Dyson V11 Absolute Pro Cordless stick vacuum review

Within 10 minutes of turning on the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro Cordless stick vacuum, I knew this was the best vacuum I’ve ever tried. Yes, it might sound like I was rushing that assessment, but I think anyone running this cord-free vacuum cleaner across their floor for the first time would think the exact same thing.

The latest stick vacuum from Dyson has such intense suction, I honestly couldn’t believe it was cordless. It has multiple attachments to clean your floors, cars, and couches, there’s an extra-large dust bin with a HEPA filter, and it has an LCD screen that counts down your battery life. That means no more guessing when the power will run out. It’s one of the best features in a cord-free vacuum I’ve ever seen.

Maybe you don’t get as excited about a new vacuum cleaner as I do. It could be you’re just hoping for something that will clean your floors and do it well, but either way, it’s impossible not to be impressed with the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro. I’m totally sold on it. Here’s my take on it and why you’ll be sold on it too.

Appearance and features of the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro Cordless stick vacuum

Before Dyson created cord-free stick vacuums, a handheld vacuum was small, used on stairs or cars, and could only run for about 5 minutes before it shut off. Now you can use one to clean your entire house, and you’ll have battery power to spare.

When I think of the canister vacuum cleaners I grew up with and compare it to the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro, I’m blown away by how much things have changed in a few decades. While I’m always impressed by new phones and computers, this is the type of tech that’s so practical in a time-saving, everyday sort of way. The flexibility and ease of use will make an actual difference in the duration of time spent cleaning for anyone using it.

Dyson V11 Absolute Pro Cordless stick vacuum is a well-balanced stick vacuum. It’s not so heavy you can’t lift it up into the rafters of your home with one hand, weighing in at 3.03 kg (not quite 7 pounds).

• Dyson V11 Absolute Pro includes two different cleaner heads including a high torque cleaner head and soft roller cleaner head
• Has five separate attachments and includes a bracket for mounting the vacuum on the wall
• Intelligent Dynamic Load Sensor technology allows for variable power and lets you cruise from floors to carpet to furniture
• The LCD screen on the vacuum shows you in real-time exactly what your battery power is, when it’s time to clean the filter, and what power level you’re running
• Tap a button on the screen and switch from 3 cleaning modes including Auto Mode, Boost Mode, and Eco Mode
• Built-in HEPA filter lets you capture 99.97 percent of dust particles

Testing the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro Cordless stick vacuum

The purpose of a vacuum cleaner is to clean dirt and debris off your floors. If that’s all you wanted the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro to do, it would do that with ease. Being cord-free means you can cruise everywhere and never miss a beat, and depending on your power mode, the battery life and dust bin would be long enough and large enough to collect the dust from all your floors.

The thing with the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro though, is that it has the power to do so much more than just clean your floors. With the intensity of suction and the attachments designed for this cord-free vacuum cleaner, you can use it to clean just about everything in your home.

Testing suction and power heads on the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro

To test the suction and power heads of this cord-free stick vacuum, I cleaned up a variety of small floor catastrophes with the High Torque head and the Soft Roller head. By catastrophes, I mean a large sugar spill when someone knocked down an entire bag and it hit the floor, as well as a virtual flood of mini M&Ms another person decided to spill instead of eating.

High Torque Cleaner Head vs Soft Roller Cleaner Head

While there are several attachments included in the Dyson V11, the two attachments you’ll find yourself pulling out, again and again, are the High Torque head and the Soft Roller head.

The High Torque head has a combo of stiff bristles and soft carbon fibre. When you snap it on you can cruise over hardwood floors or vacuum your deep pile carpets. With the High Torque head on you shift automatically into Auto mode, and the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro will sense the type of floor it’s on and adapt the power and suction to suit it.

The vacuum switches gear pretty quickly in Auto mode, and it will adapt the battery life for the type of floor you’re on. It took one quick push on the stick to get it to adapt to my deep pile carpet from the hardwood floor, but when it did the suction was so intense I had a hard time pushing it.

The Soft Roller head is designed to pick up the fine dust you get on your floors, but it’s also able to pick up large pieces of debris. With the Soft Roller on you get access to the different power modes, and you can choose which one to use depending on what you’re cleaning.

Normally I’d grab the broom to sweep up a sugar spill because pulling out my upright vacuum cleaner is a bit too much effort for this type of clean up. With the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro stick vacuum, no job is too small. It’s just like pulling out the broom.

The High Torque head is what I choose to clean up the pile of sugar, and it literally wiped the pile-up. Not a spec remained after I rolled over it a few times. For the M&Ms I used the High Torque head too. You can adjust the intake on the front of the powerhead, so you can allow for larger items. Unlike some vacuums that will push tiny bits around on the floor before picking them up, I found it easily rolled over and sucked up everyone.

