Is The Dyson V7 Motorhead Worth It?
The Dyson V7 Motorhead is one of the most popular cordless stick vacuums out there. But given the price you may be asking yourself “is the Dyson V7 Motorhead worth it?”.
We were in just the same situation a few months ago before opting to take the plunge and we are quite happy we did. We’ve had plenty of vacuum cleaners over the years but the Dyson V7 Motorhead vacuum cleaner has been the best we’ve seen in any category.
But to help you answer the question for yourself we are going to have a look at it’s performance based on our own use and user reviews and try to answer a series of questions to help you come up with answers for yourself on the following:
- What Is The Dyson V7 Motorhead?
- Is the Dyson V7 Motorhead Good For Carpet?
- Is the Dyson v7 Motorhead Good For Hardwood Floors?
- Is the Dyson V7 Motorhead Good For Hard Floors?
- Is the Dyson V7 Motorhead Good For The Stairs?
- How Long Does Dyson V7 Motorhead Battery Last?
- Does The Dyson Motorhead V7 Come With Attachments?
- How To Empty The Dyson V7 Motorhead
What Is The Dyson V7 Motorhead?
| Type | Cordless |
| Suitable for | Carpet, hard floors, hardwood, upholstery, stairs, car |
| Battery Life | Up to 30 minutes; 20 minutes with motorhead and 6 minutes on max suction |
| Weight | 2.4kg |
Before we start to look at answering the question ‘is the Dyson V7 worth it?’ we first want to just make sure we know what it is.
The Dyson V7 Motorhead vacuum cleaner is a cordless handheld stick vacuum designed for easy and convenient cleaning around the home as well as the car. It is designed to handle pretty much all types of floors including carpets and hard floors.
The motorised brushhead is direct-driven from the main unit meaning it can get rid of dirt more easily than a non-motorised head.
The Dyson V7 Motorhead vaccum cleaner can also be used as a smaller handheld unit by removing the main wand which is quite handy for the car as well as tighter spots like the corners of the stairs.
Is The Dyson V7 Motorhead Worth It?
To understand whether the Dyson V7 is worth you spending the money, we need to take a look at how it does the various jobs that you may it need it for.
Is The Dyson V7 Motorhead Good For Carpet?
Overall we’ve found the Dyson V7 to be very good on carpets. The powered brushead tends to leave even our fairly old and weathered carpets looking brighter after it’s done the rounds.
To give you an idea of how effective it is we dropped a handful of cous cous on the carpet and in the photos above you can see the how the V7 performs in terms of collection. As you see the carpet has had better days but the V7 did a brilliant job of picking up all of the cous cous and after a very close inspection we could not find a single crumb left behind.
This is a fairly flat carpet so is quite smooth however, we’ve found the Dyson V7 to be equally effective with deeper carpet fibres. We have a rug in our lounge which is popular with our toddlers and tends to end up with all sorts of particles stuck in there. However, after a few minutes with the V7 the rug gets left looking as plumpy as it did when it first arrived.
For these reasons, on the question of “is the Dyson V7 good for the carpet?” we have to say: absolutely and award 5 stars accordingly.
Is The Dyson V7 Motorhead Good For Hardwood Floors?
One of the things we like about the Dyson V7 amongst many is the fact that it can handle hard surfaces as well as carpets. The photos above come from our hardwood laminate type floorboards.
Once again we dropped a handful of cous cous and passed the V7 over it to see how it performed. As you can see the Dyson V7 made lightwork of the cous cous leaving the hardwood floor looking nice and clean.
Quite importantly it didn’t take repeated goes with the vacuum cleaner to get rid of the food particles as they were mostly removed with the first round. This is an important consideration as the powerful suction means you don’t have to keep going back over the same ground to get rid of dirt; great for you as it means you’re done quickly but also good for preserving the battery power.
So, is the Dyson V7 Motorhead good for hardwood floors? It most definitely is; the V7 performs particularly well on smooth hardwood floors based on what we see every week in our own home.
Is The Dyson V7 Motorhead Good For Hard Floors?
For those who have hard floors but not necessarily hardwood we thought we’d try and see how it performed on our kitchen tiles. These are hard stone/tile like floors.
We did the same test dropping a handful of cous cous and seeing how the Dyson V7 performed. As you can see, it did not let us down leaving behind no traces of the cous cous.
Is the Dyson V7 good for hard floors? As you can see, based on our experience, we have to say it most defintely is good for hard floors.
Is the Dyson V7 Motorhead Good For The Stairs?
The lighweight nature of the Dyson V7 is impressive but just as impressive is its versatility and this is nowhere more apparent than on the stairs. Using the Dyson V7 on the stairs is great because as well as being superlight, the motorised brushead has a really good range of motion.
As a result of the swivel ball, you can easily turn it to get right to the corners of each step. In addition, you can also change the motorhead for one of the attachments which lets you really get into the nooks and crannies.
