Why the Dyson V11 is the vacuum cleaner you should buy on Black Friday

When it comes to our free time, we’d all rather be doing something else other than tackling the household chores. So it comes as no surprise that over a third of Americans claim they’d be willing to give up alcohol if it meant they would never do housework again, according to online directory Yelp.

Having one of the best vacuum cleaners on the market can help make floor cleaning slightly less arduous, as they’re loaded with cutting-edge tech - and none more so than Dyson’s vacuums. However Dyson vacuums don’t come cheap, well...unless it's Black Friday and Cyber Monday, that is.

But which should you choose? You’re probably thinking that the (admittedly excellent) Dyson V15 Detect is the one to go for in the best Black Friday Dyson deals and Cyber Monday Dyson offers… but you’d be wrong.

The Dyson V11 range might be older and have less pizazz as vacuum cleaners go - but, trust us, it’s what you should be buying this year.

If you can’t wait until Black Friday to get your hands on a Dyson vacuum cleaner, then check out some of the best deals we’ve found right now.

Better savings on older models

We heard that sharp intake of breath, and don’t get us wrong - we love the Dyson V15 Detect. So much so, it tops our list of the best vacuum cleaners we’ve tested to date. It’s the only vacuum cleaner on the market that has a laser to highlight microscopic dust on hard floors that’s usually invisible to the naked eye.

It also offers the ability to count and sort the dust it collects, displaying the information on the LCD screen so you have proof of just how clean your floors are.

However, it's also highly unlikely to be discounted during the festive sales period, so focus your deals radar elsewhere, lest you miss an actual bargain. On Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year, the Dyson V11 range was the brand’s flagship range of vacuum cleaners having been launched in March 2019, whereas the V15 Detect wasn’t an option, having only came out in 2021.

However, there wasn’t a single discount to be found on the V11 range. Instead, we saw Dyson’s older vacuums discounted - in the US, the Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute, which was first unveiled in March 2018, had a 27% saving, taking it down to $399 from $549 at Dyson.com.

Meanwhile, Amazon knocked $70 off the cost of the Dyson V10 Motorhead, which has a small dust canister and only ships with three tools rather than six, making it $428.

In the UK, you could pick up a refurbished version of the V10 Absolute for £279.99 from eBay, a saving of £130 on the usual RRP.

So… you probably follow the logic here. It makes sense that Dyson will follow the same trend again, but this year now the V15 Detect is on the scene, the V11 range will be the one subject to the most substantial savings. In fact, discounts have already started appearing.

In the UK, you can pick up the Dyson V11 Absolute for £449 (around $600 / AU$825) at Currys, which is a saving of 25% on the list price and one of the best prices we’ve seen for the vacuum in some time. We’ll be rounding up all the best Black Friday Dyson V11 deals so you can get a heads up about the best discounts as soon as they appear.

The Dyson V15 Detect being used to clean hard floors — (Image credit: Dyson)

But isn’t the V15 Detect range better?

There’s no denying the V15 Detect range has some notable upgrades on the V11 range, but when it comes to the most basic tasks, both designs of vacuum are actually more than good enough.

The motor in the V15 range generates 230 Air Watts, which is 24% more suction power than 185 Air Watts generated by the V11 range. More suction power means the vacuum is better at sucking up ground-in dirt, making cleaning your floors a much quicker task.

However, we were impressed with the V11’s suction power when we put it to the test, and for most people this will be more than enough. You may have to make a few extra passes over your carpets and hard floors to collect ground-in dirt, but considering the savings you can make, this isn’t really that big of a compromise.

When it comes to battery life, the Dyson V11 matches the V15 Detect, with both models offering 60 minutes runtime on the lowest power setting. Both batteries are swappable too, which will reduce interruptions to your cleaning sessions, providing you purchase an additional battery of course.

Finally, they both have the same 0.2-gallon / 0.75-liter dust canister, so the V15 Detect can’t hold any more dust and dander than the V11 either. Al of the models in the two ranges also come with the same LCD display on top of the vacuum that displays the battery level, although as we’ve already mentioned on the V15 Detect Absolute, this also shows the amount of dust collected.

In our eyes, unless you desperately want to see the dust on your hard floors with a laser or know exactly what particles have been collected, we think the V11 vacuum is the better choice, especially if it sees the same level of discounts as the V10 did last year.

Black Friday may be a couple of weeks off yet, but armed with this handy tip, which applies all year round, it should make finding a Dyson vacuum deal that’s right for you much easier.