I was blown away by this basic Dyson vacuum's cleaning powers – and I'm wondering if modern vacs are over-engineered

As one of TechRadar's Homes Editors, I get to test all the newest vacuum cleaners that come onto the market. These days, almost every vacuum that makes it into my flat has some kind of fancy feature included – many can sense floor type (and dirt levels) and adjust suction in response, but others might have an unusual-looking floorhead designed to banish hair wrap, or the ability to tell when they're approaching the edge of a room.

These kinds of features are so common that when the new Dyson V8 Cyclone landed on my doorstep, with its three suction suction levels and no special features to speak of, it seemed positively prehistoric. I was skeptical that this ultra-basic model would be able to compete with the other, tech-crammed stick vacuums in my cleaning cupboard.

But compete it did. So effectively that I've had to revise my priorities when it comes to what I look for in a stick vacuum.

Dyson V8 Cyclone review: a simple stick vac with an affordable price and some serious cleaning power - YouTube

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In my recent group test to find the best cordless vacuum on the market, the V8 Cyclone more than held its own in the cleaning trials. It also earned much higher scores than both the Dyson V16 Piston Animal and Shark Detect Pro; two of the most hi-tech and innovative vacuums around.

The V8 Cyclone is an updated version of the Dyson V8 vacuum, which came out absolutely ages ago but remains a Dyson best-seller. The Cyclone version is not yet available in the US, but the other straightforward vacuum in the group test, the Dyson V11, earned almost exactly the same score as the V8 Cyclone.

These vacuums took spots #3 and #4 in my tests – the overall winner for cleaning was the Shark PowerDetect Cordless, followed by the Dyson Gen5detect. Both of those vacuums do have advanced features, but the gap in performance compared to the simple V8 Cyclone and V11 was minimal. Here are the scores:

My main takeaway from that group test is that while fancy features like auto-adjustment are nice to have, they aren't the final word in great cleaning. What's most important is strong suction and a well-designed floorhead.

The reason the V16 Piston Animal earned such low scores is because the floorhead has been over-engineered, to its detriment. For its All Floors Cones Sense head, Dyson has swapped a parallel roller for two cone-shaped rollers, with the aim of making it impossible for long hair to end up tangled in the floorhead. And sure, the hair doesn't wrap, but there's now a gap between the rollers where nothing's getting sucked up, and the front of the head comes to a slight point, so it won't sit flush to a wall.

The Detect Pro, meanwhile, offers all kinds of advanced automation features, but it lacks outright power. So while it can sense dirt, carpet and room edges, even the amped-up power isn't enough to deliver effective cleaning in those more challenging situations.

The V11 and V8 Cyclone both have the old-style Dyson Motorbar floorhead, which is far simpler than the newest offerings, but a much better cleaner than the new cone-based head. And while they lack automated suction adjustment, they make up for it in outright power. I know which one I'd rather have if I was trying to tackle a pet hair-strewn carpet, or dusty old rug.

The best vacuums

➡️ Read our full guide to the best vacuums
1. Best overall:
Dreame R20 Cordless
2. Best upright:
Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum
3. Best premium:
Dyson Gen5detect
4. Best for pet hair:
Shark PowerDetect Cordless