Do you hate vacuuming? Do you like purple? Do you have $1,200? Then I have a product for you. The Dyson 360 Vis Nav is a sweeping robot that looks like no other and, in some ways, vacuums like no other. Unfortunately, it also has that price. This isn’t a huge surprise; Dyson products have always been premium and I understand why: in most cases they are fantastic. But with other robotic vacuums selling for as little as $100, and some adding mops to the mix for a little more, can this one justify such an exorbitant premium? (Spoiler alert: no.) Here’s my review of the Dyson 360 Vis Nav.
Rick Broida/Yahoo News
VERDICT: Even if you can afford it, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav isn’t a smart buy. While it does an admirable job of sucking up dirt, overall it’s quite limited. Difficult in decorating too.
- Distinctive, futuristic appearance…
- Easy to empty trash can…
- Considerable suction power…
- The Dyson app makes operation easy, especially setting cleaning zones
- …but also an eyesore
- …but without self-emptying dock
- …but without a mop
- Can get very loud
- Short battery life
- Insanely expensive
- The small trash can needs to be emptied frequently
Dyson 360 Vis Nav: design and setup
First things first: this is a vacuum and only a vacuum; it doesn’t scrub, a feature you now find in every cleaning product priced above $1,000 (and many priced below). What’s more, it doesn’t have a self-emptying dock for its trash can, something that’s also a staple in even budget-priced robotic vacuums. (Example: The Eufy L60, currently selling for $300.)
Assuming you’re still here after that bombshell, let’s talk about the design of the Vis Nav. The vast majority of robotic vacuums are black or white, and most are also circular. The bright purple Vis Nav is shaped more like the letter D, with its rotating brush on prominent display on the front (much like an upright vacuum).
It’s very cool, no doubt; very futuristic and sports car-like. The built-in silver trash can reminds me of something you’d see under the hood of a vintage roadster. But the Vis Nav stands out in my house, and it’s entirely possible that someone who lives here has commented: “What is what doing here? You won’t stay, will you?”
Not that other robotic vacuums are especially attractive, but I can imagine a lot of objections to this color. It doesn’t help: The dock requires you to attach a strange poster to the back (perhaps to help with return navigation?), adding another strange and off-putting visual element to the setup.
At least the actual setup is quite easy, starting with an illustrated getting started guide. As with most of these products, you plug in the dock (making sure to place it somewhere where there’s a bit of room on both sides), place the vacuum on it so it starts charging, and install the companion app on it. your phone.
This app, MyDyson, is excellent, one of the simplest and easiest to use I’ve ever tried. It walks you through the remaining setup steps, culminating with a short tutorial on how to prepare your home for cleaning. Unfortunately, this includes things like removing any and all small items from the floor (strings, clothes, etc.), suggesting that the Vis Nav isn’t smart enough to detect and navigate around them. More on that in a bit.
Dyson 360 Vis Nav: features and operation
After the robot performs an initial mapping of your space, you can designate individual rooms – great if you want to clean, say, just the kitchen after a marathon bread-making session that left flour all over the floor. Dyson’s app makes this “zoning” setup admirably easy, with a lot more control than most vacuum apps and a lot less general clutter. Only one flaw: you can’t clean an individual area – say, just where the flour is. It’s a whole room or nothing.
The app also shows a “heat map” of where the Vis Nav encountered the most dust and debris during its last run. It looks really cool and tells you where the robot will focus the most cleaning efforts in subsequent runs, but it’s kind of superfluous data for the user. I remember Jerry Seinfeld’s response when the pilot announces everything he’s going to do during the flight: “Uh, yeah, fine. Do whatever the hell you have to do.”
The vacuum’s battery lasts for about 65 minutes of cleaning, according to Dyson – definitely low. Every other vacuum I tested could cover the modestly sized main floor of my home without needing to recharge; the Vis Nav had to return to the dock once to recharge.
To be fair, this bot has more suction power than most, although it’s a little difficult to quantify. Dyson doesn’t rely on the same Pa ratings as most other vacuums; instead, the company indicates AW power (Air Watts), in this case 65 AW. Dyson says this is equivalent to “2x the suction of any other robot vacuum”, a pretty bold claim. To put this into perspective, the company V8 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner delivers 115 AW. That’s not to say the Vis Nav isn’t powerful, or more powerful than the competition, just that it’s outperformed by another Dyson product priced considerably less ($390 at the moment).
Dyson also promises 360-degree navigation enhanced by 26 sensors. I don’t know if it’s the hardware or software’s fault, but during my initial cleaning, the Vis Nav got stuck under an IKEA table. I’m really fed up with robotic vacuums that don’t know their height and can’t judge where they fit. After freeing him from the table, I watched as he repeatedly tried to squeeze under it again. Fortunately, he didn’t get stuck again and eventually gave up – until the next visit to this room, when he once again tried to get under the same table.
On a subsequent cleaning, I tasked him with just the living room, which was completed in less than 20 minutes. But then the app informed me that the Vis Nav “needed attention”, which seemed strange given that it had successfully returned to the dock; he wasn’t stuck somewhere or caught in a shoelace. The subsequent error message indicated a blockage, which I also found surprising given that I had only done a thorough cleaning and a small room.
Turns out the trash can was full – like, really complete. I’ve been spoiled by self-emptying robotic vacuums that can last weeks without needing attention in the dustbin. It’s a testament to the Vis Nav’s suction power that it picked up so much dirt. But the comparatively small bin will need to be emptied manually after almost every cleaning, and while it’s easy to do—slide it out, hold it over a trash can, press an “eject” button—it can be a chore.
Again, it’s almost inexcusable that Dyson would charge $1,200 for this machine and not include a self-emptying dock.
Meanwhile, Vis Nav is noisy. I started using Auto mode, which theoretically increases suction when needed and reduces it where it isn’t. I understand that a powerful vacuum will be noisy, but it is noisy even when just driving without actively vacuuming. There is also a low-level grinding sound at times, to the point where I didn’t want to be near the Vis Nav when it was running.
Other available cleaning modes include Fast, Silent, and Boost; I tried Quiet and it helped a little, but overall this is one of the loudest robotic vacuums I’ve tested.
That said, I can’t argue with the results: it did a great job on carpets and rugs, and very well on hard floors. (I occasionally found a few crumbs missing.)
Dyson 360 Vis Nav: Should you buy it?
I come here not to bury Dyson, but to praise him: I have two of the company’s vacuum cleaners, a portable one and an upright one, for more than 14 years, and they have been perfect. I love them.
I don’t love the 360 Vis Nav, despite it being one of the easiest robotic vacuums to use and one of the most powerful (at least as evidenced by the amount of dirt it removed from the floor). I just can’t get over the price. It doesn’t empty. Don’t rub. It’s not smart enough to avoid simple obstacles like very low tables and potentially disastrous obstacles like pet waste. And let me be frank: it sounds ridiculous. Cool, but ridiculous as an appliance.
Would I feel differently if this was priced at, say, $600? I would do this, because then the disparity between this and other expensive cleaning robots wouldn’t seem so great; I could more easily overlook the Vis Nav’s shortcomings. Dyson makes amazing vacuums; this is not one of them.
