I get satisfaction from a well-kept lawn, but sweating is something I try to avoid at all costs.
Robot lawn mowers seem like the answer to keeping my sweat level to a minimum.
I’ve had some demos of robot lawn mowers that needed a wire buried around the perimeter of the yard to define the mowing area. These robots would move across the yard until they reached the wire and then turn and take off in a seemingly random direction. In one case, the person demoing the mower said all the grass would be mowed “eventually.” This didn’t excite me.
Fast-forward a few years and I’ve been reviewing the EcoFlow Blade Robotic Lawn Mower, and the game has changed.
The Blade does not need a perimeter wire. Instead, it uses GPS to position itself and to map out a plan to mow the yard back and forth, like you’d expect.
I can’t remember the last gadget I’ve tested that gathered so much interest.
The first time I used the Blade to mow my front yard, multiple groups of people walking or jogging by stopped to ask me about it, and they all had a dozen questions.
I have to preface this review by saying the Blade is a first-generation product that is not perfect. I’ve joined a Blade-specific Facebook group, and there are plenty of people who have had issues setting up and using the Blade.
Many have vowed to return it.
My experience has been mostly positive, but there are some issues to be worked out. I’m happy to report EcoFlow is very in touch with the user base, and they have been releasing software updates every few weeks to add features and improve the Blade’s overall performance.
Setup
The Blade arrives in a huge box that contains the mower (no assembly required), along with a charging base and a GPS antenna.
The base and antenna need to be placed in your yard relatively close to each other. There is a wire that runs from the antenna to the base station. The base station also plugs into AC power to provide a charge for the Blade’s battery.
The antenna needs a clear view of the sky, so next to the house or garage or under a tree canopy isn’t going to work.
I have my antenna and base about 15 feet from my house in a flowerbed surrounding my deck. Note, if you move the base or the antenna (even a few inches), you’ll have to remap your entire yard.
To use the Blade, you’ll need to download the EcoFlow app on your smartphone. Place the mower on the base and it will light up and begin speaking to walk you through connecting the app to your home’s Wi-Fi network.
Once the app and mower are connected, install any firmware updates. The app will tell you when there are updates to install.
When you are ready to proceed, the app will walk you through mapping your yard. The mower will back itself off the base and a small joystick will appear on your phone’s screen. You use your thumb on the joystick to drive the Blade around the perimeter of your yard to define a mowing area. When you have defined an area, the app will ask if you’d like to add other areas (you can have up to five mowing areas).
Once you add a second mowing area, the app will prompt you to steer the mower to connect the areas with a path. The mower will use the path to move from one area to the other. This is crucial for the mower to be able to get back to the base when it is finished mowing or needs to take a break to recharge.
As you add mowing areas, you’ll need a path to connect them to each other.
EcoFlow recommends you stay 8-12 inches from the edges of the yard during mapping and to keep the turns at 90 degrees or less. I mapped my front and back yard sections several times to try to get better results.
When I first set up the Blade, the app would only allow for two working areas. The latest software update upped the number of work areas to five. If you need to remap an area, you can delete a single working area and remap it.
When you have one or more mowing areas defined, you can tell the Blade to go out and mow.
In use
You can choose to mow the entire yard or individual areas.
My back yard and front yard are separated by a narrow side yard walkway and a gate. When the Blade tries to follow the path through the gate, it inevitably fails and asks me to remove any obstacles in the way and try again.
I found it easier to mow the yard in sections, picking up the Blade and moving it from the back yard to the front. It takes a minute for the Blade’s GPS to figure out its new location, but the status light will turn blue when it’s ready to mow.
The actual mowing is virtually silent. The Blade uses razor blades to cut the grass. There are three blades attached to a plastic disk that spins under the mowing deck. EcoFlow recommends changing the blades every two months. The Blade includes a box with spare blades and screws.
The mowing height can be set from 0.8 inches to 3 inches, and the mower has three speeds (I stuck with the middle speed).
The battery can power the mower for up to four hours and recharging takes about 130 minutes. When the mower is finished or low on battery, it will dock itself if it can get to the base, otherwise you can pick it up and place it on the base.
The mower weighs 35 pounds.
If you think the front wheels look funny, you’re right. They are mounted at a fixed 45-degree angle and each wheel is made up of many smaller wheels that spin perpendicular to the large wheel. This enables the Blade to turn without steering the front wheels. It isn’t easy to explain, but it works well.
The mower has a cutting width of just 10.2 inches, but since I wasn’t the one doing the mowing, it didn’t matter to me.
The mower has Lidar and cameras for obstacle avoidance, which worked well. Sometimes when mowing close to a flowerbed or fence, the mower will hesitate and stop a bit short. I wish it would lower the sensitivity for obstacle avoidance when approaching the border.
How’s it do?
The Blade worked like I hoped it would, but it is far from perfect.
I found it best to let the Blade mow the largest portions of my yard while I mow the edges and awkwardly shaped areas with my traditional mower. You will also still need to edge and use a string trimmer to clean up the edges. Speaking of edges, you can set the Blade to mow the perimeter edge path after it is done mowing the yard. It will stick to the border you defined when you mapped the work areas.
The Blade will have the best chance for success with a flat yard that doesn’t have extremely thick grass. The more obstacles it has to work around, the longer it will take. I’m still not confident letting the Blade mow up to the front of my yard. I’m afraid it will fall off the curb.
It also misses thin strips of grass as it mows back and forth. I found letting the Blade mow each area two or three times was necessary to produce better results. Each area of my yard takes about 10 minutes to complete, and I really didn’t mind setting it off to work again. I wasn’t the one doing the work.
This is not a comprehensive review. I want you to get a feel for my experience with the Blade and then do some research for yourself if you think you’d like to buy one.