As we all know, Dyson makes some of the best vacuum cleaners around, and it’s bringing its A-game into 2026. The brand first announced its PencilVac back in May, but it’s not slated for release until next year. Touted as the “world’s slimmest vacuum cleaner,” its handle is just 38mm thick and doubles as a bin, with an ejector function that makes it easy to empty between cleans.
It sounds ground-breaking, but can it deliver? I recently got the chance to try the PencilVac hands-on at Dyson HQ ahead of its release, and here’s what I thought.
Three things I like
It’s got those signature Dyson lasers
With four conical “Fluffycones”, the PencilVac cleans from every direction. Its combined spinning creates a levitating effect which makes the vacuum super easy to maneuver.
In my demo, I was able to glide over the floors of the Dyson showroom, while the multi-dimensional lasers on the cleaning head illuminated everything in my path.
It did a decent job of picking up crumbs, too. I particularly enjoyed how the brush extends right to the very edge of the cleaning head, meaning you can run the vacuum up against baseboards or kitchen cabinets without missing any dust or debris.
It comes with handy attachments
You will never catch me complaining when a vacuum comes with a dock. Maybe I’m commitment-phobic, or maybe I just test too many vacuums, but the idea of drilling a vacuum mount onto my wall always fills me with dread. I’d much rather have a sleek stand to prop up my vac, and the PencilVac’s stand even comes with storage for its many attachments.
One of the best attachments I spotted for the Dyson PencilVac is a versatile dusting brush, which you can use on walls, behind furniture and even on top of wardrobes.
It’s an ergonomic dream
The thing that excites me the most about the PencilVac isn’t even the user experience, it’s the fact that Dyson thought of it. It’s something we’ve seen across the floorcare space time and time again: some of the most exciting tech continually comes from Dyson, and I think the removal of a bin is no exception.
According to the engineer who was explaining the new vac to me, James Dyson was keen to minic the design of the Dyson Airwrap in the PencilVac. The handle on both is exactly the same diameter: 38mm / 1.1 inches. This is, apparently, the ideal width to combine comfort and ergonomics, meaning it’s a product you’ll go back to using time and time again.
At first, it did feel a bit weird not having conventional handle to grip onto, but it didn’t take long for me to get very comfortable using the PencilVac.
Dyson had to put its dust bin somewhere, and with the removable of a dedicated canister, the handle was the only space left! It’s incredibly limited in size, with a capacity of 0.08-liters. But to be fair to Dyson, it does have a compacting feature which allows you to make the most of every inch of space.
I’m going to have to take the PencilVac for a spin in my own home to see how far that waste container will really take you, but on first impressions, it’s best suited to kitchens and small, hard-floor apartments (like mine).
One thing I don’t
I’m not convinced by its Conical Fluffycones
I wasn’t totally convinced by the way the PencilVac handles hair. According to Dyson, the cones will grip onto hairs and then roll them down to the end of the Fluffycone where it will spit it out like a strange kind of hairball. Then, in theory, the vac will suck it straight up.
Except it didn’t always manage to do this when I tried it out on hair in the Dyson showroom. The clumps of hair would be sucked up, spat out, then sucked up again in an increasingly large ball of hair. This then made it harder and harder for the vac to actually suck it up, as you need to get past the roller and into the base of the vac to suck up debris.
It worked sometimes, and to be fair to Dyson, we were using ambitiously-sized clumps of artificial hair, but I’ll have to give this feature a try in my own home to see if it really works or not.
Availability
Dyson says the PencilVac will be out in 2026 in both the U.K. and the U.S., but there’s no word on price just yet. I think the price will be a huge factor in whether or not I can recommend this vacuum, because Dyson’s new Piston vacuum also features its new Fluffycones, but with the inclusion of a conventional dust cup and a range of attachments for every floor.
I’ll be testing the new PencilVac ahead of its full launch next year, but do I want one in my own home? Absolutely.
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