If you live in a New York City apartment, buying a new vacuum is not just about finding the model with the most suction. It has to be powerful enough to clean hardwood floors and rugs, but also compact enough to live in a closet and versatile enough that you don’t need three different versions for different cleaning needs.
This is what we kept in mind when we were testing the best vacuums for the inaugural Made It Here Awards and what eventually earned the Dyson V16 Piston Animal Best Overall vacuum designation — especially for NYC apartments.
Having spent over five years reviewing home content, I was a natural fit to help oversee our vacuum category, and the team and I put the brand’s latest cordless vacuum through tough debris, hair and dirt surface tests to see whether its nearly $1,000 price tag actually delivers best-in-category results. We tested the Dyson against eight other vacuums, including two specifically in the stick vacuum category, including hands-on testing of one of Dyson’s closest competitors.
Dyson V16 Piston Animal
Pros:
- Excellent hard-floor pickup
- Automatically adjusts to different floor types
- Wide range of genuinely useful attachments
- Converts into a handheld vacuum
- Clean, easy bin-emptying system
- Up to 70 minutes of claimed runtime
- Wall dock helps save floor space
Cons:
- Very expensive
- Did not completely clear debris from a jute rug in testing
- At 7.5 pounds, it is not the lightest stick vacuum
The Dyson V16 Piston Animal stood out for its versatility, moving easily between hard floors, rugs and upholstery while automatically adjusting suction and brush-bar speed based on the surface. Its Fluffy Optic head illuminates fine dust on hard floors, while attachments like the Hair Screw Tool 2.0 and crevice tool help tackle furniture and tight spaces. Add in strong one-pass pickup and a compact wall dock, and it makes a lot of sense for apartment living.
Maximum runtime: Up to 70 minutes | Charge time: 3.5 hours | Suction: 315 Air Watts | Weight: 7.5 pounds | Bin volume: 0.35 gallon | Filtration: 99.99% down to 0.1 microns | Dimensions: 51.1 by 9.84 by 10.2 inches
Our Review
A lot is happening inside the Dyson V16 Piston Animal, but the thing that mattered most to us was simple: How well did it clean?
Tester Barret Wertz, senior editorial director of commerce, used the vacuum across ceramic tile, hardwood, a jute/sisal rug and upholstery. He also tested it against multiple mess types and both human and pet hair, using several of the included attachments.
Hardwood floors are where the Dyson really shined. There was one test where whole cereal and fine crumbs were scattered across tile, and the vacuum cleared the moderate load in a single pass without scattering cereal across the floor.
Performance fell just a little when the mess became more extreme. A particularly heavy load of small, rice-sized debris left a handful of pieces behind, requiring another pass. Still, for the type of everyday dirt and crumbs we would expect to find in an apartment, its performance was impressive, especially compared to the other vacuums we tested.
Hair also seemed easy to tackle. Wertz placed hair on tile and upholstery, as well as his hardwood-to-tile threshold. The V16 picked it up in all three scenarios, and he did not notice any sagging suction after the tests.
Setup
For a machine that comes with so many attachments, setup is actually extremely easy.
Wertz says the vacuum came largely assembled, with the body, wand and cleaner heads organized clearly inside the box. There was an illustrated assembly guide printed across the lid, making it easy to set up without digging out a manual.
Wertz described the setup time as “next to nothing” and said nothing about the process was confusing. He did give the battery about an hour of additional charging before he began testing.
Design and technology
Like all Dyson vacuums, you get a clear dust bin, copper wand and an exposed cyclone design, with Dyson’s flagship red and blue colors. The design is just one aspect, though. This vacuum’s biggest changes are functional.
The vacuum has a 900-watt Hyperdymium motor that produces up to 315 Air Watts of suction, while the All Floor Cones Sense cleaner head is designed to automatically adjust power and brush speed depending on the surface underneath it.
