ILIFE A30 Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop, Self Emptying Station for 60 Days, 5000Pa Suction, LiDAR Navigation, No-Go Zones, 2.4G WiFi/App/Alexa/Remote Control, Roller Brush for Carpet, Hard Floors, 110V

My Robot Friend
I have had my robot friend, Simon, for a week. First impressions upon opening the box was an “Oooo Aahhh”. The directions said to let your new robot friend charge overnight before first use, but of course, I ran him around immediately to just see how he works! He worked for about ten minutes. I couldn’t figure out how to get him to his home (charging station), but it turns out, he can find his own way home just fine. I recommend that you do take a few minutes to read the directions and familiarize yourself with the remote. It took about 4 hours or so for Simon to fully charge, then I turned him loose. Let me just say, I thought my floors were clean, or, at least, pretty clean. As it turns out, they were not. They were not clean at all. Simon has picked up so much fur, dirt, dust, it’s unbelievable. My floors have literally never looked better! They are CLEAN. For real clean. I’ve always had a hard time cleaning under the bed, but now I don’t have to worry about it at all, because my robot friend takes care of it.I have all hardwood floors and tile. I also have a few throw rugs, some thick, some thin. Simon does a perfect job on the floors, and has no problems navigating over the throw rugs (though he might turn up a corner, but he will run back over it and still get it clean). I don’t think your robot friend would work very well if you have a lot of or mostly carpet. If you have hardwood or mostly hardwood, you will love your new robot friend.Simon mostly gets from room to room okay – the “up” entry points he cannot do on his own. For example, he cannot get over the hump into my kitchen, but he can get down the hump. He also cannot get over the hump to get in the bathrooms. This is actually fine for me, because I prefer to control when he goes into the kitchen anyway so that I can shake off the rugs and/or pick up the cat food and water bowls and any shoes or other things that might be on the floor. I just put a bar stool in his way to keep him from exiting the kitchen when it’s time for him to clean in the kitchen.Simon will clean for about 3 or 3.5 hours. He does not have a “plan” so to speak, not like a person would say go from corner to the center of the room, but he is still very thorough, and obviously, his plan is way better than mine since my floors are so much cleaner than they ever were when I was in charge. My advice is to just trust the process and let your robot friend find his way around on his own! Just make sure that you pick up any cords, especially small cords like phone charging cords, and shoe laces or the like, so that he doesn’t accidentally grab onto something he shouldn’t. Simon also has sensors so that when he comes to a piece of furniture or a wall, he will slow down so as to gently bump it before he turns off into a new direction. I have also noticed that if he comes into contact with a chair or table leg, he will often go in a circle all the way around the leg to clean around it.Once your robot friend is done doing your dirty work for you, he will go back home on his own. If your robot friend cannot find his way home, you may not have provided him enough space. Is that any way to treat your new best friend?? Make sure that he has several feet of clear space in front of his charging station, and that there are a few feet of clear space on the sides of the charging station as well. Also, make sure to empty out his dust bin after every use.One of the fortunate side effects of having my new robot friend, is the “give a mouse a cookie” effect it seems to have had. Give a person a clean floor, and the person may say oh, it looks so clean in here, let me pick up this shirt and put it away. The person then notices that the bathroom trash can is full; since the floors look so nice, the bathroom should be clean, too *cleans bathroom*, and so on.The only thing about my new robot friend, which isn’t enough to bother me at all, is that he is, well, he’s not super loud, but he’s not very quiet either. So, if you are watching tv, you may need to turn it up just a bit if you are running your robot friend while you’re at home. Well worth it for the service he provides, though.Overall, I do recommend this little robot. I am very pleased with this purchase. If you’re in the market for a robot floor cleaning wizard, don’t hesitate to click that Buy Now button.

