Dyson Omni-glide vacuum review

To find out just how effective the pick-up of the Dyson Omni-glide is, we ran numerous tests in the Exceptional reviews lab.

We were keen to see how well the vacuum could pick up larger pieces of debris and finer dust so we tested its performance with ingredients such as ground coffee, cereal, dog hair, synthetic hair, oats, rice, sand and biscuits. 

We also gave it a good try in a domestic setting – using it for two weeks in a house that features wood floors in the kitchen and dining room, and vinyl flooring in the kitchen.

We wanted to know how powerful its pickup is, and how effective the battery life. We also rated the attachments and comfort in hand and have fed back our thoughts here.

At 1.77kg (3lb 14oz), the Dyson Omni-glide is noticeably lighter than its peers such as the Dyson Gen5detect and the Dyson V15 Detect Absolute +. Overall, we found the Omni-glide to have excellent mobility and were impressed at how smoothly it ran across floors.

It features Dyson’s first ever omnidirectional Fluffy cleaner head, which worked well to cover a lot of ground with a few moves back and forth despite being smaller than your average cordless cleaner head. 

The main head of the cleaner is smaller than the average cleaner head, which can often be quite heavy and bulky. It pivots 45 degrees from left to right, which we found made it easy to manoeuvre. We were able to get into smaller corners of the room and close up against the skirting board with ease. 

Slim in its styling, there is little superfluous design here. Like the main cleaner head, the body of the vacuum is a lot sleeker than your average cumbersome cordless. Its slim wand can glide flat underneath furniture and we found that this worked effectively for us – moving under low fixtures such as a chest of drawers, dining table and chairs.

The Omni-glide has a handle that’s shaped like a pole rather than your standard handle, and it’s here that the battery slots into place, which helps to keep the design minimal. But though we found the handle comfortable to hold, it could sometimes feel a little slippery as there is no definite grip here. 

Included in the kit are accessories that work well on upholstery and stair treads, and are effective in the car. The mini motorised tool is great for cleaning smaller surfaces of carpet and upholstery, and clicks neatly onto the vacuum’s wand.

There’s also a combination tool that features a brush and wide nozzle. This was useful when cleaning the car, which was filled with sand after a trip to the beach with the kids. We were pleased with the design and shape of the tools, and with how well the vacuum kept its power from start to finish.

Unlike some Dyson cordless vacuums that have a trigger that you need to continuously hold down, the Omni-glide has an on/off button, which we think really adds to its user friendliness. This means you can simply turn it on and use the secondary button to adjust the power. 

In terms of setting it up, we found the Dyson Omni-glide’s intuitive design easy to navigate with parts slotting easily into place. There are four head attachments in total and you can adjust the length of the wand by taking out the middle section and converting it into a handheld when needed. 

At 0.2 litres (0.35 pints), the vacuum’s bin capacity is smaller than the average 0.7 litre (1.23 pints) mark. By the time we’d used up the 17-minute battery life on the vacuum, a simple push of the button on the side of bin emptied the contents neatly into the rubbish.

Emptying the vacuum after every use is also good practice as it will keep the bin fresh, so while it isn’t ideal, we don’t see the bin capacity posing that much of a problem. 

The parts of the cleaner including the bin, filter, Fluffy cleaner head and tools are designed to be easy to wash with water, which keeps the design fresh and performing optimally. 

It’s rare to find a vacuum that is so lightweight, powerful and refreshingly simple in its design, but the Dyson Omni-glide ticks a lot of boxes. Specifically engineered for hard floors, the main head of the cleaner floats when it navigates the floor and can swivel on its axis, which means you don’t need too much elbow grease to use it. 

In our lab tests and while using it at home, we found that its powerful suction did a good job at picking up a range of dirt and debris. The main brush bars are covered in soft nylon to capture large debris, while the black anti-static carbon fibre filaments are designed to tackle finer dust.

There are only two controls on the handle – the on/off button and the suction power button, which can both be operated with a simple push. There are two suction speeds to choose from, and we found the standard mode suitable for finer dust, while we switched to Max power when we needed a little oomph to pick up larger debris, such as Cheerios. 

When we tested the pick-up performance with dog hair, wool and synthetic hair, only a few back and forward runs were needed to pick up.

There was a little left on the front roller of the Fluffy cleaner head, but this was easy to remove by taking out the heat unit using the push and slide mechanism. The wool and hair could then be slid to one end of the front roller and removed.

Digestive biscuits on the wooden floor were picked up cleanly with one sweep. We also used the vacuum to clear up Cheerios on the vinyl floor in the kitchen and only needed to move the vacuum back, forth and side to side a few times before all the larger pieces had been sucked up. 

We also sprinkled ground coffee onto the kitchen floor and found the suction picked up the mess smoothly with one sweep. Our only issue was when we came to change the head of the vacuum to use it as a handheld with the mini motorised tool – we found that a few of the coffee granules fell out of the head of the vacuum, which was annoying. 

On the plus side, however, that overall the vacuum retained its power well and was surprisingly effective when reaching into seat corners in the car – scooping up sand from a beach trip in particular – with ease. 

The vacuum comes with a charger and docking station, which can be wall-mounted. This means you can store and charge the vacuum neatly up against the wall when you’re not using it and have it fully charged for next use.

The wall mount isn’t as large as the ones seen on designs such as the Dyson V15 Detect Absolute + Gold, but it is compact and is relative to the petite size of the Omni-glide. 

The vacuum claims to run for 20 minutes on a full charge, but after a two hours 38 minutes charge, we managed 17 minutes on the standard power mode. This was more than enough to clean a four-seater car, however, with some charge left over for vacuuming the large open-plan living room in the house.  

If you’ve got your heart set on a compact cleaner dedicated to hard flooring and have the budget to spend, the Omni-glide’s sleek design is worth consideration.

We think its powerful and well-crafted for use on hard flooring and upholstery, and has the attraction and reliability of Dyson’s premium styling.

Bear in mind, however, that the battery life is a little on the low side, as is the bin capacity, which may leave you feeling a little short changed. If you happen to find it on offer in the seasonal sales, snap it up and feel smug.  

Spend a little more and you can buy the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK, which comes with one battery.

The design is a little bulkier than the Omni-glide, but it does a good job across hard floors and carpets, and does well in handheld mode for use on sofas, stairs and in the car.

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Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK

RRP: £349.99

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Spend a little less and you could get hold of the Vax OnePWR Blade 4 Pet Cordless vacuum cleaner, which comes with a floorhead that glides across carpet and onto hard floors with ease. 

There’s also an antimicrobial treatment on the brush bar to keep things hygienic and similar tools to the Omni-glide, including a mini motorised pet tool that’s great for cleaning upholstery, pet beds and car boots.

Featured product

VAX ONEPWR Blade 4 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner

RRP: £179.99

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The Dyson Omni-glide is a stylish and effective vacuum that works well on hard flooring, but is equally effective on upholstery and stair treads. Buy it if the majority of flooring in your home is hard wood and you need the best cordless vacuum for that, or you perhaps want a secondary vacuum to pick up every day mess in the kitchen.   

While the battery life may be shorter than we’d like, we were impressed by how powerful its suction is. The flexible head also glides smoothly in a number of directions to make light of work. 

We found its pick-up effective on hard floors, including wood, vinyl and tiling, and think it would be a nifty device to keep close to hand in an open-plan kitchen.

We like the simplicity of the design and extra attachments in the box that make it good for cleaning upholstery such as the sofa, mattresses, pet beds and stair treads. Its lightweight form also makes it an excellent handheld car cleaner for when you want to give your car a little TLC.