Dyson’s Car+Boat Is a Nice Handheld Vacuum—for the Right Price

Dyson has an extensive, and often confusing, lineup of vacuums. The newest addition is the Car+Boat, a handheld vacuum designed specifically for—you guessed it—sucking up dirt and debris from your car and boat, plus bedding, furniture, and other awkward spaces at home.

At $280 (though frequently $200 on third-party retailers), it’s one of the most affordable ways into the world of Dyson vacuums. It’s a nice handheld, with strong suction, impressive filtration, and long battery life, and it comes with various attachments. It’s been great to quickly grab for small messes, like crumbs on the kitchen counter or dirt from between the seats in my car.

But here’s where my point about Dyson’s extensive lineup comes into play: Every Dyson stick vacuum can also be used as a hand vac. For a little extra (depending on sales), you can buy Dyson’s V8, which gives you more flexibility to use it as a normal cordless vacuum all around the house. (TechRadar spotted that the Car+Boat appears to be a repurposed V8.) None of this is to say the Car+Boat isn’t worth consideration, but it’s not the most practical vac the company sells.

Back to Basics

The Car+Boat looks like any other Dyson stick vacuum converted to handheld mode. It comes with a few attachments you can swap between, including a motorized brush (best for hair and dirt in tight spaces), a combination tool (comprised of a wide nozzle and brush you can quickly swap between), and a crevice tool for hard-to-reach areas.

I get a lot of use out of all three of them. The motorized brush sucks up any stray hair on my sheets along with crumbs on my couch or upholstered cushions on my bar stools in my kitchen. The combination tool has been useful for collecting dust that accumulates along the molding throughout my apartment without damaging the walls. And the crevice tool is useful for the gap between my stove and counter where crumbs accumulate from cooking.

The vacuum is super compact and doesn’t take up much space. I’ve been storing it comfortably in my already-packed linen closet, but it also fits neatly in the trunk of my car. It’s lightweight, at 4.2 pounds, making it easy to travel with too.

Photograph: Brenda Stolyar