ILIFE A4 vs Roomba 650: Pros & Cons and Verdict

Robotic vacuums are one of the most frequently bought smart gadgets on the market. Since the first ever model was released in the late 1990s, robotic vacuums have come a long way, and today it’s an advanced gadget that can help people clean their houses.

There are lots of manufacturers that claim to create the best smart floor cleaners on the market. Some of these companies advertise poor robotic vacuums that can’t even relocate themselves. Such substandard products have given robotic vacuums a bad name and discouraged consumers from seriously thinking about investing in this smart home device.

Fortunately, several trusted manufacturers are now well-known for their reliable, functional and durable robotic vacuums.

Two of those trusted manufacturers are ILIFE and iRobot. These two companies have been manufacturing reliable robotic vacuums for several years, and they are highly trusted brands.

Two of the most popular and successful models from these brands are LIFE A4 and Roomba 650. These models are two of the most frequently bought robotic vacuums on Amazon and have amongst the highest ratings too.

To find out which of these two robotic vacuums takes the top spot, we’ll compare some of the critical aspects of ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650. 

ILIFE A4 vs Roomba 650: Pros & Cons and Verdict

ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650 are mid-range priced robotic vacuums, and they can be a perfect choice for those who are on a budget. These robotic vacuums might not offer the best features and may not have the best cleaning capabilities, but they can certainly deliver satisfying results.

ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650 are best-selling smart floor cleaners, and if you want to buy yourself a functional, reliable and smart robotic vacuum that’s moderately priced, these two models are excellent candidates.

1. Setup Process

I’ll make this as short as possible since setting up both of these robotic vacuums is kinda easy. It’s so simple and intuitive that it takes 5-10 minutes to finish up the process.

If you want to setup either A4 or Roomba 650, the only thing you must do is press the activate button located on the surfaces of these robotic vacuums and give the command to start cleaning.

After you’ve done so, ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650 will start cleaning. The setup process of Roomba 650 and ILIFE A4 is not something you should stress about or overthink. It’s so simple that it’s impossible to mess it up.

The packages of these robotic vacuums also include the user’s manual and if you find something strange you can’t solve, use it for further guidance.

Besides, both of these companies have superb support teams, and you can reach out to them and ask anything you think is relevant.

2. Design

Today, every person who thinks about purchasing smart gadgets tries to buy things that are functional and look beautiful. Today, no one buys products solely because of their performance capabilities. No one wants to purchase a product that’ll give them nightmares and scare away their visitors.

Besides being visually attractive, it’s important to know the dimensions of ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650. It’s an important aspect that plays a vital role in terms of cleaning your house.

ILIFE A4

The dimensions of A4 are 12.2 x 12.2 x 3 inches, and it weighs 4.9 pounds. A4 comes only in grey colour, and this robotic vacuum can boast being one of the most beautifully designed smart floor cleaners.

ILIFE A4 has a minimalistic design, and on the surface of this floor cleaner, there’s a single button that is solely used to activate or deactivate the robotic vacuum.

If you take a look at the picture posted above, ILIFE A4 looks pretty attractive. The design is quite simple, but it catches the eye.

I know a few people who already own this device, and besides being happy with the robotic vacuum’s performance, they’re all in love with the smart floor cleaner’s design. When I asked the owners questions about whether their guests ever felt drawn to, and commented on, this little shiny disk roaming around the house, the answer was, “ALWAYS!”

Suggested Read: ILIFE A4 Review: Pros & Cons and Verdict

So it seems ILIFE A4 attracts a lot of attention, and, according to the owners, it’s always positive attention. Some even call it a “spaceship”.

Roomba 650

The dimensions of Roomba 650 are 13.4 x 3.6 x 13.4 inches, and it weighs 7.9 pounds. Roomba 650 has a circular design, and the device is only available in black. What makes this vacuum even more attractive is the shining green around the ‘CLEAN’ button.

