After seven years in development, Dyson is returning to the robot vacuum market with the Dyson 360 Vis Nav — an intelligent new product that purifies the air in your home as it cleans your floors.
Launching in Australia first, the new Dyson 360 Vis Nav gets its name from an advanced 360-degree vision system which works in tandem with a high-level processor to map your home, sense dust and identify problem areas which require extra attention.
Combined with an additional 26 sensors, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav is able to avoid obstacles and detect its distance from walls and furniture with startling precision.
Powered by a newly redesigned Hyperdymium motor which can reach 110,000rpm, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav is capable of up to to 65 airwatts of suction. According to Dyson, that's roughly six times more powerful than any other robot vacuum to date.
Dyson's 360 Vis Nav also has a D-shaped body with a flat front edge, allowing it to get right into corners and skirt along edges to extract dirt from hard to reach places other rounded robot vacuums couldn't possibly manage.
Inside that flat front edge is a triple-action brush bar — a hybrid of sorts which combines soft ‘fluffy’ nylon for large debris, anti-static carbon fibre filaments for fine dust, and finally stiff nylon bristles for going deep into carpeted areas.
On top of this, the Vis Nav sports a soft silicone lip on its right side which digs right into edges to suck out dirt without scraping your walls or skirting boards.
While many vacuums spit out as much fine dust as they lift, the inclusion of a HEPA filter (capable of capturing 99.99% of microscopic particles as small as 0.1 micron) allows Dyson's 360 Vis Nav to actually pump out purified air.
The 360 Vis Nav offers four suction modes: Auto, which dynamically adjusts its suction depending on your home's surfaces and dust level, Quick, for small areas, Quiet, which keeps loudness to a minimum, and Boost, which applies the maximum amount of suction.
A touchscreen on the device can be used to cycle through suction modes, with additional control via the recently updated MyDyson app, which lets you view a map of your home (complete with detailed dust reports) and also set no-go zones.
In terms of battery life, Dyson says the 360 Vis Nav can run for up to 50 minutes on Auto mode, but only around 5-8 minutes on Boost mode. The good news is the 360 Vis Nav can automatically dock itself to charge, though you will have to empty its bin on your own. Thankfully, the 360 Vis Nav's bin can be extracted and emptied with one hand.
While Dyson's new device is undoubtedly one of the most advanced robot vacuums we've ever seen, it doesn't come cheap — the Dyson 360 Vis Nav will launch at AU$2,399 (roughly $1,599 / £1,285), which is a tough pill to swallow for a vacuum which isn't self-emptying and doesn't offer mopping functionality.
Still, at least Aussies won't have to wait long — the Dyson 360 Vis Nav will be available to purchase from the Dyson Store from May 25. We expect US and UK releases to follow later in the year.
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