Dyson's latest floor cleaner is a super-slim electric mop that got my hard floors sparkling in minutes | Tech Radar

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Dyson's latest floor cleaner is a super-slim electric mop that got my hard floors sparkling in minutes

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The Dyson Pencil Wash is a cordless wet cleaner that takes the hassle and effort out of mopping hard floors with its lightweight design and self-propelling floorhead that scrubs your floors with your choice of water or cleaning solution, with a boost mode for tough spots. Its performance is truly impressive, and it couldn't be easier to use. It's not a vacuum, though, and although it wouldn't be as small and stylish, you could get a good wet/dry cleaner from another brand for the same price.

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The Dyson Pencil Wash is a wet floor cleaner that’s a counterpart to the Pencil Vac launched last year. Unlike the Pencil Vac, the Pencil Wash isn't a vacuum. Instead, it’s essentially an electric mop with a soft roller that spins as water is dispensed onto it along eight points, and a squeegee that forces dirty water out of the roller into a storage tank.

It’s extremely slim and lightweight, with a long, slim handle and a full-size floorhead that’s almost identical to the one found on one of Dyson’s best wet-dry floor cleaners. It can soak up wet spills, wash away dried-on dirt, and pick up dust and dry debris in one sweep.

The Pencil Wash’s simple controls, lightweight and highly articulated head make it extremely easy to use, and almost effortless to maneuver around even tight corners, though its roller can’t reach right to the very edge of your baseboards.

The Pencil Wash is propelled by its large, fluffy microfiber roller, which spins to scrub your floors (Image credit: Future)

It’s very effective when used with plain water, collecting an impressive amount of dirt from surfaces that looked reasonably clean at first glance, though you can also use it with a cleaning fluid to help break down more stubborn and sticky stains.

It can be messy to empty because the dirty water tank doesn’t have a spout for clean pouring, and any debris that has accumulated on the squeegee and roller will need to be rinsed off or removed by hand. I found that the roller takes a long time to dry - even when I left it in a room with a dehumidifier running, it wasn’t completely dry for over a day.

The Pencil Wash's controls are very simple (Image credit: Future)

Dyson Pencil Wash Wet Floor Cleaner (Copper) at Amazon for $349

For me, the Pencil Wash’s biggest drawback is the price; the Pencil Wash only does wet cleaning, but costs almost as much as a good quality wet-and-dry vacuum cleaner like the Shark Hydro Vac Cordless WD201 / WD210 or the Bissell Crosswave Hydro Scrub. It does its job very well, but it’s tough to justify the expense for what is essentially a motorized mop unless you have no carpets or rugs to clean at all.

The Dyson Pencil Wash is available globally for

It’s the most affordable Dyson floor cleaner you can buy right now, and you’re getting a great quality appliance that’s compact but powerful, so it’s a question of whether you have enough hard flooring in your home to justify the cost, or whether you’d be better served by a two-in-one cleaner.

The Pencil Wash is a partner to Dyson’s super-slim vacuum cleaner, the Pencil Vac, with a similarly lean build. It consists of a slender copper-colored pole (which contains the rechargeable battery, controls, and a small LED display) and a full-size floorhead. This appears to be the same as the Submarine Wet Roller Head, which you'll also find on the Dyson V15s Detect Submarine.

The floorhead contains a large, fluffy microfiber roller, a refillable water tank, a ‘squeegee’ that forces dirty water out of the roller, and a tray that collects it. It’s easy to disassemble and slot back together, with all removable components colored red to make things as simple as possible. Unlike the Pencil Vac, however, the Pencil Wash has no LEDs to illuminate dirt on your floors.

The Pencil Wash is equipped with Dyson's Submarine Wet Roller Head (Image credit: Future)

The head is fully articulated and moves freely. It can be flattened to almost 180 degrees for cleaning under low pieces of furniture, and swivels smoothly to reach into awkward areas like behind furniture legs.

The Pencil Wash weighs 4.85lbs / 2.2kg without water, and feels nicely balanced with just 13.4oz / 380g in the hand. The water tank is in the floorhead, keeping the center of mass close to the ground.

The Pencil Wash comes with a charging stand, plus a clip-on tray for the floorhead (Image credit: Future)

The controls are simple and intuitive, too, with a power button and two boost options that dispense extra water for a certain period of time (five seconds or 30 seconds) if you need to tackle a particularly grimy area. The screen shows the current cleaning mode and power status.

The Pencil Wash comes with a charging stand, which holds the pole, and a tray to hold the floorhead when it’s not in use. Both are discrete and take up the bare minimum of space in small homes.

Can reach under low furniture and into tight spaces

I tested the Dyson Pencil Wash in my apartment, which has black laminate flooring throughout the kitchen, hallway, and bathroom, which shows every water mark, crumb, and speck of dust.

Preparing the Pencilwash for use is simple; just remove the water tank and roller from the floorhead, fill the tank to the maximum line and twist it back into place, then dampen the roller with clean water and slide it onto its mount.