We didn’t do the cous cous test on the stairs as the surface area is not large enough to make it signficant and hopefully the flat carpet test (see above) from earlier has given you an idea of what it can do on carpets.
So, is the Dyson V7 good for the stairs? Once again the answer is an emphatic “yes”.
How Long Does Dyson V7 Motorhead Battery Last?
When it comes to battery life, we’ve been quite impressed despite the stated times. The Dyson V7 Motorhead comes with a battery that is stated to last up to 30 minutes with the smaller attachments (see more on those below). It has two different power modes (max and high suction). The max setting is stated to last up to 6 minutes. The high suction setting will last up to 20 minutes with the motorised brushhead or up to 30 minutes with the non-motorised attachments.
These are the times noted in the manual and what we used as a reference when making our own purchase. However, what we’ve found is that we can get through a deep clean of the whole house (3 bedrooms; mixture of carpet and hard floors) including doing curtains and the stairs quite comfortably on the high suction mode with battery life still to spare.
The maximum suction setting is designed for stubborn in-grained dirt. We have tried using this setting and have found that indeed it doesn’t last very long. What we’ve also found is that because the motorised brushead is so effective at picking up dirt, we haven’t had the need for the max suction very often.
Overall considering the V7 is a motorised stick vacuum we think the battery life is excellent. We can comfortably get through cleaning the whole house with no fear of the battery runnning out of juice. Whether or not the stated running times (up to 30 minutes/20 minutes for motorhead/6 minutes max) will be suitable for you may depend on how big your home is and how much time you imagine you’ll need to get through it.
Does The Dyson V7 Motorhead Come With Attachments?
The Dyson V7 Motorhead vacuum cleaner (at least the version we purchased from Amazon) comes with a motorhead as standard as well as a crevice tool and a Combination tool.
The motorhead is built as a direct drive motorhead meaning it gets power from the main unit and spins as you clean. This helps to get rid of dirt a lot more easily and we’ve seen it does this impressively.
The crevice tool is really useful for getting into corners on the floors as well as the skirting boards and tight spots elsewhere. It can also be used to reach for dust in the corners of the ceiling in addition to curtains or any other area you feel is necessary.
The Dyson V7 Motorhead vacuum cleaner also comes with what’s termed as a Combination tool which is a device that can be used as a brush or with the plastic edge. This can be useful when you need to remove more in-ground dirt from the carpet or your hard floors as well as in the car.
It’s also worth noting that the Dyson V7 also comes with a wall mounting fixture which as well as allowing you to store the unit conveniently on a wall, can also act as a place to hold it whilst charging. We’ve not installed ours but it’s good to know we have the option.
How To Empty The Dyson V7 Motorhead
When it comes to emptying the Dyson V7 Motorhead bin, their clever design makes it quite simple and is one of the things we like the most about it. The bin is see through so you’ll know when you need to go and empty it.
To do so you simply detach the wand and head over to your bin (we tend to do it outside with the main large bin). Holding the unit with one hand, you pull a lever on the top with the other and the bottom compartment of the dirt bin is then released letting go of the dust and dirt in the process.
It’s pretty simple which is a good thing because you’ll likely need to that fairly regularly as the capacity is not huge (0.54litre) and to get the best peformance we’ve found we need to empy it reguarly. Although the capacity is fairly small because the process of emptying the bin is quite easy, we don’t really mind but its something to bear in mind.
If you have dust allergies then bear in mind that when you’re emptying the bin, you’ll likely be exposed to some – at least that’s what we’ve found. If this is a real problem then you may want to consider getting a bagged vacuum cleaner instead.
What Don’t We Like About The Dyson V7 Motorhead
All in all we are big fans of the Dyson V7 based on our personal use around the home but there is a drawback we felt worth mentioning in addition to those already mentioned above.
Operating Button: One issue I’ve personally not always enjoyed is the fact you have to press down and hold on the power button to operate it. It should be noted that it is well designed and ergonomically seems quite friendly.
However, it is something to bear in mind as on occasion my hand gets tired from holding the unit as well as the pressing down on the power button. The upside of this system of course is that it helps to conserve the battery power as you only use the power when you need it so as a trade-off it’s one we can live with.
Conculsion – Is The Dyson V7 Motorhead Worth It?
So back to our original question; is the Dyson V7 Motorhead worth it? Based on our experience of the unit we would have to say the Dyson V7 Motorhead is most definitely worth the money.
We’ve found that it is very effective on all the types of floors we have around the home (carpet, hardwood laminate & hard tiles) as well as in the car, on the stairs and in high areas around the home. The battery life supports a whole house clean on a single charge with room to spare and the light weight nature of the unit as well as its convenience makes it easy to just pick up and go.
We also have a classic Henry vacuum cleaner which is supposed to serve as our main unit with the Dyson V7 being for quicker jobs. However, we’ve found the V7 so effective that poor old Henry has not left the garage for a number of months now.
Is the Dyson V7 worth it?: Tell us your thoughts.
