Dyson WashG1 review

Dyson WashG1: Introduction

• Type: Handheld cleaning, wet and dry
• Docking: Floor charging dock with tray

Dyson has long been known for its excellent vacuum cleaners, offering powerful suction alongside their colourful and clear plastic designs. They will pick up your Cheerios with superb force, but what they can’t do is go anywhere near the milk. Vacuum cleaners and liquid really aren’t friends. They aren’t even acquaintances.

Dyson introduced the Dyson V15s Submarine a few months back, designed to be a combination device for vacuuming your floors and washing them too somewhat combating the no entry zone for the vacuum cleaner where liquid was present.

The Dyson WashG1 was then revealed a couple of months later as its first dedicated wet floor cleaner, engineered to tackle both wet and dry debris at the same time, but without trying to do the vacuum cleaner out of a job.

I first saw the Dyson WashG1 at the company’s HQ in Malmesbury, UK before it launched, but I have now used it at home to see how good this new gadget is for getting those coffee stains off my kitchen floor, and picking up the crumbs at the same time. It really has taken mopping to a new level for me, here’s what I thought.

Design and setup

• Red markets to indicate removal parts
• Three hydration modes, plus a Max mode

The Dyson WashG1 is the first dedicated wet floor cleaner from the company, as I mentioned. This is not a vacuum cleaner. I repeat, this is not a vacuum cleaner. It is designed for hardwood floors and tiles (which I have downstairs except for a few rugs) and it brings with it a premium design and very simple operation.

When you get the Dyson WashG1 out of the box, you will need to assemble a couple of elements together, but this is very much a case of clicking a few things into place. There’s nothing complicated like attaching the rollers or anything, with everything you have to assemble yourself being nice and obvious.

There are a couple of protective stickers to remove, and it’s worth linking it to the MyDyson app so you get some tutorials on how to use it, but overall, this is very much a plug and play – or plug and clean device.

The Dyson WashG1 looks good – as you would expect from the company to be honest. There’s only one colour option available, but it’s a lovely striking blue for the metal wand, while the handle at the top (which is very comfortable to hold) is black.

At the bottom, the main element of the device has a black plastic cover but in true Dyson style, you’ll see the clear elements at the side revealing the edge of the rollers.

Red markers indicate where things can be removed – something the company offers on its vacuum cleaners too, including the Dyson Gen5detect. Push down on the red button half way down the wand and the water tanks will release, while a push down on the red button at the bottom allows you to slide the rollers out.

The Debris Tray at the bottom collects any Cheerios, pet food, pet hair or dry debris on your floor, with a mesh section to filter out the water, coffee or any other liquid on your floor. This doesn’t have a red button to remove it, even though it does seem like the red button for the rollers should, but it removes easily by pulling it out.

At the top of the wand – which simply comes down if you pull on it whilst holding your foot on the base – there are a couple of buttons and an LCD display. The display doesn’t do a huge amount, other than show you which mode you are using, as well as how much longer you have to get those floors clean before the battery runs out.

The power button turns the Dyson WashG1 on and off, as you might expect, while the small silver button switches between the hydration modes. There are three hydration modes – low, medium and high. There’s also a Max mode that you push and hold the blue water droplet button next to the power button to activate.

The Max mode will purge each roller with the maximum amount of hydration for the removal of the tougher stains. The other hydration modes will run continuously when selected, with a battery indicator on the screen showing how long you have left before it needs a recharge – similar to the Dyson Gen5detect.

Features and how the Dyson WashG1 works

• Two microfibre filament rollers
• Pulse-modulated hydration pump

Let’s get into how this thing works then shall we? The WashG1 has two individually-powered absorbent microfibre filament rollers at the bottom with a density of 64,800 filaments per cm². They counter-rotate to remove spills, debris, and stains in one fell swoop – certainly more technical than an old mop and bucket wouldn’t you agree?

A pulse-modulated hydration pump precisely controls the water delivery to the rollers through 26 hydration points in order to deliver what Dyson considers to be optimal cleaning performance, whilst dry dirt, debris, and hair is enveloped by the filaments.

With the rollers at the front and back of the machine, Dyson says the WashG1 offers longer dwell time on stains and therefore should remove them quicker than some other solutions – I’ll get into that in the next section.

They are also full-width, designed to offer edge-to-edge cleaning, which they definitely do unless you have skirting boards with vents, in which case you will need to be a little more particular with your manoeuvring.

In between the rollers, there is a removable debris tray that I mentioned, with a 500-micron mesh that separates dirty water from large debris, designed to offer hygienic no-touch disposal.

