If you live in a New York City apartment, buying a new vacuum is not just about finding the model with the most suction.
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buying → live → suction
It has to be powerful enough to clean hardwood floors and rugs, but also compact enough to live in a closet and versatile enough that you don’t need three different versions for different cleaning needs.
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you → have → needs
Having spent over five years reviewing home content, I was a natural fit to help oversee our vacuum category, and the team and I put the brand’s latest cordless vacuum through tough debris, hair and dirt surface tests to see whether its nearly $1,000 price tag actually delivers best-in-category results.
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tag → spend → results
We tested the Dyson against eight other vacuums, including two specifically in the stick vacuum category, including hands-on testing of one of Dyson’s closest competitors.
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We → test → competitors
Did not completely clear debris from a jute rug in testing
At 7.5 pounds, it is not the lightest stick vacuum
The Dyson V16 Piston Animal stood out for its versatility, moving easily between hard floors, rugs and upholstery while automatically adjusting suction and brush-bar speed based on the surface.
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Animal → clear → surface
Its Fluffy Optic head illuminates fine dust on hard floors, while attachments like the Hair Screw Tool 2.0 and crevice tool help tackle furniture and tight spaces.
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attachments → illuminate → furniture
Add in strong one-pass pickup and a compact wall dock, and it makes a lot of sense for apartment living.
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it → add → living
Dimensions: 51.1 by 9.84 by 10.2 inches
A lot is happening inside the Dyson V16 Piston Animal, but the thing that mattered most to us was simple: How well did it clean?
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it → happen → us
Tester Barret Wertz, senior editorial director of commerce, used the vacuum across ceramic tile, hardwood, a jute/sisal rug and upholstery.
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Wertz → use → tile
He also tested it against multiple mess types and both human and pet hair, using several of the included attachments.
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He → test → attachments
Hardwood floors are where the Dyson really shined.
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Dyson → shin → ?
There was one test where whole cereal and fine crumbs were scattered across tile, and the vacuum cleared the moderate load in a single pass without scattering cereal across the floor.
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vacuum → be → floor
Performance fell just a little when the mess became more extreme.
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mess → fall → ?
A particularly heavy load of small, rice-sized debris left a handful of pieces behind, requiring another pass.
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load → leave → pass
Still, for the type of everyday dirt and crumbs we would expect to find in an apartment, its performance was impressive, especially compared to the other vacuums we tested.
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we → expect → vacuums
Hair also seemed easy to tackle.
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Hair → seem → ?
Wertz placed hair on tile and upholstery, as well as his hardwood-to-tile threshold.
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Wertz → place → tile
The V16 picked it up in all three scenarios, and he did not notice any sagging suction after the tests.
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he → pick → tests
Setup
For a machine that comes with so many attachments, setup is actually extremely easy.
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setup → come → attachments
Wertz says the vacuum came largely assembled, with the body, wand and cleaner heads organized clearly inside the box.
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body → say → box
There was an illustrated assembly guide printed across the lid, making it easy to set up without digging out a manual.
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it → be → manual
Wertz described the setup time as “next to nothing” and said nothing about the process was confusing.
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nothing → describe → process
He did give the battery about an hour of additional charging before he began testing.
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he → give → charging
Like all Dyson vacuums, you get a clear dust bin, copper wand and an exposed cyclone design, with Dyson’s flagship red and blue colors.
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you → get → colors
The vacuum has a 900-watt Hyperdymium motor that produces up to 315 Air Watts of suction, while the All Floor Cones Sense cleaner head is designed to automatically adjust power and brush speed depending on the surface underneath it.
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head → have → it
We noticed this automatic adjustment during testing.
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We → notice → testing
When Wertz moved from different surface types throughout his home, the vacuum didn’t stall or need a manual setting change.
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vacuum → move → change
He could also hear and feel the machine adjust itself.
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machine → hear → itself
The LCD screen gives you some useful information, including how much battery is left, the cleaning modes and a particle histogram that categorizes the sizes of particles being collected.
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that → give → particles
One of my favorite design elements, though, has nothing to do with suction.
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One → have → suction
The V16 compresses debris inside its dust bin rather than allowing it to remain loose and fluffy.
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it → compress → bin
The dirt inside the V16 was compressed like a dense bundle instead of filling the entire bin.
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dirt → compress → bin
This makes emptying it far less messy.
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emptying → make → it
When Wertz pulled the bin lever, the compressed debris dropped into the garbage as one cohesive mass.
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debris → pull → mass
He said the process was cleaner than on previous Dyson models, and there were no clumps of hair left hanging from the bin after emptying.
Attachments
Attachments matter more than you think, especially in a small apartment.
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you → say → apartment
If your chosen vacuum can clean the floor, couch, worn hardwood, tight corners and awkward gaps between furniture, you are less likely to buy another appliance, which will take up even more storage.
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which → choose → storage
The V16 configuration we tested came with the All Floor Cones Sense cleaner head, Fluffy Optic cleaner head, Hair Screw Tool 2.0, combination tool and crevice tool, along with its charger and wall dock.
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we → test → charger
The All Floor Cones Sense head was the primary attachment we used for multi-surface and debris testing.
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we → use → testing
It performed best on hard floors, clearing moderate cereal and crumb messes in one pass.
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It → perform → pass
The Fluffy Optic cleaner headis designed for hard flooring and uses a beam of light to illuminate debris that can otherwise be difficult to see.
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that → design → debris
…and 68 more, not listed.
The Aporia
