British tech company Dyson has announced its first dedicated wet floor cleaner, the WashG1, which is launching in New Zealand with a recommended retail price of $1099.
Designed to give hard floors a "barefoot clean feel", the product uses a combination of hydration, absorption and extraction technologies to clean wet and dry debris, with maintenance promised to be simple and hygienic.
Although it's a new product type for Dyson, the company last year released a wet head attachment for one of its latest stick vacuum models, while similar hard floor cleaners are available in Aotearoa from the likes of Karcher, Bissell and Eufy.
Dyson's WashG1 has a 1 litre clean water tank that the company says will cover an area of up to 290 square metres.
It features a dual microfibre roller system with each rotating in opposite directions, alongside a pump that dispenses water through 26 hydration points on the rollers. This system is promised to effectively absorb liquid spills and remove dry dirt, debris, hair and stains.
The WashG1 separates debris and dirty water as it cleans, allowing users to dispose of the dirt without having to touch anything. Debris are moved by a nylon-bristled inner brush onto a debris tray, while dirty water is pumped into a 0.8 litre separate tank.
Dyson said the WashG1 comes with in-use hydration control, offering low, medium, and high modes for different floor types and clean-up jobs, as well as a boost mode for maximum hydration the company suggests for stubborn dirt and stains.
Charlie Park, vice president of Dyson home engineering at Dyson, reckons the new cleaner is better than others already on the market.
"Over the years, a vast array of wet floor cleaning formats have emerged to help us tackle this chore yet users' expectations are often left unfulfilled when it comes to stain removal, pick-up performance and floor finish," said Park.
"Dyson engineers solve the problems others ignore and we thrive on the challenge of creating better technology. The Dyson WashG1 is the result of this; our first dedicated wet machine to wash hard floors, properly and hygienically."
The Dyson WashG1 will be available to pre-order in Aotearoa from May 28.
