I tested Dyson’s newest (and most hygienic) hard floor cleaner – but this is why I’m sticking with their older model

Over the past few years, Dyson has been on a mission to make wet hard floor cleaning, well, not so hard. And when they announced the release of the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene Hard Floor Cleaner, I knew I had to test it out.

After all, the best vacuum mops have dominated the floorcare market recently, and I’ve already reviewed more of them than I can count. So, I added this one to my roster and spent two weeks testing to see if this new appliance lives up to its big-name brand. My verdict? It does an alright job, but I think Dyson has just missed the mark on this one.

In a nutshell

I’m a huge fan of vacuum mops, but it’s important to stress that the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene isn’t a vacuum mop in the traditional sense. Instead of using suction power like other models on the market, this appliance agitates debris and cleans floors with rotating rollers featuring 84,000 densely packed filaments. And while this is commendable and ideal for light cleaning, I was ultimately left wanting just that little bit more.

Upon assembly, Dyson’s standout design and aesthetic were obvious, and I have to admit that I loved everything from the colourway to the handle design and how it feels in my hand. Plus, it’s the kind of grab-and-go cleaning tool that doesn’t require too much effort, gliding effortlessly from one room to the next.

The fact that there’s no filter and a hot drying dock also means that the cleaning and maintenance should be a breeze - but a major flaw in this design is the dirty water tank that leaks once it's removed from the main unit. This is something that disgruntled reviewers and I haven’t been able to ignore, and it's this change in tank location that has me leaning more towards Dyson’s older hard floor cleaner, the Dyson WashG1, instead.

Ultimately, for light cleaning (and if you’re willing to make changes to your cleaning routine to account for the leaking tank), I do think you could be happy with the Clean+Wash. Without that suction power, though, it struggles with anything more than thin liquid messes or light dirt. So, I can’t help but think that the £429.99 price point is very steep and there are better options out there - including the sibling within Dyson’s own floorcare range.

Specifications

• Weight: 3.82kg
• Max. run time: 45 mins
• Bin volume: 0.75L clean water tank, 0.52L dirty water tank
• Charge time: 4.5 hours
• Modes: 4 (Low, Med, High, Max)
• Suitable for: Tiles, vinyl, laminate and sealed wooden floors
• In the box: Main unit, Hot-air drying dock
• RRP: £429.99

Unboxing, setting up and first impressions

The Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene Hard Floor Cleaner arrived in Dyson’s standard box-within-a-box format - a brown, unbranded outer box with the branded box inside. The whole package weighed just 7.7kg, so it was easy enough for me to move over the threshold and into my dining room, where I planned to assemble it.

However, I realised very quickly that it wouldn’t actually need that much assembly. Much of the main unit (which was encased in cardboard and without a scrap of single-use plastic in sight) was already assembled - including the floorhead and the clean water tank. All I had to do was slot in the handle and pop it on the dock to charge.

All in all, it probably took about 30 seconds to assemble it after removing all of the contents from the box, which was a serious tick in my book.

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The LCD screen then flashed with a QR code that allowed me to pair the appliance with the MyDyson App. If you’ve read any of my other Dyson reviews, you’ll know that I have somewhat of a love-hate relationship with this app, as I really don’t think it’s necessary - but it is a great place to find all of the how-to cleaning and maintenance advice if you get stuck later down the line.

Nevertheless, the app is a relative non-issue when you’re buying something to clean your floors, and with everything assembled and set up, I took a step back to appreciate the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene Hard Floor Cleaner in all of its glory.

As I previously tested the Dyson WashG1, I can confidently say that this newer model is more attractive. I love the teal and gold colourways (it’s very Dyson) and I could feel the difference in weight as the Clean+Wash is slightly lighter. This doesn’t affect the quality of the build, though, as in true Dyson form, it all felt very high-quality.

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But while I was eager to test it out for the first time, I knew I needed to put in some prep work first. So, I removed the clean water tank from the front of the appliance, filled it with water and popped it back in place. As Dyson doesn’t include a bottle of their own probiotic cleaning solution with the purchase (which I think is a bad call on their part), I made do with what I had instead.

I added a very small amount of this Method Floor Cleaner (£4.49 at Amazon) into the water, as Dyson recommends only using ‘gentle, low-foaming common household detergents and don’t use bleach.’

