ECOVACS Goat A2500 RTK Robot Lawn Mower, Lidar-Enhanced RTK+Vision Navigation, Auto-Mapping, Dual Blades, Edge Precision Mowing, Perimeter Wire-Free, Suitable for 5/8 Acres Lawn, 50% Slope Capability

This Ecovacs Goat robotic lawnmower has made such a difference for me health wise, and it works so much better than I ever dreamed it would!The decision to buy:I found myself needing to take care of my parents’ huge lawn. I decided that I could mow it with my small push mower, if I mowed a section every day or two. Then, the grass started growing faster, and it got hot. Soon, I found myself needing to mow every single day to stay on top of it. I have some health issues that really limit my energy levels, especially in the heat. After mowing each day, I was left with almost no energy left to accomplish other things that day, and the mowing was also triggering asthma. I was about to call a lawn service, which would cost $100 per mow. We had used them before, and the very large machines would yank out the grass and create big ruts, so I really didn’t want to do that.Then, I found the Ecovacs Goat on Amazon! I was really hesitant to spend the money, but after watching a lot of You Tube videos and studying the reviews, I took a chance and got it. This is honestly one of the best purchases I have ever made on Amazon.Set-up and use:Right out of the box, it was fairly easy to do the initial set-up and the auto mapping. In just a couple of areas, I needed to steer it myself, using the app, and once I got the hang of it that was pretty easy, too (and fun.) I did find the instructions included were somewhat confusing, especially because they showed a diagram of a different model, referencing buttons that mine did not have. Thankfully, I had watched enough YouTube videos and read enough reviews that I was able to figure it out. (So I highly recommend that you watch some videos and read the reviews while you are waiting for your robot to arrive, as that did really help ease the set up process for me. Despite the instructions being a little lacking, the set-up is actually not difficult at all, and the robot does a very good job of auto mapping. I have also read other reviews stating that Ecovacs customer service is very helpful, so there is always that option if you need help. I did not need to do that though.Once you have the lawn mapped and zones created, the app is very straightforward to use, and the mowing is really fun to watch!The robot does a beautiful job of mowing perfectly straight lines. The only thing to note, is that if you have a very tall weed, like a 6-8 inch tall dandelion, it will think something is there and avoid it. (I find that you can just stomp on the dandelion, so that it is tilted over, and that seems to enable the robot to mow it. Yes, I know that spreads the seeds, but I’ll be doing some spraying too, lol.)After mowing an area, the robot will go back to any spots where it thinks there was an obstacle, and mow around it if it is still there. So if you accidentally leave something in the yard, like a bucket, dog toy, etc., you can go move it and the robot will come back and mow that area at the end of mowing that section.This robot navigates hills and uneven terrain quite well. Our ground is pretty uneven (remember those ruts I mentioned earlier created by the lawnmowing service?) There are also several hills which I expected I would surely still need to do myself with the push mower. The robot, however, handles those with no problem! I was so shocked and extremely pleased!Conclusion:This little robot mower is very well designed, functions extremely well, and is very easy to use. I cannot recommend it highly enough!This will be especially helpful to seniors and anyone with health issues who finds it a challenge to physically mow. I am very impressed with the amount of lawn this little robot can mow. I didn’t initially believe my robot friend would be able to do the entire lawn, because it is slightly larger than the size listed, so initially I had planned on still mowing the front lawn myself….but, what a delightful surprise, he easily does the whole thing, front and back, slightly over 1/4th acre!Final thoughts:If you aren’t physically able to mow, or you have limited time for mowing, this is another wonderful option instead of using an expensive lawn service. This robot cost much less, over the long run, and it really does a perfectly beautiful job. It is quieter and much better for the lawn too! I am so happy with this purchase, and I highly recommend it!

The media could not be loaded. After mowing my own lawn for 20 years, I'm finally taking a break.This mower is not just plug in and run. It takes some setup but this mower does a great job as long as you take the time to set it up correctly.I've run this mower 4x in my backyard and am pretty happy with it overall.SETUPSo there is a little bit of setup and planning required to set up this mower. The app will walk you through setup step-by-step which makes it easy. Essentially you leave this mower docked outside all the time. There are some screws to secure the dock to the yard, or you could dock it on concrete if it can drive easily to the yard or there is a small ramp.After that the satellite sensor needs to be plugged in and run to the halfway point in the yard. At first I was worried about the mower running over the cable but there are hooks to secure it low to the ground and out of the way so the mower can go over it in the yard without any issues. I made the decision to put the sensor up when I'm not using it, but that is a personal preference.SETUP IMPORTANT NOTESI had a few issues that I had to go back and fix before it mowed without missing spots. Map well, ensure the satellite sensor is not leaning, and my personal recommendation: Set the mower speed to Delicate, not Quick). Also, it isn't going to tear through really tall grass, so make sure it is at a reasonable height before expecting it to keep your yard looking great. Since there is only one sessor I haven't tried running it in my front yard too, but I suspect you would need to map the front and back all at once then split it into sections.MAPPINGTAKE YOUR TIME MAPPING. I used the manual mapping (although there is an auto-map function) and ended up doing it again after rushing it the first time. It recommends leaving space between the fence when mapping, but I've found that staying right up against the edge of the yard works best. You don't have to have it right next to the yard since you can drive it to the starting point when mapping but it will need a clear path from the dock to the yard.I have some holes in my yard it got stuck in and was able to add "no-go" areas after the mapping was complete. You can either mark it directly on the map through the app, or even drive the mower to the no-go area manually. You can also split the yard into sections, mark sidewalks, etc. which will help with mowing large areas, certain sections, or generally scheduling mowing.MOWINGAfter fixing the issues mentioned above it did a fantastic job mowing my yard. I didn't turn it over until the 4th run of mowing my backyard and realized the blades are small but VERY sharp, so be careful. This makes the mower extremely quiet to the point where I wasn't sure if the blades were running until I saw the mowed grass behind the robot. You still need a weed-eater for edges against the fence and stuff like that (which is to be expected since you do that with a normal mower too.) I expected to have some issues with wet grass, but it did a surprisingly good job, although I don't plan to run it right after rain. There is a setting to delay running until 3 hours after rain which is nice for scheduled tasks.APPThe app is helpful for setup, seeing the areas that have been mowed, etc. There are not a ton of settings, but there are some helpful things like auto-resume, obstacle avoidance sensitivity (flat ground, normal, high grass) and mowing direction. You can set it to mow along exact boundaries or edge mowing if you don't map exactly it will get closer to edges (do not recommend it if you don't have a fence separating your neighbors yard). There are also sensors for rain and pets that will automatically stop it.There are some extra settings that I don't use but are nice to have like an anti-theft alarm and adding the location to Google maps.Overall this is a great little lawnmower compared to others that are 2x or 3x the price. It isn't perfect and takes some time to set up but is worth it once it is up and running!