A radically different cordless vacuum cleaner
There’s nothing else like the Dyson PencilVac. Only 38mm across (excluding the floor head), it is almost impossibly thin and, as a result, is the most nimble cordless vacuum cleaner that I’ve used, able to glide and spin across the floor. If you’ve got mobility issues or just want something super easy to grab and go with, then this is a brilliant vacuum cleaner. But, for all of its charm, the lack of carpet support and the fact that there’s no option to turn the vacuum into a smaller handheld does limit its appeal.
-
Brilliant to use -
Cleans well on low power setting -
Super light
-
Not for carpets -
Doesn’t have a smaller handheld mode
Key Features
Introduction
There’s nothing quite like the Dyson PencilVac. A single long tube, no thicker than a standard vacuum cleaner wand, with an innovative, clean-in-any-direction head, this is the ultimate, lightweight vacuum cleaner for hard floors.
At its best, it’s powerful, flexible and incredibly easy to vacuum with, but it’s built for hard floors only, and it’s a bit tricky to use with hand tools.
Design and features
- Almost impossibly thin
- Very easy to use
- Slightly tricky to use with hand tools
Officially the world’s slimmest cordless vacuum cleaner is a statement that’s hard to resolve until the Dyson PencilVac is in your hand. The main part of the vacuum cleaner is just a wand that’s 38mm across. It’s that thickness all the way from the top, where the battery plugs in, to the inline bin.
That bin is just 0.08-litres, which is tiny. But, it uses air dust compression to fit in up to five times as much dust as rival bins. That brings us up to the equivalent of a 0.4-litre bin, which is about what you’d expect on a small vacuum cleaner.
Of course, how well the compression works depends on the type of dust that you want to pick up. General household dust, for example, compresses, but grains of rice or bits of cereal don’t.
It’s good, then, that the bin is so easy to empty. Using the sliding ejection method, dust is pushed forward and out of the vacuum cleaner’s front, straight into the bin.
For convenience, this mechanism can be removed for cleaning, exposing the long, lift-out washable filter.
Using the Dyson PencilVac is extremely easy, too. It plugs into its charging dock, and a quick pull forward is all you need to release it and get going.
For most cleaning jobs you’ll use the Fluffycones head that has four conical soft brush rollers. It’s a similar design to the conical head on the Dyson V16 Piston, but the Fluffycones head has cones on both sides, and is built for hard floors only.
The reason that the floor head is built like this is that it can be used in any direction, and you can spin and move the Dyson PencilVac as you go. It’s a smoother, faster-to-use vacuum cleaner than the Dyson OmniGlide, which came before, and you can practically dance around a room with it, or lay the cleaner flat for getting under furniture. There’s no cleaner that’s as easy to use as this one.
Dyson has installed two of its green laser-like lights (one on either side), which highlight dust that you can’t see. It’s brilliant, but icky. I’ve walked into rooms, thought that the floors looked clean, only to find they’re covered in dust and cat hair once the laser lights are turned on. They really do make it easy to capture dust that you might otherwise miss.
There are three power modes: Eco (the default), Med and Boost. There’s no dust sensor, so the PencilVac can’t adjust its power mode automatically.
On the small LCD screen you can see a live battery status, with remaining charge displayed in minutes. This screen is also used to show some basic help information, such as what to do if the cleaner is clogged.
This is the second vacuum cleaner to be compatible with the MyDyson app, which the Dyson PencilVac connects to via Bluetooth. Via the app you get notifications of any issues, such as a clogged cleaner, help guides and software updates.
With the floor head on, the system’s a tiny 1.8kg; with the floor head removed, it’s just 800g. It’s almost impossibly light, so using it is a dream.
There’s a 2-in-1 crevice tool and dusting brush in the box, which attaches to the charging stand. The only slight issue is that tools can only be attached to the wand’s end. That’s fine for cleaning around the edges of rooms while standing up, but not so good if you want to vacuum out a car, or clean a chair or sofa, where a handheld that works without the wand is easier to use.
For cleaning, the Fluffycones head can have its top removed, and the four cones pull out for cleaning. It’s worth doing regularly, as dust can accumulate inside them.
Performance
- Works well on low suction power
- Ideal for hard floors
- Can be tricky to collect hair
I started by measuring the PenciVac’s raw power in AirWatts at the handle. Its Eco power mode returned 33AW, which is a little lower than other cleaners, such as the Dyson V16 Piston Animal, or the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT.