The floorhead contains the water tank, keeping the center of gravity close to the floor for stability (Image credit: Future)

When switched on, the Pencil Wash’s roller propels it forward, and the highly articulated head and lightweight handle make it effortless to push across your floors. Because the water tank is in the floorhead, most of the weight is kept close to the ground, keeping it stable and leaving the handle light and comfortable.

During my tests, I found that the Pencil Wash made light work of spills and dried-on dirt, such as spilled juice in the kitchen, and footprints in the hallway. Although you can use the Pencil Wash with a floor cleaner (such as Dyson’s own 02 Probiotic hard floor cleaning solution), I was impressed by how well it cleaned using nothing but plain water and agitation from the spinning roller, which is ideal if you have allergies that are exacerbated by cleaning products.

You can use the Pencil Wash with plain water or a floor cleaning solution (Image credit: Future)

Although the clean water tank appears small (it has a capacity of just 10.6oz / 300ml), the Pencil Wash is frugal with its use of water. A little goes a long way, and I was able to clean all my hard floors with the tank still mostly full at the end. If you’re cleaning a large home with hard flooring throughout, you’ll need to refill it partway through, but I was surprised by just how little water was required for thorough cleaning.

The floorhead’s articulation made it possible to clean even around the legs of my bathroom cabinet, which are particularly awkward. The head isn’t small, so I was surprised it was able to reach into such tight nooks and crannies. It’s a shame that the roller doesn’t get right up to the edge of baseboards, though. There’s a gap of around half an inch that goes unmopped, which is unfortunate since this area can be quite dusty.

The Pencil Wash is flexible enough to reach under low furniture and info awkward spaces (Image credit: Future)

I was also surprised by how well the microfiber roller picks up hair, dust, crumbs, and other dry debris, so you don’t need to vacuum before mopping. The downside is that dirt can accumulate on the roller and squeegee, and will have to be cleaned off by hand when you disassemble the head to empty the dirty water tray.

You need to be very careful when emptying out the dirty water, which involves disassembling the floor head and gently pouring the waste away. The tray isn't enclosed, so it's quite easy to accidentally spill.

You must be careful not to spill dirty water when emptying the Pencil Wash. It can scrub an impressive amount of dirt off floors that appear clean to the naked eye (Image credit: Future)

All the wet components can be cleaned with a mild antibacterial cleaner, after which you must leave them to dry out. I found that the roller took a particularly long time to dry, and even in a room with a dehumidifier running, it took over a day to dry out completely.

Overall, the Pencil Wash is very easy, and even fun to use — which is a surprising thing to say about a mop. It’s great for quickly refreshing hard floors mid-week, and for more thorough cleaning when necessary, thanks to its boost mode. If it could reach all the way up to my baseboards and was a little less messy to empty, it would have earned an extra half star.

Dyson's cheapest floor cleaner, but you can get a good quality wet/dry cleaner from Shark or Bissell for the same price.

Dyson's cheapest floor cleaner, but you can get a good quality wet/dry cleaner from Shark or Bissell for the same price.

Lightweight, simple to use, and flexible enough to reach into small spaces.

Lightweight, simple to use, and flexible enough to reach into small spaces.

Comfortable in the hand and easy to use. Cleans wet and dry dirt well, but can be messy to empty.

Comfortable in the hand and easy to use. Cleans wet and dry dirt well, but can be messy to empty.

The Pencil Wash is ideal for an apartment like mine with lots of hard flooring and limited space to store a floor cleaner.

The Dyson Pencil Wash lets you tackle spills and stains quickly and easily, with its boost button providing a little extra cleaning power when you need it.

The Pencil Wash is very light to hold and takes virtually no effort to move around your floors.

This is an expensive cleaner for just two rooms. If your home is mostly carpeted, I'd recommend looking at two-in-one wet and dry cleaners instead.

If you're not sure whether the Dyson Pencil Wash is the right floor cleaner for you, here are two other options to consider:

The Pencil Vac is the broom to the Pencil Wash's mop, cleaning better than we would have thought possible considering its streamlined size.

It's not as small and stylish as the Pencil Wash, but if you need a cleaner that can handle carpets as well as hard floors, this wet/dry model costs around the same and performs well across the board.

I tested the Dyson Pencil Wash for a week on laminate flooring, using the regular and boost modes. I tested it on ordinary everyday dust and dirt, as well as muddy footprints, dried-on juice, and milk. I cleaned it after each use, following Dyson's instructions, and allowed it to dry fully. For more details, see how we test, review, and rate products at Tech Radar.

Cat is Tech Radar's Homes Editor, covering smart home tech, kitchen appliances, vacuums, haircare and more. She's been a tech journalist for 15 years, having worked on print magazines including PC Plus and PC Format, and is a Speciality Coffee Association (SCA) certified barista. Whether you want to invest in some smart lights, find your ideal hair styler, or pick the espresso machine of your dreams, she's the right person to help.

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• Dyson's latest floor cleaner is a super-slim electric mop that got my hard floors sparkling in minutes

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