‘Dumb’ Robot, But Works Well Enough
We’re running two of these on the ground level of our house. One was purchased about a year ago, and works well enough at this price point that we ordered a second one.NOT having a wifi in these robots was a plus for us. Cell phones, TVs, and now newer cars already spy on us. I will not have vaccum cleaners, dish washers, refrigerators, etc., in my home spying on us too. Our thermostat does not have wifi capabilities. Damn corporations can keep their advertisements out of our house and away from our daughter. Government can suck it too. Yes, I’m one of those IT weirdos that runs a PiHole on my home network, blocks everything, etc. You should to.These iLife robots seem to be pretty ‘dump’. Only comparison is that years ago we had a refurbished iRobot vacuum that we got at half-price (because it was a refurb) (these iLife robots we purchased new, not refurb, wanted to be clear). That iRobot last about four years. Batteries and these robot vacuums are better now, so these run longer per charge than that old iRobot. But…that early model iRobot would maintain a map of the house and could easily find its way back to the charger when it needed to. These things seem to bumble around the house in a completely random fashion cleaning, and when their batteries get low, they wonder around aimlessly looking for the charger. Most of the time they find their way, but not always. I work from home, and sometimes when I go upstairs for lunch, I’ll find one cruising around lost looking for home. I’ll use the remote to ‘guide’ it to the charger.These things seem to run for about 90 minutes on a charge. The first one is about a year older than the second one, and both seem to run for almost the exact same length of time. Hopefully that means the batteries are of a descent quality and will last a long time. The old iRobot I replaced the battery packs twice in four years. In the end that old faithful machine just got glitchy and we had to scrap it. Fingers crossed these iLife machines last longer due to advancements in technology. We’ll see.Until I add an outlet to the laundry room, the two charging stations are sitting side-by-side in the guest bedroom. They must use reflectors to line themselves up with the charging stations while parking. Having the two chargers side-by-side confuses these things as they are trying to park. On occasion, when one is coming in to dock, if the other is already on a charging station, the incoming robot will go crash-up derby on the first one. On those occasions that I’m ‘steering’ a robot back to charge with the remote, I’ll block its view of the other station with my feet so it will go to the one that I want it to. Seems to be a design flaw, but really likely a money saving decision. Keep in mind if you have multiples of these and place the charging stations next to one another, you can expect some problems. If you are easy going, then you’ll be ok. If such things annoy you, try to place the chargers in separate rooms.If anything interrupts their job, say one gets stuck or tries to eat a sock, if you carry the stranded thing back to the charging station, you’ll want to press the timer and the clock buttons on the remote again. Seems if they do not complete their task for any reason, they’ll lose their programing for the next day. This is easy to do, using the remote to kind of ‘reset’ the programed start time and clock, but it was nowhere in the instructions. We figured it out through trial and error.I find the instructions to not be clear for clock time and programing a scheduled start time. Basically, you’re looking at the remote to set the time and schedule a ‘go’ time, but the robots have to beep at you so you know they received the programing. You use the remote to see what you are doing, but if you are not within range of the robot while you are doing it, or pointing the remote away from the robots, they do not receive the instructions. Program your remote with clock time and start time. Then, point the remote in the general direction of the robots, and press the clock button twice (like you are going to set the time). The robot will beep with each button push as an audible confirmation that it received the message. Then do the same thing with the schedule button. Ours run at 9am so they can finish by the time I go upstairs for lunch. This way, I can rescue one if they get stuck or lost.Most of the time these guys cannot get over the transition strip between our bedroom floors and the bathroom tile floors; its a ‘speed bump’ that they usually cannot climb. On occasion they’ll hit it just right and get into the bathroom (and then choke on trying to eat the bath rug). Know that they struggle with what I believe is something they should be able to get over.Replacement brushes are available. They don’t cost the world, but I wish they were cheaper. The first robot needed a second set of new brushes at roughly the one-year mark. Note that they do come with an extra set of brushes, and we do appreciate that. Thanks iLife. Do NOT lose the little screw that secures the brushes. I’m a shade tree mechanic, and know to keep track of little fasteners, but I failed and lost one. Couldn’t find a replacement anywhere. Tiny, close to 3mm in size, but an odd thread. We emailed iLife and asked about purchasing some, but they sent us two for free. Again, thanks iLife.Some amount of hair and dirt will find its way between the brushes and the body. Keep this area clean, and be sure to clean it out thoroughly when replacing brushes.We use the upright vacuum to clean the filter, and as a result they last well over a year easily.Since we have two of these that are about a year apart, I’ve noticed a difference in the software. The older one is easier to ‘steer’ with the remote; say I’m guiding it to the other end of the house at the start of its shift for example. The newer one will ‘fight’ me for control by immediately turning right after following my command to turn left. Very frustrating. As a software developer myself, I cannot understand why they would program it to do this. Me being stubborn and trying to ‘best’ a dump machine (I know, not a ‘smart’ move on my part), I keep telling it to turn left until after half-dozen times or so it finally stops fighting me. Almost as if it has to travel X distance before the programing just takes my input. I hope they fix this in later models.Not the ‘smartest’ robot, but at this price point, we went back to the well and purchased a second one. When we go for a third machine for the basement, I might try a different make or model. I miss the very old iRobot from years ago keeping track of where it had been and keeping a map of the house layout so that it would cover all of the floor, and so it could easily find its way back to the charger when low. These things are much cheaper now days, but seemingly way, way dumber than those that came before them. As long as you understand what you are getting, and can deal with the quirks, I can recommend this product. If you don’t want to deal with lost robots wondering the house in search of a charger, or perhaps something that will simply and blindly follow your every command (with the remote), suggest you look for something else.

