I got a bang at the door today and got a parcel from DHL that turned out to be ILIFE V7S.
If you are not familiar with the ILIFE brand – they are also known as Chuwi or Beetles and are sold by GearBest.com. They export to various countries which include North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
According to ILIFE, the new water tank comes with a regulator that prevents water dripping when the robot is not in use. This allows you to schedule the bot to clear tasks that were not possible prior to this upgrade. If you want to know more about the V7S Pro, I wrote a detailed review about it here.
Compared to the A4 and X5 models, I’m very impressed with the glossy color although I’m not a huge fan of the color.
But beauty is only about the skin, we’re here to talk about what matters – cleaning performance.
The V7S X5 is literally on steroids.
In general, it is taller and wider, has a larger dirt bin and water tank, is equipped with a motorized brush, and has a larger microfiber towel. Plus it comes with two filter systems.
Since the microfiber towel covers even a motorized brush, you cannot use this to dry the mop and vacuum at the same time.
The only downgrade, if you call it downgrade is the number of side brushes – it only has one brush compared to the one on the A4, X5 and V7.
Quick look at the features
- Dual purpose robot vacuum and mop capable of doing 3 functions – dry mopping, wet mopping and vacuuming
- 4 shelf sensors prevent this from falling down stairs
- Two pre-programmed settings – spot and edge cleaning to match the auto-clean mode
- You can schedule it to clean at a specific time, once a day, seven days a week
- 1 side brush
- Comes with a dry container (500ml capacity) for vacuuming and 450ml water tank for wet wiping
- It produces only 60 decibels
- Remote control (and 2 AAA batteries included)
- 300 minutes recharging time and 140 minutes running time
- 1 year warranty
Positives
- Large water tank and dirt bin mean a larger radius for cleaning
- The dual V-shaped brush provides extra vibration especially on carpets
- The charging station has a storage space for the remote control
- easy to use
- Although they are the tallest ILIFE robot vacuums – they are still shorter than Roomba or Neato which means they will be subject to most furniture
Negatives
- No HEPA filtration
- The wide body means it won’t fit in tight areas – especially between chair legs
- Pre-programmed settings lack complexity
- Although the navigation system is effective, it is not efficient and will only work until the battery runs out
Table of Contents
What do you expect from ILIFE V7S?
When I opened the box, I was pleasantly surprised at the end. It has a shiny rose gold finish that makes it easy to clean with a microfiber towel.
This is a video I made to show you the different features and what to expect from this robot…
This bot is big (I’ve already noticed that the box is bigger than other ILIFE bots I’ve got earlier). And when I put it side by side, the ILIFE X5 is about an inch wide, the mop is nearly double the size, and the wheels are a lot bigger.
Just look at this picture…
Unlike the X5 or A4, it only has one side brush but I don’t think it will affect the cleaning performance that much.
Other robot vacuums such as the Neato BotVac and Roomba 900 series have only one side brush. It still performs well in cleaning tests so I would expect it to be the same with the V7S.
What comes in the box?
ILIFE was very generous here.
As you can see in the image above you will get the following:
- Robotic Vacuum Cleaner V7S
- Charging base (and plug)
- Remote control (2 AAA batteries included)
- Cleaning Brush
- 2 extra filters
- 1 extra side brush
- Microfiber mop
- User manual (in English and Chinese).
I would like to mention the charging base which has storage space for the remote control.
This is a nice touch and helps you not to lose your remote control. It is an essential feature of this bot as you cannot set the schedule on the bot itself.
Double brush V
One of my favorite features on the V7S is the motorized brush — GearBest calls it a dual V-shaped brush.
Double V due to the shape of the bristles and the mop that resemble two V on top of each other – the extra mop brush provides additional irritation on the carpet to help loosen dirt such as pet hair.
I like it because it is similar to the old Neato XV series and connected vacuums that have been tested to perform great cleaning of pet hair on most surfaces.
This may be compensated for by the V7S’s weak suction because out of the 5 ILIFE robots, the V7S and V7 have the weakest suction at only 400Ps and lack the boost function that the other three variants have.
big mop
When you compare this to the X5 or V5 Pro, the microfiber mop almost doubles in size.
What does this mean? It simply means more area covered. You’ll be able to clean a larger room with the wipe function and not soil the microfiber towel as quickly as you would on the X5.
The downside is that the mop covers the vacuum, so you won’t be able to use this to clean and dry the mop at the same time – something you can do with the X5 or V5 Pro.
Wet Wipe and Vacuum Cleaner Functions
This robot is capable of doing three things – dry/wet mopping, wet mopping and vacuuming.
It has a 500ml dry dirt container that attaches to the vacuum cleaner and a 450ml water tank for wet mopping.
Dry Dirt Container (capacity 500ml)
Water tank (capacity 450ml)
The robot detects this and will start the vacuum motor when it detects the dry box installed and stops the vacuum when the tank is installed.
Wet mopping is a preferred method when cleaning surfaces such as hardwood because wood and water do not mix and using a wet mop can damage the surface.
Dry wiping is a great option if you want to remove a lot of dust filled with static electricity that the robot might miss when vacuuming.
No HEPA filtration
The secondary filter included in this robot does not contain a HEPA filtration. If that’s a concern for you, you should probably choose the X5.
I have already confirmed this with GearBest and they said it does not have HEPA filtration.
