Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene hard floor cleaner review: powerful, pretty, pricey

Price on writing: £430 | Buy from Dyson | Buy from Currys | Buy from John Lewis

How I tested

I tested the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene hard floor cleaner for a few weeks in my family home, which has a mix of wooden floors, vinyl flooring and ceramic tiles. I used it to tackle everyday household mess including muddy footprints, food spillages and the general debris that seems to accumulate in busy homes.

I compared its performance with the Vax ONEPWR Glide 2 Hard Floor Cleaner and the Beldray All-in-One Multi-Surface Floor Cleaner to see how it stands up as a solution to family floor cleaning.

Related: The best hard floor cleaners to buy

My verdict

The Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene is a very capable hard floor cleaner that combines thoughtful engineering with impressive real-world performance.

It looks great (never said that about a floor cleaner before) and glides around the house with ease. The motorised roller lifts both wet and dry mess effectively, and the ability to clean floors using just water is appealing if you’re looking for a non-toxic cleaning approach.

The hygienic waste system is another highlight. By keeping debris at the base of the machine and separating solids from dirty water, Dyson has put paid to the clogged pipes and lingering smells that can plague some wet cleaners.

It manoeuvres well, handles mixed debris confidently and leaves floors dry within minutes and the self-cleaning system keeps maintenance relatively painless.

However, the elephant in the room is the price. At £430, it’s a very expensive outlay. While the performance is undeniably good, it doesn’t feel like a truly essential appliance.

If you love Dyson products and want a high-spec, hygienic way to keep hard floors spotless, you’ll no doubt be very happy with it. But if you’re simply looking for a practical way to keep your hard floors clean, there are cheaper machines that will get you most of the way there.

In short, the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene looks good, performs well and tackles floor cleaning with impressive ease. Just be prepared to pay a premium for the privilege.

Read next: The best mops to buy, tried and tested

Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene: what’s in the box?

• Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene floor cleaner

• Charging dock with self-cleaning and drying function

• Microfibre roller 

• Instruction manual

Read next: The best vacuum cleaners, all tried and tested

Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene: how easy is it to assemble?

Like most Dyson appliances, set-up is very straightforward. The handle slots neatly into the main body and clicks into place. It comes semi-charged so you can try it out immediately but bear in mind that the self-cleaning function needs a full charge (around 4.5 hours). 

Once assembled, it’s simply a case of filling the clean water tank. One of the appealing aspects of this cleaner is that it works using just water, so there’s no need to buy or measure cleaning solution unless you want to.

The controls are intuitive and there are different hydration settings that allow you to adjust the amount of water dispersed depending on the type of mess you’re dealing with. For light everyday cleaning, the lower setting works well, while heavier spillages benefit from a more generous spray.

Read next: The best spot cleaners

Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene: design and manoeuvrability

The Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene is unmistakably ‘Dyson’ in both look and feel. With its copper and Prussian blue colourway and streamlined shape, it’s one of the more aesthetically pleasing hard floor cleaners I’ve used. It looks sleek enough to leave out rather than hiding away in a cupboard.

At 3.8kg it’s clearly heavier than a traditional spray mop but lighter than similar products like the Vax ONEPWR Glide 2 (5.4kg) and the weight distribution is well balanced as most of the bulk sits low in the floor head. In practice, it glides easily across floors and the excellent swivel head makes it very simple to steer around furniture.

I particularly liked how well it fitted into awkward spaces. It slid neatly under low furniture and even managed to reach under our wall-mounted toilet, something the Beldray multi-surface cleaner struggled with.

Read next: The best carpet cleaners

Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene: cleaning performance

The Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene performs impressively when it comes to actual cleaning. In many cases, one slow pass forward and back was enough to lift everyday mess. You can see how well it tackled a sticky cordial spillage above.

The motorised brush bar does most of the hard work. Densely packed filaments interlock to form microscopic hook-like structures that grab and lift dry debris from hard floors. The result is a cleaner that can deal with both wet spills and dry dirt without needing to vacuum first.

Normally I’d run my Dyson V8 over the floors before mopping, but with this machine I could skip that step entirely. It picked up crumbs, dust, and even longer strands of hair without any issue.

An anti-tangle comb is positioned behind the roller to help prevent hair wrapping around the brush, which is particularly useful in homes with long hair or pets.

It’s also surprisingly effective when cleaning with just water. Floors came up looking fresh and streak-free. And because the machine leaves only a light film of moisture behind, surfaces were dry within a couple of minutes.

One thing I did notice is that it works best when you move slowly. If you rush over a spill, it won’t always pick everything up on the first go. Slowing down slightly makes a noticeable difference to the results.

Read next: The best robot vacuum cleaners to buy

Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene: maintenance and self-cleaning

Maintenance is another area where Dyson has clearly tried to improve on traditional wet floor cleaners.

Unlike machines that draw dirty water up through internal pipes, this cleaner keeps waste at the base of the machine. Debris and liquid are separated in the cleaner head, which means there’s far less opportunity for sludge to build up inside hidden tubing.

The design makes the whole system feel much more hygienic. There are no grimy internal pipes to worry about and the machine avoids the clogged sludge issue that some wet cleaners develop over time.

Another unusual feature is the lack of an exhaust filter. Many wet floor cleaners expel air through a filter, which can trap moisture and eventually lead to unpleasant smells or reduced performance. Because this machine doesn’t operate in the same way, it sidesteps that problem entirely.

The self-cleaning cycle is helpful for keeping the roller fresh. It washes the roller with clean water while scraping away dirt with every rotation. After that, the dock runs a hot air drying cycle.

The wash stage only takes a couple of minutes, but the drying stage lasts around half an hour and is fairly loud. It’s not something you’ll want running in the background while watching TV.

As long as you regularly run the self-clean cycle, there’s very little mess or build-up inside the machine.

Read next: The best robot vacuum cleaners with mops

Does the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene offer value for money?

There’s no doubt the Dyson feels like a premium product. It’s more powerful, more refined in its design and easier to manoeuvre than most of its competitors. 

However, rival floor cleaners can be picked up for much less: the Vax ONEPWR Glide 2 is around £270 while the Beldray All-in-One Multi-Surface Floor Cleaner costs less than half the price (£135) and still does a respectable job for everyday floor cleaning. It vacuums, mops and dries in one go and delivers solid results for typical household mess.

That comparison highlights the biggest challenge for the Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene. While it’s clearly the superior machine in terms of performance, engineering and hygiene, the jump in price is significant.

For many households, the cheaper option will still do the job well enough.

Read next: The best Dyson vacuum cleaners to buy

About the author

Rachel Erdos is an Editor at Mumsnet where she commissions, edits and writes content with a focus on product reviews, homeware roundups and family travel.

She’s written buyer’s guides for publications including Expert Reviews and Coach as well as reviews and features for the Guardian, TripSavvy and Visit London.

As a mum of two, she’s always on the lookout for products that make life easier (and cleaning feel like less of a chore) at home and loves putting appliances and gadgets to the test to highlight best buys for families.

About Mumsnet Reviews

All Mumsnet product reviews are written by real people after extensive research and testing. We work hard to provide honest and independent advice you can trust. Sometimes, we earn revenue through affiliate links in our articles. However, we never allow this to influence our coverage.