Extraction plates remove the dirty water from the rollers, while nylon-bristled inner brush bars are responsible for separating out those Cheerios or pet biscuits into the debris tray. 

Dyson says the 1-litre clean water tank allows the WashG1 to cover flooring areas of up to 290 square meters – about the same size as a tennis court and more than enough for the whole downstairs of my home.

Beneath that water tank is the 800ml dirty water tank that collects the dirty water from the floor via an extraction pump – no sucking required. Both tanks can be removed easily with large openings that can be emptied and refilled quickly.

There aren’t any specific features on the WashG1 as such – it is basically a glorified mop that is significantly more pleasant to use than lugging around a bucket and refilling it every 5 minutes when you realise how disgustingly dirty the water is.

The WashG1 still shows you how dirty your floors are with the dirty water tank and it has a self-cleaning mode that runs for around 2 minutes to wash the rollers so they are ready for the next time you want to clean your floors.

Performance

I have to admit, I love the Dyson WashG1. And when I say love, I mean I really love it. Part of that comes down to the fact that I absolutely hate mopping. Vacuuming sure, I’m here for that, but mopping, no.

That chore is almost as bad as hanging up washing. The WashG1 makes light work of keeping your floors clean though and when a product actually solves a problem, that is something I can fully get behind.

I remember when I first tried the Dyson WashG1 out and there were a couple of things that concerned me – the Debris Tray and how quickly it would fill up being one, and this device not being able to get into the grout lines on tiles being the other. Having used it in my home though, those concerns have been mostly dispelled. 

I’m still not 100% convinced on the Debris Tray in that it’s hard to get the debris to empty into the bin when it’s wet, but it collects more than I thought it would and there’s always kitchen roll for the bits you can’t get to leave the tray.

In terms of grout lines, the WashG1 had no problems in my home and 99% of the time, got rid of any stains on my floors without an issue.

Other things to consider are that the WashG1 is quite awkward to get on the charging base, the plug doesn’t feel as secure as I want it to and it won’t fit under a sofa very easily.

It is also a heavy product when you lift it so if you’re moving it between upstairs and downstairs in your home or lifting it onto its charging base, you’ll need some muscles. It’s 4.6kg without water in it so I’m not just being pathetic.

When you’re moving it around on your floors though, it’s a completely different story. This thing glides around like its Bambi on ice. You’d never know it weighed nearly 5kg and it requires such minimal effort to wash your floors that it really is a delight to use, whilst offering superb results.

When you pull the wand down, everything is in your line of sight, from the LCD display telling you how much battery you have left (there’s a claimed 35-minute run time which I found to be about right), to the water tank and how close that is to requiring a refill.

On refilling the tank, I don’t find I need to in between cleans at all. One tank is plenty to get the whole of my downstairs done, which according to my Dyson Vis Nav 360, is about 60 metres squared. I’ve never measured properly myself but that’s well within Dyson’s 290 metres squared claim for the Wash G1.

I have enough water to go over areas a few times too, though the Max mode does get the tougher stains off meaning one glide over is all that is usually required.

Corners are tricker to get into than a stringy mop, but it is possible, you just have to do some smart manoeuvring, and that is absolutely worth the trade off for how much nicer the Dyson WashG1 looks compared to a traditional mop.

I fill the clean water tank on the WashG1 with warm water and a small amount of my hard floor cleaner – I never use boiling water – and that is more than sufficient for excellent cleaning results. Having no suction is a little disconcerting initially, especially for a Dyson product, and especially as the WashG1 is still relatively noisy, but you get used to it in a few seconds.

It’s important to note though, that the Dyson WashG1 isn’t a vacuum cleaner replacement. You’re still going to need a vacuum cleaner to do the general cleaning, but if you spill your breakfast bowl with milk and a few Frosties, the WashG1 is the product you would call upon to sort it out.

Final thoughts

The Dyson WashG1 is exceptionally expensive, but it is a very, very good wet floor cleaner. The design is lovely and premium, operation and setup is nice and simple and the Dyson WashG1 glides effortlessly around your hard floors, with minimal effort from you. 

It is heavy to lift up and down stairs and onto its base, while getting the soggy debris out of the Debris Tray can be fiddly. If I was being really pedantic, I’d also say the Max fill line on the clean water tank could be cleaner, but thats me being very picky. 

The bottom line is the Dyson WashG1 makes mopping floors considerably less of a chore. The cleaning performance of this machine is superb and it’s a far cry from traditional mops.

If you have a home with mostly hard flooring, the Dyson WashG1 is an excellent investment. I’ll never see mopping the same way again.

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FAQs

Dyson WashG1: Specifications