The Standard power mode falls further behind at 56AW, while on Boost, the PencilVac managed 103AW.
This level of power has an impact when trying to collect dust using the handheld tools. Lining up a row of rice, I found that the PencilVac could collect mess from 1.5cm away from the crevice tool; the Dyson V16 managed twice the distance. This means that the V16 is faster with its handheld tools, and it can collect dust from more hard to reach areas, such as crevices in a car.
Raw suction power alone isn’t the measure of how good a vacuum cleaner really is. With the PencilVac, its Fluffycones head is designed to pick up dust first, with suction used to pull the mess into the bin.
Testing on a hard floor in Eco mode (this isn’t a cleaner built for carpets), the PencilVac collected 99.75% of my spilt flour, which is excellent. There was no trace of dust on the floor, but some flour was on the floor head cover.
I then added 10g of flour right up to the edge of the floor, and found that the PencilVac collected 96.2% of this mess, which is very impressive.
Then, I added 20g of rice to the hard floor, and found that Eco mode was enough to pull up 100% of the mess with no grains of rice falling back out.
I tested with human hair, dropping strands onto the floor. With a smaller amount of hair, the strands would wrap around the Fluffycones, slide off onto the floor in a coil and would then get vacuumed up.
When I added quite a lot of hair, the thick clumps that the Fluffycones made were too big to get sucked up. For general use, you’re fine, but if you’ve had your hair cut at home, you’ll want a larger vacuum cleaner first, or just use a dustpan and brush to collect the bigger mess.
Being able to do most things in Eco mode is useful, as the PencilVac lasted for 24m 09s in my battery life test on this mode: enough to tackle a flat or the floor of a house. Up power to Medium, and battery life is 18m 58s in my tests, while the Boost mode saw the vacuum last for 11m 06s.
On its lowest setting with the floor head attached, I measured the PencilVac at 69.8dB, which his a bit higher than most other cordless cleaners on the lowest setting. Sound evens out at the higher settings, topping out at 74.5dB on Boost, which is similar to rivals.
Should you buy it?
You want a very lightweight cordless vacuum for hard floors
Absolutely tiny and brilliantly smooth to use, this vacuum cleaner is like no other.
You need more flexibility
If you want to vacuum carpets or tackle close-up jobs, look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
The Dyson PencilVac is a completely new format for cordless vacuum cleaners, and it’s incredibly small. In fact, when I first picked it up, it seemed impossibly small for a vacuum cleaner. It’s also the easiest vacuum that I’ve used, with the Fluffycones head, easily spinning and moving in any direction. I found this the fastest vacuum to use.
If you’ve got hard floors, this is a brilliant vacuum cleaner, but its lack of carpet support makes it less useful in homes with soft flooring. While it’s good to have a 2-in-1 crevice tool, the lack of a smaller handheld mode does limit what you can do.
If you can live with its limitations, the Dyson PencilVac is a brilliant, super lightweight cordless vacuum; if you need more flexibility, you’ll need an alternative from my list of the best cordless vacuum cleaners.
How we test
We test every vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
- Used as our main vacuum cleaner for the review period
- Tested for at least a week
- Tested using tools to measure actual suction performance
- Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
FAQs
It gives you help guides and notifications when the cleaner has problems, and you can install firmware updates.
No, this vacuum cleaner is designed for hard floors.
Test Data
| Dyson PencilVac | |
|---|---|
| AirWatts (low) | 33 AW |
| AirWatts (medium) | 56 AW |
| AirWatts (high) | 103 AW |
| Sound (low) | 69.8 dB |
| Sound (medium) | 71.2 dB |
| Sound (high) | 74.5 dB |
Full Specs
| Dyson PencilVac Review | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Dyson |
| Size (Dimensions) | 38 x 226 x 1160 MM |
| Weight | 1.8 KG |
| Release Date | 2026 |
| First Reviewed Date | 02/02/2026 |
| Model Number | Dyson PencilVac |
| Vacuum cleaner type | Cordless stick |
| Provided heads | Fluffycones floor head, 2-in-1 crevice tool |
| Bin capacity | 0.08 litres |
| Bagless | Yes |
| Modes | Eco, Standard, Boost |
| Filters | 1 (washable) |
| Run time | 30 mins min |
A radically different cordless vacuum cleaner
There’s nothing else like the Dyson PencilVac. Only 38mm across (excluding the floor head), it is almost impossibly thin and, as a result, is the most nimble cordless vacuum cleaner that I’ve used, able to glide and spin across the floor. If you’ve got mobility issues or just want something super easy to grab and go with, then this is a brilliant vacuum cleaner. But, for all of its charm, the lack of carpet support and the fact that there’s no option to turn the vacuum into a smaller handheld does limit its appeal.
