Review: Dyson V8 Absolute Cordless vacuum

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Dyson’s addressed the biggest issues with cordless vacuums, which is the battery life (the Absolute runs 40 minutes on a full charge), loudness (it is 50 per cent quieter) while it improved the performance (the digital motor V8 runs at 425W, compared to the previous generation V6 motor’s 350W). 

Cordless vacuums are promoted as being compact, versatile and convenient but usually at the expense of performance. Battery powered vacuums, after all, run at a fraction of the power of larger plug-in type vacuums and their more portable size means their motors are smaller and less powerful. 

That might be true for most run of the mill cordless vacuums but with Dyson’s V8 Absolute Cordless vacuum turns these outdated ideas on their head. 

Dyson’s addressed the biggest issues with cordless vacuums, which is the battery life (the Absolute runs 40 minutes on a full charge), loudness (it is 50 per cent quieter) while it improved the performance (the digital motor V8 runs at 425W, compared to the previous generation V6 motor’s 350W). These are all just specs on paper and mean little without proof. 

The Dyson V8 Absolute Cordless vacuum has proven to be an amazing cleaning tool with jaw dropping suction. Consider that its digital motor can spin at up to 110,000rpm and that it also captures allergens and expels cleaner air. A redesigned post-motor filter is now standard on all Dyson V8 machines.

My apartment is a mix of surfaces. Linoleum, carpet, rugs, tile plus various throws, pillows, table, couch and bed surfaces. I also have two large furry cats which are currently changing coat (i.e. shedding like crazy) and have a three-year-old son who loves to play in the sand and bring a lot of it home.

I can use a full-sized vacuum but that is sometimes noisy and unwieldy, the Dyson V8 Absolute Cordless vacuum can be picked up with one-hand, has a variety of heads including  the soft roller that removes large and small debris from hard floors, while the direct drive cleaner head offers 150 per cent more brush bar power than the previous V6 Animal motorized head, digging deep into carpets.

There are times when I’m so consumed by work and errands that I realize I only have 15-20 minutes to clean the apartment before my wife comes home from work. Grabbing the Dyson V8 Absolute and running it it across the carpet, most cat-sat surfaces and the general high traffic areas of our home yields an amazing amount of dust, cat fur and debris. The ability to easily reach hard to get-to places as well as quickly shift from stick to handheld mode is something few other vacuums in this class can achieve.

The Max power mode, which offers up to 7 minutes of higher suction, is ideal for working on carpets or floors that are particularly gross and powers up the Dyson V8 Absolute.

I love how easy it is to dispose of dirt and with one press of a button. The bottom of the canister simply pops open into a trash can or chute and with a few shakes the debris and dirt simply falls away. What a great use for gravity. Dyson also includes a wall-mounting stand which makes it possible to store the whole kit and caboodle out of sight in a closet.

According to inventor James Dyson, “Dyson V8 cord-free vacuum. It’s the result of 18 months research and development and 500,000 hours of testing. This motor enables the Dyson V8 cord-free vacuum cleaner to be powerful and versatile, transforming the way people clean their homes.”

Having used the Dyson V8 Absolute for around a month has made quick cleaning more fun and less of a chore and the low maintenance and ease of use of the vacuum has made it my preferred cleaning tool for quicker cleaning jobs.

Rating: 5 out of 5