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The Dyson PencilVac was one of the most interesting cordless vacuums I saw last year, mainly because it doesn’t really look like any other cordless vacuum I’ve ever seen. I called it the “lightest and thinnest cordless vacuum I’ve ever used.” In 2026, that’s still true, and it’s finally available to buy in the US for $599.
The design is the real innovation here. The PencilVac weighs just 4 pounds and feels more like wielding a mop or broom than a cordless vacuum. I used it at Dyson’s Soho showroom for a while and was impressed by its maneuverability and ease of use. In terms of dimensions, it’s 45.7 inches tall, 8.1 inches long and just 1.5 inches wide. It can flatten down to 3.7 inches to get into tight spaces and under furniture, and comes with green LED lights on both the front and back to help you spot dust.
Emptying the PencilVac ejects the dust and debris like a plunger or syringe.
The dustbin, despite being tiny at 0.02 gallons, uses a unique linear separation system that compresses down the dust as you vacuum, similar to the idea behind the V16 Piston Animal’s compressing lever. The ejection is a little different, with a syringe-like plunger that shoots the dust into the dustbin, and should minimize the dirt getting everywhere or the need to reach in with your fingers to pull stuck bits of debris out.
In terms of other specs, the PencilVac uses two FluffyCone cleaner heads, distinct conical heads designed to prevent hair wrap. In theory, the PencilVac should clean well, thanks to its dual brush rollers (a total of four cones for the brush bar), designed to avoid tangling and clean equally well on a back-and-forth motion. In terms of performance, Dyson says it has a 140krpm Dyson Hyperdymium motor and 55 air watts of suction power, so we don’t expect it to match the 240-air watts V15 Detect Absolute in terms of pickup performance, but we’ll need to put it to the test to know for sure.
Watch this: I Spoke with James Dyson About Product Design and the Lightest and Thinnest Vacuum on the Market
We plan on testing the PencilVac in CNET’s Louisville lab to see how it fares, though to do that, we’ll need to modify some of our lab tests for pickup because with a nozzle width of 1.5 inches in diameter, the PencilVac will be the narrowest we’ve ever tested, and our tests are currently designed for a wider nozzle width.
The PencilVac is designed to be versatile, getting under the furniture, around tight corners and even up to the ceiling.
Price and availability
At $599, the PencilVac might sound like it’s on the higher side for a cordless vacuum; we have plenty on our best list that can run you less than $400, and our best overall, the Eureka ReactiSense 440, costs just $180 at full price.
However, with Dyson, you’re really paying for the design, and relative to top-tier vacuums in its lineup, like the $850 Dyson V15 Detect Absolute, it’s not out of range of what we expect. Outside of handheld vacuums, you likely won’t find a cordless vacuum this versatile until Dyson’s competitors start to make them.
