We tried Dyson's new groundbreaking robot vacuum to see how it deals with everyday dirt and dust

Famed as the brand behind some of the most coveted vacuums on the market, as well as a load of leading air care (and haircare) tech, Dyson is less known for its robot vacuums. However, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav is Dyson's third attempt at creating one of the best robot vacuums on the market. First came the Dyson 360 Eye in 2017, followed by the 360 Heurist in 2021, so is the 360 Vis Nav third time lucky?

Although it still has the vibrant violet-blue shade as its predecessor, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav is all new. Its design is lower and wider, with a flat front panel that showcases a unique fluffy brush bar that offers three cleaning elements - nylon, stiff bristles, and anti-static carbon fibre. This bar boasts edge-to-edge cleaning, with a particular emphasis on edge cleaning - one of the areas where I've historically found myself running behind my robot vacuum with a cordless vacuum to pick up missed debris under my kitchen counters. 

So, does the Dyson 360 Vis Nav live up to its over-£1000 price tag and earn a place in our list of the best vacuums? I put it to the test in my flat on hard foors, rugs and carpet, to see how it picks up after a busy home of two professionals who work from home.  

Dyson 360 Vis Nav : Product specs

• Max. run time: up to 65 minutes 
• Bin volume: 0.57 litres
• Charge time: 2.5 hours
• Dimensions: 33 x 9.7 x 34 cm
• Modes: Auto, Quick, Quiet, Boost

Who tested the Dyson 360 Vis Nav?

Millie Fender

Millie has been reviewing leading home tech for five years. She's tested dozens of vacuums, including a selection of the leading robot vacuums from brands like iRobot and Proscenic, and has even been to Dyson's London showroom to see a sneak preview of the 360 Vis Nav before testing it from her own home. 

Unboxing and first impressions

The Dyson 360 Vis Nav comes in a neat and portable box. Securely pre-packaged inside, all I had to do was assemble the charging base and plug it into the wall before placing the robot vacuum into place and letting it charge for a few hours before my first use. 

While it charged, I paired the Dyson 360 Vis Nav to my MyDyson app, which you can also use to control Dyson air purifiers, such as the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool HP09 Formaldehyde. This took a matter of minutes, and I was able to mess around with scheduling and the various cleaning mode options while I prepared to test. I even got to name the vacuum - in a tribute to the brand, I named mine James. 

The vacuum has a small, smart touch display that sits between its dustbin and its 360 camera. You can also press down on this display to use it as a button, which is easy for quick starts or pausing the vacuum mid-clean. 

Finally, a removable filter panel sits at the top of the vacuum and easily lifts up for regular cleaning. I'd be remiss to mention the striking shade of vibrant violet that Dyson opted for with the Dyson 360 Vis Nav. I personally love it - it's distinctively Dyson (along with the removable dust bin) but vacuum is compact enough that it won't be a major eyesore if you aren't too keen. 

I live in a split-level maisonette, and I regularly use my iRobot (Norman) to clean the lower level. This features a mix of carpet, hard flooring, rug, and linoleum in the kitchen. 

The space gets a lot of footfall, so I typically run a cleaning cycle three times a week to stay on top of cleaning between a weekend deep-clean. Swapping Norman out for James for a few weeks, I was keen to learn if I noticed a difference in ease of use and the cleanliness of my flat. 

What's it like to use?

First things first, starting and stopping the vacuum is incredibly easy. The app is minimalist and features all the essentials within reach. You can schedule cleans, run impromptu cycles on any of the pre-set cleaning settings (Auto, Quick, Quiet, Boost) and view a map of the high-dust areas in your home to see where your vacuum will intelligently prioritise cleaning.  

I found this map to be incredibly accurate, and the high-dust areas highlighted the areas of my living room that get a lot of footfall throughout the day, as well as a few corners that can be missed out in a sweeping clean. 

Noise level

The Dyson 360 Vis Nav comes with a quiet mode, so I gave this a try while catching up with some Netflix one night. I still had to turn subtitles on, but the noise was tolerable, and I wouldn't have an issue with sitting in the room while the vacuum is running. 

Even on the Boost setting I found that the 360 Vis Nav only hit the mid 70dB range, not so noisy as a hair dryer, but slightly noisier than your average Dyson vacuum. 

Cleaning performance

Although I had no issues with the cleaning performance for the two weeks I spent testing the Dyson 360 Vis Nav, I was curious to see just how capable this vacuum was. I laid down some oats, coffee grounds, and flour to see if it had any weaknesses with different particle sizes, and created a confined cleaning area in my living room to see if there were discrepancies between hard floor and rug performance. 

The Dyson methodically worked up and down the cleaning zone, only missing an oat or two on the border between the rug and hard floor. I was really impressed with how easily it picked up smaller particles, a sign that the unique Hyperdymium motor really does offer market-leading suction.

Border cleaning

One area that I consistently found the Dyson to be lacking in was the border cleaning, which is ironically something that the brand has really invested in with the design of the Dyson 360 Vis Nav. 

On paper, the extending side duct (designed to suck up particles along the full length of the vacuum's front panel) should be incredibly effective, but I found that the 360 Vis Nav missed some flour around the borders of the testing zone I had set up, and when cleaning my flat more generally, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav was a little shy when it came to reaching into corners and under sofas. 

How does it compare to other robot vacuums?

My main take home was that the Dyson 360 Vis Nav is a slick robot vacuum. Your robot vacuum is a lot more likely to catch your attention when it messes up than when it does the job right. If it sucks up a cable or knocks over a plant pot, it's just made your life a lot harder, but if it can get around the room and pick up a good amount of dust and debris without causing a commotion, that's a job well done. 

The Dyson never bumbled and bumped its away around my room the way I'd seen cheaper robot vacuums do, and it's impressively cable-averse. A sign of a job well done in this case is that it never needed me to rescue it from a cliff or save it from getting lost under a sofa. For that alone, it's the smartest robot vacuum I've tried to date.

My main point of reference for this vacuum is the iRobot Roomba S9+ - affectionately named Norman in my house. Norman is self-emptying and although he bumps his way around rogue furniture and boxes in my living room, he meticulously gets the job done. I've had to rescue him a number of times, but then, I've been using him for two years as opposed to the two weeks I used the Dyson 360 Vis Nav for. While the iRobot does do a good job of picking up larger debris, the Dyson wins for dust and smaller particles. I was shocked at how much it picked up from my regularly-vacuumed carpet and rugs when I sent it on its first outing. 

Should you buy the Dyson 360 Vis Nav Robot Vacuum?

If you've got over £1000 to spend on a robot vacuum, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav would be a good choice. It features a lot of the features I love in Dyson's leading cordless vacuums, such as the smart piezo sensor which monitors dust levels and accurately reports back on the Dyson app. 

The squat design also fits under sofas and low-lying furniture for a floor-wide clean. You could opt for a self-emptying robot vacuum for the money, but I found that the half-litre dust bin took a while to fill up, and was easy to empty thanks to the in-built handle. 

I'd opt for one of Dyson's versatile cordless vacuums, like the Dyson Gen5detect, over the Dyson 360 Vis Nav any day, but if you're looking for a smart robot vacuum to take the stress out of your daily cleaning, and don't mind spending a little more time cleaning the corners of your home, the 360 Vis Nav is a savvy choice.