, and get this - it was holding a small charge and worked right out of the box. It comes with a number of attachments for whatever your needs are:

1. Slim nozzle for crevices (this is my default attachment)
2. Extension stick and roller head for hard flooring
3. Extra roller head for carpets and rugs
4. Mini motorised tool for deeper carpet cleaning
5. Combination tool

There is also a docking station that you can attach to the wall that will hold a couple of attachments, and a charging cable.

First, I used the mini motorised tool nozzle and activated the MAX power button to suck up all the dirt from the carpeted treads. When using the V6, you need to keep the trigger held for it to work. This is good for short bursts of use (the majority of usage), but gets a little tiring after a few minutes. It would be great if future models could provide a lock for the trigger in the ON position for this kind of usage.

The suction was good and I was shocked at the amount of fluff that it picked up, on top of the dirt. It wasn't long before the cartridge was up to the maximum fill line and I easily emptied the co ntents into the bin with the button press release. A toothbrush might be needed to give it a thorough clean out.

Then I switched to the slim nozzle to suck up the fluff and debris caught at the bottom of the tread rise - that tricky spot that seems to collect dust. Worked a charm.

Using the MAX power button, the V6 needs recharging after 6 minutes. This was more than enough time for me to finish cleaning all the treads, and to de-fluff the air-conditioning filter below the stairs too. Just using the default power setting, the full-charged battery in the V6 lasts for approximately 20 minutes before needing recharging. Charging to full capacity takes around 3.5 hours.

All up, it was an extremely successful  tool for cleaning this tricky spot in our house. The handheld body was a little heavy (2.3kg) for my wrists (or my little helper's arms) for use over an extended period, but excusable considering the power of the motor.

Extra Testing
I also used the Extension stick and roller head for hard flooring to suck up crumbs in my kitchen. It was a great, compact vacuum tool and with the extension, I didn't even have to bend down (I'm sounding pretty lazy by this stage). I only noticed that the roller head is a little smaller than my regular vacuum and the loose directional movement of the roller head was a little more difficult to control than I am used to. Not a problem for small areas.

Next was to test the Extension stick and combination tool nozzle to clean the tops of the blinds and picture frames around the house. This is another of my problem spots as I'm only 5'2" and don't even notice any high-up dust, let alone reach it easily. The V6 solved this problem well for me, and I could zip around the house and deal with all the high dust spots and spider webs without unplugging and plugging a regular vacuum and lugging it around our house.

And now the car. Oh my goodness. The mini motorised tool nozzle was perfect for sucking up the black hole of crumbs and dirt that is our back seat, and worked well on both the kids' booster seats too.

The Verdict
It works! The V6 requires so little effort for the tricky spots in my house that my stairs are now spotless. (Not to mention our car interior). So yes, I'm sold on the V6 as a powerful cordless vacuum which is a great solution for all the problem areas in our house (stairs, kitchen crumbs, up-high dust, car and cobwebs). I'll use it as an everyday tool for small cleaning jobs, and in conjunction with my regular vacuum which I will use for larger areas. I could imagine that in a small home, the V6 would be all you would need. Two thumbs up from me.

P.S.: This is not a sponsored post; I was gifted the V6 Absolute by Dyson to review.

Images: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville