The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones is a cordless stick vacuum that's designed exclusively for hard floors. It uses four cone-shaped soft rollers that spin in two counter-rotating pairs, instead of the bristled brushroll most sticks use to also handle carpet. It features a slim design without a traditional handle and is ultra-lightweight at just under four pounds. A small screen on the grip shows how much of its runtime is left. It comes with one tool that switches between a crevice nozzle and a soft brush for furniture and tight spaces. It charges upright on a magnetic dock that also holds the included tool, and you can remove its battery and swap in a spare if you buy one separately.
Our Verdict
The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones vacuum isn't a good fit for cleaning a whole house. Its runtime falls short for a full home, so you'll likely need a spare battery or frequent recharges to get through every room. It's designed as an easy grab-and-go option for bare floors, but it struggles to pick up debris effectively. It's not meant to be used on carpets, so you'll need another solution if you have carpeting or area rugs in your home. On the bright side, it doesn't send much dust into the air while it cleans, and the build quality holds up reasonably well day-to-day, aside from a fragile dustbin.
Lightweight and portable.
Weak bare floor pickup.
Can't effectively lift pet hair.
Short runtime.
Not designed to be used on carpets.
The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones vacuum is decent for a small apartment, mainly because it's so easy to store and has a filtration system that keeps dust from being blown around. That said, it kicks up some dust when you empty it. Its slim body and compact dock tuck away in a corner, which matters more here than in a larger home where you have room to spare. It's bagless and cordless, so there's little upkeep involved, but it falls short when it comes to basic pickup performance, struggling to lift debris from any surface.
Lightweight and portable.
Stores compactly.
Weak bare floor pickup.
Can't effectively lift pet hair.
Not designed to be used on carpets.
Releases a cloud of dust when you empty the bin.
The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones vacuum is good for cleaning stairs. It's light enough to carry step by step, and it doesn't need to stay tethered to an outlet while you clean, so you can move freely up and down the whole staircase. It keeps dust well-contained as you clean, but it falls short on debris pickup, so it'll leave dirt behind whether your stairs are bare or carpeted.
Lightweight and portable.
Cordless design means you don't need an outlet.
Weak bare floor pickup.
Can't effectively lift pet hair.
Not designed to be used on carpets.
The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones vacuum isn't suitable for cleaning a car.
The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones vacuum performs poorly at its core job, cleaning bare floors. Despite being designed only for hard floors, it leaves debris behind after each pass, so you'll likely need to go over the same area more than once. It struggles to lift debris from the cracks and gaps between boards or tiles, where debris tends to collect and stay put.
Struggles to clear dirt from cracks and crevices.
Leaves debris behind on bare floors.
The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones vacuum isn't designed for carpets. It leaves debris behind on both low-pile and high-pile carpet, and its soft rollers have no bristles to work debris out of the fibers. On high-pile carpet, the rollers can even catch on debris and stop spinning, so you may need to clear a jam mid-clean. If your home has carpet or area rugs, plan on using a different vacuum.
Not designed to be used on carpets.
The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones vacuum struggles with pet hair, whether it's on your carpets or your furniture. It leaves a large amount of hair behind on carpet and drags some of what it does pick up around instead of collecting it. There isn't a suitable upholstery tool for removing pet hair from furniture, and the tool that is included can't lift larger clumps of hair.
Can't effectively lift pet hair.
Not designed to be used on carpets.
The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones vacuum does a reasonable job of maintaining good air quality in your home. It traps fine dust well and keeps most of it from blowing back out through the exhaust. The cleaner head's spinning rollers do kick up some dust as you clean, so a little escapes before the vacuum can pull it in. Emptying the bin is the bigger issue, since it sends a lot of dust into the air, and the small bin means you'll be doing that often. If you have allergies or asthma, consider emptying it outside if you can.
Effective particle filtration.
Releases a cloud of dust when you empty the bin.
Performance Usages
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
There's only one variant of the Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones, which we bought and tested. Here's a photo of our unit's label.
If you come across any other variants, let us know in the comments.
Popular Vacuum Comparisons
The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones occupies a specific niche in Dyson's lineup, separate from the V-series sticks that make up most of the brand's cordless range. Where models from the Dyson V8 through the V16 Piston Animal Submarine all clean both hard floors and carpet, the PencilVac drops carpet cleaning entirely in exchange for an ultra-light, pencil-thin body, a similar trade Dyson made years ago with the now-discontinued Dyson Omni-glide. That narrow focus doesn't pay off, though, as it fails to clean hard floors well and falls behind even budget options like the Wyze Cordless Vacuum S on bare floors and pet hair pickup. It can't compete with the versatility of Dyson's own V12 Detect Slim, another lightweight vacuum that also cleans carpet well. It's designed for small apartments and homes with only hard floors, where its slim profile and easy storage matter most. Even there, it's a hard vacuum to recommend. Nearly every lightweight alternative on the market, including Dyson's own, cleans more effectively.
If you're specifically looking for a cordless or stick model, our articles on the best cordless vacuums and best stick vacuums include several that outperform the PencilVac on carpet and pet hair despite similar portability.
The Dyson V15 Detect is a much better vacuum than the Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones. This isn't surprising as the V15 is a former flagship model, whereas the PencilVac Fluffycones is narrowly focused on cleaning hard floors. The V15 does well on carpets, something the PencilVac's bristle-free rollers can't manage at all, and its pet hair pickup is excellent both on the floor and on furniture. Suction and airflow are also far stronger on the V15, giving it an edge on denser or bulkier messes, and its runtime stretches past an hour on its most efficient setting, which is more than double the PencilVac's maximum runtime. The PencilVac's only real advantages are its lighter weight and its slim, handle-less body, is easier to maneuver into tighter spaces.
The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones fills a similar role to the older Dyson Omni-glide as an ultra-light, hard-floor-only stick vacuum. The Omni-glide performs better overall, though. Its suction is much stronger, giving it a real edge on bulkier debris that trips up the PencilVac even in its highest power mode, and its dustbin holds a bit more. Its rollers are also easier to keep hair-free, since they don't share the PencilVac's problem of pushing tangled hair back out instead of collecting it. The PencilVac counters with a lighter overall weight, a slimmer head that reaches tighter gaps around furniture, and more compact storage.
The Dyson V12 Detect Slim is a stronger overall cleaner than the Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones. The PencilVac is limited to hard floors and does a mediocre job even there, while the V12 also handles carpets reasonably well. It also picks up more pet hair both on the floor and on your furniture, where its detangling tool resists tangles far better than the tool that comes with the PencilVac. Suction is also far stronger on the V12, and it can run for over an hour in its most efficient mode, more than double the PencilVac's low-power runtime, though both drop to just a few minutes at full power. The PencilVac is slightly more portable, with a slim, handle-less body that weighs about a pound less and squeezes into tighter gaps around furniture legs, though its dustbin is smaller and needs emptying even more often.
The Wyze Cordless Vacuum S is a better vacuum than the Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones. It handles carpet reasonably well, something the PencilVac's bristle-free rollers simply can't do, and it picks up more pet hair on both the floor and furniture. It also has a longer runtime. The PencilVac is lighter, its slim body reaches under furniture more easily, and it doesn't scatter debris the way the Wyze's brushroll does. Both vacuums send a similar amount of dust into the air when you empty them, though the Wyze backs its air quality claims with an actual HEPA filter.
Test Results
This vacuum does a poor job picking up debris from hard floors, which is particularly disappointing for a vacuum designed specifically for hard floors. On Medium suction, it leaves debris behind after each pass, and does even worse in corners and along edges than in open areas. It also scatters a small amount of debris around as it cleans, and the head drags some debris backward instead of picking it up when you pull it toward you. The small dustbin filled almost completely after one pass, which may have prevented it from picking up more dirt.
This vacuum isn't made for carpet, and it definitely struggles on high-pile rugs. Its soft rollers lack bristles to agitate the fibers and lift debris, so it leaves some behind along baseboards and in corners. It also shoots a small amount of debris around, and the head drags some backward instead of picking it up when you pull it toward you. Even worse, the rollers can catch on debris and stop spinning. That blocked the head in one case, and it happened again with only a small amount of debris. If you have plush carpet or rugs, you'll need another vacuum for them.
This vacuum offers disappointing debris pickup on low-pile carpet, though this isn't surprising since it isn't designed to clean carpets or rugs. Its fluffy rollers don't have bristles to work into the fibers, so even in Boost mode, it leaves debris behind in the areas it covers.
Unsurprisingly, since it isn't designed for carpets, this vacuum can't effectively lift pet hair from rugs. Even in Boost mode, it leaves a lot of hair behind, and it drags some around the carpet instead of collecting it. Its rollers don't have bristles to work hair loose from the fibers, so it isn't a good fit for homes with shedding pets and carpeted floors.
This vacuum performs poorly on furniture. It doesn't come with an upholstery tool, so you'll have to use the only tool it does include: the Rotating Combi Crevice tool, which switches between a soft bristle brush and a narrow crevice nozzle. Even after many passes, traces of hair stay embedded in the fabric. The brush mostly pushes hair around, so you have to pull it off the bristles by hand. The nozzle is also too narrow to cover cushions efficiently. The tool's locking mechanism also gave out mid-clean, which points to weak build quality. If shedding pets climb on your furniture, plan to use a different vacuum to clean it.
This vacuum does a poor job of cleaning cracks, so it's not ideal for floors with gaps between boards or tiles. On medium suction, it struggles to pull debris out of floor gaps. A second pass in Boost mode only provides slightly better results.
