ILIFE A11 Robot Vacuum review

Up for review today we have the ILIFE A11 robot vacuum cleaner. Priced about $400, it’s a 2-in-1 unit that vacuums and mops with the capability of doing both tasks at once.

The A11 comes with three suction modes (quiet, auto, and max) which impact not only the overall power but the battery life, too. As you’d expect, the harder you ask it to work, the less life you’ll get on a full charge.

I don’t often start out with a new product by setting things where I think I need them. I tend to leave things on automatic and then dial settings up and down based on my findings in the first few runs. 

I was quite happy with the way the auto mode worked on the A11 robot vacuum in terms of both noise and suction. It’s not any louder than what you’ll find in other models and won’t disrupt conversations or cause you to pause TV.

Typically I’ll have my robot vacuum run about once per day so I don’t ever worry much about having to go with the max setting. Well, that and our house doesn’t get very many spills or worrisome messes.

Quiet mode is really quiet; I imagine you could run it with children taking naps and not disturb them whatsoever. I mean, really, auto mode is pretty much noise as it is.

I tend to keep an eye on things the first few times I run a new smart vacuum just to make sure it delivers on promises and expectations. I hate to find out well after the fact that it was not able to avoid a power cable or pair of shoes, sucking things up and potentially damaging them. 

What’s In the Box?

I found that the A11 does a great job of transitioning between floor types, rugs, and carpet. It can cross room thresholds like wood or metal strips with ease and adjust its orientation and direction if it sees an obstacle.

Should the ILIFE A11 encounter problematic areas such as an extra shaggy rug or a spot where shoes tend to gather, it’s easy to get around this. It doesn’t take all that much to create no-go zones that tell the robot vacuum to avoid the spaces.

As someone whose first floor is split between carpet and tile flooring, I appreciate that this vacuum can handle both types. And unlike older models or other brands, it can do both sweeping and mopping in the same run. That is to say it does not have to return to base to be fitted with anything special.

The mopping feature was not quite as impressive as the suction in the vacuum. Not only did it seem as if it wasn’t making a full wet pass of the floor, it also tends to leave streaks behind. This isn’t terrible but it’s noticeable and something you pick up on when looking for it. The Y-pattern approach is a good one in theory but the execution came up a tad short.

Additionally, the A11 doesn’t seem to discern between the two floors so when it sets out to mop, it could get your carpet or low-pile rugs wet. To get around this I created two maps, one with no-go zones for carpet and rugs. This way I would have it run as a mop and just hit the areas where it was helpful. I don’t mind if it runs as a vacuum cleaner over all surfaces. 

Speaking of maps, I appreciate that I can amend things after they’ve been created. In other words, you can name or edit rooms, create boundaries and virtual walls, and merge/split rooms.

Conclusion

Very few robot vacuum cleaners can take the place of a person manually using an upright unit. They work best as something to do the day-to-day cleanup, picking up crumbs and minor spills. The heavy lifting, or real dirty work often requires a bit of elbow grease and effort.

The ILIFE A11 robot vacuum is perfectly good to have for every day and continuous use, but its mopping isn’t quite as powerful as other models. It’s more than a fair trade, though, considering the price and if you use it consistently, you likely never need that strong mop.