I’ve owned a lot of vacuums over the years: top-rated corded vacuums, stick vacuums, handheld vacuums, and even mini vacuums designed for desk crumbs. Some of this is a result of my job as a commerce editor who tests products, but also because I live in a one-bedroom apartment with two cats that shed a lot (and trigger my allergies, for which I take meds daily). I’m constantly searching for vacuums (plus air purifiers, lint rollers, and prayers) that cut down on pet hair and dander—a battle that wears down my physical and mental health.
So, when I had the opportunity to test the Dyson V12 Detect Slim, an intelligent cordless vacuum released last year, I was excited. (Full disclosure: I received the product for free and was able to keep it!) I’ve used the vacuum for more than six months now and can report that it’s worth the home-cleaning hype—especially if you live with pets or are, er, super furry yourself. Here are my thoughts on Dyson V12’s smorgasbord of excellent features (as well as some notable shortcomings).
How the Dyson V12 Detect Slim Vacuum Works
Dyson is known for its TikTok-famous hair stylers, air purifiers that look like space objects, cord-free, high-tech vacuums, and (in my experience) alarmingly efficient hand dryers. Its latest product, the V12 Detect Slim, is a lightweight, cordless, and powerful vacuum cleaner. The model comes with six cleaning attachments, and converts with a click of a button into a handheld vacuum that can tackle upholstery, walls, and tricky crevices. The coolest feature: It uses laser illumination technology to help you see dust and dander on your wood floors as you clean (more on that below).
The Pros
Lightweight, Cordless, and Easy to Empty
Compared to other vacuums I’ve owned, I found this model to be incredibly easy to pick up and move around. It’s only 5.2 pounds, one of the lightest vacuums I’ve owned; my Dyson V8 Animal, by comparison, was 5.7 pounds. I never had to deal with lugging the vac or a tangled cord between rooms, nor did I get my hands coated in dust trying to empty the vacuum because of its clean bagless design. It’s also super compact; I could smoothly maneuver it into tight corners that my larger, corded vacuum could only handle in its dreams. When the bin filled, I held it over my trash can, pushed its eject button, and neatly disposed of the gross stuff in one motion.
Single-Button Power Control
In order to turn on the Dyson V12, I simply pushed its single power button, and it was ready to go. With my previous Dyson V8 Animal, I had to hold down its trigger the entire time I vacuumed, which was tiring for my fingers. But with this one-button step, I could swap hands while cleaning without the vacuum stopping. I no longer had any sort of hand fatigue (and ended up comfortably cleaning for longer).
Laser Illumination Technology
Hands down, the Dyson Laser Slim Fluffy cleaner head is my favorite feature of the vacuum. After I gave my apartment floors a pass using the Motorbar, the vacuum’s everyday cleaner head, I would swap it for the Laser Slim Fluffy attachment. Admittedly, it may be tiring to change the attachments for some people, but this one’s sleek, angled profile enabled it to tuck under low-to-the-ground furniture, such as my dresser and couch, so the extra step felt worth it for me. Best of all: With the flick of a switch on the head, the Laser Slim Fluffy emitted a green laser that highlighted all of the pet hair and dust particles that lived on my hardwood floors (and that I would never see without it).
This laser is incredible. I thought my floors were clean after a quick, standard vacuum, but I was so wrong. The green beam revealed giant tumbleweeds of fur that had collected around my table legs, in the corners of the room, and under my bed, as well as the tapestry of hairs across my hardwood floors and even walls. It was satisfying (slash horrifying) to suck up all this dust and dander—and I’ve never had to rinse or wipe it off, as it seems to stay clean itself.
Useful Included Tools
In addition to the innovative Laser Slim Fluffy cleaner head, I appreciate these additional tools from the V12 the most:
- Motorbar De-tangling Brush Bar: My go-to attachment is the Motorbar cleaner head, which has vanes that are designed to untangle hair (both human and extremely long pet hair, in case you have a Maincoon cat, say) that get wrapped around the brush bar. In my months of using the vacuum, I never had to stop to unspool hair from its brush head—a task I was happy to skip.
- Crevice Tool: This long, narrow attachment easily fits into the narrow space between my litter box and the wall.
- Hair Screw Tool: I occasionally used this small cone-shaped attachment in handheld mode to suck up hairs and pillow feathers from my couch and bed.
- Combination Tool: The soft bristles of this brush made it useful for pulling dust off of my keyboard, wood furniture, and fabric lampshades.
Long Battery Life
In my experience, the vacuum took about four hours to fully charge. As a bonus, I was able to see the battery life on the vacuum’s LCD screen—down to the second. Dyson claims the vacuum can last up to 60 minutes before needing to return to its dock, but I never came close to losing charge in “Eco” or “Auto” mode, even when doing two passes of my whole apartment (which is admittedly not the biggest space). When using the vacuum in “Boost” mode, which is designed for quick attacks of extremely tough-to-suck-up debris like ground-in dirt, it ran out of charge after about 20 minutes of use.
Warranty
All of Dyson’s cordless vacuums come with a two-year warranty that covers certain repairs and replacements of select parts and batteries, including labor costs. Of course, normal wear and tear and damages, repairs, or costs caused by a business or person not recognized by Dyson will not be covered. I didn’t need to apply for Dyson’s warranty, but two years feels like an acceptable amount of time for coverage, in my opinion.
The Cons
Pricey
There’s no way around it: The $650 (or $550 on sale) price tag is tough to swallow. Would I buy this on my own? Hell yes, if money wasn’t an issue. But right now? Probably not—not with my budget, anyway. If you’re looking for a simpler, less-involved Dyson stick volume, there’s the Dyson V8 Absolute (which you can snag for $400 on sale).
Not Great for Carpet
The Dyson V12 defaulted to its “Auto” mode when turned on, and I found this cleaning mode was too powerful for the various rugs in my apartment. In “Auto,” the vacuum would get stuck pulling up the carpet into its brush head which would cause the detangling feature in the Motorbar to freeze. To work around this, I had to turn the vacuum off completely, turn it on again, and switch to “Eco” mode (which had the gentlest suction). Though “Eco” seemed to work well enough on my rugs (and none of the modes gave me trouble on my stone and hardwood floors), it was consistently annoying to have to manually switch to “Eco” every time I used the vacuum on my carpets.
Small Dustbin
In order to keep the weight of the vacuum down (I assume, anyway), the dustbin is just 0.1 gallons in size (my Dyson V8 Animal was 0.15 gallons, by comparison). For my one-bedroom apartment, this meant that I had to empty it more frequently, basically every time I did one pass of the floors. Also, in order to empty the canister, I needed to detach the entire wand first (and reattach it after emptying the bin).
Should You Buy It?
As someone who tests pricey products that I don’t always end up using, this one actually got daily use. I swear my apartment felt significantly cleaner and fresher after I used the V12, and thanks to that laser, I could actually see all the hair and dander disappearing—and a lot of my allergy-related anxiety with it. Yes, it’s f**king expensive. However, if you’re someone who geeks out over gadgets and lives with pets, you will feel more at peace after visibly combatting your dusty, dirty demons with the Dyson V12 Detect Slim.
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