Performance

Whenever I test a hard floor cleaner or vacuum mop, I like to put it through its paces and test its pickup power. So, I started off by doing the same thing I do every time I test one: I threw cornflakes and milk on my floor, squirted some tomato sauce next to it, and then cracked a raw egg next to that.

In this test, I not only wanted to assess its initial pickup ability, but also how it cleans after it's picked up something rather messy and disgusting. After all, you don’t just want to spread the gunk around your floors.

And while the video at the top of this page looks impressive, it's slightly deceptive. The Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene Hard Floor Cleaner tackled the tomato sauce and even the crushed cereal and milk with relative ease (although the milk took a couple of passes to be fully removed), but the egg was a completely different - and rather disgusting - story.

As this model doesn’t rely on suction power, the Clean+Wash wasn’t able to suck the egg up as a regular vacuum mop would and has previously. Instead, it pushed the yolk along a bit before it popped and rolled around the rollers, creating a very strange and bubbly meringue that I ended up spreading across my floor.

After a few runs with the appliance, I realised that I was making the bubbly meringue worse, so I emptied and rinsed out the debris chamber and the roller before trying again. And while I managed to salvage the situation slightly, I still couldn’t get rid of the egg remnants completely, so I had to grab another mop to clean my floors properly.

Of course, Dyson doesn’t claim that the Clean+Wash can clean eggs from the floor, so this isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker. But when I compare it to other vacuum mops that can tackle this larger and more viscous debris, it does seem like a major downside for families or individuals who regularly struggle with these food items during messy mealtimes. Especially when you consider the high price point.

However, I didn’t want to let this affect my testing too much, as it performed well on smaller debris and the milk, and I was still eager to incorporate it into my cleaning regimen. So, I continued to use it as an everyday hard floor cleaner on my wood-effect laminate, my tiled kitchen and my tiled bathroom.

A positive I can’t deny is that the Clean+Wash is extremely easy to use. The machine itself doesn’t feel cumbersome or heavy, and it doesn’t even feel like you need to push it around your floors, as it seems to glide on its own. This is extremely handy for those who struggle with heavy appliances, and just generally makes the process a lot more streamlined.

For general cleaning, I also can’t really fault it too much. When there’s limited debris involved, the rollers glide across the floor without making it too wet, and it has great edge cleaning technology that manages to get right up to the edges of my skirting boards and kitchen baseboards.

The fact that it lies flat is also great for cleaning under furniture, and I have to screen is extremely useful - showcasing the remaining battery life and your chosen mode. It’s also extremely easy to switch between these modes depending on the floor you’re dealing with.

Like all vacuum mops and hard floor cleaners, though, the floorhead is large, which means it does struggle to get into smaller nooks and crannies, and it was way too big to fit in between my toilet and the sink and the toilet and my bath. This is only a small niggle, but one that could affect those with similarly small homes like mine.

All in all, though, for light cleaning it’s effective and easy to use, and it certainly does a better job than your average mop thanks to the four cleaning modes. For anything more, though, it was slightly disappointing.

Cleaning and maintenance

The Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene’s dirty water tank and debris tray are located on the floorhead, so these need to be emptied and cleaned after each use. It’s easy enough to remove these, but I can’t deny that the process isn't seamless.

My biggest gripe with this appliance came when I wanted to empty the dirty water from the tank. It seemed simple enough, and the instructions told me that I just had to remove the tank from the floorhead and unscrew the cap on the side to pour everything down the sink. But as soon as I removed the tank from the floorhead and made to walk to my sink (with the lid still screwed tightly on), I realised that it leaked. A lot.

In fact, the tank left a trail of dirty floor water all the way from my dining room to my kitchen - dripping onto my lovely cream rug and on the hard flooring that the appliance had literally just cleaned. This happened every time I used it, and I even tried to adjust my hold on it to keep it stable as I was carrying it, but that didn’t really help either.

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In the end, I had to completely adjust my cleaning routine, so I finished up in my bathroom near the sink, so I didn’t have to carry it over any just-cleaned floors or rugs. This isn’t the end of the world, of course, but it was slightly irritating to have to change up my routine to suit a leaky appliance.

