Dyson Omni-Glide review

The first of its kind, the Dyson Omni-Glide has an ‘omni-directional Fluffy cleaner head’. Basically meaning, you can now vacuum in all directions, just by the flick of a wrist. Sit tight for this one, it’s going to be a good’un. Suitable for hard floors only, this new vacuum cleaner has two Dyson soft rollers, which spin in opposite directions, to pick up large and fine debris and quite literally, glides effortlessly around obstacles and in tight spaces.

At a slightly more affordable price tag compared to other Dyson vacuums, see how it faired in our test.

How did this product make your life easier?

Straight out of the box, this is the first vacuum I’d happily display for all to see in my kitchen. Eager to test this out, I pop it on charge for a bit and head straight under my sofa. The first notes are, this feels light, it’s slim and thanks to its new in-line format, the machine can lie flat (at this point it reached all the way under the sofa and around the feet no problem. Under my sofa has never looked cleaner).

The omnidirectional head fits around table and chair legs, gliding in front, back, and side-to-side directions to scoop up every inch of dust, cat hair, cereal (and other food my toddler seems to drop on the floor countless times a day) with ease. I needed a vacuum that made my life easier and quite frankly something that can keep up with my fast-paced life, so the Omni Glide has been welcomed with open arms in my household.

Not made for carpets, I repeat not made for carpets

Dyson has pinned this a ‘compact, cord-free format, engineered for city living’ and the definition couldn’t be truer. If you vacuum often, and believe me every few hours I have to (again thanks to said toddler), the Omni-Glide is for you…If you have hard floors. Luckily for me, the entire downstairs of my home is decked out with hard floors, but once popped onto the carpet, the rollers refuse to turn. So, there’s no using it on carpets, even if you forced it to.

Would you recommend this product?

Once again thanks to its in-line capabilities, the Omni-Glide lies flat and cleans in tight spaces. It also picks up large and fine debris, all thanks again to the dual Dyson roller, Fluffy head cleaner.

It feels extremely manoeuvrable with its 360 degree/all-directional spin head – this can literally do things other vacuums can’t. Well, except vacuum carpets. Sorry Dyson, but for such an impressive design I’m hurt I can’t take this bad boy up the stairs and sort out all my carpets within one machine.

Moving on from how fabulous my kitchen now looks 24/7, I look to attempt the handheld option the Omni Glide offers.

By the click of a switch and the top part (handle, bin and motor) all detach with ease. There are then 4 tools:

• A light pipe crevice tool with LED lights
• A mini motorised tool to tackle hair and ground-in dirt
• A worktop tool
• A combination tool

All the tools click in seamlessly and if could speak, shout ‘I’m a plush Dyson design’. The combi-crevice is my favourite tool, allowing it to switch from cob-web warrior to crumb muncher in seconds. Now when I tried to attack the car and pick up the odd crumbs in seats, the tools were perfect. Again, hit that car mat/carpet and I’m once again reminded, that the impressive-on-hard-floors Dyson Hyperdymium motor is just not simply made for the job.

There is no disputing that the motor has ‘no loss of suction’, as Dyson gush about, and works perfectly on hard floors. It picks up every inch of dust, crumbs and even big food pieces like cheerios, cornflakes and rice.

There are two sides to the coin when thinking about the price tag: 1) you can see why this new technology warrants the almost £300 label, however 2) when you reach the blockers of the carpet and some of the limits to come of the tools included, some may find this a bit out of their price range.

Would you choose this product above all others on the market?

If you’re looking for a stable, sleek, hard floor-cleaning workhorse the Omni-Glide is for you. It really does the job well and I can’t fault what it’s built to do.

You can remove the battery from the machine, allowing for extra batteries, which could help with the 20-minute run time permitted.

The motor and bin are all part of this in-line format, making it manoeuvrable and it’s light (weighs 4.8lb). For someone like me who suffers from lumbar disc prolapse and at this point is 33 weeks pregnant, I’ve benefitted massively here. It’s great for families, as I said I have a toddler and the crumbs are endless, meaning if we have last-minute visitors and I can transform my living room and kitchen (our main entertaining areas) into presentable spots in less than 10 minutes.

The impressive Fluffy cleaner head floats on 360-degree stabilising castors. Combine this with the in-line format and the Omni Glide brings a hard floor cleaner vacuum to the market that no one has seen before.

The bin, although small, never filled up over the course of a week of using it. It’s a straight, slim bin that has a smooth ejection of your rubbish – straight into the bin and with minimal dust flying back at you. This is something that feels quite unique to the design and in comparison to other hard floor vacuums doesn’t leave a puff of dust flying back at you when you empty it.

The handle houses the power button, which sits almost flush on the front. I also found myself swapping hands to vacuum without even realising. Once noted, I was able to really delve into just how easy this machine was to use. Swapping hands, gliding around with its spinning head – instead of vacuuming the Omni Glide feels like some sort of dancing partner. Slot it back into its easy-to-fit wall dock to charge and it’s ready for the next clean.

What changes would you make to this product?

Battery life lasts for 20 minutes for standard use and 4 minutes on max power. So, a little more juice there would be nice. Although as we’ve mentioned there is the option to remove the battery, so perhaps an idea to grab a spare battery if you’re interested in increasing run-time. Dyson have not yet stated how much it would cost to buy a spare.

I’d also like to see some sort of update on the attachments. If these attachments could help clean places like the car easier, I think it would appeal to a lot more people.

And lastly, I’d love a little screen to tell me when my 20 minutes run time is almost up.

Maria Martin is Digital Group Editor for Yours.co.uk and Motherandbaby.com. She is a mum-of-two with a passion for helping women from all walks of life – from supporting breastfeeding mothers with expert advice to encouraging conversations about mental health. In her professional role, she has over 10 years' experience in the digital world, including editing article, focussing on SEO, social media engagement, picture researching and video editing.