Dyson Micro 1.5kg Review

Exceptionally light in the hand, the Dyson Micro 1.5kg is super-easy to move around and great for small jobs. It’s primarily designed for hard floors, so those with lots of carpets should look elsewhere. As good as this cleaner is on hard floors (and it is), the Dyson Omni-glide is a touch better.

Introduction

As cordless vacuum cleaners have become more powerful and able to take on plug-in models, many have seen an increase in size, too. Yet, sometimes all we want is a simple, lightweight cordless vac capable of handling more basic jobs, which is where the Dyson Micro 1.5kg comes in.

At just 1.5kg, it’s the lightest cleaner in the Dyson lineup, and it’s also one of the cheapest. Exceptionally easy to use and great for light jobs, the Micro 1.5kg excels on hard floors; but it isn’t so good on carpets. It’s also marginally outclassed by the Dyson Omni-glide, which has a more flexible head.

Design and features

• Exceptionally lightweight
• No trigger: dedicated on/off controls
• Good range of accessories

This year, Dyson has released two vacuum cleaners for hard floors: the Dyson Micro 1.5kg on review, and the Dyson Omni-glide (available from July 2021). The Micro is a little cheaper and 400g lighter than the latter, and uses a traditional cordless design, rather than the tubular Omni-glide.

Viewed from the side, the Dyson Micro 1.5kg sports a similar design to the larger cleaners in the lineup, such as the V15 Detect, only it’s a lot smaller. Dyson has redesigned the controls for this model.

While most of its cleaners have a trigger to turn the power on and off, this vacuum has a dedicated power switch on top and a Max button to engage the Boost mode. For anyone who struggles to keep a trigger depressed, these controls are far easier to handle. If you’re used to regular Dyson cordless cleaners, the lack of a trigger will likely feel strange for a while: I instinctively felt for the trigger every time I picked up the cleaner.

This model doesn’t have a removable battery, so you can’t buy a spare, and replacing a faulty one will be a little trickier. Charging is performed either by plugging the adapter directly into the cleaner, or by installing the wall dock and dropping the vacuum into it.

I recommend installing the wall dock where you can, since this also provides storage for the supplied tools. You get a mini-motorised brush, which is great for stairs and furniture, and a combination crevice tool/dusting brush.

Also included is the motorised fluffy head, which has been built for hard floors; there’s no carpet brush available with the Dyson Micro. The floor head you get is good, but not to the level of the one that comes with the Omni-glide; the latter is far more flexible and lets you lay the vacuum flat on the ground. Here, you get good movement but more in line with that of a regular vacuum cleaner.

In handheld mode, in particular, the light body comes into its own, making it easy to dart into areas or lift the cleaner up to vacuum around the ceiling. Sure, there are vacuums that are lighter, such as the Hoover H-Handy 700 (which is a handheld model only), or cleaners that are almost as light but are bulkier. Here, you get the best of both worlds: reach and lightweight handling.

There’s just a 0.2-litre bin installed in this model, so it will need emptying fairly regularly. This small bin helps keep the vacuum cleaner’s weight and size down, and reinforces that the Dyson Micro 1.5kg is designed for small apartments or for spot cleaning.

It empties much like other Dyson cleaners: you slide the ejection mechanism forwards, pushing dirt out into the bin. You can fully remove the bin for easier cleaning, too, and there’s a washable filter at the back.

Performance

• Cleans well on hard floors
• Carpet performance isn’t as impressive
• Short battery life

I measured the vacuum cleaner’s raw performance in AirWatts (a combination of suction and airflow) to see how it stacks up to rival cleaners. In standard mode I measured it at 34.64AW, which is a little lower than most regular cordless cleaners on their standard setting, jumping to a more impressive 92.67AW on Max. That’s a touch more powerful than the Omni-glide.

While raw power provides an indication of performance, the quality of the floor head can have an impact too. I started out with my hard floor test, sprinkling a teaspoon of rice onto the floor. With a single pass on standard power, the Micro 1.5kg left a clear path through the mess, with no rice dropping out at the end. This shows how good the fluffy head is, picking up dirt as it passes over it so that the vacuum doesn’t need as much suction to get mess into the bin.

This vacuum cleaner isn’t designed for carpet use, but I put it through its paces on my carpet tests, too. Starting off with the regular carpet test, I sprinkled a teaspoon of flour onto the test mat. With a single pass through on standard setting, the cleaner picked up most of the mess.

If you take a closer look at the cleaned section, however, you can see that there’s a fair amount of dirt remaining. 

I upped power to Max mode. The results were better this time, but there were still patches of dirt left behind. 

Next, I combed pet hair into the test carpet. Here, I used standard mode with the mini-motorised tool, which did an excellent job of pulling out all of the mess. This is a handy attachment for those with pets that want to clean pet beds or soft furnishings.

Finally, I tested edge performance on carpet tiles, sprinkling a teaspoon of flour right up to the skirting. On standard mode, performance was pretty good, although there was a bit of flour left by the skirting board.

Upping to Max power, I managed to clean away most of the mess, with just a quick sweep with the crevice tool required to remove the last traces of dirt.

While hard floor performance was decent, the Dyson Omni-glide put in a better show on carpet, with its dual floor rollers doing surprisingly well given that they’re designed for hard floor use. As such, the Dyson Micro 1.5kg is really built for hard floors only.

Battery life is quoted at a maximum of 20 minutes, although this is without motorised tools. Expect a couple of minutes less with the motorised floor brush attached. On Max power, it’s five minutes of use only. Recharge times are a fairly standard 3.5 hours.

While the battery life is comparatively short, the quality of the floor head means that you can get a surprising amount of vacuuming done on hard floors – enough to thoroughly clean a large room or tackle a small apartment.

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Final thoughts

The lightweight body makes the Dyson Micro 1.5kg exceptionally simple to use, and super-easy to zip around your home. Yet, as good as it is, this hard floor specialist is slightly outclassed by the Dyson Omni-glide, which, although a touch heavier and a little more expensive, is easier to move around.

Those looking for a cheaper Dyson cordless vacuum cleaner may well find the larger Dyson V7 a more flexible choice, and you can check out other alternatives in my guide to the best cordless vacuum cleaners.