Handheld vacuum cleaners Dyson DC35 Multi Floor

Dyson claims its new £199.99 Digital Slim DC35 is the most powerful cordless vacuum ever. We got our hands on it to bring you our first impressions.

UPDATE 7/11/12: We have now taken a look at the latest version, the DC44 vacuum cleaner, which can also be used as a stick vacuum cleaner.

Very similar to the Dyson DC31, the DC35 is £50 more and comes with an additional motorised floor tool and an unusual detachable, lightweight ‘wand’ that extends the reach of the head for tricky-to-access cleaning jobs (such as ceilings).

Easy to manoeuvre

The vac comes with several different brushes which are designed for tasks such as sucking fluff from hard surfaces, and reaching down into carpets to shift engrained dirt. The head rotates 180° so it manoeuvres easily round tight corners and skirting boards, and a neat bumper strip stops wall damage. The wand also lets you move the head flat along the floor to get underneath furniture.

A key claim is that you'll get consistently powerful suction that won’t tail off as the battery starts to run out. This was certainly true in our experience - one minute the DC35 was running along at full pelt, and the next it was completely dead.

Short battery life

While the suction’s impressive, you don’t get long to finish the job. The lithium-ion battery only lasts for six minutes when you’re on Max power (or around fifteen minutes otherwise). With an extra battery costing £45.96, you might be better waiting the three and a half hours for it to recharge.

While not everyone will be convinced by this little-and-often approach to cleaning, using the DC35 in short bursts might be a blessing as holding the trigger to power the vacuum might get uncomfortable after a long time.

Easy to use

You’ll probably only use one of the three supplied attachments per use as it's unlikely you'll have time to tackle floors, walls and cars in one six minute sprint.

But when you do switch heads, they’re easy to change and lock in place with a satisfying click. The dust container is also easy to open and empty and a docking station is provided to store the whole vac on the wall.

Pros: Powerful, lightweight and easy to manoeuvre

Cons: Doesn’t last long on Max power