Table of Contents
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
‘A9’ keeps moving swiftly and efficiently, without loud sounds or noises. It makes the same amount of noise as a fan; hence, no one really notices it while cleaning in the room. You can talk or listen to TV shows with the cleaning going on in the background. Meanwhile, in its other working environment, you won’t be hearing much of it. It was so silent that I got up toward the end of the review session to another room to check if it was indeed still working.
The speed with which the A9 moves around and easily transits from one type of floor to another never ceases to amaze me. I have multiple flooring types in my home, including parquetory floors in the living and dining rooms, tiles in the kitchen, and wall-to-wall carpets in the bedroom and office. The robot had no difficulty cleaning laminate, tile, or low-pile carpets. When in Auto mode, it lives up to its promise of methodical room cleaning and rolling pretty easy 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.
During the test, in Auto mode, the A9 would clean for a maximum of 102 minutes on a battery charge and hence would conclude its work by returning to the base station unattended. This is a good time in the 100-minute category, beating a number of robot vacuums, including Ecovacs Deebot N79S; iRobot Roomba 960; iRobot Roomba i7+; iRobot Roomba s9+; along with Neato Botvac D4 Connected. It is less in comparison with that of Neato Botvac D7 Connected, which took away 130 minutes for cleaning and stands proud with the longest battery life ever tested among the robot vacuums.
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.
In this section, you can also see the coverage: how many square meters it has vacuumed (no option to change this to square feet), uptime, and remaining battery life. Use the remote control via clicking arrows to direct it to a particular point where cleanup is required.
There is also a scheduling option in the app to choose the day(s) of the week that you want the robot to go into action along with the time for each day. For example, this can go from Monday through Friday at 3:30 p.m., so you are back from work thinking that floors will be vacuumed and cleaned by noon on weekends when you are away.
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 needs some upkeep. The dustbin needs to be emptied after every use, and the HEPA filter needs cleaning. Cleaning the trash was simple enough: You pop it out of the robot, open it, dump its contents in the trash, and then wipe off any residue. The A9’s filter looked almost perfectly clean after one use, but after pressing it as recommended, a little bit of dust was expelled.
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 did very well in the test and offers several features usually not found in this price range. It is not the best vacuum for the medium-sized rugs of the house; if you have hard floors and some low-grade carpeting, this is among the two best choices of vacuums one can get under $300. While $50 cheaper is the Deebot N79S, the iLife A9 is certainly superior in terms of battery life, navigation, and connectivity. So I suggest that you go with the one that offers features you will prioritize the 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