Dyson V16 Piston Animal review: Anti-hair wrap tech that actually works

Best Prices Today: Dyson V16 Piston Animal

To coordinate with this year’s IFA, Dyson unveiled a raft of new devices with planned launch dates well into 2026.

Chief among them was the gleaming new V16 Piston Animal, the latest in an illustrious line of cordless vacuums stretching back to the V8, which made its debut in 2016.

The V16 Piston Animal takes over from 2023’s Gen5detect as Dyson’s current flagship but it has a key feature in common with last year’s V15s Detect Submarine.

That’s the fact that it comes in two forms: the Piston Animal and the Piston Animal Submarine. Buy the latter and it comes with the Submarine 2.0 wet roller head for mopping. That means you’ll get a whole-home cleaning system that can tackle vacuuming and mopping.

But you’ll pay for the privilege: the wet and dry model currently costs a whopping £899.99, while the dry only is priced at £749.99. That’s actually less than the Gen5detect at launch.

The problem is that the cost of living crisis has bitten hard – and as the high-quality Gen5detect is now available for under £600, does the V16 Piston Animal do enough to justify the extra spend?

Design and Build

• Anti-tangle conical rollers on floorhead
• 1.3-litre compacting bin
• Pointed floor head means more manoeuvring

There are two models of the V16 Piston available – the Animal and the Animal Submarine. We’re testing the former model: it’s a dry vacuum only, and as the Animal part of the name suggests, it’s optimised for homes with pets.

If you have pets who shed fluff and fur all over your home, that’s a genuine reason to opt for this model, as the main floor cleaning head has anti-tangle conical rollers that resist hair wrap.

This cleaning head is optimised for both carpets and hard flooring, a nice feature as you don’t need to change the head between rooms or when you come to a rug. It also features Dyson’s green LED illumination, which makes it much easier to spot and target hair and crumbs – so much so that I’ve taken to vacuuming in the dark.

As with all new Dyson products, the kit is neatly boxed in all-recyclable cardboard packaging, which is something we love to see.

I’ve generally been critical of Dyson’s wild colourways for the simple reason that I don’t want my vacuum cleaner to be the most eye-catching thing in my home. But I have to say that the copper and black colourway of the Piston (albeit with red and purple accents) is really quite attractive.

In terms of accessories, you’ll also get the hair screw tool, which is designed to remove pet hair from upholstery, stairs and pet beds. There’s also a classic crevice tool, and a redesigned combi tool with a soft brush that’s ideal for dusting.

But there are two more tools built into the Piston. Pop the wand off from the vacuum cleaner body, or remove the tool from the end of the wand, and you’ll find inline nozzles for quick cleaning jobs.

I didn’t find these hugely useful and much preferred the inline tool on the Gen5detect, which has a brush for dusting.

Still, it’s a decent number of tools that cover all types of cleaning around the home. I did miss a low-reach adaptor tool – which helps you vacuum under sofas, as the Piston can’t quite lie flat, and on top of high shelves – but you can buy one separately for £35 (see it on Argos).

The Piston’s other big design innovation is its “CleanCompaktor” bin. It’s already larger than the bin on most Dyson models at 1.3 litres, but it also compresses dust and dirt so it can hold up to a month’s debris. This goes some way to bringing Dyson’s flagship cleaner in line with the Samsung Bespoke Jet AI, which comes with an auto-empty dock.

Most importantly, there’s no trigger that you need to hold down to operate the vacuum

I have this model at home and the dock is an incredibly handy, time-saving feature. Good news then that Dyson is planning a similar dock that’ll be compatible with the Piston.

The dustbin also has a wipe-clean, easy-empty mechanism that aims to minimise the amount of poking around you’ll need to do to empty it. I did find it effective, but there’s always an odd strand of hair that gets caught and has to be removed by hand.

The V16 Piston has two button operation: there’s a power key and a second key to toggle between the three power modes (Eco, Auto and Boost). There’s also an LCD screen that shows the mode you’re in and how much longer you can vacuum before you need to charge.

Most importantly, there’s no trigger that you need to hold down to operate the vacuum.

The screen also shows how many particles of each size the sensors are detecting at any time. I’ve never found it particularly useful to see, but the information is useful to the vacuum itself: when it encounters more dust and debris, it switches the power up (in auto mode, at least).

The V16 Piston also has smart features. Connect it to the MyDyson app (which was quick and straightforward in our test) and you’ll be able to troubleshoot problems and access information on filter efficiency and battery life. You can also adjust the brush speed so it’s optimised for your flooring type.

The MyDyson app is excellent but the features do feel like an unnecessary add-on rather than a compelling reason to keep checking your phone.

