ZDNET's key takeaways
- The Mammotion Luba 2 3000H is offered for $2,499.
- Constructed to deal with uneven terrain, the Luba 2 is an all-wheel-drive (AWD) dependable robotic mower with a GPS-powered perimeter that’s surprisingly simple to arrange.
- The Mammotion app just isn’t very user-friendly and might get buggy after a firmware replace.
Mowing the garden is one in every of my favourite chores. It lets me give attention to an uninterrupted job that satisfies my OCD, with the bonus of finishing my train ring on my Apple Watch. However despite the fact that it's a chore I take pleasure in, it nonetheless steals a few hours away from my all-too-short weekend.
Additionally: The very best robotic mowers of 2024
That's the place the Mammotion Luba 2 is available in. Think about the scene: you are taking the canine out for a stroll and are available house to a superbly mowed garden regardless of it being an overgrown mess simply an hour earlier than. When you have been gone, the robotic mower took care of the unruly grass and left a stupendous checkered sample in its wake. I'm glad to say that this dream grew to become a actuality with the Luba 2, and though it has its quirks, it handles the chore of garden mowing with effectivity and ease.
ZDNET RECOMMENDS
Mammotion Luba 2
The Mammotion Luba 2 is a GPS robot mower with no boundary wires that can expertly navigate uneven terrain, with an AWD capable of handling slopes of up to 38 degrees.
particulars View at Amazon
After I acquired the Mammotion Luba 2 for evaluation, the one wire-free GPS robotic mower I'd beforehand used was the EcoFlow Blade. As you may learn in that evaluation, organising the Blade was dreadful. It occupied hours of my Sunday afternoon, leading to bickering between my husband and me and repeated explanations to the children that no, we gained't be using the robotic across the yard.
This time, organising the mower fell to my husband on a day after I wasn't house. I deliberate on serving to him with the setup upon my return, however I used to be pleasantly stunned to seek out all of it executed after I returned. In reality, he had nothing however reward for the Mammotion's simple setup, because it was accomplished in underneath two hours — from unboxing to up and working within the yard.
In distinction, organising the previous robotic mower, the EcoFlow Blade, was a tedious, two-person job as a result of it couldn't get a adequate sign regardless of the place we positioned the GNSS antenna in our yard. For the Mammotion Luba 2, we hadn't even put the antenna within the yard—it was nonetheless propped up on the deck—but it was already related to the mower and dealing fantastic.
The Mammotion Luba 2 had no points chopping by two weeks' price of development.
We had been so cautious about the place we put the EcoFlow antenna due to the sign points throughout the set up course of, and right here, the Luba 2's antenna seamlessly related by itself from a random place on the deck. If that doesn't inform you it's a extra superior RTK-GNSS system, I don't know what does. I'll replace my evaluation of the Luba 2 as soon as I set up the pole completely, add the Storage, and do a few months' price of testing.
Additionally: This robotic garden mower is so spectacular my neighbors come to observe it mow
Mapping is straightforward and fairly enjoyable. You simply stroll behind it, steering it round your yard utilizing your smartphone with the Mammotion app as a distant management. After you full the mapping course of, the Luba 2 mows the route independently. The app additionally permits you to give the mower a reputation, so naturally, I named it Andretti because it resembles a Method 1 automobile (and in addition so I can ask my husband whether or not Andretti has executed its runs as we speak).
My present yard is battling a long time of neglect, turning into a mixture of clovers and grass, however the Luba 2 cuts easily by all of it.
We've been getting a number of rain currently, which has made the grass develop like loopy. This quick development has ensured Andretti's work is lower out for it and helped me collect many hours of testing over the previous couple of months.
Additionally: I attempted a window-cleaning robotic and issues went surprisingly properly
All through testing, I've discovered the Mammotion Luba 2 able to navigating uneven terrain with out affecting its map. For instance, when different robotic mowers slide down a slope sideways, it usually disrupts their mapping, and as an alternative of correcting their place, they proceed from an incorrect spot. This ends in missed patches and the mower winding up exterior the protection space. In my testing, the Luba 2 by no means fell sufferer to this glitch. Though it did slide down a number of instances, it all the time righted its positioning and maintained the identical map.
The Mammotion Luba 2 seamlessly navigates uneven terrain.
Sadly, the Mammotion app isn't very intuitive; altering settings would require some menu looking and trial and error. Nonetheless, it’s loaded with options. You should utilize the app to alter the mowing sample from stripes to checkered and extra, arrange completely different zones, together with no-go zones for swimming pools or backyard beds, organize the trail order, and alter the mowing top.
Additionally: The very best robotic vacuum mops of 2024: Professional examined and reviewed
When mapping, the perimeter you stroll with the Luba 2 is identical that will probably be adopted when the robotic is out mowing. It's a bit difficult to stroll and steer the robotic in a superbly straight line alongside the perimeter of your property, so I want you possibly can straighten boundary traces within the app after creating the map.
The Luba 2 proved irreverently constant when mowing alongside the perimeter. I can see the robotic mowing alongside curved traces that I mistakenly made throughout mapping, but it surely does it the identical manner each time.
The trail traces the Mammotion Luba 2 created, as captured by my Blink Out of doors digicam.
Although the Mammotion Luba 2 appears to be like just like the Ferrari of mowers, it does the laps across the garden at its personal tempo. It's not gradual in comparison with different robotic mowers, however don't count on it to stay as much as its appears to be like and change into a turbo turf-tamer.
My Luba 2 drifted from its path six instances throughout testing. A type of instances, it ended up in my neighbor's yard, which is far lower than preferrred as they're very explicit about how they mow it, however this seems to have occurred throughout positioning and never when the blades have been engaged, fortunately. One other time, it failed by going underneath the deck and shedding its sign. It wasn't ever imagined to go underneath the deck, however I suppose it was taking a shortcut to the pole place (I’m actually sorry about that one).
You may also steer the robotic within the app to manually mow over robust areas the place you assume it might drift away – that is additionally function for touching up areas that want it. The Mammotion app additionally presents first-person view (FPV), so you may verify the place your robotic is at any time if it will get stranded and also you're not there to see it.
ZDNET's shopping for recommendation
I'm conscious these GPS-powered robots make errors as this new know-how continues to be being perfected for accuracy, so I typically don't thoughts these hiccups. However I do discover the Mammotion Luba 2 is far much less vulnerable to errors than the EcoFlow Blade. I can depend a lot on Andretti following its map that I really feel okay letting it mow the unfenced entrance garden, even the choosy neighbors' facet, one thing I might by no means let the Blade do.
Additionally: All the things you want to improve your tenting journey
Lastly, I really like how quiet the Luba 2 is. One of many strangest issues about having a robotic mower is that it takes care of the garden so quietly that it might probably escape your discover. General, I like to recommend the Mammotion Luba 2 for anybody who desires to reclaim a number of hours from the garden on their weekends.