Dyson 360 Vis Nav Robot Vacuum Review

This robot vacuum feels well-built and sturdy, with a thick premium plastic body and a metal cyclone dust bin. It can be picked up by a secure-feeling handle built into the dust bin, provided the dust bin is locked into place. The top touchscreen display is activated by firmly clicking it, which is a nice touch.

You don't need any tools to maintain the vacuum—all removable parts requiring maintenance are easily accessed without tools.

There are a few parts that aren't as sturdy. The front bumper feels thin and flimsy. Most importantly, the critical navigation camera protrudes from the top and is covered by a fragile glass dome. We had to purchase a second unit after the dome on out first unit cracked by turning it over and resting it on a hard table—the manual advises setting it down on a soft surface. The vacuum's navigation will be severely compromised if this dome is scratched or cracked, as this Reddit user noted.

There are quite a few parts to maintain on the Dyson 360 Vis Nav. Access is easy for the most part, but you need to be especially careful flipping the robot vacuum on its top to maintain components on the underside.

Since this robot vacuum doesn't have self-emptying capability, the dust bin must be emptied regularly. The dust bin is easily removed from the top, allowing you to open the bottom lid above a garbage can. The lid-release latch is a little difficult to open, though. The HEPA filter pops up out of a hatch on the top and can be easily cleaned before popping it back in again. The filter can be rinsed out with water but must be dried thoroughly before reinstalling it.

When turning the robot vacuum over, be sure to place it on a soft surface to avoid damaging the protruding, fragile glass dome covering the camera (as stated in the manual) since the dome cracks easily. Once flipped over, it's easy to remove the brushroll guard to access the brushroll. However, the brushroll's complicated design means that hair gets wrapped around the brushroll very tightly and must be cut away. The brushroll can be rinsed with water to remove embedded debris. Make sure it's totally dry before reinstalling it.

The wheels are easy to access and clean, although their soft, grippy texture means debris sticks to them and must be cleaned off.

The sensors and camera lens should be wiped with a cloth regularly, which is an easy job.

Here is the user manual detailing all maintenance procedures and a maintenance video.

The Dyson 360 Vis Nav's HEPA filter shouldn't need to be replaced over the vacuum's lifetime—if it ever does, it can be ordered from Dyson's website.

The expensive brushroll (referred to by the manufacturer as a Brush Bar) should be replaced when the bristles become worn, though Dyson doesn't recommend a specific maintenance interval. Dyson support states you should replace your brushroll about once a year. Replacements are available on Dyson's website.

The Dyson 360 Vis Nav's dirt compartment is a little on the small side and contains far less debris than Dyson advertises. Since the vacuum doesn't come with a self-emptying dock, it will need to be emptied frequently.

This is a very basic dock. It only charges the robot vacuum.

• Dyson 304619 01 (360 Vis Nav) robot vacuum body
• Quick start guide and user manual
• Power adapter and cable
• Dust bin
• Pre-motor filter
• Lifetime HEPA filter
• Dock back panel
• Brushroll

The Dyson 360 Vis Nav's battery life is only satisfactory. The minimum battery life on Boost mode is very low, while the maximum battery life on Quiet mode is pretty poor. However, it should be decent enough to clean a few rooms. Fortunately, the robot vacuum recharges very quickly.

The robot vacuum returns to the dock to recharge when it reaches about 20% of its battery capacity and will resume cleaning once charged if it hasn't finished a cleaning task.

The vacuum has some nice quality-of-life features accessed through the touchscreen on top of the robot. You can click the touchscreen to get it to accept input—anything other than a firm click is locked out to prevent accidental changes.

When the robot vacuum is in operation, the screen shows status information like battery life, WiFi status, and faults. Clicking the touchscreen allows you to activate Quiet mode for maximum runtime and silent operation, Auto mode to allow the robot vacuum to adjust its pathing and suction levels based on the level of dirt it's sensing, or Quick mode to set the robot vacuum to quickly clean open areas and avoid corners and edges. You can also select Boost mode for maximum suction, though that will negatively affect battery life.

