iLife A9

amazon iLife A9 reviews

Design and cleaning mode

The A9 has a low-profile design, measuring just 3 inches tall, allowing it to easily slip under couches, beds, and other furniture. It’s shorter than most robot vacuums we’ve tested, except for the Eufy RoboVac 11, which is 2.8 inches, and the Eufy RoboVac 30C, which is 2.9 inches. It’s almost 13 inches in diameter, which is pretty standard.

There are several cleaning modes: Auto, Edge, Max, and Spot. In Auto, which you will probably use most of the time, it methodically cleans, creating the same straight lines you do when mowing. Edge mode is for contours and corners, while Maximum mode provides extra suction for small dusty areas. In Spot mode, designed for larger areas with concentrated dust and debris, the robot creates a spiral.

The A9 automatically maps your home for efficient cleaning planning and detects any missed spots. When it is working, it sometimes pauses briefly to detect areas it has not cleaned before continuing.

It comes with two different main brushes, including a pre-installed rubber brush for heavily soiled areas and a bristle brush for less soiled areas. It also comes with an extra brush set. A cliff sensor helps it avoid falling downstairs.

Establish

Setting up the A9 is simple. You plug in the charging dock, snap on the side brush, flip the power switch on the side of the robot and press the Home button on the remote to let the robot charge.

It would help if you placed the charging dock 3.2 feet from objects on either side and 6.5 feet from anything on the side. When not in use, the robot can power on the charger, so the robot is always ready whenever you need it. If you do not plan to use it for a long time, you can fully charge it, turn off the power and store it in a cool, dry place.

Like any vacuum or mop, you’ll want to remove anything on the floor that could get stuck while cleaning, like low-hanging curtains, pet toys, and electrical cords. iLife says you should also roll up carpet tassels and avoid vacuuming objects like rocks and paper. The robot should never contact flammable or combustible liquids like gasoline and anything burning like cigarettes or matches. It would help if you also didn’t use the A9 on wet surfaces.

How it works

The A9 moves quickly and efficiently without making much noise. It’s as loud as a fan, so when you’re cleaning the room you’re in, you barely notice it’s there. You can chat or watch TV while it’s working in the background without being disturbed. When it’s in another room, you probably won’t hear it working at all. During the check-in process, I had to go into another room to make sure it was still working because it was so quiet.

I was amazed at how quickly the A9 moved around the house and how easily it could move between different types of floors. I have several types of flooring in my home, including a parquet in my living and dining room, tile in the kitchen, wall-to-wall carpet in my bedroom and office. The robot handled laminate, tile, and low-pile carpets well. And it works as advertised in Auto mode, methodically cleaning each room, rolling easily over most carpet areas.

After one cleanup, the trash can was full and full of dust, debris, and dog hair. I was amazed at how full it was, especially since I run a separate vacuum every day to manage dust and pet dander, both of which I am allergic. When testing its work, I noticed the A9 didn’t pick up all the hair near my couch, an area heavily trafficked by my dog ​​Bradley. The A9 isn’t dedicated to pet hair, and it did a great job.

However, it does not perform well on average quality carpets. Admittedly, the mat in my yoga/guest/dog room is often littered with small ropes and leftover toys that my dog ​​has chewed on. But during the A9’s first pass in Auto mode, much of this debris remained on the carpet. Putting it in Max helped, but it still doesn’t get the hang of it, and Max mode drains the battery much faster and makes the robot run louder.

In Auto mode, the A9 cleaned for up to 102 minutes before the battery ran low, and it automatically returned to the base station. It’s a solid result, beating several other robot vacuums, including the Ecovacs Deebot N79S, iRobot Roomba 960, iRobot Roomba i7+, iRobot Roomba s9+, and Neato Botvac D4 Connected — all of which lasted less than 100 minutes in the test. It falls short of the Neato Botvac D7 Connected, which has a 130-minute cleaning time, the longest battery life of any robot vacuum we’ve tested.

The iLife A9 comes with a small “electronic wall” (it requires 2 AA batteries, not included), so you can place it anywhere you don’t want to clean. I put it under my desk, so the robot avoids my computer cords, and it works as intended. When the A9 rolled under my desk, it stopped short and turned around. iLife recommends powering off the wall after each use, potentially saving battery, but I could find myself forgetting to do that.

Like most robot vacuums in its price range and up, the A9 supports scheduling, which means you can set it to start cleaning automatically at a certain time each day. You can schedule with the included remote control or the iLifeRobot mobile app (available for Android and iOS). It’s easy to create schedules on the remote; you need to set the current local time, then the time you want to start. The robot will notify “scheduling complete” when you have successfully booked. During testing, the feature worked as planned, and the robot started right at the chosen time.

where can you get a iLife A9 online

ILIFE A9 Robot Vacuum, Mapping, Wi-Fi Connected, Cellular Dustbin, Strong Suction, 2-in-1 Roller Brush, Self-Charging, Slim,Quiet, Compatible with Alexa, Ideal for Hard Floors to Medium-Pile Carpets.: Buy it now

Apps and Voice Control

Connecting the robot to the iLifeRobot application is quite simple when following the instructions in the user manual. Once connected, you can start cleaning right from your phone. As the robot cleans, a very basic map of the layout of your house will be created in the app showing where it has been covered. Specialty robot vacuums like the Roomba i7+ and S9+ let you label each room so you can schedule cleanings for specific rooms.

You can also see how many square meters the robot has covered (you cannot change this setting to square feet), uptime, and remaining battery life. The remote control allows you to use the arrows to direct the robot to a specific spot to be cleaned.

The scheduling feature in the app allows you to choose the days of the week you want the robot to clean and the time for each day. For example, you can set it to clean Monday through Friday at 3:30 pm, so you can come home from work to have your floors vacuumed and cleaned by noon on weekends when you’re out and about.

You can also view the robot’s cleaning history, see how long the brush and filter will last before they need to be replaced, turn on Max mode for more suction power, ring an alarm to You can locate the vacuum if it is lost.

The A9 supports Amazon Alexa but not Google Assistant. In testing, it was easy to set up and worked flawlessly with my Echo smart speaker, allowing me to start cleaning with just my voice.

Maintenance

Like any vacuum or mop, the A9 requires some maintenance. After each use, you need to empty the dustbin and clean the high-efficiency filter. Cleaning the trash can is easy; you pop it out of the robot, open it up, dump its contents in the trash, then wipe away any remnants. After one use, the A9’s filter looked almost clean, but I still pressed it, as recommended, and a bit of dust came out.

Like the Roomba i7+ and S9+, some expensive robot vacuums can empty their trash can, but these models cost at least three times as much as the A9.

Conclusion

The iLife A9 performed well in the test and offered an impressive set of features for its price point. If you have medium-sized rugs in your home, it’s not the best choice, but if you have hard floors and low-quality carpeting, it’s one of the best vacuums you can buy in the under $300 range. The Deebot N79S is $50 cheaper, but the iLife A9 has a longer battery life, better navigation skills, and connectivity. I recommend choosing the one that has the features you want most.

Advantages

Effective cleaning

Quiet

Good battery life

Low design

App support and voice control

Defect

Not the best on average carpet

Max mode drains the battery quickly