Already getting stuck when bumping on one side.
Had it for just a couple of weeks and already it is getting stuck when bumping on one side.Wanted to try a vacuum out, to keep up with one of my cats who sheds constantly.Worked pretty well at first, but just noticed that the unit started getting stuck when bumping on right side of panel. I witnessed this four or five times with a 10 minute. And had to”save” the robot and direct it into a different trajectory.Will need to look at resetting, but if this is what to expect, not sure it was worth it.

Easy to program and handles the pet hair. Fits under most of the furniture.

I’ve been using the robot vacuum for two weeks and I’m amazed by it!I have long black hair that sheds a lot. Throughout my life, I’ve had to constantly vacuum and pick my hair off the floor by hand. I had considered a robot vacuum before but expected I’d have to regularly cut hair off the brush like I have to do with my regular vacuum.I recently went in search of a robot vacuum that sucked hair off the floor without having it get tangled in a brush and the iLife was my first choice. I thought because it was a budget-friendly vacuum that it wouldn’t be this good, but I was wrong. What you get for the price is incredible!My floors has never been this bare; totally free of hair, dust, and crumbs! It catches everything! Even goes under my furniture, which I’m super lazy at cleaning.There are some cons, but I still give it 5 stars for its unexpected capability given the price.#1 Pro:It vacuums hard floors perfectly without your having to lift a finger. No more hair, dust, crumbs!Minor Cons:- The sensor could be improved. Remote is not sensitive. I.e. You have to be fairly close and pointing at the vacuum with the remote. Often have to press it a few times before the command is registered.-Also, presumably, a sensor problem: The vacuum struggles to “return home” when you press that button on the remote. Even if it registers the command, it’ll wander aimlessly…even if it’s right beside the dock to return home. I called iLife customer service about this and they said that there has to be at least 6 feet of free space in front of the dock. If you live in Toronto, in a 450 sq ft apartment, that’s a difficult ask. The robot has to have a clear view of the dock because the sensor is not smart. I was told that it also won’t find the home dock if there’s a dark coloured rug in the way. I have a white and grey rug near the dock (2 feet away). CS said my rug shouldn’t be a problem, but it is. I did a test by removing the rug and it was able to find home more often (although, still not always). This con is a very small one imo, so I just have to physically move the robot back to its dock when it’s done. No biggie!-Hair does get caught in the sweepers and it’ll stop and go into error mode when this happens. This is also a super small con because all you have to do is turn it over and pull them out of the sweepers, then restart it. Compared to using scissors to cut through a mountain of rolled up hair in a traditional vacuum, this is a miracle!-It does climb on my rugs (and this impressed me because I wasn’t expecting it to), but it’s not great on them. I knew this going in because the vacuum suction is not as powerful as you’d find on more expensive robot vacuums made for carpeted floors/rugs (I compared). I bought it specifically for hair on my hardwood, so if that’s your purpose too, this does the perfectly!The pros trump all the cons. I 💯highly recommend this for anyone with long hair that sheds a lot!