You can't set the pathing intensity or set multiple passes through the touchscreen. You also can't change surface types this way; the robot vacuum is intended to clean multiple surface types and uses its sensors to determine the surface type automatically.

The brushroll is an unusual triple-row design. It has rows of carbon fiber filaments, nylon bristles, and soft nylon fiber pads.

No other tools are included since the Dyson 360 Vis Nav doesn't use side brushes.

Hard floor pick-up is mediocre because the robot vacuum doesn't do a very good job of getting into corners and edges. Its navigation is haphazard, and it doesn't approach an edge head-on or closely approach a wall, which would allow its large front-mounted brushroll to get in and clean. Instead, it turns away and leaves most of the debris at the edges. It doesn't attempt to use its side-mounted suction scoop to clean along wall edges.

It finishes its cleaning job well before most of the debris at the edge is picked up.

Since the vacuum only uses a map when it leaves from a dock, we tested with the dock in the test area first but found it needed far too much space to navigate. It ended up spinning in place right on top of the debris, scattering the debris around before starting its cleaning job, which it never fully completed. It leaves a lot of material around the edges.

We cracked the camera lens on our initial vacuum and found that this affected the navigation and performance. This led us to replace the vacuum.

The Dyson 360 Vis Nav does a mediocre job of cleaning high-pile carpets. Its poor navigation system means it spends much of its time attempting to determine its position and not enough time actually cleaning. It isn't very effective on edges and leaves most of the material along the edges without attempting to clean it.

It also doesn't manage to pick up most of the fine material, though the medium and large material is removed.

The cliff detection sensors, which stop the vacuum before it falls down stairs, had to be covered for this test because they couldn't detect the floor under the thick, dark carpet and prevented the vacuum from operating. Adjusting the lift sensitivity control will have the same effect.

The robot vacuum will only use maps if it departs from a dock. This leads to even worse performance since it travels right out into the middle of the debris and spins, grinding fine material into the high-pile carpet so that it can no longer be removed. Then, it doesn't clean certain sections at all—see the video and a photo of the result. This attempt was so poor that we retested without much improvement—this time, the robot vacuum couldn't even find the dock. Here is a video of the test and a photo of the result.

With the first vacuum we tested, the results were different—see the video here and the photo of the result. We then discovered we had cracked the camera lens. This may have affected navigation, so we replaced the vacuum and retested in order to give the vacuum a fair test.

The robot vacuum's performance on low-pile carpets is disappointing. It doesn't approach wall edges close enough to pick up debris, so a lot of material is left along the edges. It doesn't employ its side scoops to clean along edges either. Where it cleans, it picks up most of the medium and large-sized debris but can't pick up a lot of the fine debris.

The cliff detection sensors had to be covered to allow the vacuum to operate, as they couldn't detect the floor under the carpet.

As with all robot vacuum tests, we initially tested the robot vacuum starting from the dock. This is the only way this robot vacuum can use the maps. However, the results are much worse—the robot vacuum seemed unable to navigate at all, ground most material into the carpet, hardly did any cleaning, and couldn't find the dock again.

We conducted some tests before we determined the camera lens was cracked—see the video here and the resulting photo. We replaced the robot vacuum to conduct a fair test.

The robot vacuum's problematic navigation system means it doesn't spend the amount of time necessary to clean pet hair and doesn't adjust the suction high enough to pick up pet hair effectively. The brushroll doesn't lift pet hair out of carpets; instead, it presses it in. The high suction and airflow aren't sufficient on their own to pull pet hair out. It leaves most of the pet hair and determines that the job is finished well before most of the pet hair is removed.

Here's the video and a photo of the test with a damaged camera lens. The performance was better in this case, but we retested it with a replacement unit to be sure.

This robot vacuum has very high suction, twice that of some other robot vacuums like the Roborock Q5/Q5+, just as Dyson claims.

The airflow performance is extremely high for a robot vacuum, well beyond other robot vacuums with high airflow, like the Dreame L40 Ultra. The air inlet duct is very close to the floor, and the brushroll doesn't push the inlet far off the floor, resulting in a tight seal.

This is a very quiet robot vacuum. It shouldn't prove disruptive to home activities at all.