Roomba 650 is a traditional-looking robotic vacuum. As with every other Roomba, iRobot made sure to maintain the branded minimalistic look.

Unlike A4, Roomba 650 has several buttons on its surface that allows the owner to command and navigate the smart floor cleaner. Finding the start button is pretty simple since it reads as “CLEAN” and shines in green.

Since I myself have owned this device, I’ll share my personal experience. Roomba 650 was cleaning my house every day, and I had guests just about all the time.

At first, it was exciting that my guests were taking notice of my Roomba and complimenting it. They frequently asked what it was and why it looked so cool. After some time, I got bored of the explaining, but it was still nice to hear some kind words.

3. Performance

Knowing the performance rates of ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650 is essential to determine which of these two smart floor cleaners is worth the buy. The primary reason why people purchase robotic vacuums is their capabilities.

If a robotic vacuum can’t even clean our homes and eliminate the chore of vacuuming, what use is such a floor cleaner? So we need to find out how well these two robotic vacuums perform to avoid inadvisable purchases and headaches.

ILIFE A4

ILIFE A4 is the best robotic vacuum ILIFE Technology has ever released. It’s a best-selling product on Amazon and has one of the best ratings too. It’s a pretty good robotic vacuum that can help the owner clean around.

We’ve tested ILIFE A4 on a lot of surfaces. We made it clean dirt, fur, stains and dust. As far as the abilities of robotic vacuums go, I was pretty surprised with what ILIFE A4 had to offer.

It gave my room a good clean, and it left little to no dirt behind. It impressively handled large bits of dust, and as the dustbin is relatively large, it can hold large amounts of trash.

When ILIFE A4 had to clean soil off the kitchen tiles, it did a horrible job. A4 didn’t pick up any of the dirt. The smart floor cleaner spread the soil and made the room look messier.

The results were better when we switched the robotic vacuum to max power, but the difference wasn’t significant. Another problem of A4 is the random cleaning style. In other words, it has a poor understanding of the room it’s currently working, and A4 can’t analyse where the obstacles, walls and dirt are.

The above problem is shared by many, if not all, robotic vacuums that are in the mid-range price. It requires additional work by hand to complete the cleaning process.

If you plan to purchase a robotic vacuum that can help you handle day-to-day vacuuming, ILIFE A4 can surely meet your expectations. Overall, it’s an excellent robotic vacuum that can get the job done – but be ready to finish up the work since A4 can’t clean every bit of your home.

Roomba 650

Today, Roomba 650 is one of the most successful robotic vacuums created by iRobot. We tested Roomba 650 in a dirty room, and the results were terrific.

Roomba 650 took about an hour and a half to finish cleaning the room. To our surprise, when we checked the dustbin, it was full of dirt. Roomba 650 did a fantastic job and left few spots untouched. Similarly to the ILIFE A4, Roomba 650 also requires manual back-up to help the robotic vacuum finish up the cleaning process.

Suggested Read: Arlo Security Camera vs Second-Generation Arlo

Since Roomba 650 is an older model, it uses a random cleaning style and regularly misses spots. On the surface, it might not seem like a serious issue, but if you give it further thought, it becomes clear how problematic the random cleaning can be.

For example: 

If your robotic vacuum has a random cleaning style and the navigation system is weak (which is true for both ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650), and there are fragile objects placed on tables or stands, Roomba 650 (or ILIFE A4) can crash into them at high speed and make those objects fall.

The main problem of Roomba 650 is the trouble it has with mapping the room and detecting obstacles.

4. Features

One of the most important things people need to consider while purchasing a robotic vacuum is the features of those devices. If we rush and hit the purchase button prematurely, we might end up with a smart floor cleaner that has weak features and can’t meet our expectations.

To avoid this happening, we need to know the features of Roomba 650 and ILIFE A4. Hence we’ve created a chart that shows the features of both robotic vacuums.

