Dyson’s new release has revolutionised the handheld vacuum cleaner — it has the power of a full-size model without the hefty price tag

This review puts the Dyson Car+Boat Handheld Vacuum to the test, to see if it's worth its hefty price tag.

After using it for two weeks, I think it could be one of the best handheld vacuums on the market. Here's why.

In a nutshell

It's no secret that Dyson have created some of the best vacuum cleaners out there. The release of the Car+Boat marks their first entry into the field of handheld vacuums, and given the brand's prestigious reputation, we were expecting big things. And safe to say, the Car+Boat does not disappoint.

It's a sleek, compact, and aesthetic-looking handheld vacuum, with impressive pick-up capabilities and a long battery life to boot.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've used it to deep clean the carpets in my home, remove dust from skirting boards, and clean behind furniture.

The Car+Boat comes with three attachment heads, each designed with different vacuuming chores in mind. Thanks to the high-power mode, you can deep clean carpets and upholstery, and the decent bin size means you don't need to worry about emptying it frequently. The emptying function could be smoother, but all in all, the Dyson Car+Boat is a worthy investment.

Specifications

• Max. run time: 50 minutes
• Charge time: 5 hours
• Bin volume: 0.54L
• Weight: 1.9kg
• Dimensions: H20.6 x L33.1 x W13.1 cm
• Modes: 2
• In the box: handheld vacuum unit, mini motorhead, crevice tool, combination tool, charger
• RRP: £249.99

Unboxing, assembly, and first impressions

The Dyson Car+Boat arrives in one small box that is easy to carry around. The box itself has a nice drawing of the handheld vac on, so I know exactly what to expect when I unpack it.

This is my first experience of using a Dyson product, and I can immediately understand how the brand has earned its prestigious reputation. The whole unboxing and set-up experience feels elevated; from the neatly packaged components to the fully recyclable materials in the box to the sleek design of the vacuum itself, everything just feels nice.

In the box is the handheld vacuum unit, crevice tool, combination tool, and mini motorhead, alongside an instruction manual. Each component is secured in cardboard, and there's not a scrap of single-use plastic in sight. I can pop all of the packaging material in with my household recycling, which I always think is a plus.

Once everything is out of the box, I can appreciate the sleek, modern design of the appliance. I also get a sense that the Car+Boat is going to be very easy to set up and start using, with there being only three attachments included alongside the vacuum itself.

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Happily, I'm right, and it takes no more than a couple of minutes for me to be able to start using the Car+Boat. You simply need to click your chosen attachment into the unit, hold down the power button, and you're good to go. It didn't even need charging, which is often the case with other cordless vacuums I've tested.

The power button is quite sensitive; I accidentally set it off when I was unpacking the vacuum unit from its box. This is because it's a push-down lever rather than an actual button, but once you know where this is, you can avoid pressing it when handling the appliance (other than when you're actually using it, of course).

I also really like the colours of the vacuum. The buttons are red, and the filters are purple, which makes it easy to distinguish between the different aspects, but also adds to an aesthetic design. Overall, I'd say the Car+Boat looks quite pretty.

What's it like to use?

So you can understand how I used the Dyson Car+Boat for this review, I should first share a little bit more about me and my home. I live in a two-bedroom flat with my partner, and we have a mixture of carpeted and hard floors. My regular vacuum is the Hoover HFX Cordless Vacuum - which can also be used in handheld mode - but during this testing process, I strictly used the Dyson Car+Boat for any handheld vacuum purposes. This included cleaning the edges of each room, vacuuming the stairs leading into my flat, giving the furniture a refresh, and cleaning the inside of our car.

As mentioned, the Car+Boat comes with three attachments, which are all designed for slightly different purposes. The crevice tool is best suited to narrow, hard-to-reach areas like skirting boards, the mini motorhead is for cleaning fabric and upholstery, and the combination tool can be used for easily swapping between tasks - for example, if you're cleaning different surfaces in the car and don't want to faff about changing attachments.

To begin with, I start off with the combination tool, which has a soft brush and wide nozzle. It's really easy to switch between the two thanks to the clickable grey button, and I like the fact that I can clean the edges of my living room and some of the furniture without having to swap to a different attachment.