After using the Soft Roller head on a largish pile of Captain Crunch cereal that was dropped on the floor, I’m convinced it would be a better choice for smaller things like M&Ms. It glides over every pile and gently rolls over things to pick them up.

While I like the varying power you get from the High Torque head and found it better for all types of carpets, the Soft Roller head is perfect for loose dirt, getting into corners, and gliding along walls. Basically, with these two attachments, you get the best of all worlds. They’ll both work their way through large piles of debris faster than if you took off the attachment and just used the hose too.

What are the Cleaning Modes on the Dyson V11

There are three different cleaning modes on the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro stick vacuum: Auto mode, Boost mode, and Eco mode. As I mentioned, Auto Mode is what kicks in when you’re vacuuming with the High Torque Head. When you’re using another attachment and you’d like to save power or you want an extra shot of suction, you can tap the button located below the LCD screen and it will switch for you.

I don’t clean for long periods of time, but if you want to you’ll find Eco-mode is the mode for you. The power isn’t as strong, but you’ll get around 70 minutes of cleaning time on a single charge. Boost is what you’d use if you are deep cleaning your carpets and you need extra suction. You can change each with just a tap on the button below the LCD screen.

I found Auto mode to be the most useful, and it gives you at least 35 minutes of cleaning time so it was more than enough to finish my floors.

LCD screen on the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro Stick Vacuum

Thank you so much Dyson, for adding an LCD screen to the Dyson V11. It’s a revelation. It counts down your battery life in every mode, and you can see how long you have left before charging in real-time while you’re cleaning.

The LCD screen also serves another purpose. It will tell you when it’s time to clean the filter and will also alert you if you have a hose blockage. Neither of those alerts came up when I was testing it, but it’s amazing to be able to look at the screen and know what’s wrong with your vacuum. It saves a lot of time and guess work.

Are there additional attachments on the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro Stick Vacuum?

There are several attachments on the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro. It has a quick-release combination tool, quick-release crevice tool, quick-release mini stiff bristle brush, and quick-release mini soft brush. That’s in addition to the High Torque power head, soft roller power head, and mini-motorized brush.

All of the attachments can connect to the mounting bracket so they’re ready when you are. There’s also an attachment you can place on the stick itself so you can take attachments with you when you clean.

Although the additional attachments are always useful, my favourite is the mini power head you use for stairs, couches, and cars. It has just as much power as the other power heads, but the small size means you can take your Dyson V11 Absolute Pro into the tiniest areas and get them very clean.

I used the small power head in my car and it sucked up all of the dog hair I had on my floor. It worked better than most shop vacs I’ve used to clean my car interior.

How long will battery last on the Dyson V11?

It takes about 4 hours to charge the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro from an empty battery. Once it’s charged, the million-dollar question on a cord-free vacuum cleaner is, “How long will the battery last?”

With the Dyson V11, the time you’ll have to clean will be anywhere from 35 minutes or so in Auto Mode to around 60 minutes in Eco-Mode. The timer went up to 72 minutes at one point, but I found the average for me was about 35 minutes before I had to recharge while using the High Torque head.

This revolutionary brand has different battery-savers built into their Dyson V11. It has a battery-saving trigger, so you’ll just pull it when you want to use it and it turns off when you let go of the trigger. The battery doesn’t drain between cleaning either. I had a full charge and I used it for 20 minutes. That set me back to 10 minutes left before charging, and when I went back two days later and used it again I still had those 10 minutes.

Dyson V11 Absolute Pro is a HEPA vacuum

Although I couldn’t tell the difference in air quality before and after vacuuming, the full machine HEPA filter is worth a mention. The Dyson V11 Absolute Pro has a HEPA filter that filters out 99.97% of the tiniest particles in your home. I have a son with allergies and it’s nice to know I’m not contributing to his sneezing when I vacuum.

The dust bin on the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro is the largest I’ve seen on a stick vacuum. It holds a lot, and it’s easy to empty out with one hand if you’re holding the vacuum with the other.

Storing and cleaning filters on the Dyson V11

You won’t be hanging up the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro very often. I found I grabbed it for just about anything that hit the ground, and I had a great time reaching up and cleaning any dusty corners or vacuuming off my window sills and screens. When you do hang it up, the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro plugs right into the charger via its own bracket you mount on the wall.

You’ll clean the filter when the LCD notification pops up on your screen, and it’s easy to do that. You just unscrew the top and rinse it under water.

The Dyson V11 Absolute Pro cord-free stick vacuum is truly an amazing vacuum. With strong suction, a large dust bin, and long battery life, there’s no reason anyone should worry about going cord-free anymore. You can find the Dyson V11 Absolute Pro on Best Buy right now.