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Reviewed / Sam Gardner
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Credit:
Reviewed / Sam Gardner
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Eufy E18 is an amazing companion for any homeowner who has little time for yard work. It avoids obstacles and cuts well, despite occasional patchiness. Read More
The Segway Navimow is a comparatively affordable alternative for those whose lawncare needs and/or budget may be limited. Read More
The Worx Landroid robot mower can be used day or night but it struggles with yard boundaries. Read More
The Ecovacs robot lawn mower is easy to get up and running but it struggles to see small objects in the yard. Read More
The rise of smart technology has revolutionized household maintenance, and landscaping is no exception. Like robot vacuums before them, robot lawn mowers are increasingly becoming a viable solution for folks who want to keep their yard as effortlessly clean as their floors indoors.
However, with a variety of models on the market, each boasting unique features and capabilities, choosing the right robot lawn mower—or deciding whether a robot lawn mower is even a good investment for your yard and lifestyle—can be daunting, particularly for someone who is already content using a landscaping service or doesn’t mind “doing it the old fashioned way.”
To help you make an informed decision, we've tested several of the top robot lawn mowers on the market, including well-regarded brands representing a variety of navigation and cutting styles. There are many great robotic lawn mowers on our list to meet your needs.
Setting up the Eufy E18 robot lawn mower is incredibly easy. You take it out of the box, download the Eufy app, find a spot in your yard (near an electrical outlet) for the base, and then hammer it in place. Next, walk through the process of connecting it to your Wi-Fi. After that, you send it out on an initial run, and it does all your yard mapping for you, thanks to its semantic AI camera and stereo 3D cameras, which "ensures stable navigation through pure vision FSD technology with high-precision cameras and intelligent algorithms." No need for wires, GPS, or GNSS. It will even operate if it travels past the range of your home Wi-Fi.
Eufy’s product specs say the E18 can auto-map up to 1/3 acre, but we got it to cover close to 3/4 acre with minimal issues.
Obstacle avoidance, one of the biggest challenges for robot lawn mowers—and their older cousins, robot vacuums—has been problematic in the past, but is becoming more refined as time goes on. The Eufy E18 has little trouble. It occasionally got stuck in ruts on the boundary between lawn and wooded area, and also where the lawn met a retaining wall, but it was either able to back itself out, or we would have to move it manually. It happened so infrequently over the month of testing that it was hardly an annoyance. You can also set boundaries and “no-go” zones on the map in the app, preventing the robot mower from getting stuck in the same area repeatedly.
The actual mowing of the grass was uneven during testing—literally. During some outings, the mower worked its way across the lawn in orderly rows, clipping grass evenly. This was especially true when we had a long, straight stretch of lawn. However, when the mower had to tackle less boxy areas, like a crescent-shaped portion of the front yard with a circular mound for a lamppost, it got confused and made some interesting patterns on the grass. Ultimately, it accomplishes most of the mapped area during each run, but it occasionally leaves lines of longer grass tufts or random patches.
Eufy's app makes using the Eufy E18 robot lawn mower easy. It creates a map of your yard, which you can then insert no-go zones and boundaries.
For the best, most even coverage, we found it most beneficial to schedule the robot lawn mower to run every 2-3 days.
Speaking of scheduling, this is one of the many convenient functions that the Eufy app allows you to perform. You can also break your lawn map into different zones and have the mower tackle some or all of them at a time. Through the app, you can control the mower from anywhere in the world (like we did from South Korea, while the mower was in Massachusetts). The only problem we encountered with the app was creating a Must-Go zone across a piece of lawn that the mower didn’t initially map. For some reason, the E18 just never wanted to go there.
When all is said and done, the Eufy E18 is a fantastic companion for any homeowner who has little time for yard work. Will you need to break out a real mower every once in a while? Yes, for complete grooming. But in the meantime, the Eufy E18 will keep your yard looking sharp while you enjoy a margarita on the patio.
Easy to set up
Hand's off to use
Very good app
Easy to set no-go zones
Great obstacle avoidance
Occasionally gets stuck at landscape edges
Cutting can be patchy
The best robot lawn mower for the money is the Segway Navimow.
Nighttime cutting ability
Advanced AI
Difficulty with connecting yards
We set up sections in our backyard to see which is the best robot lawn mower.
Our robot lawn mower testing took place over several weeks during the early summer in Orlando, Florida, on fast-growing Argentine Bahiagrass. Each model was used consistently in a 2,800-square-foot, fenced backyard with a shed and patio, and a 1,800-square-foot front lawn split by a driveway, with the adjoining front yards not separated by physical barriers.
In addition to testing of standard features offered in a given model, each robot lawn mower was also evaluated on its effectiveness in avoiding objects commonly found in yards, including objects that were both moving (kids, pets, and other mowers) and stationary (a football, a lawn chair, and—once again—other mowers).
The best robot lawn mowers, like our No. 1 pick, can execute custom mowing patterns, like the stripes seen here.
A good robot lawn mower can autonomously navigate your yard following a schedule set on its own, trim grass exactly when and where you want it to without you lifting a finger, and ultimately save you countless hours of manual labor—exciting prospects for any busy homeowner or renter, particularly during the summer months.
