Dyson V11 Torque Drive Cordless Vacuum Cleaner, Blue

NOTE: Update below... Just got the new V11 from Amazon. Shipping and packaging was excellent. Now onto the actual Dyson, the VAC itself is amazing!!! However, the Torque Motorhead was a big disappointment on my hardwood floors. The $100 Dirt Devil I have does a better job, but it’s corded, which is why I went for the Dyson. I heard so many positive things about the V11 that I assumed I was just using it incorrectly. Turns out I wasn’t and that the head it comes with isn’t great when using it on bare floors. I contacted Dyson and they said I have to spend another $150 for a bare floor head from the V10 model. Just a heads up for those with mostly hardwoods, look into a V10 package that comes with both heads as it’s a better deal. It comes with both heads and since the V10 is the last model, it’s much cheaper to boot! That being said, the suction seems good on this thing. With the front vent on the included head “closed”, this thing sucks itself to the floor!! Battery life on turbo mode is about 5 or 6 minutes which is enough to super clean a small or medium sized room. (SEE UPDATE BELOW) On regular mode I can do most of my house, which is amazing. It’s also pretty quiet. I don’t like loud noises so I wear noise canceling headphones and listen to music when doing things like mowing and vacuuming. I didn’t need them at all with the Dyson. Overall pretty impressive, just that initial shock of seeing debris left behind on the hardwoods makes me want to give only three stars. I’m hoping the new bare floor head helps. UPDATE: Ive been using the Bare Floor Tool for a few months now and it is 100 times better than the Torque Motorhead on bare floors. It picks up way more stuff and the battery life is more than doubled!! It can also roll over things (like Cheerios) where the Torque Motorhead will just push them around. Also Ive noticed that my bin is fuller when using the Bare Floor Tool, as if the Torque Motorhead was somehow leaving find dust and dirt behind. IF you have all bare floors, try to find a Dyson kit that has the vac and the Bare Floor Tool. The Torque Motorhead will be useless to you. Mine lives in the back of the closet now.

Great power, flexible, easy to use—battery lasts no problem- only issue was one tool was missing in the box we received. Dyson replaced it in a few days no charge.

I actually LOVE vacuuming now. It’s so easy for quick spills or daily tidying. Plenty powerful and cordless to take upstairs, downstairs, and ON THE STAIRS. I do wish the next one will have a larger fill chamber. With two dogs, I have to empty twice, but it IS so quick to change out.

I live in a small apartment with wood floors so a traditional vacuum is a little overkill. The Dyson v11 Animal fits the bill. It does a great job on cat fur. It’s numerous attachments make it very versatile and I especially like the different power settings. You can drain the battery pretty quickly while using the Boost setting. I recommend running it on Eco or Auto unless you need the extra suction for a particular job. I’ve had my v11 for just under 3 years and my only complaint is a few of the plastic parts are not built strong enough. I’ve had to replace the trigger twice and the main body that holds the trigger once. The latter was because the plastic posts where the screws inside attach break relatively easily. It’s not like they are exposed making them vulnerable to dings while cleaning, but all it takes is dropping it or having it tip over a few times and you’ll have broken screw posts. The only time it’s a problem comes when you have to replace the trigger. The good news is the v11 is easy to fix without having to pay Dyson to do it. I recommend buying a metal after market trigger, put it in as soon as the original plastic trigger breaks and then never open the housing again. There are videos all over the Internet that can walk you through the process and the tools you need to do it (like a long, thin, size 8 star screwdriver). So, all-in-all it’s a good vacuum with a few minor design flaws. UPDATE: Dyson has changed the way it manufactures the main body. They now cover the internal circuit board with silicone sealant. This means in order to install a metal trigger, you have to carefully scrape off the sealant with a razor or x-acto knife to get at terminal connections. Those connections must be disconnected in order to replace the trigger. I’m not sure why Dyson did this. A cynic would say it was to make it harder to self-repair or repair out of warranty, but I hope that was not their motivation.

My vacuum arrived less than two months ago. It had strong suction, a good assortment of accessories and a good display. I quickly gave up using my built-in vacuum. The battery lasted through most of the house cleaning and the waste compartment was easy to unload. I was totally impressed with the device. Up to about a week ago I would have given it five stars plus. A week ago, the vacuum motor started surging and the display indicated that the filter needed cleaning. The display even had an animation of how to remove the filter and clean it under a faucet. It then showed how to reinstall the filter. I did what I thought the device was telling me to do. I rinsed the filter under the kitchen faucet and shook out the excess water. The filter even shows a faucet on it. After the filter was reinstalled, the motor continued surging and then the vacuum shut off completely. Thinking that maybe the battery needed charging, I put the vacuum on the charger and took out the filter to let dry further. After a couple of days, I reinstalled the filter which was still slightly damp and tried to run the vacuum. It was still dead. The Dyson web site had some suggestions of what to do, which I tried, but to no avail. There was a video that showed how to clean the filter, but it added a step of letting the filter dry for a day before reinstalling. Eventually I contacted Dyson’s customer support. I told her what had happened and she told me the warranty was voided because the machine had got moisture in it. I mentioned that a cell phone can be dropped in water and it will still function. She confided that she had dropped her cell phone in the toilet and it still worked. She said I could buy a battery or take it to the Dyson repair facility 70 miles away. It did not seem like a batty problem to me. I told her I am an electronics engineer and cannot imagine a consumer product that would be that sensitive to moisture. She said I could talk to her supervisor which I said I would like to do. After a pause, she told me that the supervisor was on a phone call and would call me back. It has been 24 hours now and no phone call. My company builds electronic products and they get exposed to rain, snow and many other sources of moisture. If our products failed when they were exposed to moisture, we would be out of business. I though I was following the instructions on the screen. It seems like normal use could expose their electronics to moisture; for example, a wet rug or a small puddle of water in the bathroom or kitchen. The Dyson literature says it is good for pets. Pets can have accidents and if the vacuum goes over a wet spot in a rug, the machine will fail. If exposure to moisture is all it takes to kill the vacuum and void the warranty, then I see major issues with it. Standard coatings can protect the electronics from water and most electronic products have such coatings. The vacuum seems like a great concept, but still in the beta development phase. It just went to market too early without sufficient real-world testing. Incidentally, I looked at the repair facility’s web site and they are closed because of the COVID-19 virus. There is no way to fix my vacuum, so it is a $700 paper weight. I certainly cannot recommend buying one. Update: The supervisor never called back. Dyson did email me and offered a 20% discount for a new main body/cyclone. When I tried to purchase the part, I spent one hour on hold on the phone. After reaching a customer support person, he told me he would call me back if the line dropped. The line dropped and he did not call back. Before the line dropped he said there was no stock on the part, but he would check further. My vacuum remains a paper weight since there is no schedule for the service centers to reopen and apparently Dyson does not stock the part I need.

