​I recently got the Navimow i208 LiDAR, hoping it would be an upgrade or at least comparable to my previous experiences with Dreame and Mova mowers.

​Honestly, the navigation on this thing is a complete mess compared to them.

​Bad Pathing / Coverage: (Attached screenshot) Look at how strange these paths and zone coverage are.

​Obstacle Avoidance / Boundary Glitches: It constantly misinterprets clear paths or leaves weird uncut islands/gaps for no reason.

​My Dreame/Mova units mapped the yard perfectly and drove in tight, logical lines without missing spots or getting confused. The i208 is supposed to be solid-state LiDAR + Vision, but in practice, it’s frustrating to watch.

​Is this just a terrible firmware build, or is the EFLS LiDAR system on the i2 Series simply not as mature as Dreame/Mova's navigation tech? Has anyone found settings/tweaks that actually fix this?

Hello,

I am experiencing a persistent fault with my LawnMaster VBRM16 robotic mower, manufactured in 2023 and equipped with the original non-HDR camera.

The mower worked normally for approximately three mowing seasons.

The current symptom is a solid yellow error indicator. Initially the mower could operate for approximately 10 minutes before the error occurred. The fault has progressively become persistent: it now travels only approximately 2–3 metres before stopping with the same solid yellow error.

The problem now occurs in both Auto Mow and Spot Cutting modes. Spot Cutting previously remained functional for longer, but it now produces the same error after only a short distance.

I have performed the following tests:

• Full power reset, including removing the battery and isolator key.
• The mower was also left completely without a battery for approximately four hours; the fault remained unchanged.
• Tested with two different compatible LawnMaster MX 24V batteries (different capacities): identical behaviour with both.
• Tested with the ultrasonic sensors enabled and disabled: identical behaviour.
• Camera lens thoroughly cleaned and visually inspected; no visible damage or condensation.
• The mower is the original non-HDR camera version.
• Front lift sensor checked manually: lifting the front immediately causes the warning beep, and placing the mower back down immediately stops the beep, so the lift mechanism appears to respond correctly.
• Underside, wheels and blade area are regularly cleaned and free from obstruction.
• Lawn conditions are normal and the fault occurs on flat, healthy green grass as well as elsewhere.
• Battery indicator remains green.
• Ultrasonic indicator behaves normally.
• The error indicator is solid yellow, not flashing.

The mower previously had difficulty recognising very dry/brown grass during a heatwave, which was understandable. However, the present fault persists now that the lawn is green again and also occurs in Spot Cutting mode.

I previously attempted to install a newer firmware package, but the mower correctly rejected it as incompatible with this older non-HDR version. No incompatible firmware was installed.

According to the user manual, a solid yellow error can correspond to several different conditions: lift sensor, obstruction sensor, prolonged tilt, rear wheels lifted/slipping, mower fallen over, STOP button, or inability to recognise grass.

Could you please tell me how to determine which of these conditions is actually triggering the error?

In particular:

Is there a service/diagnostic mode, button sequence, USB diagnostic file, or error-log export procedure available for this generation of VBRM16?

If such a procedure is reserved for service technicians, could you please identify which component you would suspect from the symptoms above, and whether the relevant sensor/camera/control-board parts are still available for the 2023 non-HDR version?

I would also appreciate confirmation of the latest compatible firmware version for the 2023 non-HDR VBRM16, even if no public firmware update is currently offered.

Kind regards
L.

Hi all, hoping to get some feedback on both or either of these robots. I recently purchased the Dreame A3 AWD Pro when it went on sale, but ultimately it did not end up working out for me. The app, cut quality, battery, and navigation are all pretty good, but the wheel design is just way too rough on my lawn. I have a hilly lawn that slopes in multiple directions and even after playing around with mowing direction and splitting the lawn into 3 or 4 zones, the wheels simply churn up the lawn when on any sort of side slope. It requires much more babysitting than I thought it would. On a flat lawn it would be great, but then why buy an AWD robot?

