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Dyson switches its whole new robot vacuum line from camera to lidar navigation
All three of Dyson's new Nurovi robots scan with lidar and sell at $550, $700 and $1,200, with the middle model available only to Costco members. Wired says it has not tested any of the three yet.
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What happened
- Dyson's Nurovi robot vacuums are on sale in three versions: the R1 Nurovi Dry at $550, the R2 Nurovi Wash + Dry at $700 and the R3 Nurovi Spot+Scrub UV at $1,200.
- Every model in the new line navigates with lidar, including the cheapest, which is a vacuum only and does not mop.
- The R2, in the middle of the range, is a Costco exclusive that needs a membership to buy, while the R1 and R3 are sold on Dyson's website.
Compiled by The Product DeskSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- decision Anyone who wants lidar and mopping at the lowest price has to hold a Costco card, because Dyson's own store stops the range at a vacuum-only model and a $1,200 one.
- constraint The entry price buys mapping but not water, so a hard-floor household is picking between a membership-gated $150 upgrade and a $650 one.
- contradiction Dyson is charging a premium for stain detection on a feature its own predecessor failed at in Wired's hands, which leaves the top model's case resting on a claim no reviewer has confirmed.
- precedent With laser navigation now in Dyson's cheapest robot, camera-based navigation becomes the older spec inside its own catalogue and a harder sell in the next comparison.
A buyer with hard floors and no Costco membership is looking at a $650 step from the cheapest Nurovi to the cheapest one that mops [2][4]. With the membership, the step is $150 [1].
Wired calls the R2 "nearly half the price of the Spot+Scrub model" [13]. At $700 against $1,200 it is 58 percent of it [5]. The $500 difference buys a UV light for finding stains, 9,000 Pa more suction, and the AI that Dyson says "can identify up to 200 types of household substances and clean them until they're gone" [3][8][4][9].
Nobody has tested these yet, and Wired says reviews of all three are coming [11]. Its reviewer wrote of the model the R3 replaces: "I wasn't super impressed by the previous Spot+Scrub Ai, since it didn't really seem to find stains" [10]. The R3's UV lamp is the answer to that complaint.
The sensor change runs across the line, including the entry model: Dyson's last robot vacuum relied on an HD camera [3]. Whether laser mapping at the entry price undercuts anyone is not something the preview settles, because Wired does not report what rival lidar vacuums cost [16]. Its comparison at $550 is about function, not sensing. The reviewer wrote that "you can find other vacuums for this price that do both" [12]. On Wired's reading the R1 suits a home with mostly carpet and soft flooring that doesn't need a mop job [14], and all three carry what Dyson calls a Twin-Capture System for dust on hard floors and carpets [15].
Two questions settle this for most homes: whether the floor needs water, and whether stain detection is worth $500. On the first, a household that mops is not shopping at $550, it is shopping at $700 with a Costco membership or $1,200 without one [1][5]. On the second, suction and mop pads can be judged in a week of use, while the UV claim arrives with a predecessor that a Wired reviewer says did not seem to find stains [10].
What to watch
- Wired's reviews of all three models, and whether the R3's UV lamp finds stains its predecessor missed.
- Whether the R2 stays a Costco exclusive or turns up on Dyson's own site and at other retailers.
- Whether discounting at other retailers narrows the $650 gap between the R1 and the R3.