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Battery-powered portable vacuum cleaners usually suck — and not in a good way. The problem is usually that the power source is insufficient to provide more than a small amount of suction and battery life is seldom long enough for more than short bursts of use. 

We’ve no idea how the new cordless Dyson Digital Slim DC35 will fare in this regard, but since Dyson vacuum cleaners are noted for their bagless ‘Cyclone’ cylinders that don’t lose suction power as they fill with dirt, maybe it’ll work contrary to our expectations. 

The compact DC35 has a ‘digital’ motor that’s reckoned to spin at 104,000rpm and the battery life is rated at 15 minutes’ of constant use, with a 3.5-hour recharge time. There’s also a more powerful suction mode that’s activated with a trigger, but this cuts battery life to six minutes. The battery is also removable and can be recharged separately. 

The DC35 weighs 2.25kg, so it’s light enough to swing around with relative ease and the compact handheld design means you won’t have much trouble moving it around the confines of a van interior. Better still, there’s an attachable 66cm wand and motorised head with carbon fibre brushes that purportedly defeat the static that keeps dust clinging to hard floors. 

We hope to get the DC35 in for review soon to see how well it’ll work for caravanners, so until then, we’ll leave you to ponder whether the £200 price tag is worth it.

[Dyson]