-
Brilliant to use -
Cleans well on low power setting -
Super light
-
Not for carpets -
Doesn’t have a smaller handheld mode
Key Features
Introduction
There’s nothing quite like the Dyson PencilVac. A single long tube, no thicker than a standard vacuum cleaner wand, with an innovative, clean-in-any-direction head, this is the ultimate, lightweight vacuum cleaner for hard floors.
At its best, it’s powerful, flexible and incredibly easy to vacuum with, but it’s built for hard floors only, and it’s a bit tricky to use with hand tools.
Design and features
- Almost impossibly thin
- Very easy to use
- Slightly tricky to use with hand tools
Officially the world’s slimmest cordless vacuum cleaner is a statement that’s hard to resolve until the Dyson PencilVac is in your hand. The main part of the vacuum cleaner is just a wand that’s 38mm across. It’s that thickness all the way from the top, where the battery plugs in, to the inline bin.
That bin is just 0.08-litres, which is tiny. But, it uses air dust compression to fit in up to five times as much dust as rival bins. That brings us up to the equivalent of a 0.4-litre bin, which is about what you’d expect on a small vacuum cleaner.
Of course, how well the compression works depends on the type of dust that you want to pick up. General household dust, for example, compresses, but grains of rice or bits of cereal don’t.
It’s good, then, that the bin is so easy to empty. Using the sliding ejection method, dust is pushed forward and out of the vacuum cleaner’s front, straight into the bin.
For convenience, this mechanism can be removed for cleaning, exposing the long, lift-out washable filter.
Using the Dyson PencilVac is extremely easy, too. It plugs into its charging dock, and a quick pull forward is all you need to release it and get going.
For most cleaning jobs you’ll use the Fluffycones head that has four conical soft brush rollers. It’s a similar design to the conical head on the Dyson V16 Piston, but the Fluffycones head has cones on both sides, and is built for hard floors only.
The reason that the floor head is built like this is that it can be used in any direction, and you can spin and move the Dyson PencilVac as you go. It’s a smoother, faster-to-use vacuum cleaner than the Dyson OmniGlide, which came before, and you can practically dance around a room with it, or lay the cleaner flat for getting under furniture. There’s no cleaner that’s as easy to use as this one.
Dyson has installed two of its green laser-like lights (one on either side), which highlight dust that you can’t see. It’s brilliant, but icky. I’ve walked into rooms, thought that the floors looked clean, only to find they’re covered in dust and cat hair once the laser lights are turned on. They really do make it easy to capture dust that you might otherwise miss.
There are three power modes: Eco (the default), Med and Boost. There’s no dust sensor, so the PencilVac can’t adjust its power mode automatically.
On the small LCD screen you can see a live battery status, with remaining charge displayed in minutes. This screen is also used to show some basic help information, such as what to do if the cleaner is clogged.
This is the second vacuum cleaner to be compatible with the MyDyson app, which the Dyson PencilVac connects to via Bluetooth. Via the app you get notifications of any issues, such as a clogged cleaner, help guides and software updates.
With the floor head on, the system’s a tiny 1.8kg; with the floor head removed, it’s just 800g. It’s almost impossibly light, so using it is a dream.
There’s a 2-in-1 crevice tool and dusting brush in the box, which attaches to the charging stand. The only slight issue is that tools can only be attached to the wand’s end. That’s fine for cleaning around the edges of rooms while standing up, but not so good if you want to vacuum out a car, or clean a chair or sofa, where a handheld that works without the wand is easier to use.
For cleaning, the Fluffycones head can have its top removed, and the four cones pull out for cleaning. It’s worth doing regularly, as dust can accumulate inside them.
Performance
- Works well on low suction power
- Ideal for hard floors
- Can be tricky to collect hair
I started by measuring the PenciVac’s raw power in AirWatts at the handle. Its Eco power mode returned 33AW, which is a little lower than other cleaners, such as the Dyson V16 Piston Animal, or the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT.
