Review: Dyson V12 Detect Slim

Like most New York City apartments, mine has outdated parquet floors. It’s easy to spot scuff marks and stains, but dust feels almost impossible. Before a Dyson vacuum entered my arsenal, I relied on a Swiffer Sweeper. (The clunky Dirt Devil vac I shared with my roommates lost suction.) I’ll admit I can be obsessive over cleanliness, but I’d fly through boxes of Swiffer sweeping cloths on what felt like a weekly basis—there’s always more dust. My situation was annoying and pricey.

Dyson’s cordless vacuum line has always been an aspirational household appliance for me (you know you’re an adult when you look forward to buying a vacuum). But I always felt like such an expensive item was overkill for a tiny New York apartment and that I wouldn’t use it to its full extent. The cheaper models also never felt quite “cheap” either. If I was going to drop hundreds of dollars on a Dyson, I didn’t want to settle. But it still had to be slim, with an array of tools I knew I would reach for (and none that I wouldn’t).

Enter the Dyson V12 Detect Slim. I immediately winced at the $650 price tag, but it’s quite literally the vacuum of my dreams. There’s laser detection, which shoots out a green light so you can see the dust before you suck it up. It’s slimmer and more compact than many other stick vacs, and it’s great for reaching those random hard-to-reach crevices in my apartment. If I can’t buy a house as a millennial, I can at least justify a Dyson, right?

Photograph: Dyson

The V12 Detect Slim looks like most Dyson stick vacs, though there’s an LCD screen that lets you switch between three cleaning modes: Eco, which preserves battery and increases runtime; Auto, which adapts suction based on dust level; and Boost, which is power-intensive for deep cleans but lasts a short amount of time. 

It also displays battery life, filter and blockage information, and data that shows the size and kinds of particles it’s potentially sucking up in real time. The yellow bar, for example, means that it’s mostly pulling in particles the size of allergens and pollen. The pink bar means particles as small as dust mites and fine sand, and the purple bar is particles as small as sugar granules. It’s helpful information to know, but if you’d rather not know, you can turn this off.

Included in the box are two cleaner heads (a Laser Slim Fluffy cleaner head for hard surfaces and a Motorbar cleaner head for all surfaces), plus six accessories, including a hair screw tool, crevice tool, combination tool, wand clip (to store the two aforementioned accessories), docking station, and charger for the removable battery. That’s plenty for me, but for the same price, you can get the V12 Detect Slim Extra or V12 Detect Absolute, which have additional accessories like an extension hose, mattress tool, or mini dusting brush.

Photograph: Dyson

At just over 5 pounds and slightly higher than 4 feet, the V12 Detect is super lightweight and agile. It’s easy to store—I don’t have the patience to drill a docking station into the wall, but it doesn’t take up much space at all in my closet. That said, I don’t recommend this method because it doesn’t stay upright, will likely topple over more times than you can count, and you’ll damage the vac a lot quicker; the rubber coating on the outside of mine has started to peel. Just know that it does fit in even the smallest of spaces, especially if you deconstruct it. If you can, take advantage of the mount—you can route the charging cable through it too. 

There’s a 0.1-gallon dust bin, which is on the smaller end for a cordless vacuum. It just might mean a few extra trips to the dustbin to empty it (my apartment is truly tiny so this wasn’t a huge problem for me). Dyson’s “point and shoot” mechanism lets you hold the canister over a garbage can, pull a lever, and the dirt falls out straight into the bin. It works well most of the time, but there are moments when I have to manually pull out clumps of dust and hair from the canister.

Dyson claims the V12 Detect has 30 percent more suction than the similarly sized Dyson V8. I didn’t test that one, but I can confirm this vacuum does an excellent job sucking up human hair from my rug with the Motorbar cleaner head, pet fur from the couch with the hair screw tool, and debris in hard-to-reach corners with the crevice tool. Whenever I empty the bin, I’m always shocked at how much hair and dust it managed to pull out from deep in the rug and my furniture. 

The secret weapon is the Laser Slim Fluffy cleaner head. (It’s understandable why the attachment is sold out on Dyson’s website—it works with V11 and V15 models too). Made of soft nylon, it projects a green laser to help you spot and catch microscopic dust on hard floors. When I used it on my parquet floors, I was shocked at how much dust wasn’t visible to the naked eye, and how much I had missed when dry-sweeping. 

Vacuuming no longer felt like guesswork. When I was cleaning under my couch, which is usually dark, the laser guided me toward all the dust I’d typically miss with a traditional upright vacuum. The V12 Detect pointed me directly to the dust while the real-time graph on the screen confirmed that the vacuum inhaled it. I like that it automatically adjusts the level of suction depending on the amount of dust—signaling when I should spend a bit more time cleaning a certain section. The entire experience not only feels productive and satisfying, but it also keeps me from vacuuming as often throughout the week.

As for runtime, Dyson claims up to 60 minutes of battery life depending on usage. You’re more likely to reach that number on Eco Mode. I mainly used the vacuum on Auto and get about 30 minutes out of it. That might not sound like a lot, but it’s plenty for my small space. The battery takes about 4 hours to fully charge, but you can purchase an extra click-in battery for $130.

If you’re on a budget and don’t need the fancy laser attachment, check out the Dyson Omni-Glide for $450. For multiroom apartments and larger homes, you’ll want to go with one of Dyson’s larger models, like the Dyson V15 Detect for $750. The V12 Detect is great for studio or one-bedroom apartments with mostly hard floorings like wood, linoleum, or tile, along with the occasional rug or carpet where dust, skin particles, and strands of hair can go unnoticed. You’ll use it more than you think, and you’ll be happy when you do. 

Updated November 23: An earlier version of this review stated the Dyson V12 Detect has 30 percent more suction than its predecessor. We've updated it to clarify this metric applies to the Dyson V8, specifically.