Dyson’s new-but-retro vacuum is big, bold and seriously colourful – but is it any good? This is what happened when I tested it in my home

As a fan of cordless and robot vacuums, full-sized corded cylinder vacuums feel quite novel to me. Dyson clearly thinks there's still a place for one, too, as the new Big Ball keeps the self-righting ball design, 700W motor, and Harlequin finish borrowed from the DC01 De Stijl (the special edition of Dyson's very first bagless). So, I wanted to test it myself and see if this old-school reimagining could compete with the best Dyson vacuums.

On paper, it's for anyone who wants to clean the whole house in one go, without a battery running down or a small bin to empty halfway through. If you have a big house, carpeted stairs and a pet that sheds year-round, I'd see it as a fair proposition. In my case, though, cleaning performance matters more than any promise of convenience.

In a nutshell

On my first pass over my rugs, the Big Ball made a convincing case for itself: it lifted fine dust my robot vacuum had left behind the day before, and the Motorbar's hair-removal vanes kept the brush bar clear of hair (human and animal) throughout testing.

It also asks very little of you once it's set up - a nice change from even the best vacuum cleaners on the market. There's no filter to wash, no bags to buy, and no battery to wear out. So, beyond the occasional brush bar, it costs almost nothing to run, and the five-year guarantee is more than double what Dyson offers on its cordless range.

The trouble is space, and getting around with it. It's a big, heavy machine that wobbles and tilts as you tug it from room to room, and the wand doesn't park on the body, so in my small flat it spent most of its time leaning against the wall rather than tucked away.

If you've got a cupboard big enough to swallow it, more rugs and carpet than hard floors, and don't mind unplugging and re-plugging it every so often, that'll be much less of an issue. For smaller houses like mine, though, I do think you'll struggle to give it a proper, convenient home.

Specifications

• Motor: 700W
• Suction power: 135AW (Air Watts) in 'Powerful' mode
• Cord length: 6.6m
• Total reach: 10m
• Bin capacity: 1.6L
• Filter type: Captures 99.97% of particles down to 0.3 microns, no filter to wash
• Weight: 7.9kg
• Dimensions: H114.5 x L40 x W25cm
• In the box: Motorbar cleaner head, crevice tool, brush tool, wand storage clip
• Guarantee: Five years

Meet the tester

Caroline Preece

Caroline is a regular freelance contributor at Ideal Home. She has 15 years' experience writing about tech and home appliances, and she tested the Dyson Big Ball in her one-bedroom basement flat in Ipswich, using it as her main vacuum. The flat is laminate throughout, with vinyl in the kitchen and bathroom and a few mixed-pile rugs, and she shares it with Jet, her all-black cat.

Alongside everyday cleaning, she put it through Ideal Home's debris test on hard floors and rugs, tested it on cat hair, and used it in the same benchmark areas she always uses when reviewing a vacuum. She also looked at how easy it was to set up, store, empty and carry, and measured noise levels with a decibel meter app on her phone.

Unboxing, setting up and first impressions

The Big Ball comes in a mostly cardboard box with dividers to keep the body, hose, and tools in place. It's heavy, but manageable for one person to carry. The body and hose are still in their plastic wrap, and there's a fair bit of foam in the bin, so there's still more plastic than I'd like.

Assembly is as simple as clicking the hose into the body, the wand into the hose, and the Motorbar onto the end of the wand. It took me about three minutes to open the box and plug it in, and I didn't even need to refer to the instructions until afterwards.

Everything fits together perfectly, and the unit feels really solid. The only bit that took some fiddling was realising the spare tools are on the wand clip, not the body.

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It's difficult to talk about the Big Ball without starting with the colour. The Harlequin scheme (red cyclones, yellow bin shroud, blue-and-red ball) is a deliberate nod to the past, and it stands out beautifully against my boring grey hallway. I suspect it'll split opinion between those who remember the DC01 fondly and those who'd rather their vacuum wasn't so flashy. I'm firmly in the first camp.

The body sits on a large ball rather than wheels, with an extremely low centre of gravity. Dyson says this lets it steer around furniture much more easily and right itself if it tips over. A clear carry handle sits above the bin with a red release button, and the wand handle articulates a full 360 degrees so you can reach under furniture.

Using the Dyson Big Ball

Debris test

Before using it for everyday dirt, I put the Big Ball through Ideal Home's debris test, scattering flour, rice and crushed cereal across the vinyl in my kitchen. The flour and rice disappeared in a single pass, with nothing left behind in the gaps between tiles. Cereal was a different story.

The larger pieces took several passes to clear, and the Motorbar pushed some ahead of the head and out to the sides before finally picking them up. This was slightly disappointing, and I expected a little more, but it's important to note this model's suction power: 135AW in 'Powerful' mode.

This level of suction is typically associated with lighter cleaning rather than deep cleaning, and is around the same as the brand's budget-friendly cordless Dyson V8 Cyclone. And it delivers only a fraction of the 315AW power of their most powerful Dyson V16 Piston Animal. So, that's something to consider if you regularly have larger debris to vacuum up.

