ILIFE A11 Robot Vacuum Cleaner review (short, final)
I started this review in the first week of July 2022. That it took this long is going to give you some heads up there are problems but let’s just preface with this: If you have a working ILIFE A11, it’s a pretty decent vacuum. I blew up two of them in the space of a month with the exact same issue (main brush motor just stopped turning, everything else worked, absolutely no blockage). No errors indicating that the unit had failed and was just driving around not spinning the brush.
This is going to be a short review because you can read most of the original findings here in the first days review, and you can see how it stacked up in the head to head contests.
As of current writing the ILIFE A11 is a $399.00 USD puck vac with no options for auto-empty. It can do drag mopping, creates a map, does all the things a modern LiDAR guided puck does, and it vacuums really well, I mean surprisingly good low pile carpet cleaning.
Where it falls behind is there’s no ability to fast map. This means it needs to complete a full run without getting snagged, stopped, etc. before you can define rooms and no-go zones. This may not seem like something you as a non-corporate user will use much, but yeah, it’ll be wanted as you spend days attempting to clean up and map your mid-sized house as it gets into every shoelace and cable you ever owned.
The app on Android also tends to lose the puck until you refresh it. You’ll come in, no devices, swipe down to refresh, devices. Not a huge deal but something that’s been noticed.
The first two I had returned to the dock with no issues, they were both manufactured during the same run. This third one tends to return, start charging, and then stop.
At two completely broken and RMAd units and one with intermittent power issues that I can’t quite track down I’m not going to go any further with the review nor attempt to sell you one. If you’re buying anyway, click the link above and there’s probably a tagged link. I think it would be a great little vacuum at $100 less, with fast mapping added, and if I wasn’t on two returned and the third one with dock issues. Manufacturing defects happen. I’ve just never had three in a row from two different production date runs happen.
As a note, I’m sure the dock issues are surmountable and customer service would replace them. My bet is I’ve got a bad dock this time around. I’m at 4 months into this review and 31 emails back and forth to attempt to RMA the previous two units. I really attempted to give this a full on review but I’ve got to get this off my plate.
Great when it works, I’m on 3 that don’t. Your experience will probably vary as I got all the broken ones.
