Dyson Gen5detect Review

We are fans of the little things that help the user out a bunch. In Dyson's latest series, the Gen5 ditches the need to continuously hold a trigger to make it run. Our fingers will never get fatigued with this model, which was an annoying downside to the Dyson V15 Detect. Additionally, we thought it was super convenient to have the duster attachment hidden in the hose of this vacuum, so whenever we needed to do a spot clean along our cleaning route, we were able to effortlessly detach the rod and make quick work with the handheld. A pretty useful feature to have at the ready.

Performance Comparison

Carpet Performance

When paired with its included carpet-specific Digital Motorbar cleaning head, this model has so much suction power on low pile carpet that we briefly wondered if the company behind it was somehow the beneficiary of alien technology.

While our impressions are strong with this technological wonder, we didn't let it off the hook. We tested it just like every other stick vacuum. We spread 1.5 cups of sand, rice, and Cheerios on 9' x 3' sections of low and high pile carpets, then tried to suck up as much debris as possible in just 24 seconds. Then, we repeated the test again, averaging the results of each run for our report.

Low Pile

On low pile carpet, it successfully picked 96% of the 1.5 total cups of sand, rice, and Cheerios we used for this test. “The suction on this bad boy is crazy,” noted Rachael, our lead tester. A few Cheerios left over in the 24-second test — but not due to suction issues. This Dyson backplowed them to the edges, and I ran out of time to nab them.

Despite back plowing some rice and pushing aside a few Cheerios, this product outperformed all others in our low pile vacuum test. For those who have low pile carpets and are obsessed with sucking out every bit of sand or embedded piece of dirt, the Gen5detect is the most effective vacuum for this purpose. The drawback is the cost. For less than half the cost of this vacuum, the Shark Vertex Pro Lightweight was able to suck up 90% of the debris in our low pile test, just 6% less. Those willing to push and pull the Shark for an extra minute or two while cleaning could get very good results and bank the cost savings.

High Pile

Interestingly, this vacuum didn't take the lead in our high pile test. It posted an average pick up of just 46%.

The strong suction in this vacuum is definitely biased toward small debris that penetrates carpet fibers deeply. It's not as effective with larger debris, likely because its suction pulls the head so deeply into the carpet, not giving much clearance for bigger material.

On the forward pass, the Digital Motorbar tended to bump some of the Cheerios forward or off to the side, but it was better able to corral the errant Cheerios on the back pass, sort of shoving them under where they could be sucked up. This is a bit different than on low pile carpet where it tended to backplow, which means users may need to alter their vacuuming technique to match their own rugs and carpets and type of debris.

When we considered the sand pickup, however, this vacuum was a superstar at sucking up tiny, embedded grains. Some might need to chase circular cereal on high pile carpet, but they'll likely be pleased with this vacuum's small particle deep-cleaning ability. It's a winner for anyone who plays outside and tends to track dirt in.

Hardwood Performance

We were left with almost nothing but positive notes on this model's ability to clean all manner of debris on hardwood surfaces. We conducted our hardwood tests with the purposefully-built Fluffy Optic head, setting this test up in a way similar to our carpet tests. We spread 1/2 cup each of sand, rice, and Cheerios over a 27-square foot test section of hardwood, then gave each machine just 24 seconds to do its best.

“Another stellar performance with the Fluffy Optic brushroll,” noted Rachael, our lead tester. “It just crushes messes on hard floors, and the sheer suction power makes tiny crumbs disappear on any pass.” And speaking of tiny crumbs, this is where the Fluffy Optic cleaner head, with its green light, really shines because it creates a lot of visibility on really small debris, including dust.

We can't say this enough: The Gen5detect is a boss on hardwood, easily cleaning up sand, rice, and Cheerios with no issues whatsoever. If you have hardwood floors, it's tough to beat this model in terms of pure performance.

Cleaning Performance

Uh, wow. Compared to typical vacuums, the difference is huge. In 24 seconds, this Dyson seems more magical than real. Anything that slips under the soft powered brushroll always disappears.

When the Gen5detect missed something, it only seemed to occur when we happened to push a Cheerio or grain of rice off to the side on a glancing reverse blow. The only drawback to this Dyson's large super-sucking motor is that its handheld unit weighs 5 lbs. “If it weren't so heavy,” one tester noted, “I would love this vacuum.”

Crevice

Another hard floor test we conduct is a crevice test, where we dump sand between bamboo slats and then vacuum it up in just four passes. We then weighed the sand to see what percentage each vac was able to collect. Because the fibers on the brush rolls can't reach all the sand in these deep crevices, vacuums that succeed need excellent suction power to lift the sand up.

This model easily outperformed other non-Dyson vacuums in this test, plus its 99.6% crevice clean rate was the best of any stick vacuum we tested. Those who have tile floors with crevice-like grout lines can trust this one to keep tile clean.

Edges

For near-wall evaluation, we spread coffee grounds onto the floor near a wall for our edge test.

