I tried Dyson V16 Piston Animal and it’s a vacuuming champion – it’s solved the four worst bits about cleaning

DYSON has a brand new vacuum cleaner – and I’m genuinely obsessed with it.

No, I don’t mean the uber-svelte PencilVac, which is still months away. I’ve been testing the Dyson V16 Piston Animal, which has four big perks I can’t get enough of.

The Sun’s resident tech expert Sean Keach has been trying out the Dyson V16 Piston Animal for months – and it’s now his go-to cleanerCredit: Sean Keach

The gadget certainly looks the part – and it’s seriously powerfulCredit: Sean Keach

Dyson’s V16 Piston Animal is one of the company’s most impressive devices to dateCredit: Dyson Every time I see a new Dyson vacuum, I think, well how can they improve on this?

Battery life is now very good – plenty for basically any regular home user. The suction is great. They look fantastic. And they uncover dirt you didn’t even know was there.

Dyson’s shockingly thin new PencilVac has obviously revealed how far we can go in terms of size. Sir James Dyson thinks we can go even further.

Dyson V16 Piston Animal, £749.99

But though the cordless Dyson V16 Piston Animal isn’t as svelte as the PencilVac, it still solves some serious problems.

I’ve been trying it out for a few months and it’s an absolute vacuuming beast.

I could go on about its heft: the 315 Air Watts of “fade-free” suction power courtesy of the new Dyson Hyperdymium 900W motor, or the snazzy hair-detangling brush bars.

It’ll run for 70 minutes in one go, comes with six attachments, and has an optional Submarine wet roller head for washing floors too.

Oh, and it includes a cleaner head with a green light blade that reveals dust and dirt you would’ve missed. It’s a game-changer, though it will make you disgusted with parts of your floor you’d previously thought were fine.

But the real magic of this mega-vac are the four common vacuuming problems that it solves.

DYSON V16 PISTON ANIMAL SPECS & FEATURES – VAC AT IT! The first is that you no longer have to bend down to swap out attachments.

It might not sound like much, but given Dyson’s whole vacuuming ethos seems built around just being easy and accessible, this is a welcome change.

You can simply attach a tool by poking it down, and then you can release it again using a mechanism near the top of the vacuum cleaner. Lovely job.

The second big change is that the cleaner head and main vacuum tube both now have crevice tools built in.

There’s a new mechanism near the top of the vacuum cleaner that detaches the cleaning unit without you having to bend downCredit: Sean Keach

The vacuum shaft now has a built-in crevice toolCredit: Sean Keach

Dyson has also fitted the main body of the vacuum with a crevice tool tooCredit: Sean Keach So if you want to vacuum an awkwardly tight spot, you don’t have to put on a new tool.

Simply detach whatever you’re using and then the crevice tool is right there.

When you use it, you can’t imagine going back. Why wasn’t it always like this?

That’s the brilliance of good design. It feels like a no-brainer once it exists.

Third up is the new bin-compressing mechanism.

When your vacuum bin (which is already very large) looks full, it almost certainly isn’t.

And now you can prove it: there’s a new compressor mechanism that you push down to squash all of the dirt and dust in your bin.

Then you can keep going again, reducing the number of times you have to head over to the actual bin for a proper emptying.

The bin has a a special compression feature – seen here in red – that compacts the dust in the bin so you can fit more dirt inCredit: Sean Keach In fact, Dyson says the bin will hold 30 days of dust.

Obviously your own mileage may vary, but I’ve only emptied it a handful of times in the few months that I’ve been using it.

And lastly, the power button is no longer a hold-down trigger.

You just press it and it turns on. No more death-gripping the handle until you’ve got hand sores. A quick prod of the button and you’re well away.

The top of the vacuum cleaner has a power button and a built-in displayCredit: Sean Keach DYSON V16 PISTON ANIMAL DESIGN – A CLEAN SWEEP Other perks include the built-in display, which shows you remaining vacuuming time and what sort of dust you’re picking up.

It’ll also connect to your Dyson app, and receive software updates to make it work even better.

And hardly the most important note – but still worth mentioning – is that it looks fantastic.

This looks like a very posh vacuum cleaner because, well, it is a very posh vacuum cleaner.

Dyson gives you a decent selection of accessories, plus a wall dock for your chargerCredit: Sean Keach And given that you’ll probably be displaying this in a busy corner of your home, you want it looking decent.

As always with Dyson, this is not style over function, but style and function.

It is a glam gadget that will look nice in any home.

Probably the only physical downside is that it feels fairly heavy.

So after vacuuming for a while – especially if you use it on carpet – you might find yourself getting tireder than if you were using, say, the PencilVac.

But honestly, it’s not problematically heavy, and it’s so fun, effective, and easy to use that it’s an overwhelmingly good pick.

DYSON V16 PISTON ANIMAL VERDICT – SHOULD I BUY IT? The other downside for some shoppers might be the price.

This model starts at £749.99, which is more than some people will be willing to pay for a vacuum cleaner.

The main cleaner head has a hair-detangling design and a built-in light to reveal hidden dirt and dustCredit: Sean Keach

It’s an incredible all-in-one option that will suit big and busy homes, and is especially good if you’ve got pets running (and shedding) around.

So if you want something to take all your vacuuming worries away, this may be worth the price.

Of course, there are plenty of cheaper Dyson options too, especially ones that might better suit smaller and easier-to-clean homes (like hard-floor apartments).

But if you want a wildly powerful one-size-fits-all vac and you’ve got money to burn, this is a stellar buy.

The Sun says: This is a champion vacuum cleaner. It keeps all the best bits of your Dyson favourites, and cleverly solves the most common pain points. This is a truly exceptional product that’s a joy to use – if you can afford it. 4.5/5

Dyson V16 Piston Animal, £749.99

This supremely powerful vacuum cleaner is top-of-the-range – but it’s not exactly cheapCredit: Sean Keach All prices in this article were correct at the time of writing, but may have since changed.

Always do your own research before making any purchase.