Performance and Features

• Heavy in handheld mode
• Powerful suction
• Max 70 minutes of cleaning

At 3.4kg, the Piston weighs ever so slightly less than the Gen5detect (3.5kg) but it feels the same in the hand. To me, it’s a fairly heavy vacuum but that’s not a problem during ordinary vacuuming as its weight is well-distributed.

But in handheld mode, I did find it heavy. When it came to lifting it over my head to vacuum blinds, I found it hard to finish the job without using my other hand to support it.

The main cleaning head’s conical rollers were extremely effective when it came to repelling hair – but that wasn’t the case for the entire floor head

The V16 Piston is manoeuvrable and I found it easy to swipe around a floor. And it cleans well to the edge of a room. But I found I had a couple of issues with its design. The first is that the floor head comes to a point at the front, so it’s not as easy to vacuum right up to a wall that’s ahead of you. The second is that it can’t lie flat to vacuum under sofas, so I did have to shift furniture around while using it.  

In many ways, I’m the ideal person to test the Dyson Piston as my household contains two people with long hair and a gigantic, monstrously fluffy cat. In terms of cleaning challenges, hairballs are far and away the biggest problem. I found that the main cleaning head’s conical rollers were extremely effective when it came to repelling hair – but that wasn’t the case for the entire floor head.

On the base are tiny wheels to help with manoeuvrability, and these did get gummed up with pet fur, which had to be cut away regularly. To be fair, this is the case with almost every vacuum cleaner out there.

The Piston has three cleaning settings: Eco, Auto and Boost. In Eco mode, you’ll get up to 70 minutes of cleaning time as long as you’re not using a motorised attachment. For general cleaning, which meant I changed the power as necessary, I found I could easily clean for over 35 minutes before I needed to charge.

The Auto setting is what you’ll need to use if you want the vacuum to adapt to your flooring type (ie turn up the power when it encounters more dust or moves from hard flooring to carpet) but I found that Eco mode was generally sufficient. That’s because the V16 Piston has really strong suction: it has 315 air watts, up from the Gen5detect’s 262AW.

But what does that actually mean? In cordless vacuum cleaner terms, it’s easily the strongest on-paper suction available right now. At full power it’s much more than you’ll need for vacuuming floorboards or tile, and it should give carpet a thorough clean.

But bear in mind that the Boost setting is incredibly loud and will only give you around 10 minutes of cleaning before you need to charge. A full charge can take up to 4.5 hours but, as the vacuum comes with a charging wall dock, you can keep it topped up between cleans. You could also opt to buy a second battery to swap out.

Finally, I didn’t find the bin compression mechanism particularly useful. When a lot of what you’re vacuuming up is pet hair, it expands to fill the space, no matter how many times you compress it. I was also loathe to add more weight to the vacuum cleaner by letting the bin fill up to capacity.

Price and Availability

US users will have to wait for 2026 to get their hands on the Dyson V16 Piston Animal. In the UK, you can buy it now for £749.99 for the dry-only version and for £899.99 with the wet cleaning head. It’s available online from Dyson UK, Currys and AO.com, among other retailers.

There’s no getting around the fact that this is a pricey vacuum cleaner. But if you want a Dyson and you have pets, this is the best model to buy. However, if you’re just looking for a powerful Dyson cordless model, I’d say that the Gen5detect is more than good enough. It’s available from Currys for £589 at the time of writing, and you’ll be able to find similar deals whenever you’re ready to buy if you shop around.

As I haven’t reviewed the full wet cleaning kit, I can’t say for certain whether the Submarine cleaning head is worth the extra £150. But we have reviewed and rated highly last year’s V15s Submarine. Like the Gen5detect, you’ll be able to find it on offer and you can save yourself a considerable amount. Bear in mind though, that the V16 Piston model comes with a redesigned 2.0 cleaning head that Dyson considers more effective.

To compare the V16 Piston Animal to Dyson’s other cordless models, see our round-up of the best Dyson cordless vacuums. And to see our top recommendations across all brands, have a look at the best vacuum cleaners we’ve tested.

Should you buy the Dyson V16 Piston Animal?

If you don’t have pets, the V16 Piston Animal is an iterative update that adds a handful of new features and upgrades to an already excellent vacuum cleaner model. However, unlike the Gen5detect, not every new feature was a success for me.

The pointed floor head means you can’t vacuum right up to a wall and instead have to turn the vacuum to clean along it. The compactor didn’t work well with large amounts of pet fur – and I wanted to empty the vacuum as often as possible to keep its weight down. I also felt as though the smart features were more of an obligation than a benefit.

But it’s still an excellent vacuum cleaner with hugely powerful suction, conical rollers that genuinely resist hair wrap, great accessories and long battery life.

Best Prices Today: Dyson V16 Piston Animal