ILIFE A80 Max Robot Vacuum Cleaner, 2000Pa Max Suction, Wi-Fi Connected, Works with Alexa, 2-in-1 Roller Brush, Self-Charging, Slim and Quiet,…

 This is an early review from about a weeks worth of use. But I do regularly update reviews with pertinent changes.
Let me preface with, I am an owner of a Neato Robot Vac for the last 4 years. It is the original XV series. I’ve liked it, but it had its bugs. The error message ‘put my dust bin back in’…..UGH!!!!! That drove me crazy for the last 3.5 years. But the Neato did a good enough job, that I dealt with it.
We have 4 kids, so we stay busy and have little time for cleaning. Having 4 kids means we have substantial need for regular cleaning. I installed a central Vac for regular deep cleaning, but still find the need for daily robot Vacuum cleaning services. I like the robot to clean once and sometimes twice per day and we deep clean with the central Vac a few times per week. My stay at home wife, and amazing mother to our 4 children, and I share these duties, so I have an appreciation for the time and effort that goes in to floor cleaning.
The Neato got a weird error a few weeks ago. It started saying the dust bin need to be cleaned. This completely disabled it, no matter how I cleaned the dust bin and surrounding chamber. So I started shopping for robot vacs.
I have tried to add a second Neato for a while, but each one failed to be as effective as our original. So I really did not consider another Neato. I looked at several other brands, and I was a little put off by the iLife.
I figured it is too in-expensive to be effective.
I haven’t heard of the brand.
How will it clean?
Finally I was intrigued by pretty good reviews, and a low profile for cleaning the under stuff. Though it won’t go under our couch. But I’ll be modifying the couch, it just needs to be raised an inch.
iLife wont vacuum in straight lines, If that bothers your OCD, I would look elsewhere. But I have found iLife to completely clean my floors in whatever random pattern it chooses. So if clean floors are your top goal, I can say I am pleased so far. If I were to sit and watch the little Vac clean, it may just drive me crazy watching it go all over the place, so I just set it and forget it.

So iLife it is.

I ordered it and had it all set up in minutes. The manual said charge overnight. So I planned to do that. However I set a schedule and got everything programmed. After about an hour of charging it started cleaning the house for some reason. Maybe one of my curious minions decided to play with the new toy.
Anyway, I was pleased with how quiet it was. Yet it still seemed to clean everything off our tile floor. I was a little disappointed that you must press the button for max suction each time it runs, in order to get max suction. Because we are often not at home while it is working. But after a week of running, on mostly standard suction, I can say my floors are always clean. We live in south FL. There is sand everywhere. So in addition to 4 children under age 12, we have the sand issue to deal with. If you don’t vacuum at least once per day, you will get sand on your bare feet while walking around our home. For the last week I can walk around my house barefoot and my feet stay clean. I love it!! One of my compulsions, is tactile issues. The feel of gritty sand on my feet drives me a little nutty, unless I’m st the beach. Having cl an, sand free flooring eases that compulsion for me. It’s actually a bigger priority than watching this vacuum travel in straight lines.
The iLife does require some maintenance. You’ll need to clean the brush, especially if anyone in your household has long hair. You’ll need to clean the filters as well. But these tasks are simple and relatively quick. The brush cleaning is tool-less. The filter does require a small screw driver. (Edit: 5/22, you don’t need a tool. Removal of the screw is unnecessary)
I do really like the filter set up. It’s three stages. It has a silk screen that keeps most large debris out of the main filter. I’ll assume this is going to greatly extend the pleated paper filter life. It then has a secondary foam filter and finally a pleated paper filter. After 5 days the silk and foam filters benefited from cleaning, but the pleated paper filter still looked great. I did Vac it with the central Vac, since I had the filter all apart.
The dust bin always has a pleasing amount of debris after each vacuuming so we know it’s doing a great job, clean feet not withstanding.
It has gotten stuck a few times. Twice on a loose draw string from low hanging clothing in the closet, and once under a piece of furniture. It does seem to navigate well around obstacles. Though it seems to find darker furniture more difficult to see.
It does not vacuum in long straight lines, like the Neato. But it does vacuum for nearly 2 hours. Neato was at maybe 45 minutes with fresh batteries. Neato was much louder and heavier.
We end up with clean floors, and tile does not show Vac lines, so I don’t really care which path it takes. Just git ‘er clean!!
ILife is quiet, but even on high suction it is much quieter on carpet, as evidenced by my video.
Time will tell how iLife holds up. But for daily vacuuming, and clean feet, I think it is an exceptional value thus far.
I would love a wifi and Alexa enabled version.