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Everyday cleaning

Most of my flat is laminate (vinyl in the kitchen and bathroom), so the vacuum did most of its work on hard floors. The Motorbar picked up fine dust, crumbs, and the grit my cat tracks in from the patio without issue, and it didn't leave any marks on the laminate, though the brush bar is much noisier on hard floors than on rugs. It's a lot of machine for a flat floor, though, and I'm not convinced all that power adds much over a decent cordless when the dirt is just sitting on the surface.

Rugs are where the Big Ball really earns its keep. The suction was more than enough for my home, and on my mixed-pile rugs it pulled up noticeably more dust and dirt than my robot manages, including from rugs I'd vacuumed the day before. There's only one power setting, though, so you can't dial it back, and you may end up taking a rug that isn't anchored by furniture with you.

Pet hair

Jet (my all-black cat) is the real test of any vacuum in the house, and Dyson makes a pretty strong claim here. The Motorbar head has polycarbonate hair-removal vanes designed to remove hair from the brush bar as you clean, rather than leaving you to cut it free with scissors.

After cleaning, the brush bar was completely clear, with just a few short strands caught in the end caps. Human hair is a different ball game, of course, but compared to other vacuum tests I’ve done, this was quite miraculous.

Manoeuvrability, cord length and reach

Moving the Big Ball around my flat was a lot more awkward than I expected. The ball is meant to roll behind you, but in practice it wobbles and tilts every time you tug the hose, and while it never quite fell over, it leaned far enough, and often enough, that I had to stop what I was doing to set it straight.

The hose also caught on a couple of furniture legs when I changed direction sharply. It's fine to carry the body between rooms in a flat, but at 7.9kg I'd think twice about hauling it up a full flight of stairs every week.

Being corded, the Big Ball also needed two socket changes to get round my one-bedroom flat, which gives you a fair idea of how it would scale in a larger property with its 6.6m cable.

Noise

Dyson routes the power to the cleaner head through the hose rather than a separate cable, which they claim gives better pick-up with less noise. I measured 60.8dB, which is loud, though not outrageous. I could still listen to a podcast through headphones, just not through a speaker in the next room.

Using the attachments

Alongside the Motorbar, the Big Ball comes with a crevice tool and a brush tool, both of which clip onto the wand via the included storage clip, so they go round with you rather than sitting in a drawer. Switching between them is a one-click job, and I liked not having to go back to the body every time.

The corner by the cat flap is my benchmark for every vacuum, as it's a perfect mixture of dust, hair and mystery debris. The Motorbar cleaned right up to the skirting boards, leaving only a thin line of dust that the crevice tool cleared in seconds. The brush tool also did a great job on the sofa, and I'd expect most households to reach for both regularly.

Cleaning and maintenance

This is where the Big Ball really shines. Earlier Big Ball models (Animal 2, for instance) had a washable filter, but Dyson says the cyclones on this model separate dust so effectively that you don't need a filter at all (so nothing to wash or replace).

And because it's bagless, you don't even have to buy bags. In terms of actual out-of-pocket cost, that's massive. There's no battery to wear out, and the only component I'd expect to need replacing in the medium term is the brush bar.

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Emptying the bin is supposed to be a button press, so you don't have to touch anything icky. In practice, the pictorial instructions for releasing the bin didn’t work despite about five minutes of trying, so I found the hidden latch and used my fingernail to push it down. After that, it took two hands and good aim, but the dust and debris emptied into the kitchen bin without too much trouble.

Storage is the bigger problem. The wand doesn't park on the body, so mine ended up leaning precariously against the wall when I wasn't using it, the ball at its feet, taking up a patch of floor about the size of a dining chair. People like stick vacuums for a reason, and it's never clearer than when you're trying to wrestle a unit and hose into a boiler cupboard.

How does it compare to similar models?

The trade-off with the Dyson cordless range is straightforward. You lose the freedom of cordless cleaning, but gain a much larger bin, no battery to replace, and a five-year guarantee instead of two.

The closest corded rival I'd look at is the Miele Guard M1 Cat & Dog Flex, which we rated 4.5 stars and named the best vacuum for pet hair attachments. It's a corded cylinder at a similar full price (around £350, and often less on sale), and on paper it fixes most of what frustrated me about the Big Ball.

It's slightly lighter at 7.3kg, rolls on castor wheels rather than a ball, has a longer 7.5m cord, keeps its tools in an onboard compartment and offers four suction modes, so you can turn things down for hard floors or a lightweight mat. The trade-off is that it's bagged, so you'll need to buy bags, while the Big Ball costs next to nothing to run.

If budget matters more than power, the Henry HVR160 is our best budget vacuum and costs well under £200. Like the Big Ball, it only has one power level, and our reviewer found it struggled with dirt trapped deep in carpet pile (exactly where the Big Ball shines). It's smaller and easier to store, though, with four wheels and a 6L bag that lasts for weeks, so if your home is mostly hard floors, I'd say it's the more sensible buy.

Verdict: Should you buy the Dyson Big Ball?

If you have a larger house with carpets, rugs, stairs, and a shedding pet, and your cordless always runs out before you're finished, I'd put the Big Ball near the top of your list, because its powerful suction really comes into its own on soft floors.

If you're in a flat or smaller home with mostly hard floors and something that's already doing the job, I'd look elsewhere. It cleans brilliantly, but in a space like mine, it's just too awkward to move around and store compared to a stick vacuum you can mount or tuck away neatly.