The Dyson V7 is a cordless stick/handheld vacuum. It sits below the newer, more expensive Dyson V8 in the manufacturer's lineup, with a less powerful suction motor and a lower-capacity battery. Unlike newer flagship and mid-tier models like the Dyson V15 Detect and the Dyson V12 Detect Slim, it lacks any automatic power adjustment capability.
Our Verdict
The Dyson V7 is a decent choice for cleaning bare floors. It's very effective at sucking up small debris. However, larger material can get stuck at the entry to its floorhead and then get scattered around due to the rotation of its brushroll. Thankfully, its lightweight construction makes it easy to maneuver, and its bagless design incurs virtually no recurring costs.
- Easily cleans hair and fine debris on bare floors.
- Good maneuverability.
- Minimal recurring costs.
- Struggles with large debris on bare floors.
- Struggles with larger debris.
The Dyson V7 performs satisfactorily on low-pile carpets. It does a great job cleaning up pet hair and provides enough surface agitation to lift away fine debris on this surface, but it struggles with larger solid material. While you can't change its floorhead's height, it does have two power settings, which can be helpful when dealing with particularly stubborn debris. However, it doesn't feel especially sturdy, and its battery life is unimpressive compared to most newer cordless stick vacuums.
- Good maneuverability.
- Minimal recurring costs.
- Struggles with larger debris.
The Dyson V7 is an okay option for high-pile carpets. You'll likely have to make one or two extra passes to fully clear away material that's been left on this surface type. Thankfully, it incurs minimal recurring costs thanks to its bagless design and washable filters, though its plastic construction feels somewhat fragile. However, there isn't a brushroll on/off switch for its floorhead, so it can get stuck on plush carpeting and rug tassels. It also has a short battery life, especially in its most powerful suction mode.
- Good maneuverability.
- Minimal recurring costs.
- Struggles with larger debris.
The Dyson V7 is a decent choice for cleaning up pet hair. It has no issue sucking up hair from bare floors and does quite well on low-pile carpets. Its brushroll is removable, making it easier to cut away tangled hair, and it has a turbo brush you can use to clean hair off of fabric-covered furniture. Its allergen-trapping HEPA filter is washable, so you don't have to worry about recurring costs.
- Easily cleans hair and fine debris on bare floors.
- Comes with a turbo brush.
- Equipped with an allergen-trapping HEPA filter.
The Dyson V7 is great for stairs. By removing its wand and floorhead, you can use it as a compact handheld vacuum, and since it's cordless, you can easily carry it up and down the stairs. Its performance on bare floors is decent, and it performs impressively well on carpet. It also comes with a turbo brush, making it easier to vacuum carpeted stairs in its handheld configuration.
- Easily cleans hair and fine debris on bare floors.
- Comes with a turbo brush.
- Struggles with large debris on bare floors.
The Dyson V7 is very good for cleaning cars. You can easily reconfigure it as a handheld vacuum by removing the extension wand, allowing you to clean tight spots with less effort. It's also lightweight and delivers amazing performance on low-pile floor mats. It also comes with a turbo brush and a crevice tool to vacuum tight spaces in the car.
- Comes with a turbo brush.
- Crevice tool included.
The Dyson V7 isn't designed for workshop cleaning. It's okay when handling small household debris on bare surfaces but struggles with heavier material. Using it to clean messes like wood or metal shavings could damage it, and it isn't designed to suck up liquids.
- Good maneuverability.
- Struggles with large debris on bare floors.
- Not meant for liquid spills.
Changelog
- Updated Jan 17, 2025:
Added the Dyson Digital Slim as an alternative with a better user interface and LCD Display in the Quality of Life Features section.
- Updated Aug 26, 2024: We've updated the scores in the Hard Floor Pick-Up, High-Pile Carpet Pick-Up, Low-Pile Carpet Pick-Up, and Pet-Hair Pick-Up tests to align with a broader data set. For more information about the reasoning for this update, you can look at our forum post.
- Updated Jul 10, 2024: We've added text to this review for the new tests added in Test Bench 1.3.
- Updated Jun 12, 2024: We've converted this review to Test Bench 1.3. We've overhauled our floor performance tests and added new 'Hard Floor Pick-Up,' 'High-Pile Carpet Pick-Up,' 'Low-Pile Carpet Pick-Up,' and 'Pet-Hair Pick-Up' tests. You can see the full changelog here.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 'Animal' variant of this vacuum. There are other variants of this vacuum sold, which differ only in included attachments and equipment. We expect them to perform similarly.