Ive never had a cordless vacuum before. Ive had a corded Dyson for several years, and it was time to get a new one. I did my research, and landed on the V11 Animal. There are other versions of the V11 that just have more attachments, but I know Im only going to use 2 or 3 of them, anyway, so this one was perfect. Im impressed how long the battery lasts. I almost bought the V11 Outsize, because of it having 2 batteries, but I figured that the area I need to vacuum wasnt that big, and one battery would probably work just fine. I was right. Im vacuuming about 1800 sq ft, with a mix of tile and carpet, and the battery indicator didnt even go down. There are 3 bars of battery life. I figured it would at least go down to 2 by the time I had finished, but all 3 were still lit. I do have more tile than carpet, and on auto mode, it does automatically use lower power for the tile and higher power for the carpet, and the couch. This thing is great. I was a bit worried that the smaller head was going to be a problem, where Id have to make more passes to cover the same area as my old corded vacuum, but its fine. In fact, because the head is not so wide, I can vacuum places under furniture, etc. that I couldnt reach before without switching to one of the attachments. All in all, this is a great machine. Ive been really impressed with Dysons technology.

I use it every day. Coming from an upright that was 15 years old, this is so much easier to use! Lugging the old one out of the utility closet to clean was a chore. This hangs conveniently on a wall and I rarely say this about cleaning, but this Dyson product makes cleaning fun. It works brilliantly for all my needs and comes with a load of accessories! Get one. If you are in doubt, as I was, try it out. You will not be disappointed.

My only disappointment is having to continue to hold down the on trigger. Everything else is perfect.

First, the good — and it’s mostly good — for some reason, the pricing was down from what I’d expected. Still not cheap, but less than $500. I bought ‘The Animal” not ‘The Torque” drive. The only difference is the digital sophistication of the readout on the motor indicating battery life, etc. That option looked nice, but I figured I didn’t need it. The battery life is very good. The suction on this machine is in the WOW range ... but there is a downside to that. I’m thinking that the suction on the ECO setting is about the same as the V10’s suction on the AUTO setting, but I’m not sure. You can hear the change in power when you move the roller from hard floor to the carpet ... and that’s where the problem lies. I have new carpeting (one reason I upgraded to the V11 - I’m a Dyson cordless stick vac devotee and have had one for years). The V11 will NOT move across the new carpet in AUTO mode. I admit that I find this a bit distressing as I can’t take advantage of the additional power of the machine. The carpet is Mohawk Smartstrand Silk, and very soft and thick. Fortunately if set on ECO, the vacuum operates across the carpet pretty much like the old one did on the AUTO setting.... so, in the end, I suspect that I’m getting about the same suction power as with the older vacuum on AUTO. The V11 is also noticeably heavier, but I can handle it and it doesn’t bother me too much. Still, I struggle with the idea that there is a setting that I can’t use... and one hates to have a top of the line machine that has a problem of this nature. ... and YES, I have the air gates wide open.

I purchased this vacuum in January 2020 for $467. It does a great job on removing pet fur from carpet. The attachment for furniture also works well. It does not do a great job on hardwood, laminate, or tile. Unless you vacuum slowly, debris is scattered by the roller brush. It would work better if this feature could be turned off for hard flooring. I’ve had this vacuum for just over 3 years. After about a year of use, a plastic part near the brush head broke off. See photo. Not a big deal. After about 2 years a portion of the housing near the trigger broke off. This left a sharp edge and exposed part of the trigger normally covered. See photo. A few months ago, the battery started to lose charge. What I used to vacuum on a single charge now requires a recharge. Today, the trigger failed. Turns out this is a common problem. This appears to be a planned design failure. The part is thin plastic. You can buy a replacement trigger for about $20 that is more robust. This is a known defect that Dyson won’t fix. Since the housing on my vacuum is already broken, the trigger is loose so this option may not be my best solution. I decided to spend $152 to replace the entire main body and motor. I may buy a compatible replacement battery. They are about half the cost of a Dyson battery. You would think Dyson would have a exchange program for batteries… Overall, this vacuum works. Just don’t expect it to last more than 3 years.