I’ve spent the past week living with Dyson’s newest vacuums, and a clear favorite has emerged. But it's not the one I expected.

I was ready to love the V16 Piston Animal for all its capabilities and suction power, but as I tested, it's the Dyson V10 Konical that left me most impressed for its performance at this price. Funny enough, when thinking about Dyson’s new lineup, it's the least flashy offering and the one I always forget about.

The V8 Cyclone revives a longtime favorite, while the V16 packs the highest suction we've seen yet, making both easy to remember and exciting to try. It was easy to let the V10 Konical fade into the background. It has the same power level as the V8 but a slightly higher price tag thanks to the new All Floor Cones cleaner head instead of the older Motorbar style.

When placed side by side, though, the V10 Konical easily justifies its $100 higher price over the V8 Cyclone. It did better than the V8 in almost every test I ran when comparing Dyson's vacuums side by side and it did the best when vacuuming up sand on a rug (even better than more expensive Dyson vacuums like the V15 Detect and Gen5Detect). If you're looking for a good Dyson vacuum that doesn't cost the better part of a grand, this is the one to get.

The Dyson V10 Konical packs a solid range of features for its price. It packs 150 air watts of power, which is above average for lightweight stick vacs, though it is weaker than most of Dyson's own stick vacs. Our favored V15 Detect has 240 air watts, but the V10 Konical felt similar on carpet to the V15 Detect, even with the change in suction power. It even felt like it suctioned better when I used it in handheld mode.