Dyson V7 Animal Cordless Handheld Vacuum Cleaner, Purple, Medium

Product Information

Given that Dyson’s motor is spinning at over 120,000rpm, and the machine delivers mains-like suction power on this higher setting, that’s mighty quiet. Those figures are way, way down on the previous models and make this cleaner very pleasant to use indeed. As with all vacuum cleaners, you’ll need to remove and clean the filters from time to time and these are easy to access by simply pulling the pin on top. The 0.54-litre bin is extremely easy to empty, too: by simply pulling the lever at the top, the bin door flips open and the main body of the V7 motor unit slides up, pushing out dust and debris. This not only makes it easier to empty than the V6 but also makes it a breeze to remove hairs that might have become tangled inside. We’ve been big fans of Dyson’s V6 and then V8 models, and the V7 Animal simply builds on the versatility and convenience of the breed. Performance is just as good with the same superb design, fabulous engineering, ideal pet-hair tools, and excellent features throughout. The V7 simply trades a little suction power for longer run-times than its siblings, and lighter weight than the flagship V8. Heading around the house with the Direct Drive floorhead attached, we cleaned for a near textbook 30mins 30secs on average from a single charge on normal power. Several test sessions on various floor surfaces resulted in very little variation – from hard floors (31 minutes) to carpet pile so deep that you could loose a tribe of pigmies in it (29.5 minutes).

A single pass on our carpet test area on Max power gave a good account of the V7’s carpet cleaning abilities. The mix of carpet powder, baking powder and talcum powder was well cleaned in just one pass, leaving behind only a few finer grains of the heavier carpet powder. Give it a couple of passes as per normal cleaning and the V7 Animal cleans brilliantly on this setting, getting remarkably good edge cleaning results too. That’s a significant amount of cleaning time if you consider that is actual cleaning. The trigger makes you switch off when you’re moving between rooms, straightening the cushions or answering the door. Thanks to the lithium battery and Dyson’s control electronics, you get full power right up until it cuts out too. The main floorhead’s fairly soft-bristled brush make it safe for use on softwood hard floor steps, but you might find the larger dusting tools even easier if you’re cleaning simple dust, dirt and pet hairs.The cyclone action tends to compress pet hair into a more compact size, allowing you to get more fluff in the bin. Plus, you can push the bin to its fill limit thanks to the pull-out core when emptying. While most over-filled bagless bins will require you to poke about to pull out compressed furballs, the V7’s emptying system always dumps its contents cleanly – even if you run it until the bin is fit to burst. A second pass usually secures a clean sweep and we decided for a small oats spill such as that we’d be using the Max mode anyway. Needless to say, ramp up the V7 to Max power, and the suction is fantastic and all particles were cleaned up in a single pass. The V7 Animal certainly isn’t short of tools; it has five of them plus the tube. They clip on and off the cleaner with ease, are robust, well designed and very effective at their dedicated task. READ NEXT: Dyson V8 Absolute review: Still the best cordless vacuum? Dyson V7 Animal review: Price and competition

On the down side, we suspect that much of that saving comes from removing the rear post-motor filter of the V6 or V8. This is replaced on the V7 with a foam baffle to reduce noise. We can’t say we noticed any more dust in the exiting air than the other models, but the engineering would suggest the V7 isn’t exhausting air quite as clean and dust-free as its siblings. Dyson V7 Animal – How does it clean carpets and hard floors? As with all Dyson handheld cleaners, the power is offered in two stages – normal and Max – and is selected with a slide switch on top. Run-times for the V7 Animal are promised at 30 minutes and 6 minutes respectively. So no surprise then that the V7 is properly brilliant on stairs. It handles well, cleans superbly and is quiet while doing so. We can do a large flight of awkwardly shaped carpeted steps on Max power with ease in the allotted 6 minutes if we need more serious cleaning gumption too. All the tools can be clipped directly onto the main handheld unit, or the funky purple extension tube. The clips are a work of plastic genius and feel easier to operate yet more secure than pretty much any other manufacturer’s tool-clip mechanism on the market. In addition, the clips are on the tools, rather than the tube or body, which makes removing and replacing tools with one hand easy.

Write a review

READ NEXT: Best cordless vacuum cleaners: Banish dust and dirt without the wires Dyson V7 Total Clean vs Animal vs Motorhead: What’s the difference? The difference between the models becomes even more confusing when comparing their suction power, where the V7 is the weakest of the lot. It has 21 Airwatts on powerful mode and 100 Airwatts in max mode. By comparison, the V8 has 22 and 115, while the V6 has 28 and 100, respectively. Having used the Direct Drive floorhead and the Mini Motorised Tool on previous Animal iterations of Dyson’s handhelds, we knew furball tumbleweed and pet hairs ground into the carpet didn’t stand a chance. Of course, the Animal version on test here is only part of a lineup that also features the flagship Total Clean model and the slightly more affordable Motorhead edition. READ NEXT: Dyson V8 Animal review: A cheaper alternative to the Cyclone V10 Dyson V7 Animal review: Performance