I tried Dyson's most powerful cordless vacuum yet - here's why the $700 price tag makes sense

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• The new Dyson V11 Torque Drive vacuum ($699.99) improves on previous cordless vacuum models with a more powerful digital motor, adaptive cleaner head, longer battery life, and LCD screen.
• There's no getting around it - it's an expensive vacuum. My experience with it, however, tells me the V11 is an extremely efficient and thorough cordless option.
• If you're still trying to decide which type of vacuum is best for your needs, check out these guides: the best robot vacuums, the best vacuums for pet hair, and the best vacuum cleaners under $300.

Dyson's cordless stick vacuum cleaners are the rare breed of cleaning tool that can spark lively debates over family dinner. For every person who would rather funnel hundreds of dollars to a different device or appliance, there's another who can't imagine life without their Dyson vacuum.

The newest addition to the lineup of powerful, lightweight, and sometimes contentious vacuum cleaners is the Dyson V11 Torque Drive vacuum ($699.99), and it's Dyson's most advanced cord-free device yet.

The final product of more than 300 engineers' work and 32,500 proto-typed parts, it features the company's most powerful cleaner head, longest-lasting battery, a new LCD screen, and a more hygienic bin-emptying design.

What makes the new Dyson V11 Torque Drive so special?

With the main Torque Drive cleaner head, the vacuum weighs less than seven pounds and is approximately four feet long. It comes with five additional cleaning attachments: three tools (mini motorized, combination, and crevice) and two brushes (mini soft dusting and stubborn dirt) that you can switch out for the Torque Drive head.

The big deal about this high torque cleaner head is that it can detect differences in floor surface and automatically change the suction power when appropriate, saving overall run time. This system, called the Dynamic Load Sensor (DLS) and unique to the V11, senses resistance at the cleaner head's brush bar - say, for example, when you run the vacuum from a hard floor onto a carpet - and adjusts accordingly.

The cleaner head itself has stiff nylon bristles to remove stubborn dirt from carpets and anti-static carbon fiber filaments to catch all the dust hiding in small crevices. The brush bar spins 60 times a second as it sucks up the dirt and dust in its path.

The other obvious difference with the V11 is the LCD screen at the top of the handle, which lets you switch between cleaning modes (which differ by suction strength and run time), informs you of remaining run time, detects blockages and shows you how to clear them, and sends reminders to clean the filter.

On Auto mode, the V11 adapts to and deep cleans a variety of floor types with a balanced amount of suction power. Eco mode is made for lighter, longer cleans, while Boost mode provides up to five minutes of super powerful, intensive cleaning.

On a full, 4.5-hour charge, the V11's battery lasts around 60 minutes, though the actual run time may vary depending on which power mode and attachments are used and what type of floor you use the vacuum on.

After you're done vacuuming, you can push down on the bin's red lever to open the bin and empty its contents directly into your trash can without touching any of it.

What it's like to clean with the V11 Torque Drive

I live with three other people and one cat. Accordingly, the floor is always covered in hair of all types and textures, dirt and dust from wearing shoes indoors, food bits, and other mysterious particles. It's as fun and appealing to clean as you'd expect it to be. While traditional brooms and Swiffers are fine for small day-to-day cleaning necessities as they come up, I've found they just don't cut it for the larger cleaning tasks required by my apartment.

To say the Dyson V11 Torque Drive merely "cuts it" would be an understatement - it provided the easiest, most efficient cleaning experience I've had in a long time, maybe ever.

The vacuum is easy to maneuver thanks to its light weight and pivoting head, and its digital motor, which is 20% more powerful than the Dyson Cyclone V10, helped to quickly and smoothly suck up particles. I was simultaneously disgusted by and fascinated with how much it picked up from the corners and crevices of my apartment, from cat kibble to hair to dust. When I wanted to target hard-to-reach areas or tight spaces, switching out the cleaning heads was as easy as un-clicking the current one and clicking a new one on.

The fully sealed filtration system captures more than 99.9% of particles as small as 0.3 microns (a human hair is around 70 microns) and keeps them in the 0.2-gallon bin, which is then very easy to empty. Because it empties straight down when you push on the side lever, you don't have to struggle with a lid, flip anything over, or otherwise risk dropping an entire bin of dust and dirt onto the ground.

While it still makes noise, it's more "high-pitched whirring" than "deafening roar." Thankfully, you won't have to deal with the noise for too long since the vacuum is so efficient and thorough.

The vacuum's LCD screen was more useful than I expected

Dyson incorporated the screen into this new vacuum to help reduce "run time anxiety," which is apparently common among its current users, who tended to overestimate cleaning time and battery usage, and didn't like not knowing how much battery was left.

The screen counting down my available minutes really did help me allocate my time more wisely, and it showed me I wasn't actually cleaning for as long as I thought I would. After finishing up my kitchen and living room, I looked down and was surprised to see the real vacuuming part only took 10 minutes.

The bottom line

Dyson's newest cordless vacuum isn't cheap, but you'll be the most excited you've ever been to clean your home if you have it on hand.

If you don't want to spend $700, you can still get one of Dyson's older models and be pretty happy with it. However, the V11 Torque Drive has so many cool new features that the upgrade will be worth it. You'll spend less time chasing dust bunnies, less time stressing over the battery life of your vacuum, and more time enjoying a clean home.

Shop the brand new Dyson V11 Torque Drive vacuum for $699.99, exclusively at Dyson.com