The most noticeable change here in Dyson Cyclone V10  vacuum is in the shape of the handheld “brain” of the device. The motor, which used to sit perpendicular with the dust bin, has been swung 90 degrees to sit inline with the bin and the suction tube. This Dyson Cyclone V10 vacuum design makes for a more efficient motor, but it also redistributes the weight above the handle, so the vacuum is easier to hold. Dyson also swapped the old steel spinning shaft for a stiffer and lighter ceramic one. The new motor can spin at 125,000 rpm, or just over 2,000 times per second.

The battery pack seemingly grows smaller and more powerful with every version of the V-series vacuums. The Dyson Cyclone V10  vacuum battery provides an impressive full hour of vacuuming per charge. That’s up from 40 minutes in the V8. A row of lights on the battery tells you how much charge is left, and there are lights to tell you if the suction passageway is blocked and whether the filter is working properly. When the filter warning lights up, it’s either time to take the filter out and rinse it clean, or you just forgot to put the filter back in. (Which, in my house, happens all the time.)

The Dyson Cyclone V10 vacuum bin is 40 percent bigger, at least on the two premium versions of the Dyson V10; the cheapest Dyson V10 uses the old bin size. There’s also a new mechanism inside the bin for pushing debris into the trash. It’s a little red lever that you press toward the floor. It scrapes the dust and dirt down from the upper part of the bin where your fingers can’t reach.

Finally, a new motor head has been designed for the Dyson V10 line. It looks like a standard motor head with a spinning, bristled drum, but it has a red switch in the front. Slide the switch one way and two small gaps in the leading edge of the head open up, letting you suck up larger pieces of junk like bits of cereal, clumps of potting soil, or shattered tortilla chips. Slide it the other way and those gaps close. With the soft rubber foot at the back of the head pressing down against the floor, you get a suction boost from shutting those front vents