This is something I hope Dyson will have addressed when the new Dyson PencilWash is released later this year. Fingers crossed.

Not only that, but the debris tray gets wet throughout the cleaning process, so the dry debris becomes a mushy mess during maintenance. However, it’s important to note that I’ve yet to try a vacuum mop where this doesn’t happen, so I can’t knock Dyson for that.

It’s not all bad, though. One thing I really loved about this model was the hot air drying dock, which sped up the drying time and banished any concerns I had for mould growth or nasty smells after use. Just note that the drying process is loud - so you’ll need to pop it in another room if you want to be able to hear the TV over it.

I also found the 4.5-hour charge time to be respectable and about average for a hard floor cleaner, so I didn’t have any problems there.

How does it compare to similar models?

Hard floor cleaners aren’t few and far between in today’s market, so there are a lot of alternatives to compare the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene against. For starters, there’s the Dyson WashG1, which I reviewed in September 2024.

This older model is very similar to the Clean+Wash in terms of the rotating rollers, but the main difference is that the dirty water tank on the WashG1 is not located on the floorhead. Instead, it’s located just beneath the clean water tank on the handle of the unit, although the debris tray is still on the floorhead.

Personally, I preferred the WashG1 and gave it a slightly higher 4-star rating, mainly because of these components' location. I don't want to have to risk drenching my rugs and carpets with dirty water every time I use an appliance, and the WashG1 was much easier (and safer) to clean and maintain.

The Clean+Wash does trump the WashG1 on certain things, though, including the hot air drying dock, the slightly longer run time (by 10 minutes), and the slightly lighter weight. And as I think the cleaning ability is basically the same with both of these Dyson hard floor cleaners, it ultimately comes down to what you value most.

It’s also worth comparing it to the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 Smart Cordless Wet-Dry Vacuum Cleaner and Mop, which I think is its most direct competitor outside of the Dyson brand. I gave this model a 5-star review.

They’re both a similar price and even look similar, and they both offer different modes to suit different types of debris. However, the Tineco model automatically adjusts roller speed when it detects larger messes and even comes with suction power to improve its cleaning ability, so I’d say it beats the Dyson when it comes to overall cleaning power.

Nevertheless, the Dyson looks smarter and comes with the drying dock, which is a very nice touch, and it’s half the weight of the Tineco model. So, again, it comes down to what you value most in your hard floor cleaners.

How does it rate online?

The Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene Hard Floor Cleaner is a relatively new addition to the market, but there are still over 150 global reviews of this model on the Dyson website at the time of writing. It has an average rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars.

On the positive side, many customers love the hard floor cleaner, praising the machine’s ease of use and its cleaning ability. Pet owners in particular find it handy when cleaning up muddy paw prints on hard flooring, with the machine leaving floors clean but not soaking wet after use.

However, there’s no denying that there are many more negative reviews. Most people criticise the lack of a cleaning solution included (which they believe should be included as standard) and the fact that the dirty water tank is extremely leaky. Many also find it struggles to tackle dry debris, too.

Verdict: Should you buy the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene Hard Floor Cleaner?

Ultimately, I’m a little torn on the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene Hard Floor Cleaner. On the one hand, there’s no denying that this appliance can clean hard floors better than a traditional mop can, and it’s certainly a breeze to use.

And for people who only deal with a limited amount of debris on their floors, I do think it could be a welcome addition to their homes once they get the hang of it and are able to combat the leaky waste tank and keep up with the maintenance. After all, it does what it’s intended to do and cleans hard floors.

However, it does have some serious flaws - especially for an appliance that’s £429.99 and doesn’t have the same suction features as other vacuum mops on the market. It’s not really equipped to deal with bigger messes (which puts families out of the customer pool, in my opinion), and I think most people value cleaning power over the cleanliness of the appliance itself.

Because of this, I do think Dyson has missed a trick and limited its customer pool. Personally, I’d rather clean an appliance that does its job more often than buy an appliance that isn’t quite as effective, but offers a more hygienic maintenance regime. And if I were buying for myself, I’d definitely opt for the earlier Dyson WashG1 instead.

So, I think if you know the negatives beforehand, you definitely could make the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene work for you. But it’s important to be clued up before you buy so you’re not disappointed in the long run.