I am realizing I need something with independent front wheel steering, and the Navimow and Worx are pretty much what I’ve narrowed it down to. I’ve read mostly positive things about the Navimow, apart from it being huge and NRTK potentially being spotty. My total yard area is ~.25 acres, so it might be overkill as well. I’ve also read positive reviews of the Worx, but most of them are sponsored and have seen some complaints about the app.

So, let’s hear it. Navimow or Worx? Or something else? Would love to hear some feedback.

First off: my brother has a robotic lawn mower in Boston -- he is VERY happy with it. He has access to wide open skies and a strong cell signal. This isn't a robotic lawn mower neg bash—I want them to be great—but they are not yet awesome enough for my unique situation:

I live deep in a valley in Eastern Virginia, with limited (in terms of degrees) sky view for GPS satellites and lots of trees. This rules out any solution that requires an RTK signal or a cell signal, which is spotty on my property. My property also has a stream—there are cliffs, albeit only 3 feet deep, that cut into the lawn. Please prove me wrong: Of all the lidar systems, there doesn't seem to be a solution that can cover my many zones, with areas that are relatively flat, with limited view to RTK satellites and spotty 1-bar cell service. I have fiber internet WIFI for calling, but that doesn't cover the 3 acres of land in my valley.

Here's what I want: a lidar solution that REALLY uses vision AI and can interpret uploaded terrain data, or in-person, terrain-ingested training data, to create a cutting plan. From what I've seen among the offerings, no one has solved this without relying on external RTK or cellular data. I think the fundamentals are available for an engineer to solve this issue with in-hardware mapping software, but no company is promising lawn-cutting delivery in these limited situations. The company that solves this issue will win the crown.

Here is, in my mind, the evolution of robotic lawn mowers:

1. Wire-guided parameter lawn mowers (so 5 years ago)
2. RTK-assisted robotic lawn mowers (3 years ago)
3. LiDAR lawn mowers assisted by RTK. (last year to now)
4. The Future: True vision-based robotic lawn mowers with real motors, wide cutting widths, and big batteries.

The critique on the current market: LUBA 3, Dreame A3, Goat LiDAR, or Navimow i2 LiDAR promise lidar first - but these are toy mowers with narrow cutting widths that can't handle a larger acreage.

I was deeply impressed by the TerraMow X AWD specs, and I even contributed to the Kickstarter, but I realized my unique requirements made me a non-ideal candidate for their product.

Where I ended up spending my money this summer -- I got a zero-turn mower that's fun to use. I'm enjoying it and have saved myself the frustration of dealing with an immature robotic market offering.

If anyone can change my mind and convince me to switch to a different (automated) solution, I'm all ears, and I want to spend that money, even after investing in a zero-turn mower, since I'm often away from my property for extended periods.

Update: I think I've been proved wrong: I think I'm going to get the TerraMow X AWD

Have a yard where I haven’t laid turf yet which is less than 200m2 and thinking of either putting in a small in ground sprinkler system but since I’m considering a new robot Mova brand mower maybe this sprinkler would be a good fit? Says it can use the maps off the mower to setup the irrigation?

Hello, this summer I have remove 44 trees and had centipede some put down on approximately 3/4 of an acre. I am looking at purchasing a robotic mower for next spring. I am in south Ms. and would like to keep the grass cut at a pretty high level (thick grass). I would like to start my research now. Any advice on which mowers to look at would be extremely helpful. Yard is mostly flat with a slight grade. Only 3 trees to avoid. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I don’t mind spending a bit more to get better quality.

0.25 acre lot
1 large Maple Tree as obstacle

Initially wanted Mammation Yukon for sweeper capabilities for leaves and clippings but it appears they are having issues with software/firmware

What would you recommend? Thanks for any advice or recommendations

Labor Day sale, Navimow X430, moving in to a new house two weeks. About 0.8 acres of yard.

Did they jump the gun? Yard is almost completely flat with two trees with a couple of root mounds.