| Model Name | Included Parts | Wand Color | Notes |
| Dyson V7 Animal | Direct Drive floorhead, mini motorhead, soft dusting brush, combination tool, crevice tool, HEPA post-motor filter | Iron | |
| Dyson V7 Animal Pro | Direct Drive floorhead, soft dusting brush, combination tool, crevice tool, HEPA post-motor filter | Pink/Gray | |
| Dyson V7 Animal Plus | Direct Drive floorhead, mini motorhead, soft dusting brush, combination tool, crevice tool, pivot extender, HEPA post-motor filter | Purple | |
| Dyson V7 Motorhead | Direct Drive floorhead, combination tool, crevice tool | Gray/Purple, Fuschia | |
| Dyson V7 Motorhead Origin | Direct Drive floorhead, combination tool, crevice tool | Gray, Blue | Doesn't include a docking station |
| Dyson V7 Fluffy | Fluffy floorhead, combination tool, crevice tool | Iron/Blue | |
| Dyson V7 Advanced Origin | Motorbar cleaner head, combination tool | Silver | Doesn't include a docking station |
| Dyson V7 Absolute | Direct Drive floorhead, fluffy floorhead, mini motorhead, soft dusting brush, combination tool, crevice tool | Black | |
| Dyson V7 Allergy | Direct Drive floorhead, combination tool, crevice tool, HEPA post-motor filter | White | |
| Dyson V7 Total Clean | Direct Drive floorhead, fluffy floorhead, mini motorhead, soft dusting brush, combination tool, crevice tool | Red |
If someone comes across another model variant that's different from ours, let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.
Compared To Other Vacuums
The Dyson V7 is a simple and lightweight stick vacuum. While it offers good ergonomics and is a cinch to maneuver in tight spots, it's been comprehensively outclassed in performance, features, and battery life by newer Dyson models like the Dyson V8.
If you're looking for an alternative, see our recommendations for the best vacuums for carpets, the best cordless vacuums for pet hair, and the best vacuums for high-pile carpet.
The Dyson V8 is simply better overall than the Dyson V7. The V8 performs far better on bare floors and carpets by virtue of a more powerful motor. It also has a longer maximum runtime and a battery life indicator to roughly tell you how much charge is left. The Animal variant of the V8 also comes with a unique 180-degree brush, which is good for cleaning hard-to-reach places.
The Dyson Cyclone V10 is a pretty comprehensive upgrade over the Dyson V7. Thanks to its more powerful suction motor, the Cyclone V10 does a better job on most surface types. It also has a longer battery life and can be bundled with more tools and brushes for more specialized cleaning tasks. The V7, on the other hand, weighs less.
The Dyson V11 outclasses the Dyson V7. The V11 has a far more powerful motor, a larger dustbin, and a higher-capacity battery that allows for longer runtime. That said, the V7 is a little lighter.
The Dyson V15 Detect is a better vacuum than the Dyson V7. The V15 features an onboard tool storage rack, has a slightly larger dirt compartment that doesn't need emptying as often, has a longer battery life, and delivers superior performance on bare floors and low- and high-pile carpets thanks to a motor that provides almost twice as much power.
Test Results
Build quality is just okay. Similar to other Dyson models like the Dyson Cyclone V10, its mainly plastic construction doesn't feel especially sturdy while in use. Unlike many other cordless stick vacuums, a rubber strip is missing on the handle that could keep it upright when propping it up against a wall. The dustbin is made of see-through plastic and feels particularly fragile.
Thankfully, out-of-the-box assembly is easy and intuitive. The vacuum's parts clip together, and there's a button you can use to quickly unclip them when you want to reconfigure it.
This vacuum has a few parts that need regular cleaning.
- Dirt compartment: You can pull the release latch on top of the vacuum to open the bottom-hinged door and dump out any accumulated debris without dirtying your hands. You may need to use a damp cloth to clean debris from the lint screen.
- Filters: The pre-motor and post-motor filters can be pulled out of the top of the vacuum. They need cleaning with water once a month, but make sure to let them dry completely before you use them again.
- Brushroll: You can access the floorhead's brushroll by removing the brushroll door and then pulling it free. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a hassle to clean by hand, with hair getting tightly wrapped around the roller. You should cut away any tangled hair and remove stuck-on debris with a pair of scissors to speed up the process.
- Mini brushroll: Like the main brushroll, you can also take it off the turbo brush to remove any debris or tangled hair.
This vacuum incurs practically no recurring costs. Like the Dyson V8, it uses a bagless design and washable filters that won't need replacing as long as you clean them regularly. Still, if you do need to replace the filters, you can find the pre-motor filter here and the post-motor exhaust filter here.
This vacuum is fairly easy to store. It's tall and narrow, meaning you can fit it in a closet without much difficulty. While it doesn't have a rubber strip that would hold it upright if you were to just lean it against a wall, it does have a rack station with space for two extra tools, which is a nice addition. If you plan on using the vacuum mostly in its handheld configuration, you may want to look at the Shark WANDVAC, which is smaller, and you can easily store it in a closet or cupboard.