ILIFE A4	ROOMBA 650
3-Step Cleaning System	3-Stage Cleaning System
Auto Dock & Recharge	Self-Recharge & Auto Adjust to Floors
AeroForce 3-Stage Cleaning System	Auto Docking
Deep Clean	Convenient Scheduling
Tangle Free Sensors	Virtual Wall Technology
Infrared & Cliff Sensors	Spinning Side Brush
Auto Schedule	Recharge and Resume
MAX Mode	Dirt Detection
150min Working Time	Simple Operation

As we see from the chart above, both of these robotic vacuums have pretty useful features that can meet the requirements of a regular buyer. If we had to choose between ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650 based on the charts, I’d go for the Roomba 650 since it has more diverse and useful features.

5. Cleaning Capabilities

Another valid topic we should cover is the cleaning capabilities of ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650. If we purchase a robotic vacuum that has trouble cleaning a single room and can’t even navigate itself, what use is an investment like that? So we need to know the capabilities and the limits of these robotic vacuums.

ILIFE A4

ILIFE A4 is a quiet, cost-effective robotic vacuum that has a criss-cross cleaning style. It’s similar to the ones Neato and Roomba use but slightly different.

ILIFE A4 has a simple cleaning style, and it mainly relies on a simple tactic whereby ILIFE A4 moves forward and backwards. Another thing we should mention is that ILIFE A4 won’t stop cleaning your room until the battery runs out. 

Since the robotic vacuum doesn’t have an advanced AI and a good navigation system, it can’t understand if the room needs any more cleaning. Making the A4 clean like this was a smart move since with this strategy, the chances of leaving the room half-clean decreases.

If you have a big house or just several rooms to clean, forget using the multi-room navigation because A4 doesn’t remember places it has already cleaned so you’ll be wasting your time. It’s more effective to make the robotic vacuum clean a single room at a time.

I don’t like the fact that we can’t wash the HEPA Filters. Direct exposure to dirt make HEPA filters extra filthy, and you’ll have to change them approximately every 3-6 months.

The scheduling has noticeably improved compared to the previous ILIFE models, and now it works flawlessly, without any bugs. If you tell it to start cleaning at 9:45, it’ll obey the command.

We tested A4 on different surfaces, and it coped with salt, fur, dirt and dust. It handled the job pretty well, but it left some visible bits behind.

Roomba 650

Roomba 650 is the most popular robotic vacuum iRobot has ever manufactured. It’s simple, useful and reliable. Like other iRobot models, the 650 uses iAdapt and scans the room with infrared sensors.

It helps the Roomba 650 understand where the obstacles and walls are, but it still can’t see things like furniture legs, so Roomba 650 frequently crashes into them at high speed.

Roomba 650 is a robotic vacuum that uses a random cleaning style and, like A4, it leaves some spots untouched. At first, it might not seem like a serious issue, but if you give it further thought, as we said, random cleaning style can cause a lot of problems.

For example, Roomba 650 might hit the same spot over and over and waste a lot of battery life ineffectively. But if the battery runs out during the cleaning process, Roomba 650 will automatically return to its docking station.

We’ve tested Roomba 650 on different surfaces to find out how thoroughly it could clean. We made Roomba 650 clean dirt, dust, salt, pepper and fur and the results were exciting.

Also Read: Blink vs Arlo: Pros & Cons and Verdict

Roomba 650 was able to clean 90% of the dirt. Whenever Roomba 650 finished cleaning, its dustbin was always full. What I like the most about this floor cleaner is that it’s quiet and can be left activated when you’re asleep or doing other things.

The most significant drawback of Roomba 650 is that it doesn’t send notifications when the dustbin gets full, so you have to keep an eye on it and regularly check to be sure it has room left to hold more dirt.

6. Advantages and Disadvantages

We’ve discussed some of the most critical aspects of these robotic vacuums. We’ve rated their designs, talked about the setup process, compared their features and discussed their cleaning capabilities.