This vacuum is adequately built, but its dustbin is a serious weak point. The bin feels fragile and sticks when you empty it, sometimes needing a lot of force. On our first unit, it jammed so badly that we had to break it off to replace the vacuum entirely. The crevice tool's locking mechanism also gave way while we were cleaning. The upright charging dock also tips forward when you lift the vacuum out because it has no counterweight, so you'll likely need to steady it.
Aside from that, the slim, handle-less design feels solid in your hand, doesn't creak, and has sturdy buttons, though it's somewhat top-heavy.
Vacuum
- Vacuum body
- Battery
- Cleaner head with four cone-shaped soft rollers (Fluffycones)
Dock
- Dock
- Dock accessory storage attachment
Accessories
- Rotating Combi-Crevice Tool (a crevice nozzle and soft brush in one)
Miscellaneous
- Baffle (a removable guard on the cleaner head)
- Charging cable
- User documentation
This vacuum is easy to store, thanks to its slim body and compact dock. The dock holds the vacuum upright while it charges, so you can leave it tucked in a corner. A post on the dock also holds the included tool, so you don't have to store it elsewhere. The dock nearly doubles the vacuum's depth, but the whole setup still doesn't take up much floor space.
This vacuum has a very small dirt compartment, so you'll need to empty it often. Suction doesn't cut out until slightly past the max fill line, but don't wait for it to stop. Empty the bin as soon as debris reaches the line, since a bin that's packed with debris can jam when you empty it.
This vacuum can't run for very long, and its highest power setting drains the battery particularly quickly. That's enough for quick cleanups or a small space, but it may not work for a larger home.
This vacuum has a decent battery system, thanks to a swappable battery and a charging dock, though its runtime is on the short side, especially in Boost mode.
This vacuum is relatively easy to maintain, but you'll need to care for a few parts regularly.
- Dirt compartment: Releases easily from the body, and you can rinse it, but it can be hard to empty when debris jams inside.
- Cleaner head: Barely any hair wraps around the rollers, and the rollers and baffle come out easily.
- Filter: A bit tricky to remove at first. Tapping it against the side of a trash can knocks off loose dust, and you can rinse it if needed.
- Mesh: Wipes clean with a cloth, and you can rinse it if needed.
The one major issue is hair. The rollers are designed to push hair into balls that the vacuum can pick up without clogging, but those balls can end up being too big to suck up. The vacuum keeps pushing the hair into a tangled mess that you have to pick up by hand.
You can find detailed maintenance frequency and instructions in Dyson's manual.
This vacuum has no recurring costs because it's bagless and doesn't require scheduled replacement parts. If you damage or lose the filter, you can buy a new one.
This vacuum has some useful additional features. A light highlights debris as you clean, and the head spins easily, so it steers adeptly around furniture legs and corners. It isn't self-propelled, but the rotating rollers pull it forward, so it glides easily across hard floors. One button turns it on and off, and another switches between Eco, Medium, and Boost modes.
This vacuum is extremely lightweight and easy to carry around the house. Most of its weight rests on the floor as you clean, so it feels especially light in your hand.
The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones is easy to maneuver, thanks to its light, slim body and soft rollers that make it feel like it floats over the floor. The head twists to steer around furniture legs, and it reaches under couches and low tables easily, but you'll need to kneel or crouch to do it. On furniture, the included tool glides over a sofa despite its bristles, and the crevice nozzle fits tight gaps like couch seams. Cords aren't a problem, since a guard on the head keeps them from catching in the rollers, though it's a bit awkward to lift with one hand if you need to. Rugs with tassels are the exception, because the tassels catch in the rollers.
Since this is a cordless vacuum, its range is limited only by the remaining battery life and the room left in its dirt compartment.
This vacuum does a great job of filtering fine particles despite not having an officially rated HEPA filter. It keeps most dust inside the vacuum instead of blowing it back out through the exhaust. The one downside is that the cleaner head's spinning rollers kick up a cloud of dust while you clean.
This vacuum sends a lot of dust into the air when you empty it, and you'll have to empty the bin often because it's so small, which adds up to frequent exposure. If you have allergies or asthma, it's best to empty it outside if possible.
This vacuum offers extremely low suction. Low suction doesn't always predict poor real-world cleaning, but its poor pickup performance shows that it does here. The head only reaches full suction in Boost mode, but the wand alone offers strong suction. That said, the hose's unique design limits larger debris from passing through it because the power cord runs inside the wand instead of alongside it, so the connector takes up a large share of the hose's full width.
This vacuum has subpar airflow, limiting its ability to lift larger debris.
This vacuum is fairly quiet, though it gets noticeably louder on higher power settings. There isn't much of a difference between the noise levels on bare floors and carpets.
This vacuum isn't designed for mopping and has no impact on stains.