Sound appealing? There's a good reason for that, as there is a lot to like about the latest advancements in the robot lawn mower space. Still, there are a few things you should know before you dive unquestioningly into the world of autonomous lawn care. So with that in mind, here are a few factors worth considering as you ponder whether a robot lawn mower is right for you.
The process of determining the best robot lawn mower for your yard should start with your interpretation of a landscape audit—a complete inventory of your outdoor space to ensure you find the mower that best meets your property’s needs.
Significant variables to consider include the physical size of your yard, the property’s slope and soil composition, and the minimum and maximum cutting height supported by the machine.
The latter point is especially critical concerning fast-growing grass in the summer months. Broadly, robot lawn mowers are not meant to cut long grass. Instead, these mowers follow the general approach that quantity will lead to quality, with the device running often enough on its own to keep your yard from ever becoming overgrown in the first place.
Robot lawn mowers use one of three methods to determine where they should go. They should not cut grass: physical boundaries, positioning antennas, or LiDAR—light detection technology similar to what you’d find in a robot vacuum meant for indoor use.
Of these options, physical boundary wires offered the most peace of mind when the robot cut the grass unattended. However, installing an electromagnetic boundary wire and guide wire can be a laborious undertaking on the front end, and overall, this style of robot is notably less sophisticated than those that allow truly wireless mowing. (We found it helpful to think of it like watching the iconic Bouncing DVD Logo dance around an old-school TV, except the logo represents the mower and the edges of the screen are the boundary wires.)
Further, we found RTK antennas to be the more effective “wireless” option we tested. The GPS-based system connects through a beacon at the end of a stake in the ground. It typically offers a reliable connection back to the charging station, which gave us confidence that the robot lawn mower wouldn’t be leaving the property, even if advanced tasks like returning to the charging station took some time to master.
It’s also essential to adhere to the setup guidelines (and warnings) that come with any robot lawn mower. Many will offer best practices for placing the charging station or other components, ensuring a strong connection and an efficient return to the base.
Different robot lawn mowers offer various levels of waterproofing to protect key components from moisture and rain, and all of the mowers we tested held up well amid the unpredictable summer weather. They even took on a surprise shower or two throughout testing and came out on the other side no worse for wear.
But even the most weather-tight products ultimately aren’t meant for full-time exposure to the elements, and it’s best to store a robot lawn mower in a dry, sheltered place during the wet and/or winter months to protect it from harsh weather conditions. Many robot lawn mowers, including the Best Overall and Best Value picks above, can also be paired with optional housing units—“garages,” if you will—that add a pop-up weather shield to the charging station if needed.
Robot lawn mowers come with security features to prevent theft.
Every robot lawn mower takes a slightly different approach to security, and it’s important to understand the anti-theft technology included with each device before investing in a product that will undoubtedly garner attention from passers-by as they see it in use.
For starters, the sheer weight of the devices certainly plays a role in keeping them in your yard—even the lightest of the robot lawn mowers we tested still weighed more than 10 pounds, with the Luba 2 weighing in at almost 40.
Additionally, many models require a PIN code to restart the machine after each use, and it’s also not uncommon for an alarm to sound when specific models are lifted off the ground or removed from the charging base.
Those with accompanying RTK antennas or other GPS components can also offer the ability to track its location if someone does walk off with your robot lawn mower, adding an extra level of security that turns the robot lawn mower into a giant Apple AirTag.
Robot lawn mowers may trim your grass autonomously, but they still need some help cleaning up after a job well done to ensure the next cut is as good as the last. Ultimately, the maintenance isn't that different from what you'd experience with a standard mower, with cleaning and regular blade replacement among the most critical aspects of the job.
It's also worth noting that whereas a traditional walk-behind mower operates using one large rotating blade that's up to two feet long, robot lawn mowers utilize several small blades, more akin to razor blades, which work in unison to achieve an even cut. So it's essential to remove grass clippings and debris that can hinder its operation.
It's also essential to check and replace the blades periodically to maintain sharpness, particularly if you're regularly asking them to trim an overgrown yard not meant for a robot lawn mower. However, if you're using your new robot lawn mower as intended, unkempt grass should soon be a thing of the past.
Leigh Harrington has 25 years experience as a writer and editor for myriad print and digital publications.
At Reviewed, Harrington manages Reviewed's overall content, including areas of focus like home improvement, cleaning, gardening, cooking, smart home, organization, and parenting. She focuses on developing and editing consumer ed content, product reviews and buying guides, but she also writes, too.
Harrington is also an experienced travel writer, and has authored books including Fodor's Boston, 100 Things to Do in Boston Before You Die, and Colorful Cities Boston, an adult coloring book. She was a respected, longtime regional editorial director at Where travel guide, and has written for other publications including the US News & World Report, USA Today, Boston Herald, Newport Life, Exhale magazine, Huffington Post, and many more. www.leighharrington.com
Sam Gardner
Contributor
Sam Gardner is an APSE award-winning sportswriter who worked at the Orlando Sentinel before spending nine years at Fox Sports, including seven as a senior writer at FoxSports.com.
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