I try the crevice tool next, as this one is recommended for cleaning hard to reach areas. It has a thinner nozzle than the combination tool, so it's much better at cleaning skirting boards. It glides across all the skirting boards in my flat like a dream, and leaves them pretty much dust-free.

Using both of these attachments has led me to believe that the Dyson Car+Boat has powerful suction capabilities. I can see just how quickly it sweeps up debris and crumbs that have found their way to the edges of the room and settled into the carpet.

To get a further visual on how powerful the Car+Boat's pick-up is, I throw some flour down on my kitchen floor. Using the motorhead attachment, I run the vacuum over the area and I'm amazed at how quickly the flour disappears. I don't need to run the device over the same area more than once for the flour to pick up, and with a few sweeping motions from left to right, the floor is looking pretty spotless.

I carry out the flour test again on my living room carpet. This time, I did need to run the vacuum over the floor a few times in order to get all of the flour out, and at first, I was a little worried that the motorhead was rubbing the flour into the carpet fibres. But, within a minute or two, the carpet was looking just as fresh as before, and there wasn't a trace of flour in sight.

While there isn't a specific mode for hard floors or carpets, there is a high-power mode, which significantly amps up the Car+Boat's suction power. Out of curiosity, I perform the flour test on my living room carpet again, this time in the higher mode, and I'm amazed at how quickly the flour vanishes. It's gone with one sweeping motion, which is a testament to how powerful the higher mode is.

Of the three attachments, I found that the mini motorhead was the best at actually cleaning the floors. It's designed to remove dust, dirt and debris from surfaces, which having used it to clean the floors in my home and the interior of our car, I can confirm. That being said, it does need to be held at a certain angle so it can run flat across the floor, and you'll need to be on your hands and knees as you use it. It also doesn't run quite as smoothly on the forward motion as it does on the backward motion when using the high-power mode, which took a couple of tries to get used to.

I was intrigued to see how I'd get on vacuuming the stairs with the Dyson Car+Boat, as I usually find this to be quite a long-winded chore. From the size of the attachment heads, I knew that both the crevice and combination tools wouldn't cover enough ground for me to be able to vacuum the stairs efficiently, so I opted for the mini motorhead again.

Because of the width of the motorhead, vacuuming the stairs was easy. I manage to run it across one stair with just a few sweeps, and it takes me just over five minutes to vacuum a full set of stairs.

The power button does need to be held down when using the Car+Boat, which won't be ideal for everyone. My own preference would be an on/off button that only needs to be clicked once, but I also didn't find holding the power lever to be a problem. I could still use the handheld vac for extended periods of time without any issue.

Manoeuvring the Car+Boat is a dream thanks to the lightweight, ergonomic design. After using it to clean the edges of multiple rooms in my home, my hand didn't feel achey and was still sitting comfortably around the handle. Most of the time, I didn't have a problem cleaning behind furniture, especially when using the crevice tool (which is longer than both of the other attachments). There were a couple of instances when the Car+Boat was just a little too big to fit in certain areas, but honestly, I don't think it could be designed any more compact than it already is.

This makes storing the vacuum nice and easy as well. After each use, I unclipped whichever attachment I'd been using and popped the Car+Boat in my cleaning cupboard, where it slotted in between my regular vacuum and steam mop. It has a flat stand at the bottom which means it can sit upright without needing to be propped against anything else. It would have been nice if a little storage bag came to keep the attachments in, but I just used a spare box so they weren't lying loose in the cupboard.

Finally, it's always worth noting what the noise levels are like when we're testing vacuums. This can be a make or break factor for some people, and having recently reviewed the Vax HomePro Pet-Design Cordless Vacuum, I know that not all vacuums were made equally in the noise department.

Thankfully, the noise made by the Dyson Car+Boat didn't bother me in the slightest. In standard mode, the vac reaches a volume of 80.4 db (according to the app I used for testing), and this increases to 90.1 in turbo mode. This is pretty loud, but the noise itself isn't unpleasant, which I put down to the smoothness of the mechanics in the machine.

What's it like to clean?

Emptying the Dyson Car+Boat definitely took a bit of getting used to. There's a red button with a bin icon next to the vacuum's filter, which needs to be pulled up. This in turn lifts the filter compartment up, at which point the lid to the bin springs open. I was a little unprepared for this the first time, and most of the contents from the bin ended up on my kitchen floor. I did get used to this after a couple more times, but I still think the emptying function could be smoother. The filter doesn't lift up easily when you hold the bin button down, and to me it would make more sense if the bin lid opened without needing to pull the filter out as well.

