2012 Dyson Ball hands on

dyson D39 ball cylinder hands on front view

Dyson's new range of vacuum cleaners are all about manouevrability so we couldn't pass up the chance to run around a Dyson studio trying to prove them wrong. But the smaller cylinder vacuums, the D38 and D39, performed just fine – in fact, they obediently followed us no matter how many times we span around and yanked them around corners.

The new range took Dyson engineers three years of perfecting Formula One technology, motion sensor research on how we move around and a lot of beaten up Dyson Ball cylinder prototypes.

dyson D39 hands on cylinder vacuum 2012 comparison

And it shows - while we've seen the Ball used before on the upright Dyson vacs, it's still pretty impressive that Dyson's managed to squeeze everything but the cyclone (the bit that whizzes the air around) into the same thing that makes the new 2012 range so easy to chuck about the house.

Plus the colourful robot-like design has now been pared back of annoying pull-out attachments to make the upright vaccuums, the D40 and the D41, easier on the eye too.

So with bags of patents tucked away for a rainy day, looks to us as if Dyson will stay top of the vacuum rat race this year.

dyson D40 D41 ball vacuum 2012 hands on