It’s rare for Dyson to announce more than one product at a time, but today Dyson announced three products at once, as part of a broader ‘future of clean’ initiative. I recently went to Singapore to visit Dyson’s R&D office to learn more about the Dyson 360 Vis Nav robot vacuum cleaner, Submarine (not as exciting as it sounds) and the Big + Quiet.
Dyson 360 Vis Nav comes for the robot vacuum crown`
The star of the show is, of course, the 360 Vis Nav. Dyson has made robot vacuum cleaners before (which even the engineers admit that, in hindsight, were not great), but this is the first Dyson robot vacuum cleaner to be released in Australia. At $2,399, it’s a steep ask, particularly given it doesn’t have an auto-empty station or mopping function, but it’s got some special features that Dyson believes justify the price.
First of all, Dyson claims that it’s around six times more powerful than the closest competitor on the market. I haven’t been able to test that claim, but in the demonstrations, it certainly appeared to be more powerful than any other robot vacuum I’ve tried. It has 65 air watts of power, which is the same as the Dyson V8 stick vacuum, which was a pretty decent machine. It’s also got a variety of sensors and a little arm that pops out when it senses it’s near a wall to get into the corners, which is something I definitely haven’t seen before.
We all live in a Dyson Submarine
Keeping the firsts going, the Dyson Submarine sounds like a really cool aquatic vehicle to replace the company’s cancelled electric car project. Alas, it is just a mopping attachment for the V15 Detect stick vacuum.
There is some cool tech in the Submarine; it calculates just the right amount of water to put down to pick up spills and small debris, but not so much water that the floor gets very wet. Funnily enough, according to the Vice President of Floorcare at Dyson, Charlie Park, the harder part was finding the right balance to let people know the floor had been cleaned.
“Part of our studies is to understand people’s perceptions of what they were looking for in the finish, which is a very light amount of water left, very even so it dries quickly but it that gives you that confidence that it’s doing something,” Park said.
The Submarine has clean and dirty water reservoirs to make sure no dirt stays on the ground while also ensuring the fluffy head stays wet. Dyson promises that this will mop floors more efficiently. However, the Submarine is only available with new Dyson V15 models and is not compatible with existing ones. It’s also not available with the latest Gen5 Detect vacuum, so if you recently got a Dyson (as in, one newer than the V10) and don’t need a replacement, this is not for you. Also, the microfibre head needs to be thoroughly cleaned by hand after each use, which might put some people off.
Dyson goes Big + Quiet with air purification
The Dyson Big + Quiet (from $1,499) is my favourite name for a Dyson product ever, and I would like to high-five whichever marketing person approved that. From now on I am calling all the smaller Dyson air purifiers Small + Louds. Fantastic.
Also, I think the Big + Quiet is the most important product being launched today. Living through an airborne pandemic means air purification is more important than ever. While air purifiers alone aren’t enough (the CDC recommends the air in a room should be replaced at least 5 times per hour), a good air purifier with strong air distribution is a great add-on that can help with air quality.
To that end, the Big + Quiet (which I have mistyped as Big + Loud multiple times now) is a big air purifier designed to evenly distribute air through larger spaces. The way it does this is by using ‘cone aerodynamics’, which helps throw the air over 10 metres, which would normally require a much larger unit.
One of the engineers in Singapore demonstrated how the air distribution works by using a bubble sword (a bubble blower in the shape of a sword). He held it up to a ‘competitor product’ (that I’m about 80% sure was a Samsung Bespoke Cube) and the bubbles didn’t go very far. Then he put it to the Big + Quiet and the bubbles did, indeed, go more than 10 metres. During this demonstration, it was also apparent that in addition to being big, it was, indeed, also quiet. Even on full fan speed, it sounded quiet. Now, this was in an environment Dyson controlled, so I’m going to hold judgement for when I do a review (coming soon to GadgetGuy), but it still seems very promising.
In addition to being both big and quiet, it also has a CO2 sensor (which is a good indication of when it’s time to ventilate the room more), a formaldehyde sensor, a bunch of other air sensors, and breeze mode, which is designed to feel like a light breeze on a summer’s day. On the latter feature, Dyson had people outside in the UK doing extensive tests to try and quantify a breeze, of all things.
The Dyson 360 Vis Nav is $2,499 and comes out 25 May, the V15 Detect with Submarine is $1,549 and available from 20 July, while the Dyson Big + Quiet arrives during Q3 2023 with a $1,499 starting price. All three devices will be available on Dyson’s official website and in Dyson Demo stores.
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Alice Clarke travelled to Singapore as a guest of Dyson.
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