The vacuum's overall hardwood performance was stellar and at the top of our charts in every hard floor metric we tested. Those whose homes are full of hard floors and want the best of the best will likely have a hard time finding a cordless stick vacuum that can clean more quickly or effectively than this one.

Pet Hair

We were pleased to see this vacuum performed equally well on low and high pile carpets. For our pet hair test, we spread 4 grams of pet hair over a 13-square-foot section of carpet, tossed on 1 gram of long hair extensions to replicate long hair (similar to how humans in your household might shed hair), then mashed it all down into the carpet to simulate foot traffic. We gave each vacuum just 12 seconds and then weighed the results.

For those who have multi-pet households with dogs and cats that constantly shed hair, the Gen5detect might be the cordless vacuum they've been looking for.

When one of our dog-owning editors saw the performance of this vacuum on high pile carpet, his mouth fell open, and he instantly double-checked the price of the Gen5detect, feverishly calculating the cost against the time he previously wasted running his old vacuum back and forth. We're not sure what his calculations revealed and if he pulls the trigger on a new Dyson, but our recommendation is pretty clear: If you can afford the high price, we're confident it'll be able to suck up more pet hair than any other stick vacuum currently on the market.

Filtration & Suction

If all the stellar test results for this vacuum are starting to seem repetitive, buckle up because we've got more. Again, this one keeps blowing by the competition, not only delivering one of the best filtration but also the most recorded suction of every stick vacuum we tested.

Filtration

To measure filtration, we vacuum 1/3 cup of household flour in a clean room environment with two Dylos air quality sensors that measure fine particulate matter in the air. If any tiny flour particles escape or get stirred up by a vacuum, they'll spike the particulate air quality sensors.

We recorded no remarkable spike from the room's baseline, and we consider any reading increase by our air quality monitors from 0-75 as excellent. Why is this important? For those who have household members who are sensitive to allergens or pet dander, a vacuum with a good filtration system can help maintain a healthy environment. Incidentally, while the Gen5detect has a true HEPA filter, other Dyson vacs without HEPA-certified filters were also excellent in our tests.

Suction

Often, vacuums with excellent filtration suffer from lower suction power. That's not the case here. In fact, this unit's recorded suction power measurement of 2,388 pascals is freakishly good.

With this much suction power--recorded at the Digital Motobar's cleaner head--its overall awesome performance in our debris tests should come as no surprise.

Ease of Use

With great power comes great responsibility, and unfortunately, the user is responsible for pushing this vacuum around. The powerful suction makes it difficult for this model to glide over surfaces like area rugs or transition to different terrains.

Other vacuums that are lighter with softer suctions tend to be easier to navigate on the carpet, sometimes at the cost of performance. Let's take a closer look at what's going on here with our Ease of Use scores to help reveal how this vacuum might work in homes.

Maneuverability

The key problem with this Dyson occurs primarily on the carpet with its Digital Motorbar head. Because it has so much suction- even in low-power modes- it creates a lot of push-resistance force. This means that we had to work harder to move the head with every stroke compared to vacuums that have less suction.

“The Gen5detect would easily be my favorite vacuum if not for the weight,” noted our lead tester. Because the Dyson is harder to push and struggled in our obstacle course test, it scored below average, and we don't recommend it for elderly adults or children who might lack strength.

While this vacuum is hard to push on the carpet, it's a breeze on hardwood — though the handheld weight still remains heavier than other competitive vacuums.

Maintenance

Cleaning this model isn't exactly hard, but it's not as easy as some other vacuums. Still, the manufacturer provides a lot of thorough media on their website for easy reference for those who get stuck. We appreciated how easy it was to remove the fine particle filter from the top of the handheld unit. All we had to do was tap and shake it to remove dust, then rinse it with water and let it dry overnight. “I really like the built-in pictograms that show how to orient and connect the parts,” noted one tester, who added, “I do wish I could rinse the dustbin and didn't have to wipe out all the crevices by hand.”

Because this vacuum is such a powerful workhorse, we wish it had a larger dustbin that better matched its high-end performance. With a capacity of 0.75L, we needed to empty it often for any whole-house cleaning days.

Uphostery & Attachments

Dyson includes a handy built-in dusting and crevice tool that always stays inside the main wand.

While the hidden crevice tool is cool, our testers fell in love with the mini motorized hair screw tool. It worked well on furniture, and it sucked up pet hair on stairs and pet beds. For jobs on softer materials like throw pillows, the combination tool has both a wide nozzle and a brush.

Battery

The Achilles heel of cordless vacuums is battery life, but this cordless machine delivers a respectable 66 minutes on its lowest power setting.

Its relatively short 7 minutes of runtime on high might be a bit disappointing, but really, this vacuum is so effective on its lower settings few people will likely experience runtime issues for typical household cleaning sessions.

Should You Buy the Dyson Gen5detect?

The Gen5detect is in a long line of Dyson vacuums being marketed as a vacuum that can handle larger jobs with its increased motor size and battery life. If you want a luxury vacuum that has the power to suck sand from deep within your carpet, this is a great choice. The product is the most powerful cordless vacuum we've tested, but its raw power and weight might not necessarily be for everyone.

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