Review: The Dyson Omni-Glide

Dyson has done the cordless vacuum cleaner and the larger cordless cleaner for bigger houses; now it is going mini. Dyson has shrunk its technology and crammed it into a small stick vacuum that makes short work of dust, dirt and general debris.

The compact Omni-Glide is designed for use on hard floors (though it’s not bad on carpet), with an omni-directional fluffy head that makes it easy to manouevre around – and under – your furniture, going forwards, backwards and even side to side.

Within minutes of the Dyson Omni-Glide being taken out of the box, both of my children were fighting over it. The six year old was insistent that it was a toy cleaner; the four year old decided it was the perfect size for him. Either way, the novelty factor got our dining room floor vacuumed, followed by the sitting room. They may have missed a few bits, but I’ll take that over having to do it myself any day.

They weren’t that far off though; the Omni-Glide really does look like it has been designed with a child in mind. The stick vacuum is the smallest of Dyson’s cordless range, ditching the trigger and the big battery for a much more streamlined look.

In the box you get the cleaner, battery and dock along with a mini motorised head, a crevice tool, a tool for cleaning worktops and an omni-directional fluffy head.

That omni-directional head is great for hard floors. It rotates on castors, so you can zip around furniture, cleaning in all directions with minimal effort, with two fluffy rollers working together.

If you weren’t a fan of Dyson’s trigger on its cordless cleaners, you’ll be pleased to see the Omni-Glide has gone a different way, with a two button set-up for power and max suction. Press it once to turn it on, again to turn it off, or hit the max button to increase the power. Then away you go, gliding over the floor, as the name suggests. It means you don’t have to keep a trigger pressed, but it also means you’ll take the hit on cleaning time.

This is really designed for short sessions. Battery life isn’t the longest of Dyson’s cleaners; you’ll get 20 minutes in eco mode using one of the non-motorised heads. Attach one of the powered heads and you’ll reduce that battery life a little, and if you put it into max mode to bump up the cleaning power, you’ll see battery life drastically reduced, as you might expect.

The small battery can be popped out of the handle to charge, giving you the option to buy a spare to have ready to go if you need it.

The bin size is also quite small, at 0.3 litres. You’ll need to empty it regularly, although given that it’s designed more for hard floors rather than carpets, you won’t find it filling up with fluff too quickly.

That’s not to say it won’t work on carpet. The mini motorised head worked find on the stairs and landing, while the crevice tool is handy for overhead cleaning. Despite its small size, it has powerful suction, getting rid of even fine powder and keeping it trapped. It’s also handy for the car, particularly because of its small size, and can get into smaller spaces than any of Dyson’s trigger cordless cleaners.

One thing the Omni-Glide lacks is any kind of battery indicator, and because Dyson prides itself on continuous suction, the first you’ll know about needing to charge the battery is when the cleaner stops working.

The good

The Omni-glide fits into the smallest of spaces. The multidirectional fluffy head whizzes around, fitting into smaller spaces than you’d think. The whole thing lies flat if you need to get under the sofa, so you get a bit of extra reach.

The not so good

The battery life is about 20 minutes on the regular setting, which is less than half of that on Dyson’s other cordless cleaners, plus there’s a bit of guesswork involved about how much cleaning time is left. That compact size means it also has a smaller dust bin, which needs to emptied a little more often than I’d like.

Because it’s only designed for quick cleans, I found it less comfortable than other cordless cleaners, and got a bit of a hand cramp after trying to tackle the kitchen and the hall in one.

The rest

You can buy an extra battery to extend your cleaning time, charging it separately from the cleaner.

The verdict

Expensive, but works well for hard floors, cars, and almost any other quick vacuum job.