Dyson V15s Submarine Review

The Dyson V15s Submarine has an aquatic themed name for its innovative mop head attachment. It's pretty neat since everything is packed into the base, giving you the quick option to plug in and mop right away. The mop is even motorized so it helps to pick up dried mud easier with the help of the turning roller creating some disturbance. We were excited to break out this additional feature, but weren't particularly impressed with the results. Read more in our Hardwood Performance section to learn why.

Performance Comparison

Carpet Performance

To test carpet performance, we spread 1/2 cup each of sand, rice, and Cheerios on a 9' x 3' section of low and high pile carpets, then record how much of the debris each vacuum can suck up in just 24 seconds. This is a very difficult stress test. While most decent vacuums can suck up a lot of debris over many passes and extra time, our test reveals which vacuums are reliably more powerful and effecient compared to others. Most importantly, our multi-debris test helps us identify which vacuums best handle certain debris types or surfaces better than others.

This model encountered very few issues on carpet. Its 9.75-inch roller head managed to pick up most of the debris we threw at it. We utilized a typical back-and-forth method, as most users would with their vacuum, and recorded the amount it collected.

Low Pile

Like other Dyson cordless vacs that use the same Digital Motorbar head, this version crushed our test trials on low pile carpet. It sucked up 95% of the material, just 1% less than the winner Gen5detect.

“What a great machine!” noted Rachael, our lead tester. “I will say that while this vacuum takes a little muscle to push because the suction can be quite intense, the cleanliness of your carpet will probably be worth it if you can muster the muscle.”

High Pile

The high pile carpet score wasn't as high, partially because some of the lighter material — we're looking at you, Cheerios — could get pushed around rather than covered and sucked up.

However, slower passes seemed to give it a boost, allowing it to increase suction on the sand deep beneath the surface at the expense of missing a few Cheerios in our 24-second time limit. What does this mean for those who have a shaggy rug in their home? By going a little slower, we're confident most people can keep their high pile rugs clean if they're vacuuming typical household debris. More importantly, for those who have a lot of pesky sand or fine dirt getting tracked into their home, this machine excells at reaching deep into carpet fibers and pull them out.

Hardwood Performance

Our hardwood test is similar to our carpet tests in that we use the same debris material, square footage, and time limit. The key difference is that we do this test on a hardwood floor. Because this model comes with two floor-specific cleaner heads, we replaced the Digital Motorbar head with the Fluffy Optic head.

For homes that contain mostly hard floors, this vacuum is a very competitive choice. We didn't run into any issues when cleaning, even with tougher debris around the office and in our at-home test sessions, but on hardwood, we did notice some backward plowing, which means we had to sometimes turn back to hit any leftover piles head-on. And just to be clear, this is a minor quibble.

Cleaning Performance

The big claim to fame with this stick is that it uses Dyson's awesome Fluffy Optic cleaner head. Why is it so great? It has a motorized super soft, large-diameter brush roll with a tall head gate opening. When kids drop cereal off the table, or potted plant dirt gets knocked onto the floor by a crazy cat, the soft brush will flow over it and make it disappear in a single pass.

While the Fluffy Optic cleaner head does the real work, we're fans of the unique, low-angle green laser-style light that illuminates tiny bits of sand, hair, or dust on the floor. It works far better than typical LED headlights on competitive vacuums. Here's why: At a glance with the naked eye, our test floors often looked clean. The green laser light, however, illuminated tiny annoying specs. In situations like this, our lead tester's eyebrows furrowed, and she narrowed her eyes when she spotted these specs with the green light. And then, after she ran over the specs, making them disappear and revealing a near-polished floor, she smiled. Heck yeah.

Crevice

In our difficult crevice test, we drop sand between the slats of a bamboo mat to simulate deep crevices that might lurk between floor transitions in some homes. This vacuum sucked up nearly all the sand — 99%, which is simply outstanding. For those who have tile floors with deeper grout lines in their house, this model will keep them clean.

Surprisingly, despite having 15% less suction power than the V15, the Submarine sucked up just as much sand. This test tells us that the suction power difference between the two models will likely be negligible or very small for most real-world situations.

Edges

To test edge performance, we spread coffee grounds next to a wall and then tested pick-up with a head-on technique as well as a parallel technique.

Those who have a lot of edges to clean in their home, such as long hallways with hardwood floors, will likely get excellent results with this vacuum.

Of course, this model's real claim to fame is its unique wet mop head attachment.

To experiment with the mop head, we conducted simple tests applicable to everyday dry and wet spills. We found it easily cleaned up freshly spilled coffee, although once it dried up, we found multiple extra passes were required to get it clean.

We don't think this head is by any means a mop superstar, but it can help with general maintenance cleans where the spills aren't too stubborn.

If you're more curious about the performing capabilities of mops, check out our selection of products in the steam mop review that fully dives into different messes from mud to ketchup and more.

Pet Hair

For the many millions of households that have dogs and cats, our rigorous pet hair test can help separate the merely good from the best. We start by taking a huge fistful of mixed pet hair, weighing exactly 4 grams, and smear it into 4.5' x 3' test sections of both low pile and high pile carpet. To test long hair performance, we toss on 1 gram of long hair extensions. Then we take a heavy roller and mash the hair into the carpet, resulting in a sight those who have heavy-shedding pets will likely recognize.

