Honestly, the robot vacuum world has become a bit of a race to the bottom. Everyone is obsessed with adding more water tanks, spinning mops, and massive docking stations that look like small refrigerators. Then there's Dyson. They finally dropped the Dyson 360 Vis Nav after years of silence in the robot space, and it’s basically the antithesis of everything Roborock and Dreame are doing right now.
It doesn't mop. It doesn't empty its own bin. It just... sucks. But it sucks with a level of raw power that actually makes most other robots look like toys.
Is it worth the $1,199 price tag? That’s where things get messy.
The Raw Power Obsession
If you've ever owned a robot vacuum, you know the frustration. You see it run over a stray Cheerio three times, only for the Cheerio to still be there when the robot moves on. Dyson clearly hated that. They shoved a Hyperdymium motor into the Dyson 360 Vis Nav that spins at 110,000rpm.
Marketing numbers are usually garbage, but this thing pulls 65 air watts of suction. For context, most "high-end" robots are lucky to hit 25. When it hits a carpet, you can hear the change. It’s aggressive. It’s loud. It actually pulls dirt out from the base of the carpet fibers rather than just sweeping the surface.
Dyson uses a triple-action brush bar. It’s not just one type of bristle. You’ve got:
- Soft nylon for big stuff.
- Anti-static carbon fiber for that fine dust that sticks to hardwood.
- Stiff bristles to dig into rugs.
Most robots have a tiny little brush in the middle. The Vis Nav's brush bar stretches across the entire front of the machine. Basically, if the robot fits, it cleans.
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That "Side Actuator" Thing
One of the biggest complaints with round robots is that they suck at corners. They have those little spinning "side brushes" that usually just flick the dust further away.
The Dyson 360 Vis Nav handles this with a weird little plastic arm that pops out from the side. When the robot detects a wall, it extends this side duct to redirect the suction power directly to the edge. It’s a clever bit of engineering. Instead of flicking dirt, it literally vacuums the baseboard.
Does it work perfectly? Kinda. It’s definitely better than a spinning brush, but the D-shape of the vacuum means it can still struggle to get deep into a 90-degree corner because it has to take a wide turn to avoid scuffing your walls.
The Elephant in the Room: Navigation
Here is where the "Dyson Magic" starts to flicker a bit. Most modern robots use LiDAR—that little spinning turret on top—to map your house. It’s fast and works in total darkness.
Dyson went with vSLAM (Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping). It uses a 360-degree fisheye camera on top to "see" the room.
Why this is a headache:
- It hates the dark. If you want to run your vacuum at 2 AM, it’s going to get lost unless you leave the lights on. Dyson added an LED light ring to help it "see" under furniture, but it’s still not as reliable as LiDAR.
- It’s slow. The mapping process feels like it takes forever compared to a Roborock which can map a 1,000 sq ft apartment in ten minutes.
- The "Lost" Factor. Users have reported that the robot sometimes just... forgets where it is. One minute it’s cleaning the kitchen, the next it’s spinning in circles in the hallway trying to find the dock it was literally just next to.
It feels like Dyson prioritized "pure vacuuming" so much that they forgot the "robot" part needs to be just as smart.
No Auto-Empty? In 2026?
We have to talk about the dock. Every other premium robot in this price bracket comes with a base station that sucks the dirt out of the robot into a bag. You don't have to touch it for 60 days.
The Dyson 360 Vis Nav doesn't have that. You have to manually empty the bin.
Granted, the bin design is very "Dyson"—it has a hygienic point-and-shoot trigger so you don't touch the gunk. But for $1,200, it feels like a chore. Dyson’s argument is that they wanted the machine to be compact. And it is. The dock is tiny. It doesn't take up half your laundry room. But you're trading convenience for floor space.
Battery Life Realities
Dyson says you get 65 minutes of run time.
That’s a bit optimistic. If you have a lot of carpet and the robot is in "Auto" mode, it’s going to sense the dust and ramp up to max power. When it’s on "Boost," the battery drains faster than a smartphone running a 4K game.
It does have "Recharge and Resume." If it dies halfway through the living room, it’ll go home, nap for a couple of hours, and then go back to finish. But if you have a huge house, a full clean could take all day because of those charging breaks.
Actionable Insights for Potential Buyers
If you’re on the fence about the Dyson 360 Vis Nav, don't just look at the price tag. Look at your house.
- Got wall-to-wall carpet? This is probably the only robot vacuum that will actually clean it deeply enough to satisfy a "clean freak."
- Living in a dark, moody loft? You might want to stick to a LiDAR-based robot like the Roborock S8 series unless you're okay with leaving lights on for the vacuum.
- Hate maintenance? If the idea of emptying a dustbin every single day annoys you, the lack of an auto-empty station is a dealbreaker.
- Check your furniture clearance. The Vis Nav is about 3.9 inches tall. It’s relatively slim, but it might not fit under those low-profile IKEA couches. Measure before you buy.
The reality is that Dyson built a vacuum that happens to be a robot, whereas most other companies built a robot that happens to be a vacuum. If you care more about the floor being genuinely clean than the robot being "smart," the Vis Nav is in a league of its own. Just don't expect it to be a set-it-and-forget-it miracle.
To get the most out of it, make sure you use the MyDyson app to create "Zones." You can tell it to use "Quiet" mode in the hallway but "Boost" on the area rug in the nursery. This helps manage the battery life so it doesn't run out of juice before the job is done.