ILIFE A11 LiDAR Robot Vacuum Review

Manual vacuuming is becoming a thing of the past thanks to robot vacuums. The ILIFE A11 LiDAR Robot Vacuum wants you to be able to relax, travel, or just go about your day without having to think about this dreaded chore ever again. As both a vacuum and mop, it’s designed to handle all the dirty work so that you don’t have to. I recently had the opportunity to test out this robot vac.

This is a sponsored article and was made possible by ILIFE. The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of the author who maintains editorial independence even when a post is sponsored.

Overview of Features

The ILIFE A11 LiDAR Robot Vacuum is a new release from ILIFE and features the latest LiDAR 2.0 technology. This is designed to boost mapping efficiency by 50 percent, thanks to a sampling rate of 3,000 samples per second and measurement areas of 26 feet.

The vacuum uses a CV-Slam algorithm to create more efficient and neat mapping patterns. This also helps to better clean along edges and corners that some vacuums tend to miss. Thanks to the advanced LiDAR sensors, it won’t fall off stairs, and collisions are drastically reduced (though my experience was a bit different).

You’ll be able to clean up to four large rooms per charge with the 5200mAh battery that includes three hours of runtime. There are two dustbins: one just for vacuuming (450ml capacity) and another for vacuuming and mopping (300ml dry and 200ml water tank).

It’s also designed specifically for pet and human hair. The comb in the roller brush helps collect hair while reducing tangling. This means less time spent cleaning out the brush.

Control the vacuum with either the included remote or the ILIFEVac app, developed specifically for the A11 model. Both allow you to create schedules, manually control the vacuum, adjust suction, and more.

Create custom vacuum areas along with your desired suction levels (low, medium, or high with suction power up to 4,000 Pa). The vacuum then auto-adjusts based on your preferences. With the app, you can also get cleaning reports.

In addition to suction levels, control what type of vacuuming occurs. There’s a standard mode, but you can also select Edge, Spot, and Quiet modes depending on your needs.

In the Box

Upon opening the box, I was immediately impressed to see there are three filters, an extra side brush, and an extra mop pad. Often, you only get just what you need and nothing more. The extras are nice, as you’re advised in the manual to replace the filter and side brush every three months if you’re using the vacuum daily.

In addition to the extras, you get the vacuum itself, the charging cable, and charger. The charger includes a cable hider inside, which is also where the charging cable plugs in. At first, it’s a little stiff to open the charger base, but once you do, it gets much easier.

There’s also a rubber brush roll you can swap out for the standard brush roll. This is ideal for simple sweeping and pet hair collection.

Getting Started

The ILIFE A11 LiDAR Robot Vacuum is pretty simple to set up and start using. Just connect the charging cable to the charger, plug it in, and attach the vacuum to let it fully charge before using it the first time.

While the process itself is simple, this is where I first ran into a problem during the testing process for my review. I turned on the vacuum and pressed the Home button to let it go to the charging station. Instead of connecting straight, it connected at an angle. The light flashed slowly, and the voice stated the vacuum was charging, so I didn’t think anything of it.

However, a few hours later the vacuum was still saying “low battery.” It hadn’t charged at all. I had to manually place it against the charging base. Sadly, this was a common issue through days of use. It would attach at an odd angle versus direct about half the time, which meant it wasn’t really charging, despite what the vacuum said.

Also, even with the charging base firmly against the wall, the vacuum sometimes moved it to the side when trying to dock.

The second major problem happened when I tried to download the mobile app. I honestly can’t tell you anything about the app other than it didn’t work at all. After multiple attempts, I finally gave up. When trying to add the vacuum, I kept being asked to provide the Location permission. I had my Location setting turned on and gave the app full permissions, but the app just kept asking for it and wouldn’t let me add my vacuum.

Note: we are unable to determine why the vacuum would not connect with the app, and iLife is aware of the issue. That said, we do know it is possible to connect to the app, as other reviewers have been able to do so.

I’m including a few images from the Google Play Store to show what the app is supposed to do if/when you can get it to work correctly.

Using the ILIFE A11 LiDAR Robot Vacuum

The ILIFE A11 LiDAR Robot Vacuum really impressed when it came to cleaning. Despite the rocky start, I couldn’t have been happier with how quickly it mapped a room (less than a minute). Plus, the medium suction level performed great at picking up dirt and pet hair off a thick rug; however, the higher suction level worked best.

The lowest suction level, or Quiet mode, really is fairly quiet. All you hear is a low hum, which doesn’t disturb you at all while watching TV. The vacuum itself is a little heavier than others I’ve used, but that also makes it go over rugs, including loose rugs, with ease.

The only downside is the vacuum is kind of wide and tall, so it may not fit well under end tables or through chair legs.

The remote made it easy to control the vacuum. In fact, I could push a button, and the vacuum would respond in the next room without line of sight. This is a great alternative to the app, as you can create a schedule once you set the time on the remote.

The vacuum has the dust-only bin installed when it arrives. A quick switch, after filling the water tank, to the 2-in-1 dust/water bin is all it takes to get ready to mop. The mop pad attaches easily to the bottom of the vacuum. Much like the suctions levels, you control the water release levels. Mopping is quick, easy, and efficient.

Throughout the process of vacuuming and mopping, I noticed one real issue: many collisions. While it’s supposed to avoid collisions, it ran into every piece of furniture and the walls numerous times. It wasn’t just small bumps either. You could hear it running into things several rooms away. I thought after mapping and using it for a few days, this would stop, but no. Collisions seem to just be a part of using the vacuum.

Despite the banging around, the floors were clean and shiny afterward.

Final Thoughts

Overall, if you’re looking for powerful suction and quick mopping, the ILIFE A11 LiDAR Robot Vacuum is the ideal choice. It glides over rugs and handles floor transitions with ease. It’s a good product held back by a few issues.

The main issues are collisions, the app not working, and the vacuum not connecting to the charging base correctly. I’d love to see the collision issue resolved at least to prevent making dings and dents in furniture.

However, I can’t fault its cleaning ability at all. The A11 handles edges and corners well and picks up more dirt than most other robot vacuums I’ve tried.