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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2023
Let me start off my saying this isn't my primary vacuum. For that, I have a Miele C2+. However, that can be hard to maneuver and is a burden for small, quick messes or cleaning between deep vacuuming. Also second disclosure, I've only used this on its default setting of "medium" so anything I mention about battery life will not discuss the different power settings.
So with that said, the Dyson V11 is a good addition to the fleet and a good second vacuum. I have a smallish house so I could see vacuuming maybe half of it on medium power; most of the house is carpet, though, so I don't think using the light setting would get things clean enough. With two dogs that both shed a decent amount, I usually fill the canister to its "max fill" line every time I vacuum so keep that in mind if you have shedding pets. Could you theoretically jam more in there before emptying it? Absolutely. However, I don't know if that would cause damage or just make emptying the bin that much harder. Now, because I mentioned the bin, let's move on to that. Overall, it's pretty easy to empty: pull off whatever attachment you're using, point the end over a trashcan, and engage the red lever on the bottom of the bin. Simple, right? Well, not so fast: remember how I said I have dogs? Yeah, their fur and my wife's long hair both tend to get stuck on I'm not even sure what, meaning I have to reach in and pull out part of whatever is in the bin. Most of it slides out easily, but not everything as Dyson's advertising claims. I have a much older Dyson stick vac, maybe first or second gen (doesn't really work much anymore), and the V11 is definitely easier to empty. Just not as "point and shoot" as Dyson would have you believe. Maybe if you don't have pets or long hair.
I like how on this generation of stick vac, the power head actually has a motor in it. My old one spun the carpet beater on the vacuum's suction, which caused it to stop quite frequently. The downside is that it doesn't have a mode where you're not running the beater, like on hard floors. This doesn't really bother me much because my hard floors consist of peel-and-stick tiles and laminate "wood." I'm not sure if the beater could scratch read wood floors, but I doubt it. From what I've been able to observe, nothing seems to get wound around the beater; it's well-designed in that way. Maybe the errant long thread/string from something, but hairs and such at least don't get wrapped around it. Another downside to the carpet head is that when the beater knocks around things that for whatever reason don't get sucked up, it gets spewed around the room. My Miele includes a rubber bar to minimize this from happening: it's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.
As far as maneuverability and weight, both are pretty solid, much better than my canister vac and easy for my kids to use (both kids are under 11). It's not quite as easy to maneuver the power head as I'd like, but it's much better than the old one I have. I'd hoped it would be a bit lighter than it is, but I guess I would've needed to step up a few models to the V15 my parents have to get it lighter (wasn't about to pay over $700 for a "second" vacuum).
The other attachments that accompany the vacuum seem good, but I haven't used them. The two crevice-like tools (one is a proper crevice tool) are pretty standard. There's also a smaller motor brush I could envision using on stairs, a couch, or in a car, but I've used the regular floor tool on my stairs with no issue, but each staircase has at most 6 stairs so that's easier than if I had a bigger staircase.
Overall, I feel like the Dyson V11 is a good buy. I bought this on sale during Black Friday for maybe $350US. I'm not sure off the top of my head what it's regular cost is, but anything more than what I paid would eat into its value proposition.
So with that said, the Dyson V11 is a good addition to the fleet and a good second vacuum. I have a smallish house so I could see vacuuming maybe half of it on medium power; most of the house is carpet, though, so I don't think using the light setting would get things clean enough. With two dogs that both shed a decent amount, I usually fill the canister to its "max fill" line every time I vacuum so keep that in mind if you have shedding pets. Could you theoretically jam more in there before emptying it? Absolutely. However, I don't know if that would cause damage or just make emptying the bin that much harder. Now, because I mentioned the bin, let's move on to that. Overall, it's pretty easy to empty: pull off whatever attachment you're using, point the end over a trashcan, and engage the red lever on the bottom of the bin. Simple, right? Well, not so fast: remember how I said I have dogs? Yeah, their fur and my wife's long hair both tend to get stuck on I'm not even sure what, meaning I have to reach in and pull out part of whatever is in the bin. Most of it slides out easily, but not everything as Dyson's advertising claims. I have a much older Dyson stick vac, maybe first or second gen (doesn't really work much anymore), and the V11 is definitely easier to empty. Just not as "point and shoot" as Dyson would have you believe. Maybe if you don't have pets or long hair.
I like how on this generation of stick vac, the power head actually has a motor in it. My old one spun the carpet beater on the vacuum's suction, which caused it to stop quite frequently. The downside is that it doesn't have a mode where you're not running the beater, like on hard floors. This doesn't really bother me much because my hard floors consist of peel-and-stick tiles and laminate "wood." I'm not sure if the beater could scratch read wood floors, but I doubt it. From what I've been able to observe, nothing seems to get wound around the beater; it's well-designed in that way. Maybe the errant long thread/string from something, but hairs and such at least don't get wrapped around it. Another downside to the carpet head is that when the beater knocks around things that for whatever reason don't get sucked up, it gets spewed around the room. My Miele includes a rubber bar to minimize this from happening: it's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.
As far as maneuverability and weight, both are pretty solid, much better than my canister vac and easy for my kids to use (both kids are under 11). It's not quite as easy to maneuver the power head as I'd like, but it's much better than the old one I have. I'd hoped it would be a bit lighter than it is, but I guess I would've needed to step up a few models to the V15 my parents have to get it lighter (wasn't about to pay over $700 for a "second" vacuum).
The other attachments that accompany the vacuum seem good, but I haven't used them. The two crevice-like tools (one is a proper crevice tool) are pretty standard. There's also a smaller motor brush I could envision using on stairs, a couch, or in a car, but I've used the regular floor tool on my stairs with no issue, but each staircase has at most 6 stairs so that's easier than if I had a bigger staircase.
Overall, I feel like the Dyson V11 is a good buy. I bought this on sale during Black Friday for maybe $350US. I'm not sure off the top of my head what it's regular cost is, but anything more than what I paid would eat into its value proposition.