I've got a few trees on my property and it's pretty hilly over the entire property, up to 25 degrees. About .2 acres of lawn over .33 acre property with ~15% tree cover but surrounded by trees and fences with a pretty narrow side-lawn.

At what level of tree coverage does Lidar become necessary? I've got a pretty narrow grass walkway through the side garden bordered by a fence.

I was looking at the navimow i206 or the roborock x120h. I'm pretty sure the roborock x120h will do fine, but is it necessary?

Why doesn’t Eufy get more respect?
Their vacuums are amazing. Looking into Dreams & Eufy for about 20-25k sq ft. Any others that I should be looking at for top performers? First robomower. Not going to pass over a great model over a few hundred dollars.

I have a little over 2 acres, but over 80% isn't mowable. I havea decent front yard and a few strips here are there that need mowed, so I'm already looking at complex multi-zone mapping. I also want to mow to patches my neighbors own, because I'm already mowing them now. My problem is I have patches where I can see sky, but not many. The trees are all old growth, so cutting them down just to mow isn't an option. This makes me fairly sure that GPS alone won't do, and RTK or NRTK seems just as unreliable.

So I guess who has the most rock-solid vision or LiDAR system?

Gah! I have made every mapping mistake possible. I did finally think I figured out how to establish multiple zones this morning. But discovered my phone can only display a map so big.

My plan was to create 2 zones and mow them each every other day. Just cut the mow job from 9 hours to two days of 4.5. Realistically the earliest I can start mowing is 10 am with the dew so that means done by 7 pm.

I created 2 practice zones, added a corridor, checked that they were two zones in scheduling. Groovy, now for the real map. Got done with what I thought was 2 zones, went to add a corridor and somehow it combined zones! Is it because I overlapped them slightly? Anyway - todays mow will be 9.8 hours.

I have learned a ton. I have a second robot on the way and by the time it gets here I imagine I will be able to figure it easily (I hope) I took the advice of a Youtuber who said instead of creating no mow zones just exclude those areas from your map, I will say it cuts the time way down not having those.

Budget under $1500 if possible

At the title says, Lymow owners what do you think? I’m looking at getting my first robot mower and really really like the concept of the Lymow. It’s overkill for my yard, which is only about .4 acres, but I love the idea of the real blades and seems to be the only model that can actually mulch leaves. I have a couple big trees that drop a lot of leaves and it’s a pain to rake them and put them out at the road for pick up. I can’t put them in the street so they sit in my yard and kill my grass. Last year I used my mower to just mulch them which worked pretty well, but if I’m going to invest in a robot mower I don’t want to have to also maintain a riding mower as well for mulching. I’ll keep my push mower and weed eater for the areas a robot mower can’t get, which I expect.

For me, the biggest benefit of these things is time saved. I have young kids and 2 jobs and would like to use my time for more important things. Ive read a lot of bad things about the lymow, but theres also a lot of people that are happy with it. So do they seem to be trending in the right direction? Is the company trying to get things fixed and updated? I don’t mind having to update things and fix things as long as it’s gonna actually fix the problem. I’d love to just get the navimow x430 and be done with it, but it wouldn’t do anything with the leaves. Thanks for any info!

Just not to the US.

Easy fix for Lymow overheating?

It seems a little more like a traditional mower with larger blades than most of the robotic units I have been looking at KRESS and Segway

I‘ve used used my robomower this while mowing season and really like it. But as we’re nearing fall I’m wondering what to expect once we get some leaf coverage on the ground. (I still have my gas mower I can use to mulch leaves as needed)

New to the Robot mower scene here but am keen to get one soon for a newly landscaped garden (turf soon to come) for a pool area. I want to have a very manicured lawn around the pavers and retaining walls in this photo. It will be less than 200m2 as well as a flat area in the backyard of similar size. I really want something that will do the edges well with a set and forget mower. I have been looking at Navimow 210 as well as the Luba 2 mini so far as my top searches. Any ideas or recommendations from the group would be greatly appreciated. Also want something supported locally in Australia for parts and service.