Summary
Dyson V11 has better overall performance (especially on carpet), better battery, an LCD screen, and less noise. Dyson V10 is more affordable. It comes with two roller brushes, the Soft Roller is specially made for hard floors.
Carpet
These two are so close when it comes to carpet performance, but the V11 pulls ahead with extra power and better performance.
The V11’s Torque Drive roller is nearly identical to the V10’s, but with one important difference. It senses the floor surface and adapts by switching roller speed and suction level automatically. The less work you have to do, the better. I couldn’t find the Airwatt rating for all the suction modes, but the Turbo setting (the strongest) is 185 Airwatts, ensuring strong suction and is currently the strongest of any stick vacuum.
While this power won’t mean much on hard floors, it’s essential for carpets and getting a deep clean. If your home is mostly carpeted, you’ll love how strong the V11 is.
While the V10 isn’t quite as good, it still does a fantastic job on carpets. You’ll want to switch to the Torque Drive cleaner head for these surfaces. You can switch between Low, Medium, and Max suction settings. I’d steer clear of Low because it’s only 16 Airwatts and isn’t strong enough. Medium is 34 Airwatts and should work for your needs and gives you 27 minutes of continuous vacuuming. For deeper carpets or dirty areas, Max mode is 151 Airwatts and enough to compete with corded vacuums.
Carpet winner: V11
Check Price: Dyson V11 Torque Drive ->
Check Price: Dyson V10 Absolute ->
Hard Floor
If you primarily have hard floors, then the Dyson V10 is a better bet. It’s not a matter of performance, but the rollers. The V11 Torque Drive’s only roller isn’t specifically made for hard floors, whereas the V10 comes with two rollers (Torque Drive and Soft Roller), one of which specializes in hard floors.
The V11 isn’t bad on hard floors, but it falls behind the V10’s performance. The V11 might have stronger suction power, but the added strength doesn’t translate well to hard floors. However, if you already have a Dyson V10 with a soft roller, you can install it on your V11 because the rollers are interchangable. They have the same wattage. This roller isn’t necessary, but there’s a solid difference in performance on hard floors.
Why does the Soft Roller, also called the “Fluffy” head outperform the Torque Drive head? It has carbon fiber filaments that reduce static electricity so that fine dust and other small particles are easily sucked up. This roller cleans hard floors faster, meaning you won’t use as much battery life as with other rollers. In most cases, you can use the Low power setting. When it comes to everyday cleaning of cereal, dust, hair, and so on, this roller is superior.
However, there’s a small downside to this roller. Unlike the Torque Drive that works on both carpet and hard floor (though not as good on hard floors), the Soft Roller only works on hard floors. It can’t clean carpets. If you mostly or only have hard floors, then the Soft Roller is the best. Just be aware that you’ll need to switch rollers when you get to carpeted areas.
If you only want one head, I suggest the V10 Animal as it saves you about $100 compared to the V10 Absolute.
Hard floors winner: V10
Check Price: Dyson V11 Torque Drive ->
Check Price: Dyson V10 Absolute ->
Battery
If you look at the advertised runtime, the V10 and V11 seem identical. However, in my tests I can tell you the V11 is the better of the two, plus it has a stronger battery overall. The V10 is good, but the V11 lasts significantly longer.
The V11 comes equipped with a 3600mAh battery and for some reason advertises the battery life as 60 minutes. The truth is that I got somewhat more than 60 minutes, so it seems like they’re underselling it. I got these results with the motorized tools, like the Torque Drive, Direct Drive, and Mini Motorized.
It lasts for 66 minutes at Low, 43 minutes at Medium, and 8 minutes at Max/Turbo. It takes 4.5 hours to fully charge that battery from 0% to 100%.
The V10 has a weaker battery (it was made the year before after all) and advertises a 60-minute runtime, but I was only able to achieve that by running the vacuum without any attachments. This stick vacuum comes equipped with a 2300mAh battery.
These figures are from running the vacuum with motorized tools, specifically the Soft Roller, Direct Drive, Torque Drive, or Mini Motorized. It lasts for 45 minutes at Low, 27 minutes at Medium, and 7 minutes at Max. Medium will be what you use most often except on hard floors, where Low should be fine.
Battery winner: V11
Check Price: Dyson V11 Torque Drive ->
Check Price: Dyson V10 Absolute ->
Design
While the two are nearly identical (being made just one year apart), but the V11 has the edge. There aren’t a ton of changes, but the changes that were made created a significantly better stick vacuum.
Compared to the V10, the V11 had three major changes: LCD screen, weight, and noise. The LCD screen is completely new and shows what cleaning mode you’re using. It also shows how much longer the vacuum will run before dying. The estimates dynamically change whenever a different roller or mode is used. Like most estimates, it’s not 100% accurate, but it still gives you a good idea of what to expect. It’s especially helpful with the Turbo mode since it quickly eats up battery life. The LCD screen displays errors like filter misalignment or clogs so you can easily fix the problem. However, it doesn’t show time remaining when recharging, which is a missed opportunity.
On paper, the V11 is only somewhat quieter than the V10, but to my ears there was a world of difference. At Low it’s rated for 75Db, Medium is 78Db, and Turbo is 81Db. This isn’t a huge difference compared to the V10 (which you’ll see soon), but it sounded much quieter to me.
While these two differences make it better than the V10, the one negative is weight. The V11 is about a pound heavier than the V10 and the handheld weighs about 4.4 pounds. This is due to the added LCD screen and larger battery. When using both the handheld and wand together (especially above your head for blinds and ceilings), you’ll notice the difference on your wrist and arm as it weighs 6.7 pounds with the wand.
However, for shorter cleaning sessions, especially those on the floor, you probably won’t notice the difference too much. Unless most of the cleaning is above your head, the weight difference should be slight. While this isn’t a positive change, it’s a smart trade off for the extended battery life.
Unlike the interchangeable rollers, the V11 docking station is somewhat larger than the V10. It comes with a clip that allows you to attach two attachments to the vacuum, the crevice and combination tool.
The V10’s weight is lighter at 3.7 pounds in handheld mode and the weight is balanced perfectly. It goes up to 5.8 pounds with the roller attachment and wand, which is still light compared to other stick vacuums.
The V10 isn’t the loudest stick vacuum I’ve ever used, but it was louder than the V11. On paper, the difference seems slight, but it sounded significant in person. At Low suction the sound is 77Db, Medium is 81Db, and Max is 91Db.
Every version of the V10 (Motorhead, Animal, Absolute) comes with a docking station, combination tool, crevice tool, and the ability to use the vacuum as a handheld. The dustbin holds up to 757ml of dust, hair, and other dry materials. Another thing I love is that you never have to touch the dust or get your hands dirty. Simply push a button and the debris gets pushed out and into the trash. It couldn’t be easier.
Design winner: V11
Check Price: Dyson V11 Torque Drive ->
Check Price: Dyson V10 Absolute ->
Conclusion
Dyson gets better every year, and I saw this for myself when comparing the V8 to the V10 to the V11. The V10 is a great model and a better bet for some due to its superior Soft Roller on hard floors and the better price, but the overall win goes to the V11. It’s quieter, has a longer runtime, and it has an LCD screen.