“Hey Alexa, clean the living room”. Now that would be the bombdigity!!!!

Update: 7-26-17:
After a couple of months of fairly successful use, I found the robot unresponsive. I messed with it and cleaned everything. It would beep at me on the base, but refused to move. I contacted the manufacturer through their email. I let them know exactly what it was doing. Come to find out, the power switch on the side can accidentally get bumped to the off position. Ill blame one of my smaller minions! But it just as easily could have bumped into something and got switched off. So if you find your little bot a has stopped working, obviously check the power switch first! I feel a little silly, but I suppose it could happen to others.

(I paid for iLife with my own money, he was not given to me in exchange for anything, and no one has since contacted me with any sort of offer)
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Update 3-5-19
I still use this vacuum every day. it has proven to be the most reliable robot vacuum I have owned, and the rest of the robots were much more expensive. I guess simplicity is the key to reliability with this little guy. He does not have fancy sensors, or mapping. He does not vacuum in straights lines, or have any plan or logic. But at the end of the day the floors are pretty clean, and he just keeps working. He almost always makes it back to his charger, though we have learned what cant be left out. He is still working with the original battery as well. Also I think I mentioned this earlier, but his on off switch on the side, can be easily bumped to the off position. So if it seems he has stopped working, always check that first. I have had mine bumped off at least 5 times, and my wife thought he was broken. I flipped the switch back on, and back to work he goes.

The trick, I’ve found, to getting along with your robotic vacuum, is not to micromanage. You have to be a relatively laid-back person with a sense of whimsy when dealing with one. You can’t yell at it when it doesn’t pick up that dog fur tumbleweed – when it casually goes right by it towards the cat. It’s blind, and once you realize what a good job it does despite the fact that it cannot see a damned thing, then you’ll respect it. It’s important to thank it out loud regularly (that’s good for you anyway – strengthens your skills in the field of magnanimousness). Just leave it alone and after a few hours you will be amazed at the job it’s done. Don’t supervise it – don’t even watch it (unless you’re doing it for sheer amusement) – and you’ll be a lot happier. Mine does not do anything for my Persian rug, thus the four stars, in fact it regularly regurgitates the contents of its little dustbin stomach once it gets up on the rug, but that’s okay with me. I just break out the Dyson for that. My son thinks it’s hilarious when Rosie (that’s the robot’s name – how very unoriginal, I know) and I are vacuuming at the same time. And unless you live in a sterile environment you’ll have to do a bit of prep work – no cords or cat toys or underwear on the floor or it’ll get hung up. So far I’ve been afraid to let it go during the day while I’m at work because I never know what it might find and choke on.

For the price you pay it is not worth it. The suction is not good. It’s very loud. It only cleans 60% of the area, whether it’s on auto or S shape. It would lose its battery life after 50 minutes of cleaning on the lowest suction setting, and when the power would get low it would just go into standby mode where ever it was and stop working. It never made its way back to the base. Save your money and buy something else!!!

UPDATE- customer service contacted me and worked through all the issues I was having with this vacuum. They are great to deal with!

This little guy is a saviour!! Does a way way better job at sweeping up dust than your regular brooms. The only thing is you need a little patience as it takes its own sweet time to clean the house.

One of the reviewers mentioned to let vacuum lose a room at a time and that was a great suggestion.

I clear the room of all the small movable furniture, shut this little robot in the room to do his job for 20 mins. For furniture that’s too low and he can’t go under, I sweep out all the dust from underneath before I set the robot lose.

For a 2 bhk with 4 balconies this robot works really well. I’m a satisfied customer.

Amazing product! I do not like the idea of domestic help as the wages are not regulated and do not know if the prevailing rates are fair. Thus, I clean my apartment on my own. At times, it becomes tough due to extreme work pressure and time constraints. I came across the robot and purchased it. I can tell you that my apartment is always clean now and with almost 20% efforts.
Pros. Effective, programmable, easy to use, easy to clean, quiet operation, has a cute personality:)
Cons. Nothing

All in all… Full value for money.