This test was done with the original unit before it was damaged, but the results are typical for both units we tested.

The Dyson 360 Vis Nav doesn't maneuver itself well and has an erratic pathing system. It wanders around aimlessly, spending a lot of time trying to determine its position.

It doesn't detect smaller, lighter furniture, and its heavy-weight and high-grip wheels cause it to push such pieces around—it knocked our coat rack over onto the TV in a previous attempt and almost does this again in this test. It detects rug tassels most of the time and can sometimes avoid them, but often ends up pushing them around; however, if it gets caught on rug tassels and gets picked up, its navigation system fails, as seen in this video. While it usually detects and avoids carpet edges, it sometimes hits them and pushes them aside. It also gets stuck on electrical cords, needing manual intervention, and at times can avoid sections around large pieces of furniture.

It does venture under couches and tables to clean but doesn't navigate very well around the feet.

Its navigation pattern is inefficient and seems random. It spends an inordinate amount of time in certain areas and largely ignores others.

This posted video test was taken with the replacement unit. All other maneuverability video tests were taken with the original vacuum before the camera lens was cracked.

The Dyson 360 Vis Nav's HEPA filtration system seals away fine particles well; this will help allergy sufferers and pet owners. Note that any smoke you see in the test is due to the robot vacuum wiggling away from our tester's grip. The robot vacuum's air intake is so low that it has to be held firmly in place.

The Dyson 360 Vis Nav does a fair job cleaning fine material from cracks of various types. Robot vacuums tend not to do a good job in this task, but this vacuum excels in this test. It uses its high suction and high airflow to its advantage and does better than most other robot vacuums.

Even more impressive is that this test was in Auto mode. In a second pass in Boost mode, the robot vacuum did even better.

The Dyson 360 Vis Nav isn't designed to clean stains, so it's not surprising it does a terrible job.

This robot vacuum isn't designed to remove standing water, and Dyson warns users against attempting this.

Thanks to the touchscreen on top of the vacuum, you can control the vacuum without using the app. You can select items on the touchscreen and click the touchscreen to input the command to the robot. This nice system prevents unintended input.

You can use the touchscreen to start or stop a clean, select the suction level, or select a quick clean cycle. You can also use it to check the WiFi status, power off the robot, check the robot's information, or change the lift sensitivity—this will prevent the robot vacuum from sensing it has been lifted off the floor and halting cleaning, when in reality it's only crested a small vertical feature. You can also use the touchscreen to check fault history and update the firmware via a USB port located behind the dust bin, which you can access by removing the dust bin. Finally, you can use the touchscreen to change the user interface language and erase data.

Unfortunately, if you start a cleaning session when the robot vacuum is away from the dock, it won't use saved maps and won't respect restrictions and boundaries.

The MyDyson companion app doesn't have the features most of its competitors do.

It'll allow you to set mapping, create zones, name rooms, clean by zone, and assign custom suction levels or cleaning modes by zone. You can make maps for multiple levels in your home and set "avoid area"/no-go zones, no brushroll zones, and no climb zones. You can also set schedules for cleaning rooms or zones.

The app shows the robot vacuum's activity history with a heat map of high-dust areas. It also shows the estimated time of cleaning and recharges needed to clean rooms or zones. There's access to troubleshooting and support videos as well.

The app supports phone notifications about the robot vacuum and allows you to update its firmware. It'll show you the robot vacuum's name and serial number, your time zone and WiFi settings, and give you access to voice control using Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

Unfortunately, it forces you to set zones on maps, which isn't ideal for studios or single-room apartments. It doesn't show the robot vacuum's live position on the map. It doesn't have nice features like off-peak charging, remote control, maintenance status, pathing selection, remote viewing, furniture editing, or floor type setting. Plus, you can only start a clean from the app if the robot vacuum is at the dock. Using the robot vacuum on another floor requires you to either move the dock to the other level or install an additional one on that floor.

You can't change the suction level when scheduling specific rooms. To change the suction level, you must exit the schedule creation, go back to the main page, set the desired suction levels, and then go back to create the schedule.

The app hasn't been substantially updated from Dyson's earlier models. It's also buggy and disconnects frequently.