I’m certain a few of you will have checked out robo mowers as Roombas in your yard however, sadly, lots of them require you to put in a boundary wire across the perimeter of your garden. And any product that requires you to dig a trench is the other of what “low effort” means to me. That’s why I used to be concerned about attempting Segway’s Navimow i105, its £945 (round $1,200) GPS-equipped mower which eliminates that busywork. And holding your garden neat and tidy is a job that’s all busywork.
Ask a gardener and so they’ll let you know the key to an excellent garden is to seed a chunk of flat land after which mow it into submission. Common, militant mowing kills off all the opposite flora, making certain solely grass can develop till every little thing seems to be well-manicured. However that relentless mowing requires a variety of time, a luxurious I’ve by no means had. It’s the type of job a robotic mower was born to do, given it could possibly scuttle round and trim grass with out you there.
Segway’s i Collection is the corporate’s newest, extra inexpensive providing in comparison with its pricier S Collection. The brand new models have a smaller battery and vary, with the i105 in a position to deal with areas as much as 500 sq. meters. In contrast to some GPS mowers, the i105 is supplied with a ahead going through HD digital camera with a 180-degree visual view. So whereas it depends on satellites for positioning, it’ll have sufficient sense to cease earlier than it clatters into an impediment. It’s not packing refined laptop imaginative and prescient smarts, but it surely’ll play secure lest it cost right into a pet, inattentive member of the family or prized flower.
I wished to check the Navimow as a result of I’ve no matter you’d name the other of the platonic supreme of a Good Backyard(™). My home sits on the base of a hill, with the backyard constructed into tiers alongside its peak, and the garden 1.5 meters above floor degree. There’s a sheer drop down its nearest edge and a foot-long drop alongside the facet the place the pathway has been reduce into the bottom. It’s a high-stakes check to see how correct the unit’s positioning is, given what would occur if issues went incorrect. Plus, I’m not green-fingered and my garden is often overrun with an orgy of Borage that grows quicker than I can reduce it down.
Setup requires you to plant the Navimow i105’s docking station and join it to a mains energy and standalone GPS antenna. As soon as the unit is paired with the app, you’ll use your telephone as a distant management to drive it across the perimeter of your garden. You’ll additionally rapidly be taught that what you thought was a flat garden has loads of hidden bumps and dips. Which meant my first few mapping runs left with me a really wonky edge that I needed to maintain tweaking.
You’ll additionally want to provide your garden a superb mowing earlier than you run the Navimow, as a result of it’s clearly not constructed to clear lots of unkempt grass. Spare a thought for me, as I used to be testing this throughout a typical British April, the place we get torrential rain and shiny sunshine in equal measure. And that may give your garden — and the weeds lurking therein — time and alternative to spring again. The unit’s impediment avoidance made it skirt even only a sprightly patch of grass and weeds, leaving me with a patchy reduce that meant I needed to get the lawnmower out once more.
Setup took about half an hour, which didn’t really feel too onerous given there’s a good chunk of stuff to do. Staking the GPS antenna into the bottom, operating the cables and locking down the charging station are all simple sufficient. I’m lucky sufficient to haven’t any tall buildings or obstacles blocking my GPS alerts, both. As soon as it was all working, all I needed to do after the preliminary run-around was let it work its magic with out supervision. And, on flat floor in truthful climate, Navimow does all you can ask it to do.
Keep in mind that the Navimow can have the identical limitations as every other robotic home assist (like a robovac). The slicing blades sit beneath the middle of its physique so it could possibly’t do edges until you decide to have the machine experience past its boundary. When you can’t try this, then you definitely’ll have to get a weed wacker to trim the unreachable edges of your turf. However I’ll admit, I’m very a lot an edge case in comparison with most people.
I used to be deeply involved about leaving the Navimow out within the climate, however the firm stated its IP66 score for water- and dust-resistance meant I shouldn’t fear. The corporate will promote you a cover that may sit on high of the charging station to guard it from the weather. You’ll must deliver the unit indoors from the top of fall to the beginning of spring every year, however that’s hardly a shock.
That’s a comparatively minor gripe, nonetheless, and I’ve loved the power to set this factor to expire regularly. As soon as the inclement climate and weed progress subsided, the unit confirmed its value eliminating round 90 p.c of the busywork I might in any other case must do. The very fact I’ve a neat garden that solely wants a fast trim across the edges has been a delight. And I’ve spent extra time within the backyard now than I might in any other case provided that it’s good by default, relatively than needing a mow.
Basically, you probably have a patch of floor you’d prefer to see grow to be a garden and don’t have time to do it your self, check out this. It is probably not the set-and-forget answer you can hope for, but it surely’ll cut back the quantity of effort to virtually nothing. And, whereas it prices a grand, if it lasts greater than a few years, it’ll work out cheaper than hiring a gardener to do the identical job.