Verdict

The brilliantly designed Dyson WashG1 has a dual roller system that allows it to glide effortlessly across the floor. It’s also powerful and removes even the toughest stains quickly. It neatly separates solids from liquids for a quick clean at the end. It’s difficult to lift onto a stand, the tanks aren’t well labelled and it’s quite expensive, but if you want the best cleaner for hard floors, this is it.

introduction

It’s hard to believe, but the Dyson WashG1 is the company’s first full-fledged hard floor cleaner. The only other foray into the market was the V15s Detect Submarine cordless vacuum with a dedicated attachment. It was worth the wait, as the cleaner is easy to push and powerful. It has a few slightly annoying design decisions, but other than that, this is a top-notch hard floor cleaner.

Design and features

• Uses two wiping rollers
• Tanks are not clearly marked
• Nice LCD screen

Similar to other hard floor cleaners I’ve tested, the Dyson WashG1 has a 1-litre tank of fresh water for dispensing onto the rollers and a 0.8-litre tank of dirty water for removing dirt from the floor.

This means that the dirty water tank must be emptied every time the fresh water tank is filled, as some water may remain on the bottom.

Rather than having a separate assembly for the clean and dirty tanks, they both detach together and are then removed separately. This is pretty neat, but it would have been nice if Dyson had more clearly marked which tank is which.

I found that the clear “max” mark on the dirty water tank often confused me and made me think it was the clean water tank. The clean water tank has a more indistinct fill line. It’s easier to go by the color: blue for clean water and red for dirty water.

I’m a big fan of the tanks. They’re more like jars with straight walls and large lids so they’re easy to clean thoroughly and don’t have any curves or edges that can trap dirt.

Although the Dyson WashG1 is designed to be used with water only, you can also add detergent in the correct proportions if required.

Dyson designed the floor head differently to other vacuums, with twin rollers and twin brushes on the bottom. The rollers rotate in opposite directions and are similar to those on the Dyson Omni-glide. Not only do they help with suction, but the way the rollers move also lets the WashG1 glide across the floor, making it very easy to maneuver. That’s not bad considering the machine weighs 4.9kg – a weight you only feel when you have to carry the Dyson WashG1 up a flight of stairs or place it in the docking station.

It helps that the angled handle has been designed to make the Dyson WashG1 feel natural. Because the handle can be placed almost flat, the floor head can get under a lot of furniture, although the bulky tanks get in the way of some items, such as when trying to clean under a sofa.

Instead of vacuuming, the Dyson WashG1’s rollers automatically fill with water, then pick up solids and remove stains. Solids are deposited in a tray, removed by the twin brushes at the bottom, and dirty water is pressed out of the rollers and filtered into the dirt tank. This makes cleaning easier, as the solids tray can be pulled out for easy cleaning and the dirt tank can be easily rinsed out.

The floor head has a marking to show you where the best edge cleaning can be done, with the rollers almost reaching the side of the machine. This is fine in most cases, but if you get into a tight spot where the handle has to be lifted too high, the power will cut off. The handle has to be lifted up before the power cuts off, unlike the GTech Orca which is much more sensitive.

The LCD on top allows you to choose between three humidification modes depending on how dirty the floor is. There is also a Max button that you can hold down to add even more water to the floor. Each mode only changes the water flow, so the battery life remains consistent.

It’s nice to see a live countdown of battery life on the screen, similar to the display on the company’s vacuum cleaners, such as the Dyson Gen5detect.

This screen can also be used for troubleshooting and information. For example, if you press the power button while the handle is in the upright position, the screen will tell you that the handle needs to be tilted back to start the reels.

Once you’ve finished cleaning and emptied the solids tray and dirty water tank, you can fill it with fresh water, place the Dyson WashG1 on the charging dock and start the self-cleaning cycle. This will remove dirt from the rollers and flush the system.

Since there is no self-drying mode, once cleaning is complete, you should remove the rollers and let them air dry and clean the solids tray and tanks again.

Performance

• Excellent cleaning
• Brilliant edge performance
• Doesn’t cope well with hair

I tested the Dyson WashG1 on a variety of dried-on stains. I started with a mud stain, which was a combination of packed-in dirt and fine particles, and it only took a couple of passes to remove.

I found that my dried coffee stains were also easy to remove. A simple wipe over the mess removed them and left my floor sparkling.

Now let’s move on to my red wine stain. This was just as easy to remove as the coffee stains, without leaving a trace of the mess behind.

My toughest test is dried ketchup that leaves a sticky mess. I had to resort to max mode and wipe the Dyson WashG1 over the mess several times to get it all out.

There was quite a bit of water left on the floor in Max mode, so I had to give the G1 a chance to absorb that water after cleaning it in normal mode. In the end, the whole mess was gone.

I spread ketchup all the way to the edge of the kitchen unit and was impressed with how well the WashG1 got to the edge than other hard floor cleaners I’ve tested.

Dyson says the Dyson WashG1 can also pick up solids, so I put ketchup and rice on the floor. I found that a few swipes were enough to pick it all up without spreading any solids.

At the end of the cleaning, all the rice was collected in the collecting tray, which shows how impressive the separation of solids and liquids is.

I put human hair on the floor and found that the Dyson WashG1 sucked it all up with no problem. However, I found that the hair had wrapped around the brushes inside and I had to trim it out.

So if you live with pets or people with long hair, I would first vacuum the areas with a dry vacuum and then mop with the Dyson WashG1. This also makes sense if there are a lot of other solids in there, as the drip tray is relatively small.

At the end of the cleaning, the dirty water tank had dirty water but no solids, so it was very easy to clean. I tapped the solids tray into the tank and rinsed it out, which made cleaning easier.

The battery life is rated at 35 minutes and I’ve found that to be true. Overall, I’ve found that one tank of water is enough to thoroughly clean my kitchen before I need to refill. With the battery life offered, I could clean most of the floors in my house on a single charge.

In terms of noise, I measured 70.8 dB on the Dyson WashG1, which is equivalent to a regular cordless vacuum cleaner.

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