The Standard power mode falls further behind at 56AW, while on Boost, the PencilVac managed 103AW.
This level of power has an impact when trying to collect dust using the handheld tools. Lining up a row of rice, I found that the PencilVac could collect mess from 1.5cm away from the crevice tool; the Dyson V16 managed twice the distance. This means that the V16 is faster with its handheld tools, and it can collect dust from more hard to reach areas, such as crevices in a car.
Raw suction power alone isn’t the measure of how good a vacuum cleaner really is. With the PencilVac, its Fluffycones head is designed to pick up dust first, with suction used to pull the mess into the bin.
Testing on a hard floor in Eco mode (this isn’t a cleaner built for carpets), the PencilVac collected 99.75% of my spilt flour, which is excellent. There was no trace of dust on the floor, but some flour was on the floor head cover.
I then added 10g of flour right up to the edge of the floor, and found that the PencilVac collected 96.2% of this mess, which is very impressive.
Then, I added 20g of rice to the hard floor, and found that Eco mode was enough to pull up 100% of the mess with no grains of rice falling back out.
I tested with human hair, dropping strands onto the floor. With a smaller amount of hair, the strands would wrap around the Fluffycones, slide off onto the floor in a coil and would then get vacuumed up.
When I added quite a lot of hair, the thick clumps that the Fluffycones made were too big to get sucked up. For general use, you’re fine, but if you’ve had your hair cut at home, you’ll want a larger vacuum cleaner first, or just use a dustpan and brush to collect the bigger mess.
Being able to do most things in Eco mode is useful, as the PencilVac lasted for 24m 09s in my battery life test on this mode: enough to tackle a flat or the floor of a house. Up power to Medium, and battery life is 18m 58s in my tests, while the Boost mode saw the vacuum last for 11m 06s.
On its lowest setting with the floor head attached, I measured the PencilVac at 69.8dB, which his a bit higher than most other cordless cleaners on the lowest setting. Sound evens out at the higher settings, topping out at 74.5dB on Boost, which is similar to rivals.
Should you buy it?
You want a very lightweight cordless vacuum for hard floors
Absolutely tiny and brilliantly smooth to use, this vacuum cleaner is like no other.
You need more flexibility
If you want to vacuum carpets or tackle close-up jobs, look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
The Dyson PencilVac is a completely new format for cordless vacuum cleaners, and it’s incredibly small. In fact, when I first picked it up, it seemed impossibly small for a vacuum cleaner. It’s also the easiest vacuum that I’ve used, with the Fluffycones head, easily spinning and moving in any direction. I found this the fastest vacuum to use.
If you’ve got hard floors, this is a brilliant vacuum cleaner, but its lack of carpet support makes it less useful in homes with soft flooring. While it’s good to have a 2-in-1 crevice tool, the lack of a smaller handheld mode does limit what you can do.
If you can live with its limitations, the Dyson PencilVac is a brilliant, super lightweight cordless vacuum; if you need more flexibility, you’ll need an alternative from my list of the best cordless vacuum cleaners.
How we test
We test every vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
- Used as our main vacuum cleaner for the review period
- Tested for at least a week
- Tested using tools to measure actual suction performance
- Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
FAQs
It gives you help guides and notifications when the cleaner has problems, and you can install firmware updates.
No, this vacuum cleaner is designed for hard floors.
Test Data
| Dyson PencilVac | |
|---|---|
| AirWatts (low) | 33 AW |
| AirWatts (medium) | 56 AW |
| AirWatts (high) | 103 AW |
| Sound (low) | 69.8 dB |
| Sound (medium) | 71.2 dB |
| Sound (high) | 74.5 dB |
Full Specs
| Dyson PencilVac Review | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Dyson |
| Size (Dimensions) | 38 x 226 x 1160 MM |
| Weight | 1.8 KG |
| Release Date | 2026 |
| First Reviewed Date | 02/02/2026 |
| Model Number | Dyson PencilVac |
| Vacuum cleaner type | Cordless stick |
| Provided heads | Fluffycones floor head, 2-in-1 crevice tool |
| Bin capacity | 0.08 litres |
| Bagless | Yes |
| Modes | Eco, Standard, Boost |
| Filters | 1 (washable) |
| Run time | 30 mins min |