We noticed this automatic adjustment during testing. When Wertz moved from different surface types throughout his home, the vacuum didn’t stall or need a manual setting change. He could also hear and feel the machine adjust itself.
The LCD screen gives you some useful information, including how much battery is left, the cleaning modes and a particle histogram that categorizes the sizes of particles being collected.
One of my favorite design elements, though, has nothing to do with suction. The V16 compresses debris inside its dust bin rather than allowing it to remain loose and fluffy.
In our tester’s side-by-side images with an older Dyson V15 Detect Submarine, the difference was obvious. The dirt inside the V16 was compressed like a dense bundle instead of filling the entire bin.
This makes emptying it far less messy. When Wertz pulled the bin lever, the compressed debris dropped into the garbage as one cohesive mass. He said the process was cleaner than on previous Dyson models, and there were no clumps of hair left hanging from the bin after emptying.
Attachments
Attachments matter more than you think, especially in a small apartment. If your chosen vacuum can clean the floor, couch, worn hardwood, tight corners and awkward gaps between furniture, you are less likely to buy another appliance, which will take up even more storage.
The V16 configuration we tested came with the All Floor Cones Sense cleaner head, Fluffy Optic cleaner head, Hair Screw Tool 2.0, combination tool and crevice tool, along with its charger and wall dock.
The All Floor Cones Sense head was the primary attachment we used for multi-surface and debris testing. It performed best on hard floors, clearing moderate cereal and crumb messes in one pass.
The Fluffy Optic cleaner head is designed for hard flooring and uses a beam of light to illuminate debris that can otherwise be difficult to see. During testing, it picked up hair and larger pieces of waste from tile while making small particles considerably easier to spot.
The Hair Screw Tool 2.0 was particularly useful on upholstery. It removed visible hair from a woven cushion in two short runs.
The built-in crevice tool handled hair pretty well along a narrow hardwood-to-tile threshold, although a few specks remained inside the groove.
Wertz did note one drawback, as someone who’s used Dyson vacuums for a while. It seems like the new attachments are not backwards compatible with previous models. So if you do have an older Dyson, don’t try plugging these attachments onto that one.
Note: This vacuum did come with an additional Submarine attachment tool, which would transition this to a wet/dry vacuum, but to keep the integrity of the test to cordless stick dry vacuums, we did not test the Submarine attachment.
App
I absolutely hate when you need an app to program a vacuum. Luckily, you don’t really need the MyDyson app to make this device work.
You can use it just fine without the app. But if you want to check your cleaning statistics, performance analysis or personalize any settings, you can use the app.
Ease of use
One of the things that makes the V16 the best is how simple it is to set up and use.
It moves seamlessly from floor types, automatically adjusting so users don’t have to deal with program settings or switching between cleaning modes. It moved between the hard surfaces and rug in our testing without stalling, automatically reacted to the change in flooring and handled both everyday debris and hair. Its wand also detaches, so it can be used as a handheld for furniture and harder-to-reach spaces.
It is worth noting that the vacuum struggled on Wert’z jute rug, making it less ideal for those with thicker or textured rugs. However, for those with low-pile rugs, tiles or wood floors, the V16 is a beast at removing grime and dirt.
Its 7.5-pound weight is also worth mentioning. This is not an ultralight stick vacuum, particularly if you plan to spend a lot of time using it above floor level. However, the wall dock lets you store it vertically rather than dedicating additional floor space to a large charging station.
Comparison between the winner and similar products in the market
The V16 didn’t win because it was the most expensive vacuum we tested.
Its closest competitor was the Shark PowerDetect Speed Luxe, which I tested, and costs considerably less at around $690. The Shark was very good at picking up debris on hardwood floors. Its suction on carpet was certainly not lacking either.
In fact, it occasionally felt like too much.
While vacuuming carpet, the Shark sucked a small lightweight blanket completely into its cleaner head on two separate occasions. Each time, I had to stop cleaning and physically pull the material back out. Strong suction is, of course, a positive, but when you have a smaller home with less space to move, control and maneuverability are a bit more important.
