The Dyson PencilVac is the most stick-like stick vacuum ever

It's been almost ten years since Dyson first unveiled its Supersonic hair dryer, which put its signature bladeless fan technology into a styling product. For a company that was known primarily for its vacuums at the time, this was a surprising move. Since then, Dyson has released several beauty tools like its Airwrap curling iron that have spawned countless imitations. The company also expanded into other categories like audio with its OnTrac headphones and the controversial Zone headphones-with-built-in-purifying-mask while continuing to make some of our favorite cordless vacuums. 

Today, Dyson is going full circle by announcing the PencilVac, which it says is the "world's slimmest vacuum cleaner." The twist? It achieves that thinness by using a motor that's basically the same as the one in the Supersonic hair dryer.

What makes the PencilVac different from existing vacuum cleaners is the fact that it's basically all shaft, with some attachment options for the head. That means there is no bulge unless you use the included conical brush bar cleaner head. All the parts that would normally take up space on a conventional vacuum (like a bin, filter and motor) all fit inside the long cylinder. At the very bottom, you can attach a variety of heads designed specifically for the PencilVac, including the main one that Dyson is calling a "Fluffycones" cleaner head. 

The company said it has four cones in two brush bars that rotate in opposite directions, and they were designed to "strip and eject even long hair, preventing hair tangling around the brush bar." The laser-like lights at both ends of this head also help illuminate where dust particles might be so you can better see what spots you missed.

Dyson

Altogether, the PencilVac weighs about 3.96 pounds (1.8kg) and is meant to be easy to use in all kinds of hard-to-reach areas. Since it's got the same roughly 1.5-inch (38mm) diameter throughout, you can grip it fairly easily along its body, wherever you choose to place your hands. This should make it easier to pick up for overhead cleaning.

To get the entire PencilVac to look like, well, a pencil, Dyson had to redesign quite a lot of components. This includes the new Hyperdymium 140k motor, which the company says is its "smallest (at 28mm) and fastest vacuum motor. " There's also a new dust compressing system to "maximize the bin capacity." Speaking of, the bin fits inside the cylinder itself, and it has a transparent window that allows you to not only see how full it is but also watch as debris gets sucked up. In fact, at a recent demo, I watched with a mixture of satisfaction and sadness as bits of crushed up Lotus Biscoff cookies flew to the top of the bin. 

Despite its small size, the Hypderdymium 140k motor seemed plenty powerful in my brief time with it, as it sucked up Cheerios, cookies and other detritus with ease. I also found the entire device mostly easy to maneuver — it didn't feel too heavy and coasted over the bumpy food waste with ease. I was slightly confused by the locking system as I had to make sure to hold it precisely straight up (and wait for a click) after I was done to make sure the stick didn't just fall to the ground.

Dyson also designed a new filtration system that the company said "effectively separates dust and debris from the airflow without causing filters to clog or cleaning performance to decline." It also made a new "two-stage linear dust separation system, which captures 99.99 percent of particles down to 0.3 microns so only cleaner air is expelled back into the home." 

More interestingly, the PencilVac has an "air-compressing bin design" that allows the bin to contain "five times more dust and debris than its 0.08L capacity." In the few rounds of cleaning that I witnessed, the PencilVac certainly appeared to be packing in the garbage quite tightly, though whether it can actually hold 0.4L of stuff is something I didn't get to measure.

Dyson

When it comes time to empty the container, you can use what Dyson calls its "new hygienic syringe bin ejection system" to empty it. I didn't try this out myself, but it basically involves removing the cleaner head, aiming the bottom of the PencilVac at your trash receptacle and sort of shucking the transparent housing up and down to get the debris out. I watched a Dyson engineer do this and the process seemed straightforward, though it did look like parts of the housing trapped some crumbs. The good news is, you can detach the shell and filters to more thoroughly clean them.

The PencilVac also has a swappable battery pack that can last up to 60 minutes of suction, and you can charge the machine on its magnetic charging dock. This is also Dyson's first connected cordless vacuum, meaning it works with the MyDyson app so you can see battery levels, access more settings and get maintenance alerts (like when and how to clean the filter). There's also an LCD screen at the top of the handle that shows the selected power mode as well as remaining run time (while you're cleaning). You'll largely interact with the controls via the two physical buttons here, too.

Dyson hasn't shared pricing details on the PencilVac, but there's plenty of time for the company to figure that out, since it's only going to be available in the US next year. That's 2026. Meanwhile, the device will retail in other regions. 

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