As we progress to the end of our comparison article, we have two or three relevant topics yet to discuss, including the advantages and disadvantages of ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650.

We need to know the pros and cons of these two smart floor cleaners to make sure that we’re purchasing the right robotic vacuum. We’ve created two charts that show the pros and cons of Roomba 650 and ILIFE A4.

ILIFE A4

PROS	CONS
Power Mode	Regularly Gets Stuck
3-Stage Cleaning System	Weak Navigation System
Simple to Use
Self-Charge
Smart Cleaning
Good Battery
Remote Control
Smart Schedules
Infrared Sensors
Deep Clean	Purchase ILIFE A4

Roomba 650

PROS	CONS
iAdapt Navigation	Weak AI
3-Stage Cleaning System	Weak User Experience
Simple to Use
Self-Charge
Smart Cleaning
Good Battery
Relatively Quiet
Smart Schedules
Virtual Wall System
Works With All Floor Types	Purchase Roomba 650

That’s everything we can write about the advantages and disadvantages of Roomba 650 and ILIFE A4. ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650 have everything that a robotic vacuum should have. They do have some minor issues and bugs, but these two can certainly get the job done.

7. Support

ILIFE and iRobot have superb support teams, and those guys can help with anything you might need. I’ve talked with both sides, and I must say that the communication was fruitful. All of my questions got answered, and I always received professional tips and answers.

They answer pretty quick, and there are several ways for us to communicate. For instance, we can reach them by phone, email or live chat.

8. Comparison Chart: Roomba 650 vs ILIFE A4

The last thing we should do before concluding our article is compare these two smart floor cleaners directly. Since this is a comparison article, we need to choose a winner so that the reader can know which of these two smart floor cleaners is superior.

Hence we’ve created a detailed chart that’ll directly compare the crucial aspects of ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650. 

NAME OF THE ROBOTIC VACUUM	ILIFE A4	ROOMBA 650
Robotic Vacuum Name	ILIFE A4	Roomba 650
HEPA Filters	Yes	No
Full Bin Indicator	No	No
Smart Cleaning	Yes	Yes
Energy Usage Reports	No	No
Cleaning Style	Random	Random
Modes	MAX Mode	None
Sensing Qualities	Low	Average
Mobile App	No	No
Noise	Average	Low
Battery Life	Good	Good
Power	Weak	Normal
Dimensions Of The Product	12.2 x 12.2 x 3 inches	13.4 x 3.6 x 13.4 inches
Problems	Weak Navigation & Sensing Abilities	Random Cleaning
Unique Feature	None	None
Warranty	6 Months	1 Months
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Roomba 650 is a superior robotic vacuum that has better features, capabilities, overall quality and features. It has more satisfied customers on Amazon, and it’s a best-selling product too.

If I had to choose between these two robotic vacuums (and I have owned both), I’d go for the Roomba 650.

It’s true that the A4 exceeds Roomba 650 in certain aspects and, for some people, it can even be a better choice since it’s cheaper and durable. But if we compare their overall features and capabilities, Roomba 650 definitely wins.

The Bottom Line

So to sum up, Roomba 650 and ILIFE A4 are popular robotic vacuums that are manufactured by trusted manufacturers. They have a lot of things in common and some unique features that make them stand out.

If you’re looking for a robotic vacuum that can be more of a long-term investment, you should go for the Roomba 650. It’s more trusted, reliable and is a thousand-times-tested floor cleaner. 

Roomba 650 also exceeds other popular ILIFE robotic vacuums. For example, it easily beats, V3, V5, V7 and A6.

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A4 is also a good floor cleaner. It might not clean as well as the Roomba 650, but it can deliver satisfying results. If you’re not willing to pay a bit extra for the Roomba 650, A4, with some manual help, can keep your house clean.

Robotic Vacuum Name	ILIFE A4	Roomba 650
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