The underside reveals a removable and replaceable front brush system and two likely robust and powerful blue wheels. On the right we see the text DUST ANALYTICS, and on the right we see SIDE ACTUATOR. At the back in the removable dust bin we see RADIAL CYCLONE TECHNOLOGY. Navigation is generally very good, too – this robot rarely became stuck in tests, particularly when set up correctly with the app.
It makes it one of the more efficient robots around unlike the 880 that can miss spots here and there. The thing that holds it back from being a bestseller is the price. But for those who can afford it, it is a really nice luxury item to have at home.
The 360 Eye came in a fairly dull grey color but the neon blue of the Heurist, borrowed from the popular air conditioning units the company makes, makes for a striking design. It’s personal preference if you want your robot vacuum cleaner to stand out, mind. There are three key disadvantages of your typical robot vacuum cleaner.
The 360 Eye does not look anything quite anything the current crop of robot vacuums. This can occur if the robot is picked up and placed in a different location, if lighting has changed significantly or if the robot cannot see enough features to orient itself by. Your robot will initially try to identify its location by bissell crosswave cordless cleaning areas close to its last known position. If this fails, it will go into a ‘random bounce’ cleaning pattern to find an area it recognises. Choose High mode for powerful suction, Max mode for even deeper cleans, or Quiet mode for low-noise cleaning. If you let the Heurist loose on carpet you thought was clean.
It will miss a lot of debris, and in one test on a popular television morning show, it didn’t pick up any dry rice. Back in the old days when we were all young children (2002 – 2014), robot vacuums relied on audio and touch-sensitive sensors to detect objects and obstacles. Dyson claims the Heurist has twice the suction power of any robot cleaner and while I don’t agree that’s entirely true, we will agree that it does suck big time – and, with vacuum cleaners, that’s a good thing. However, the pay-off is worth it in terms of getting a very bespoke cleaning set up arranged for your house. You don’t get this level of detail with any other robot vacuum cleaner. You’ll also notice no brushes sticking out from the edges of the Dyson – cleaning is handled by a motorised brush bar with the same carbon filaments and nylon bristles you’ll find on an upright cleaner from the company.
It doesn’t actually store and remember routes, though, since furniture and other obstacles can move between runs. The first thing I noticed when I saw Dyson’s 360 Eye was that it was ridiculously tall. Shaped more like a dense 3-layer cake than its wider-flatter counterparts from iRobot and Neato, I assumed it would never clear coffee tables, chairs and other low-profile furniture. Cost less and perform slightly better, the 360 Eye loses some of its initial appeal. It costs $999/£800 and didn’t perform as well as the similarly app-enabled $700 Neato Botvac Connected or the $900 iRobot Roomba 980.