Dyson V7 Trigger Handheld Vacuum Review
- Details
Avg. consumer rating = 87/100
The Dyson V7 Trigger handheld vacuum is designed for quick pickups around the home and is also handy for cleaning vehicle interiors. It is light weight, easy to operate, and it did an admirable job of picking up all manner of debris from our tile floors and carpet. The mini motorized tool also proved capable at pulling up pet hair. Run time (in low power mode) is quite long for a cordless vacuum and our tests showed that actual run times were even longer than the figures provided by Dyson. Recharge time is also reasonable at only 3.5 hours. However, the run time in Max mode is still rather short and we would have like to see a wall mount included in the package.
Quick Specs | |
Type | Handheld |
Bagged/Bagless | Bagless |
Best for... | Hard Floors & Carpet |
Pet Hair Features | No |
Approx. Weight | 3 lbs |
HEPA Level Filtration | No |
Power Cord Length | Cordless |
Motor Driven Brushbar | Yes |
Warranty | 2 Years |
Over 270 consumer ratings were found for the V7 Trigger which gives us a high level of confidence in the score (a large sample size helps increase the confidence when we compute the weighted average). When averaged these ratings provide an overall score of 87.4 out of 100 (or about 4.4 stars out of 5). This is a good score and you can compare it to the scores of other handhelds we have reviewed in our Handheld Vacuum Ratings table if you like. You can also see ALL our vacuum ratngs in the Vacuum Cleaner Finder tool.
Source | Consumer Rating | # Ratings |
Amazon | 4.3 stars out of 5 | 163 |
Best Buy | 4.6 stars out of 5 | 34 |
Bed Bath & Beyond | 4.5 stars out of 5 | 33 |
Home Depot | 4.6 stars out of 5 | 15 |
Target | 4.0 stars out of 5 | 15 |
Wayfair | 4.6 stars out of 5 | 11 |
- Easy to empty
- Fast recharge time
- Lightweight
- Powerful suction in Max power mode
- Not too loud in Low power mode
- Pickup on carpet and bare floors is good
- The mini motorized tool is fairly effective on pet hair
- Short run time in Max mode
- Some folks say unit doesn’t run for full 30 minutes
- Doesn’t come with wall mount
- A bit pricey for a handheld vacuum

Many folks really like how well the mini motorized tool picks up pet hair. This is a very common remark. We did a test ourselves and found it to be pretty good at pulling up long white dog hair on medium pile carpet, although we did find that quite a bit of hair got tangled in the brushroll.
Owners report that the V7 is not very loud. Some handheld units can be onerous to operate due to the high noise output. We also found the V7 fairly quiet in Low Power Mode which is the mode we found ourselves using most of the time. We did notice, however, that the vacuum does get quite a bit louder in Max Power Mode.

This is a cordless (or cord-free) handheld vacuum which makes it easy to just grab and start cleaning. No searching for electrical outlets or being tethered by a power cord. The battery on the V7 Trigger is a Lithium-Ion unit and it has what Dyson refers to as “Fade-Free Power”. What this means is that it will provide full power until such time as the battery is exhausted, then it will simply shut off. It happens quickly. One minute you are vacuuming with plenty of power and the next minute the machine shuts down. In our opinion this is a better solution than batteries that slowly wear down providing lower and lower levels of suction until they stop.
- 1.6 V
- 2100 mAh
- 46 Wh
- 16.2 A
There are 2 power modes on the vacuum: Low and Maximum. In Low Power Mode the vacuum generates 21 air watts of suction, and in Max Power Mode it generates 100 air watts of suction. This is the same output as the V7 series of stick vacuums. Note that Dyson sometimes refer to “Low Power” as “Powerful Power” but this, in our opinion, doesn’t differentiate it very well from “Maximum Power”, so we refer to the lowest power mode as “Low Power Mode”.

Three tools are provided with the V7 Trigger. Tools are both motorized and non-motorized:
- NON-MOTORIZED: Combination tool, crevice tool.

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This area is always confusing for folks buying Dyson cordless machines. In the case of the V7 Trigger we’ve seen quite a few complaints from folks who feel the vacuum does not provide the run time (sometimes referred to as “battery life”) they expected. The vacuum is advertised as providing up to 30 minutes of powerful suction. This is true but there are several different configurations in which one can run this vacuum. The V7 Trigger has both Low Power and Max Power modes, and it also has both motorized tools and non-motorized tools.
- Motorized Tool – 20 minutes
- Non-Motorized Tools – 30 Minutes
Official Suction | Official Run Time | Tested Run Time | |
Low Power, Non-motorized tool | 21 Air Watts | 30 minutes | 32 min 45 seconds |
Low Power, Motorized tool | 21 Air Watts | 20 minutes | 28 min 45 seconds |
MAX Power, All tools | 100 Air Watts | 6 minutes | 6 min 08 seconds |
ASIDE
We’ve actually done similar run time tests with the Dyson V6, Dyson V7, Dyson V8 and Dyson V10 and also found that in all cases run times were longer than the official numbers. You can see the results in our article on V10/V8/V7/V6 Run Times. |
We also did a test on a hard surface – in this case tile. We put down the same debris and again used the combo tool while the vacuum was in Low Power Mode. Pickup was again quite good – nothing was left behind. It was easier to vacuum up the debris on the hard surface than it was on the carpet (understandably). See video below:
We ground bunches of long white dog hair into a piece of medium pile carpet and ran the V7 Trigger with the mini-motorized tool attached. This is the right kind of tool for this test. The tool had no problem removing the pet hair from the carpet and it didn’t take much time or effort. However we did notice that about half of the pet hair was left tangled in the brushroll of the mini motorized tool (the remainder had made its way into the dust canister). It would have been nice if more (or even all) of the hair had gone into the dust canister – but frankly tangling in the brushroll isn’t uncommon for these kinds of tools. When using this on pet hair it definitely picks it up well but you would have to make an effort to clean the brushroll frequently. This is probably one of the reasons Dyson created the Tangle Free Turbine Tool which does a great job of ensuring no tangling (doesn’t fit on the V7 though). See our pet hair pickup video below:
The dust canister on the Trigger has a volume of 0.15 gallons and is emptied by using what Dyson refers to as a “Hygienic Dirt Ejector”. This is an interesting approach to emptying a dust canister and we haven't seen it on the V6 (handhelds or stick vacs). It is available on the V7/V8/V10 stick vacs however. The video below shows us using the V7 hygienic dirt ejector and we also empty the dust canister on the V6 Mattress handheld vacuum which does not have the hygienic dirt ejector.
Filtration on the Trigger is fairly straightforward. The unit has a post motor filter which is designed to last the lifetime of the vacuum. It is very easy to access (located in the center of the cyclones when looking down on the vacuum) and it can be pulled out easily with one hand. This filter can be rinsed in cold water. When it is completely dry you simply insert it back into the vacuum and you are good to go.

The manual, like all Dyson vacuum manuals, is straightforward and very image driven. It does not go into too much detail. You can check it out here: Dyson V7 Trigger Handheld Vacuum Manual