This vacuum has an alright dirt compartment. Its vertical orientation makes it smaller than that of newer Dyson models like the Dyson V11 or larger stick vacuums like the Shark Pet/Rocket Pro Cordless, but since it's made of clear plastic and has a max fill line, you can easily tell how full it is at a glance.
- Vacuum body
- Vacuum head
- Soft dusting brush
- Turbo brush
- Crevice tool
- Combination tool
- Wand
- Docking station
- Power cable
- Vacuum user guide
- Docking station installation guide
- Screws for docking station
The range is limited only by the remaining battery life and the room left within the vacuum's dustbin.
This vacuum is very portable. It's lighter than alternatives like the Shark Vertex Pro Lightweight and doesn't feel very heavy in your hand. It also has a handle for when you need to carry it around. The Dyson Omni-glide is an even lighter stick/handheld vacuum, although it's not as versatile since you can't use it to clean carpets.
Battery performance is disappointing. Its battery has a capacity of 2100 mAh, compared to the Dyson V8's 2800 mAh pack, resulting in shorter battery life. In its 'Max' mode, with the wand extension and floorhead attached, it provides under 10 minutes of runtime, so you should be careful and monitor your battery usage when dealing with stubborn debris. In its default 'Powerful' mode, you can expect over 30 minutes of runtime, which is still considerably shorter than even newer budget-friendly stick vacuums like the Wyze Cordless Vacuum. Worse still, it takes nearly three hours to charge and has no indicator lights to let you know when your battery starts running low.
Quality-of-life features are few. You can adjust this vacuum's suction mode between the default 'Powerful' and higher-power 'Max.' There's also an LED light indicating when it's done charging and when there's an error, like overheating, but it doesn't tell you when it's low on battery. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a surface-type adjustment feature that would change the speed of the brushroll, as the Miele Triflex HX1 does. If you want a Dyson model with a nicer user interface with an LCD, consider the Dyson Digital Slim.
The Animal variant of this vacuum comes with a few attachments. There's a turbo brush for cleaning fabric surfaces, a soft bristle brush, a crevice tool, an extension wand, and a combination hard bristle brush and upholstery tool. You can clip all tools to the wand or directly to the vacuum.
This vacuum's performance on hard floors is okay. It's good at dealing with finer material like sand on this surface type, but its floorhead sits close to the ground, causing it to push around medium-sized and large debris like rice or cereal.
This vacuum delivers unremarkable performance on high-pile carpet. It'll clear away the majority of finer debris within a pass or two but struggles with larger debris like cereal or whole pieces of rice, which get pushed around by its floorhead.
This vacuum's performance on low-pile carpet is okay. As with its performance on bare floors and high-pile carpet, it's pretty effective in lifting away finer material but struggles with larger debris like cereal or rice.
This vacuum does a great job of clearing away pet hair on low-pile carpet. Its multi-surface floorhead has bristles that provide enough surface agitation to lift away pet hair on carpeting. You can also easily remove hair from the floorhead.
This vacuum has poor suction performance at its floorhead, so it may have some trouble pulling debris embedded deeply within shag carpeting. Its 100 AW motor is substantially less powerful than the 150 AW unit found in the newer Dyson V12 Detect Slim.
This vacuum's airflow performance is only adequate. Its 100 AW suction motor is nowhere near as powerful as newer mid-range models, and it has a noticeably harder time lifting away heavier, bulkier debris.
This vacuum is pretty quiet. It makes a little less noise than the newer, more powerful Dyson V12 Detect Slim, but it still can mask the sound of a nearby conversation. However, using it in an enclosed room does help block out most of the noise for people in nearby rooms.
This vacuum has good maneuverability. It's lightweight and easy to carry around. You can also swap out its tools with minimal effort. Unfortunately, the swivel on the main motorhead gets stuck in a straight position if it's lifted too much. In its 'Max' power setting, it's liable to get stuck on rugs, making it hard to push around, so it's best to clean carpets in its default 'Powerful' setting. Rug tassels also tend to get sucked into the floorhead.
This vacuum does a good job of dealing with pet hair on furniture when used in its default 'Powerful' mode. The Animal model comes with a miniature turbo brush attachment, which clears away most strands of hair, though some small amounts might be left behind if you only make one pass. It does only slightly better in its 'Max' mode, and given the fact that battery life is drastically shortened in this mode, there's no real reason to use it for cleaning pet hair on furniture.
This vacuum does a great job of sealing in fine debris. Like most other Dyson stick vacuums, it has a HEPA filter that's effective at capturing fine allergens.
This vacuum has an okay crack-cleaning performance. It doesn't have much trouble lifting lightweight material from shallow crevices but struggles with debris wedged a little more deeply. The manufacturer advertises its motor as producing 100W of power compared to the Dyson V8's 115W motor, so it isn't surprising that it has a harder time dealing with debris in deeper crevices. We recommend that you use the vacuum's crevice tool for these situations.