I also found the Shark heavy in practice, and it came with fewer attachments than the Dyson. It remains a strong option, but the Dyson was more user-friendly.
We also tested the Tineco Pure One S11, which fell short compared to the Dyson.
Our tester liked it for everyday pickup and called setup “almost idiot proof.” She was also a big fan of its emptying system. But the compromises became obvious once apartment living entered the equation.
The vacuum was quite big and she said it felt like “a big bulky object navigating around corners.” She also found that suction on a carpet required it to function in Max mode, which only gave her 10 minutes of battery life.
That is ultimately why the V16 won. Each competitor had something it did well, but Dyson delivered the strongest combination of floor cleaning, versatility, attachments, maintenance and small-space practicality.
Price
There’s no sugarcoating this: The Dyson V16 Piston Animal is a high-end vacuum.
It’s nearly $1,000, which puts it hundreds of dollars above the Shark PowerDetect Speed Luxe and many other cordless stick vacuums.
That said, Dyson does periodically discount its products, especially around the holidays.
Whether that premium makes sense comes down to how you plan to use it. If you already own separate vacuums for your floors, upholstery and harder-to-reach areas, there are less expensive ways to get excellent suction.
If you live in a small apartment and want one cordless vacuum that can handle most messes, the math becomes easier to justify.
Is it worth it?
For most people, nearly $1,000 is a bit much to spend on a vacuum. That said, for NYC apartment dwellers specifically, the Dyson V16 Piston Animal makes a strong case for the best vacuum.
Space is a commodity here. A robot vacuum with a massive multifunction dock may be impressive, but that dock has to live somewhere. A wet/dry floor cleaner can replace your mop, but it is not nearly as versatile for upholstery, corners and traditional carpet vacuuming.
The Dyson can handle hard floors, rugs, upholstery, hair, crumbs and tight spaces, and then hang vertically on its wall dock when you’re finished.
Most importantly, though, its cleaning performance was clearly the best during testing. It tackled most debris in a single pass, sucked up hair and transitioned smoothly between floor types.
It is not perfect. Deeply textured rugs were a tougher challenge; it is heavier than some competitors and its price puts it firmly in luxury-appliance territory.
But if the goal is to buy one vacuum rather than collect several specialized cleaning appliances, the V16 was the most complete option we tested.
How we tested
To choose the best vacuum, we divided the contenders into three categories: cordless stick vacuums, cordless wet/dry floor cleaners and robot vacuum and mop combos.
Because each vacuum type served a different purpose, category testing parameters varied. Overall, we wanted to see which vacuum was the best for everyday apartment cleaning — especially for smaller spaces as you would have in big cities like New York.
- Setup and ease of use: How quickly each vacuum could be assembled, charged and used, along with whether controls or apps complicated the process.
- Everyday debris pickup: How effectively each vacuum collected common dry debris and whether it needed multiple passes or scattered messes.
- Hard-floor performance: How well each machine cleaned surfaces such as hardwood and tile.
- Carpet and rug performance: How effectively it cleaned soft flooring and ease of use.
- Hair pickup: How effectively the vacuum collected hair and whether the hair got caught in the brush roll.
- Maneuverability: How easy each vacuum was to move around furniture, corners and other obstacles.
- Attachments and versatility: Whether the included tools were genuinely useful for upholstery, tight spaces and above-floor cleaning.
- Battery performance: How long the vacuum lasted in real-world use and how practical its charging requirements were.
- Emptying and maintenance: How easy it was to dispose of debris, clean the vacuum and prepare it for the next use.
- Apartment suitability: How much space the vacuum occupied, how easy it was to store and whether it could realistically serve as the primary vacuum in a small NYC home.
After this, we considered overall performance alongside how versatile each vacuum was, how easy it was to store and its overall value to determine which model made the most sense as a single vacuum for apartment living.
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