My very first robot was the ILIFE V7 so when I have a chance to test another model from
the company, I'm excited to do so. This time I'm reviewing a robot mop the ILIFE W450. The ILIFE
W450 is a mopping robot and unlike most hybrid robot vacuums with mopping function, the ILIFE
has a rotating mopping brush that automatically washes itself during mopping. It also has two large
tanks for clean and dirty water. I used it almost daily for three weeks running it over a bunch of
tests to see how it performs at removing stains, spills, and dirt. In this video I'm going to talk
about the W450 pros and what I didn't like about the robot. Let's start with the package contents:
the ILIFE W450 comes with the user manual, remote control, two batteries for the remote,
charging platform, one spare roller brush, a tool to clean the robot, a power adapter, and the robot.
The robot has a glossy lid with a handle and unlike its older brother (W400), it has a built-in camera.
The handle helps to place the robot on the charging dock as it doesn't do so automatically.
On the top case, it has a short guide with 3 simple steps on how to remove and install the
water tank. A fluffy roller scrubs and polishes the floors. The orange stripe on the brush is rough and
supposed to scrub the floor while the gray area is soft and should absorb water and wipe the floor.
There are also two omnidirectional and two rubber wheels that are not as big as the ones we used
to see in robot cleaner. The wheels do not slip on the floor and by the way, there is an actual
purpose for the size of the wheels. Since the robot does not have restricted areas that would keep
it off carpets, ILIFE reduced climbing ability so the W450 does not go over carpets, but the
downside is the robot not being able to cross door thresholds. As you can see in the video, it doesn't
cross the thresholds in my place too, so I have to use the handle and place it in the other room.
This is a dedicated mopping robot, it doesn't vacuum your floors it only mops, so you still need
to vacuum the floors first. A built-in camera helps the robot to navigate around without missing areas.
It creates a map of the cleaning area but doesn't save it, so when you start the robot, it has to
build a new map again. As always, I tested its navigation and must say it is not as accurate
compared to Lidar, but coverage is close to 100% percent, although the robot skipped a
small spot. The robot moves in a purposeful back and forth pattern it is also pretty accurate with
objects. I have seen more expensive models that tend to bump into things harder. I had some outside
dirt left overnight and then tested its mopping performance. I firstly tested the Neabot Q11
on this area, but it didn't remove the stains. The ILIFE picked it up and did a great job. Another
con I noticed is corner cleaning, it leaves a 5cm area near walls and corners untouched
since the roller brush can't reach there, so you still need to wipe those areas manually once in
a while. In my next test, I used mayo, soy sauce, and coffee stains, and let them dry. After three passes
the robot removes the stains almost completely leaving a few soy sauce stains. Worth mentioning
that the stains it left were hard to remove even by hands and I don't use the cleaning solution
while testing the robot. The robot is not able to remove old stains but is suitable for keeping your
floors clean if you use it at least a few times per week. The robot is taller than average having a
12 cm body if you have any furniture that has a smaller gap the robot would not fit there.
it can't fit under my cabinets in the kitchen which is kind of disappointing, but it is what you have to
trade for two large water tanks. A separate water tank with wasted water allows this robot to wipe
spills pretty efficiently. Unlike most mopping robots it absorbs all the spills directly to
the dirty water container. It pushes small objects with its bumper but not too hard to worry about.
I also made a few mayo stains, after a few passes it left a residue and the floor was all oily, so I
would not recommend using it on big sticky spills like that. The app misses some functions I used to
see in Lidar robots but you can still track the robot in real-time to see where it has already
cleaned. There are two cleaning modes: cleaning and drying. Both can be set to go over the same area
up to 3 times. The cleaning mode mops the floor while the drying mobs shut off water
letting the robot dry out the floors. You can not schedule the robot to work in a specific room,
mostly because to start it, you'd need to lift it off the charging dock. A zoned cleaning is
basically a customizable spot cleaning you place the robot next to the area it needs to clean
and set zoned cleaning drawing in a rectangle smaller or bigger depending on the area size.
Besides that, there is a remote control feature and the cleaning history with map reports created
during the cleaning. It allows you to adjust water usage moving speed and brush speed. A
cool feature of the robot is customizable speed. I believe when the robot moves slower it cleans
better, but I normally run it at 100% speed. I have never seen such features in other robots.
Maintenance is easy, all you need to do is clean the filter and have a look at the area behind the
brushroll. I run the robot after two days of no vacuuming which I don't recommend doing so,
the W450 is not a vacuum the brushroll had wrapped hair so I had to clean it. But even if you use it
after vacuuming first I'd suggest washing the roller after every other clean anyways.
And the dirty water tank was full of wasted water too. The robot alerts when it gets full and stops
cleaning immediately. The robot doesn't dock itself it needs some maintenance after mopping
anyways, like refilling the water tank so it's not a big deal to place it manually to the charger.
I'm really satisfied with how it cleans, because the robot washes the brush roll during the mopping
cycle and absorbs the dirty water the floors of the mopping feels much better compared to
other robots I've tested. The low clearance gives some advantages, it doesn't get stuck
on objects as often as other robots since it can climb on most of them and just push them around.
Yet I would still pick up some tiny USB cables of the floor. The remote control is pretty convenient,
it has all the features you need for using the robot, you can manually control it like a radio
car, run a spot cleaning mode, adjust the brush speed and water usage, or disable voice prompts.
If you are looking for a robot mop, the ILIFE w450 is a unique one as it has two
large containers inside for clean and dirty water. It washes the brush during cleaning
and does a better job than most competitors especially in the price range of around 300 USD.
Navigation is good enough too. But like any other robot, it has its cons:
it doesn't clean corners quite well; because of reduced clearance you have to manually put it
on the dock and move it between the rooms if you have door thresholds but at the same time
there is no need to set virtual boundaries as the robot doesn't go over carpets whatsoever. Because
of its tall body, it might not fit under most of your furniture. The app lacks some features like
no-go zones but work smoothly. I haven't noticed bugs or crushes. The ILIFE W450 is not a vacuum
and you have to understand it, you would need to vacuum first but the results are totally worth it.