I also wiped down the inside of the bin with a cloth, but it was difficult to reach all the way inside to get it fully clean. The Car+Boat doesn't come with any cleaning tool, which in my experience, does make a difference when cleaning a vacuum.

As an F.Y.I., it's also recommended that both of the vacuum's filters are washed once a month with cold water.

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In terms of battery life, the charge lasts 50 minutes in standard mode, which is pretty good going and does give you a decent amount of time to get your chores done. It's worth noting that this does drop down to just 5 minutes in high-power mode, but I rarely found myself using this mode anyway. There is an LED light display indicating how much charge the vacuum has left, but it's quite small, and not the easiest to see at a glance.

According to the specifications shared on the Dyson website, the Car+Boat battery takes five hours to go from dead to fully charged, but this wasn't the case for me. After it had ran out of battery, I put it on charge and it took just over three hours for the blue LED light display to stop flashing, indicating that the battery was fully charged and good to go. I therefore wouldn't let the five hour charging time put you off from buying, if this feels like a dealbreaker to you.

How does it compare to similar vacuums?

Currently in the number one spot in our handheld vacuum buying guide is the Gtech Multi Platinum, which impressed our reviewer with its cleaning capabilities, long battery life, and large dust canister. But, I think the Dyson Car+Boat could definitely give the Gtech model a run for its money. It's got a slightly lower RRP (£249.99 compared to £269.99), but it also boasts a high-power vacuum mode, which the Multi Platinum lacks, and a longer battery life by 20 minutes. Plus, our reviewer described Gtech's model as heavy and bulky - terms I definitely wouldn't apply to the Dyson Car+Boat.

Of course, the Car+Boat definitely has a premium price point compared to other handheld vacuums on the market, so whether or not you invest will come down to budget considerations. For instance, you could get the Shark WandVac 1.0 Handheld Vacuum for over £100 less and still get a decent performance and, possibly, a smoother emptying function. But, the Shark WandVac has a frustratingly short battery life (it only lasted 8 ½ minutes during testing), and again, there's only one power mode.

It's worth noting that there are handheld vacuums designed for pet hair specifically, which the Car+Boat isn't. So, if this is a priority for you, you might prefer the Shark Handheld Cordless Vacuum Cleaner with Pet Tool, which also has a much cheaper RRP of £79.99.

Should you buy the Dyson Car+Boat Handheld Vacuum?

If you've got the budget to spend on a premium handheld vacuum, I really don't think you'd regret buying the Dyson Car+Boat. It's an investment for sure, but its pick-up capabilities are second to none, especially when you switch to the higher-power mode. The vacuum itself is also lightweight and easy to manoeuvre, making it suitable for longer jobs like cleaning the car. Plus, with a 50 minute battery life, I doubt you'd run out of charge before finishing the task at hand.

I'm also a fan of the Car+Boat's sleek aesthetic. Everything about the look and design of the device aligns with Dyson's reputation as a brand, and it's also compact enough to store easily. My only criticism is that the emptying function could be smoother, but this definitely isn't enough of a factor to stop me from recommending the appliance.

So if you're looking to make your vacuuming chores easier, the Dyson Car+Boat could well deserve a place in your home.

About this review, and the reviewer

Katie Sims

Katie is a regular freelance contributor for Ideal Home, and has tested a variety of home appliances, including dehumidifiers, air purifiers, coffee machines, and of course, vacuums.

You can find more information on how we review vacuum cleaners at Ideal Home on our testing page. For this review, the Dyson Car+Boat Handheld Vacuum was tested by Katie, a writer and reviewer who lives in a flat in Leeds with her partner.

During her two-week testing period, Katie has been using the Car+Boat for handheld vacuuming chores, to see how the model fares up in everyday life. She's tested all the accompanying attachments, and has been able to give an in-depth review on the vacuum's performance and ease of use.

Dyson sent Katie the Car+Boat Handheld Vacuum for the purpose of this review, but this has not impacted the review's integrity. She has shared her own experience of using the vacuum, and given a verdict based off how the device might work in other homes as well.