In our pet hair test, the Submarine cleaned up 84% of the hair on low pile carpet and 60% of the hair on high pile carpet. Because this version uses the same Digital Motorbar cleaner head as the V15 and Gen5detect, it delivered results just a few percentage points below the other two vacuums. We suspect the slight difference is due to the slightly lower suction power in the Submarine model.

While ranking third in pet hair performance in our tests, it's important to note that it ranked only behind other, more powerful Dyson vacuums. Its performance with pet hair still easily beats every other vacuum that doesn't have Dyson in its name, making it an excellent choice for homes with pets that shed hair.

Filtration & Suction

For those who are sensitive to allergens or pet dander, a filter with excellent filtration can help keep fine particles out of the air. Increased suction capabilities usually give deeper cleans. Sometimes vacs that have better filtration have lower suction, so our tests here help tease out the best of the best.

Filtration

We have one of the most rigorous filtration tests created for vacuums. Instead of just visually looking at smoke to see what happens when we suck it up, we create a more realistic test. We start with a clean room with two Dylos air quality monitors that continuously log air quality. We then spread 1/3 cup of flour on the floor and vacuum it up. Our air quality monitors can then count any particles that are stirred up by the vacuum or lost through its system back into the air you breathe.

This model kept nearly all flour particles inside of its system. Dylos considers count increases from 0-75 as excellent. This Dyson's air quality performance makes it a solid choice for anyone concerned about allergens or pet dander.

Suction

The suction power proved more than sufficient for tasks around the house, measuring 1,916 pascals, which ranks substantially higher than average at 834 pascals.

This machine's suction rankings are truly outstanding compared to other cordless stick vacuums we tested.

Ease of Use

Like other high-end versions we've tested, this model suffers from suction that is so intense it can make it difficult to push on any carpet, which reduces its maneuverability score — even though it's still very maneuverable on hard floors with its Fluffy Optic cleaner head.

Maneuverability

In terms of maneuverability, this vacuum posed some challenges navigating across a carpet and varying surfaces, requiring slight lifting to transition between terrains. However, its head swivel functioned decently and allowed relatively smooth navigation through the course.

To make the Digital Motorbar cleaner head easier to push on carpet, it has a red slider control that opens or closes two head gates. With the head gates open, the suction seal is reduced, which we appreciated on carpet, though it's still relatively hard to push compared to many other multi-purpose cleaner heads in vacuums that have less suction.

The vacuum did demonstrate good reach underneath the couch included in our obstacle course, although we had to bend over slightly to access all areas underneath. When equipped with the Fluffy Optic head, specifically designed for hardwood, it performed notably better, effortlessly gliding across the hardwood surface and maneuvering around table legs.

Also, the handheld isn't exactly light at four pounds eight ounces. Every extra ounce added to the handheld makes a drastic difference, so although the weight isn't far off from our average, we could definitely feel it at the end of a cleaning session.

Maintenance

This model proved to be relatively easy to clean overall. Removing the filter on the top of the vacuum is straightforward: twist it off, tap it to shake off any dust and debris, and rinse with water. Allow the filter to dry before reattaching it. Additionally, the dustbin is easily accessed; push the red tab to release it, enabling us to clean it out with a damp cloth. The brush roller is also simple to remove and can be washed once taken out. For those who need to see these steps to learn them, Dyson also provides a wealth of media on their website regarding maintenance, which we found super helpful. If you don't want to deal with the confusion or effort of maintaining your cleaning devices, this model was definitely one of the easiest to work with.

Uphostery & Attachments

Since you can use the vacuum base with included attachments, cleaning all types of surfaces should be a breeze. This vacuum comes with three additional tools: a crevice tool, a hair screw tool, and a combination tool, along with a wand clip for convenient attachment storage.

To test included hand tools, we sprinkled coffee grounds across a pillow and along an ironing board to determine its cleaning prowess on upholstery. We chose the hair screw tool for this test, but the combination tool would also likely work well. The handheld showcased great performance, completely removing 100% of the coffee grounds from the pillow and 97% from the ironing board.

For those who want to suck up pet hair out of a pet bed — or a sofa if pets are couch buddies — we're big fans of the awesome hair screw tool. It's motorized and really lets us suck up embedded pet hair for smaller, focused jobs.

Battery

In terms of battery life, it lasts approximately 68 minutes on the Eco setting and only 9 minutes on Boost.

Because it's so powerful even on its low Eco setting, we believe most people could get through multi-room vacuum sessions if they don't need to use high power very often.

Should You Buy the Dyson V15s Submarine?

If you've read this far, you're likely not afraid of the total cost associated with Dyson products, and we feel that's the main obstacle when considering the Dyson V15s Submarine. In all other respects, this model cleans very well and showcases what high-tech devices can do — and it performs very similarly to other high-end Dysons. Of course, if you want the mop feature, you'll need to buy this particular Dyson because the mop head isn't available to buy separately and is not even compatible with other seemingly similar Dyson vacs like the V15 Detect.

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