Dyson Wash G1

Dyson has impressed with their vacuum cleaners on several occasions, and in a way they still do. A sea of copycats came pouring out after they revolutionised the modern vacuum cleaner, and today it's relatively easy and a lot cheaper to buy a vacuum cleaner that both looks and behaves like a Dyson.

What's even funnier is that another development happened at the same time: for a while, you could buy relatively maintenance-free "dual purpose" vacuum cleaners that, in addition to vacuuming, can mop floors, a bit like a robot vacuum cleaner in handheld form. Dyson has also launched a Submarine variant that does just that, but apparently they now feel the need for a product that only cleans hard surfaces. This is the Wash G1.

A Dyson has always been easy to set up, use and deal with, and the same can be said for the Wash G1. The parts are securely and intelligently packaged and it all clicks together without much fanfare. It looks relatively futuristic with its clear water tank, which still looks shiny on our test unit, but which you might wish was either tucked away or designed with matte plastic instead in six months' time. It's certainly not ugly, and neither is the included stand that charges the G1 and can, among other things, dry the brushes after washing the floor.

But there's no getting around the fact that this is a far more restrictive and intentionally designed product, for better or worse. The G1 is designed exclusively for hard surfaces like utility room floors, tiles and the like. There is no absorbency here. And you can't wash a carpet or mat. This means you're buying the G1 to clean a kitchen, bathroom or other hard surfaces, and therefore this quickly becomes a supplement rather than a central cleaning tool.

As you can tell, I'm a little lukewarm on this concept overall. Yes, it's very easy to take your hat off to a highly specialised product that is intentionally designed to be effective for a specific task. But at the same time, there are some pretty good products that do both, that can be used on all kinds of surfaces, and where you get a similar charging station and suction power for less money.

But let's say you can see yourself needing a product as specialised as the G1 - is it that good? Yes, it really is. There are two containers for fresh and used wash water, but dirt, debris and dust are not whisked into the wash water, but are instead trapped in a separate tray. It doesn't catch it all, but it catches a lot of it, making maintenance and cleaning a whole lot easier. The two fibre-coated mop heads are extremely efficient and require far fewer passes to get even coffee stains or lemonade off the floor.

There doesn't seem to be a motor specifically designed to provide propulsion, so it takes a little effort to get it going. Also, there's about 40 minutes of use in a single charge, which for us took about two hours from 0-100%. It's all relatable, but not exactly a trendsetter.

But in sheer power Dyson still manages to prove their worth, and there's a refreshing immediacy in the combination of just intentional design and fantastic build quality. But it's hard to forget that Roborock's Flexi Pro, for example, actually costs less than a Wash G1. Is it as good at cleaning floors? No, but it can do a lot more. If you have almost exclusively tiled floors, or a kitchen so large that it requires its own separate floor wash, then it might be worth it. But Dyson should put more effort into making better Submarine products instead.