Segway Navimow i110N Robot lawnmower review: Perfectly trimmed grass without lifting a finger

I had a lot more time to enjoy my summer thanks to Segway's Navimow i110N robot lawnmower. This automated robot precisely mapped out my yard and cut the grass to my preferred length of 2.8 inches across the board. It’s even smart enough to change up the direction it mows in with each cycle to keep your grass at its healthiest.

This little bot cuts up to 0.25 acres without the hassle of planting a separate perimeter wire through a mix of satellite navigation and vision guidance. It uses AI to assist in mapping, can identify and avoid 20 different types of yard objects, and will automatically recharge itself and then continue mowing between larger jobs. In my time with it, the Navimow recognized and worked around obstacles like a large tree and birdbath on its own. This mix of cutting prowess and smarts lightened my weekly landscaping workload drastically from 3.5 hours of cutting and whacking to just a half hour of edging for touch-ups only a human could provide.

Is saving three hours per week worth the $1,299 investment? If you can accept some compromises, like its slow speed, I’d argue that the Navimow is a capable worker with pinpoint GPS accuracy that can replace your landscaper. Read on to see how its features hold up and where it stands among the best robot lawnmowers.

Navimow i110N robot lawn mower review: Pricing and availability

The Navimow i110N robot lawnmower I tested can cut up to a ¼ acre and comes bundled with a weatherproof docking station for $1,299 on Amazon. You can save some cash by opting for its little brother Navimow i105N ($999, Amazon), which has the same AI and GPS navigation for $300 less but has a smaller 2.55 Ah battery with half the 120-minute runtime and operates in a smaller ⅛ acre range.

Navimow i110N robot lawn mower review: Design

The Navimow i110N itself arrives fully assembled out of the box with a base that snaps together in two quick clicks. This docking station must be placed near a power outlet to charge the mower. You’ll also need to find a location with a clear view of the sky for the included satellite antenna which guides the bot. I lucked out, placing the base six feet off my house's exterior front wall, plugging the station into a nearby receptacle, and driving the pole with the satellite receiver into the grass directly next to the base away from obstructions like my roof or trees.

On the topside of the robot you’ll find the blade height adjustment dial below three physical buttons for operating the mower. Pressing the OK button powers on the mower while holding it down turns it off. The MOW (play) button starts a job while HOME (house) sends it back to the base. The bot's 24x15-inch body is seriously small—about the size of two large robot vacuums stacked atop each other — so it easily fit into the hard-to-reach areas like under a bay window and the crevices around a basement window well. A front-facing camera adds a visual aid to spot boundaries and obstacles. On its underside is the 7-inch blade disc with 3 individual razor-like blades spinning along the outside to chop away at the grass.

Navimow i110N robot lawn mower review: App

To get started, I turned on the mower and opened the Navimow Connect app on my phone to discover it over Bluetooth. I hit the big “Create a map” button in the center of the main menu to begin mapping out my yard, which I did by driving the bot around the perimeter of my yard like you would drive an RC car.

From the map creation mode you use the two onscreen joysticks to push the bot forward or to the sides along a live animated map. If you miss a spot, a press of the back button erases the last input and physically retracts the bot to its previous position on the path. There is an AI helper that had no problem finding the edges along my flower beds and walkway. It worked virtually flawlessly on the first, flat zone on my front lawn as it saw where the grass ended and mulch for the flower beds began. I still recommend creating this initial barrier by hand if your yard is sloped or has a fence. Mine struggled a bit on the other half of my yard divided by the driveway, where it veered off the curb and fence posts along the hilly sections to play it safe.

Sure, this process takes a bit of time upfront, but it beats the hassle and maintenance of installing a physical boundary wire around your property. I found this totally worth it as the bot followed this guideline with pinpoint accuracy. With the ability to create multiple zones for your map, I created one for each side of my divided front lawn and backyard.

Each zone can be named independently and customized for different mowing directions and schedules. This is also helpful if you want to manually send the bot out to mow a specific zone before company arrives. You can connect zones separated by paths by creating “Channels” which I made for the brick pathway leading to my main door and driveway. The Navimow Connect app experience is accessible and on a par with that of the best robot vacuums I’ve used so far. It's main menu displays everything from the map with your bot’s status information down to blade and chassis health.

A hamburger menu tucked away in the top left corner of the app shows you cutting report history and takes you to a scheduling page. You can set the bot to head out at specific times to all zones or specific zones only. From here you can also enable Anti-Theft features (provided you buy a separate 4G module) to lock it down once it leaves your property and provide real-time tracking information. I just wish you could connect it to more smart home platforms beyond Alexa to options like Apple’s HomeKit or Google Home to trigger it with voice commands rather than having to fish out your phone.

Navimow i110N robot lawn mower review: Performance

Each run starts around the edges and then cuts your lawn into neat rows with the option to change patterns from straight strips to diagonals. The Navimow’s VisionFence recognized and added objects like trees and a decor fountain to the map on its own, coming within four inches of their bases for a tight cut with breathing room around their edges. It also had no problem skirting around curbs and flowerbeds but ran over leaves, thin branches, and twigs without any impact. Its razor-thin blades won’t mulch up leaves, which meant I had to rake them once cooler weather arrived. With a standard mower, I can shred through those without worry.

If the edges of your lawn are on a relatively flat area, you can choose the Ride-on Boundary to let the mower mow right up to places where grass meets non-grass areas, which was helpful for my brick walkway. The mower effortlessly straddled the boundary when working to make precise cuts near the edges. Since it cuts the grass up so fine, you don’t have to worry about cleanup as the clippings fertilize your lawn without getting all clumped up.

It took the mower around 5 hours to cover a 700-square-foot yard. When its battery drops down to 15 percent, it returns itself to the base and comes back out when juiced enough to tackle the rest.

That’s definitely on the slower side when I can have that space done in half that time by hand. That said, it does make sure to make multiple passes and mark what it cuts live on the map so you’re not seeing loose strips or long patches that stick out like a sore thumb. I was also impressed that there were never any divots in the dirt. The sole issue I came across occurred when it fell into the street while I was away from home. I chalked this up to it being the first boundary I drew by hand and adjusted the section to be tighter and this hasn’t happened since.

Navimow i110N robot lawn mower review: Verdict

My standard 21-inch Ryobi push mower’s blade is always going to best the Navimow’s 7-inches in power and speed—that’s a given. However if like me, you don’t want to deal with it at all this robot lawn mower will get the job done without any strips or missed spots entirely on its own. At $1,299, the Navimow i110N is relatively affordable for the world of robot lawnmowers and costs even less than some of the best robot vacuums around.

I’m not crazy about the anti-theft features requiring a separate purchase LTE data module and plan for tracking. As far as core functionality goes, outside of a boost in mowing speed, the Navimow is a workhorse that’ll take all of the heavy lifting off your shoulders so you can spend more time doing other things in your day.

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