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The ILIFE V5s Pro brings robot vacuum cleaning and mopping together, and does so in a way where owners can sweep the floors and mop hard ones as required. ILIFE has already impressed among our reviews, with the V3s Pro notching an excellent score and even making it onto our list of the top five best robot vacuums at the time of writing. We now have the opportunity to try out a slightly more expensive model, and must admit that we have mixed feelings going in. What made the V3s Pro so special was mainly the price. The fact that owners get so much robot vacuum for their money, combined with our use of value for money as a ranking factor, edges it ahead of some less surprising competitors. This model is slightly more expensive, as the model numbers would suggest, and one of our main factors will be whether the mop function adds enough value for the same kind of performance.
- Value for Money 90%
- Battery Life 92%
- Durability 85%
- Suction Power 85%
- Noise 95%
- Connectivity 75%
Key Features
- Combines standard robot vacuuming with wet mopping
- Includes remote control and scheduling functionality
- Hugely impressive run-time at 150 minutes
- Includes HEPA filter, ideal for allergy sufferers and pet owners
- An impressively quiet clean at 50 dB
- Comes with a decent selection of spares including spare filter and side brushes
The ILIFE V5s Pro is a sleek-looking machine and anyone that appreciates a break from the norm, that being a small black disc that travels around the house, may appreciate the combination of white and copper. You’ll already know all about the colour before it arrives, but the pleasant experience continues at pace as soon as you open the box.
Naturally, your first instinct will be to get the robot vacuum out of the box, and if you have a lightweight model in mind, you’ll be extremely pleased with how the V5s Pro stacks up. At just 2 kg, it comfortably ranks among the lightest robot vacuums we’ve ever reviewed. Any concerns about lifting it to empty the dust box or carrying it upstairs will disappear as soon as you hold it in your hands.
It comes with enough spares to impress too, with a spare HEPA filter and a pair of additional side brushes, as well as the main brush. There are no guarantees that you’ll receive a HEPA filter in the first place at this price point, but to get two demonstrates that ILIFE is in no way messing about with this model.
There is no question that the main draw of this device is the option to switch out the dust box for a water tank. Both are the same size for obvious reasons, and therefore boast the same capacity at 0.3 litres. This is clearly on the low side for a dust box, but will be sufficient to give the hard floors throughout your home a wet clean as required.
The main question you’ll have probably comes down to the effectiveness of the mopping. Can a relatively cheap device relegate the standard mop and bucket to the cupboard, never to be seen again? The answer is yes and no.
If you tend to avoid mopping unless there are particularly obvious stains on the floor, the ILIFE V5s Pro represents an upgrade. In no way is the wet clean pointless and you will see reasonable results.
If you mop every day as a matter of course, or at least a couple of times each week, you’ll find that the wet clean results from this unit are decent, but nothing to write home about. There is also the not insignificant factor that this robotic mop may drive you to distraction through the fact that it cannot get right up to edges or into corners due to the round design. This is fine in vacuum mode, as the side brushes take care of getting into the nooks and crannies. The mop pads sit directly under the unit, however, and if the bottom of the robot cannot reach a surface, it will not get cleaned.
Of course, depending on how dirty your hard floors tend to get, a few missed spots may not be noticeable, and you’ll still have the reassurance of the main parts of the floor being cleaned effectively.
Moving on to the vacuuming side, the ILIFE V5s Pro is not the best robot vacuum we have ever reviewed, but it gets the job done. The 850 Pa of suction is adequate for most surfaces, and it will have no trouble with hard floors and regular carpets. As with any robovac, once you move on to medium- and high-pile carpets, you’ll need to make a larger investment.
Battery life is impressive, and a full charge will see this unit cleaning for up to 150 minutes on a full charge. It does admittedly need 280 minutes to recharge from empty, but it will be able to give most homes the once over before it heads back to the dock and can then charge overnight to its heart’s content.
It lacks the connectivity of something like the Eufy RoboVac 15C MAX, which includes an app and voice control. Here, we just have a remote control to work with. It operates on infra-red, so you do need to be in the same room as your robovac to make it work, but that is not necessarily the worst thing ever. The remote not only starts and stops the device, but you can also use it to program in a cleaning schedule. With the limited dust box size, you’ll need to remember to empty it out regularly, but the V5s Pro will tend to go about its business independently.
ILIFE V5s Pro – Pros and Cons
- Can vacuum and mop with interchangeable dust box and water tank
- Best battery life performance at this price point at 150 minutes
- Quiet operation ensures owners will be happy to let the V5s Pro work around them
- Vacuum cleaning is not the most effective – struggles with medium or thick carpets
- Design only allows for relatively small dust box at 0.3 litres
- No connectivity over and above infra red remote control
ILIFE V5s Pro – The Verdict
As noted, the main reason to consider the V5s Pro over the V3s Pro and other models around this price is the mop functionality. We will not beat around the bush here – we do not feel that robot vacuums with built-in mops are where they need to be yet and there is room for improvement. Some manufacturers have even ditched mopping as they refresh models because the functionality simply does not impress as much as it potentially could. As we covered in the main review, here on the V5s Pro you can expect decent performance but nothing too exciting. Indeed, the same can be said of the vacuum part of the functionality, which is good enough but rarely outstanding.
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ILIFE V5s Pro Review
Value for money plays a part, and this is an area in which ILIFE is generally spot on. As mentioned, the V3s Pro resides in our guide to the best robot vacuums around at the time of writing based on how good value it is, and the V5s, while slightly more expensive, shines in the same kind of way. We would conclude with this model that anyone seeking a slim, lightweight vacuum that does not make a massive amount of noise will be pleased with what they get here, and there is plenty of bang for your buck. It is easy to improve on what the ILIFE V5s Pro does well. You might go for a dedicated robot mop or more suction power, for example, but both will come at a higher cost. This is a robovac where you get more than what you pay for and if this one sits at the top of your budget, you could do far worse.
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