Wide
This robot measures about 13.39 inches in diameter or more than an inch larger than an A4 and X5, so if you have a lot of stool-type chairs with narrow gaps, you may want to take them out of the room before flipping this robot over.
scheduling
When you look at the remote control, you will notice that there is a built-in clock. I didn’t know the purpose of this until I used the scheduling feature.
To use the scheduling feature, you need to set the time first because the bot will use this as a reference to tell the bot when to clean.
Suppose you set the schedule to 9:30 AM, when the 9:30 AM clock strikes the remote, it fires a signal and lets the robot clean.
Note that if the batteries are removed, the stored tables will be cleared.
Mobility
Pretty much all ILIFE robot spaces have a similar navigation algorithm. It’s not as sophisticated as more expensive robot cleaners like the Dyson 360Eye, Neato BotVac Connected, and Roomba 980 but it still gets the job done.
At first glance, you might think ILIFE has put the same cleaning pattern on the Roomba 700 series but since I’ve used these products for the past several weeks, there are differences.
Roomba (except for the 980), it goes in a completely random direction while ILIFE does more than one cross pattern and alternates that with edge cleaning.
Since this alternative does not have any virtual wall, the best way to use it is to let it clean one room at a time with the doors closed to give it the best chance of cleaning every nook and cranny.
This robot will be on and running until the battery runs out before returning to the main base.
It lacks the camera-based navigation found in the top 3 bots I mentioned earlier, but you’ll only pay a fraction of the price of those bots, so I don’t mind that at all to be honest.
Remove all obstacles
As with all robot vacuums, be sure to clean all wires, small toys, etc. Loose wires are the largest kryptonite in a robot vacuum.
It is very specific to wires, any loose wire on the way – it will tangle almost 100%.
Another trouble spot may be the accumulator – although she will try to make her way through it, but there are times when she will occupy herself.
For small pieces of toys, the robot will only play on its tracks and have an error code, nothing important is to turn it over and remove the small toy in the void entrance.
Floor cleaning
In terms of cleaning the bare floor in my case of linoleum (it looks like hardwood but is linoleum), the V7S cleans really well.
My main concern would be navigating close to the charging base because the robot didn’t seem to want to clean the area near it. If you have a big mess near the charging base, it will be better for you to remove the charging base as you will see in this video…
In terms of performance, the V7S engine will clean hard surfaces despite being the weakest of the 5 in terms of power.
The side brush will fling the particles out of the way. This is a common problem with robotic vacuums that have them, so this shouldn’t be a big concern.
Here’s the previous picture…
After that with the charging base connected. You will notice that bits and pieces of oatmeal and rock salt are scattered near it.
After I removed the charging base, the robot was able to clean almost everything.
The picture of the dirt box is filled…
You have to be careful to remove the dirt container so that the contents don’t seep out, you can do this by tilting it down as you remove it.
In this cleaning test, I compare the V7S to the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum Vacuum Cleaner that cleans 70 grams of powdered oats and…
Despite having much less power, it was able to hold it against the more powerful and high-tech Xiaomi. It’s only 3g difference but the MI vacuum was more efficient.
Cleansing
Here is a mopping video I recorded to show you how this robot navigates in mop mode…
This is a very long video because I didn’t fast forward the video just to show you the real time scanning functions.
At first, the robot is really slow. I had to stop it a few times to check the wheels, water tank, and whisk bar to see if something was stuck.
I also checked the side brush and if everything was installed correctly including the water tank bracket. It eventually moves better but moves slower in mop mode than in vacuum mode.
product specification
| Battery Type | lithium ion |
| charger type | charging base |
| Shipping time | Approximately. 5 hours |
| Water tank capacity | 0.45 liters |
| Dirt Capacity (Dry) | 0.5 liters |
the show length  |
140 minutes |
| net weight (with battery) | 6.5 pounds |
| Purchase Weight | 12.78 EGP |
| Diameter | 13.39 inches |
| Height | 3.15 inches |
| multi room |
 |
| self docking |
|
| remote control |
|
| HEPA filtration |
 |
| Detecting cliff |
|
| self-control |
|
| side brush |
|
| bin full indicator |
|
| drawer cleaning |
|
| Cleaning sessions per week |
7 |
| Extra filter | 2 |
| containment |
Nobody |
| brush cleaning tools | 1 |
| Accessories included | charging base
AC adapter Remote control (AAA batteries included) 2 extra filters 1 brush cleaning tool 2 extra side brushes |
| Voltage | auto volt |
| Made in | China |
| Price | Check Price |
Where can I buy this?
The ILIFE V7S is no longer available at GearBest but is still available on Amazon at a higher price. It will be eligible for free 2-day shipping if you join Prime. You also have the option to purchase an extended warranty of up to 3 years if you want peace of mind.
Conclusion
The ILIFE V7S is great for a home with a combination of bare floor and carpeting because it has a large microfiber mop and water tank. This allows it to wet mop surfaces such as tile and linoleum.
It also comes with a whisk rod that helps to clean or at least remove surface dirt on the carpet. This helps prevent dirt buildup.
It has a large 500ml dry dirt container for sweeping and a 450ml water tank for mopping. So this vacuum will cover a large area of land before having to empty it.
You can schedule this to clean at a specific time once a day for seven days a week and upgrade via X5.
No, it doesn’t have any virtual wall. So it would be best to leave this room clean every time because it won’t have the Dyson 360 Eye evolution but this robot costs over $1000!
In general, this is a good economical option for homes with low carpet and bare flooring.