Segway Navimow i105E

Verdict

The Segway Navimow i105E and the i108E (which tackles slightly larger lawns) are great robot lawn mowers. With no boundary wire required, Segway has improved installation and mapping to the point where I had the robot set up and ready to go in minutes. Powerful navigation and obstacle avoidance, alongside accurate cutting that improves the look and feel of the lawn, make these robot lawn mowers an excellent choice in your average suburban garden. I’d have liked a motorised height adjustment feature, but that’s a minor complaint.

Introduction

Last year’s Segway Navimow H500E was the first robot lawn mower that I’d reviewed not to need a guide wire.

As freeing as that sounded, the truth was that the system was complicated to set up and expensive. Move forward a year, and the Segway Navimow i105E absolutely nails it: it’s cheaper, neater and setup takes minutes, not hours.

Design and features

• Works in gardens up to 500m²
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and optional 4G
• VisionFence camera aids navigation and obstacle avoidance

The Segway Navimow i Series has two versions: the i105E, which I have on review, and the i108E. The difference between the two is in the battery and paint job, with the i105E supporting gardens up to 500m² and the i108E (black and grey) having a larger battery for gardens up to 800m². Those kinds of sizes will suit most urban gardens.

Starting at just £949 for the i105E, the new series is far cheaper than the previous wire-free models that I’ve reviewed such as the Navimow H500E and the Ecoflow Blade, although both do admittedly cover much larger gardens.

Still, at this price, the Segway Navimow i105E makes itself easier to justify for homeowners with smaller gardens that would rather not have to cut the lawn manually.

Relatively compact, both new models don’t take up a lot of physical space, and have large drive wheels for dealing with slopes (up to 30%) and uneven ground.

As with other robots that don’t use a boundary wire, the Segway Navimow i105E uses GPS technology to position itself, here using Segway’s Exact Fusion Location System (EFLS) 2.0. As with the original, the system uses two GPS receivers: one external receiver connected to the docking station and one in the robot. Using Real-Time Kinematic (RTK), the signals from both receivers are compared, so that the robot can place itself to within a few centimetres.

I found that the original system was fiddly to get working. Trying to get the external receiver in a location where it got a strong GPS signal was really hard, and then there was the same problem in trying to place the dock in a position where the robot could get a signal. It was a similar problem with the Ecoflow Blade.

For this robot, Segway has fixed those issues. First, the robot is more tolerant and the GPS receivers are more reliable. Secondly, there’s a longer cable to the external receiver, which makes placing it on its stand easier (or there’s a wall mount that lets you connect to the top of a shed or a garden wall).

The app also has an option for finding the best signal where you drive the robot around measuring signal quality. All of these improvements meant that I had the base station plugged in, screwed into the ground, connected to power, and the robot ready to map within 10 minutes of unboxing.

Once turned on and connected to the app, with a confirmed GPS signal, the Segway Navimow i105E needs to map out the garden. With the previous model, I had to stick a 20cm ruler to the side of the robot, and then use this as a guide to keep the robot away from borders.

That’s not needed here, as the setup routine has been enhanced. Mapping starts off as a manual system, using the on-screen controls to drive the Segway Navimow i105E around the border, but there’s also a new option to automatically detect garden borders using the integrated VisionFence camera at the front.

Hit the option for automated mapping, and the robot will follow walls, flower beds and the like to create a map automatically. Neatly, this feature can be toggled on and off at will, and the erase button, when held down, reverses any mistakes. This came in handy with my garden, where one side of the garden is tidier than the other, so I had to use a mixture of automatic and manual mapping.

There’s a choice of two border modes: standard and ride-on. With the former, the robot gets up close to the border, but leaves a slight gap; the latter sees the Segway Navimow i105E straddle the border, which is handy for cutting down the side of paths.

With all of the options in the map-building section, I found it a breeze to build the map and have the robot ready for cutting.

Once a map has been generated, it’s easy to add areas to avoid, such as around tree routes or a garden pond. Additional zones, such as for front and back gardens, can be created with a channel between them.

You can redo the map at any point you like. For example, for no-mow May, I leave most of the garden to go wild, but maintain a small seating area and a path to it. With the Segway Navimow i105E I could do that easily; with a lawn mower that has a boundary wire, I’d need to relay the boundary cable in May, and then again in June.

By default the robot supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but there’s also an optional Navimow Access+ 4G model (£100), which comes with a year of free 4G (around £27 a year after that). With this module, you can control the robot where there’s not a strong Wi-Fi signal, plus you get anti-theft control, with the Segway Navimow i105E locking down if it’s stolen. Depending on the size of your lawn and how visible the robot is, this option could well be useful.

Via the app, a cut can be started manually, with the Segway Navimow i105E returning to the charging dock when it recognises that it has completed a full cut. There’s a scheduling option, which can either be set for a specific time, with the Segway Navimow i105E stopping when it completes 100%.

Or, you can set a longer block of time and have the mower continue multiple cuts during that period. I think the former is better, and having the robot go out two or three times a week is about right for my garden and grass.

VisionFence is enabled by default, using the camera to automatically detect and avoid objects, plus for enhanced navigation when there’s a poor GPS signal. There are a couple of features to control, too. Firstly, Channel Sense lets the robot move around obstacles in paths between zones; with this off, the robot will barge obstacles out of the way.

By default, VisionFence is set so that the robot won’t mow at night. You can override this feature, although it means that Ride-On mode won’t work. Given that night-time can also see snails, slugs, and insects come out on the lawn, it’s best to avoid cutting at night.

Weather adaptive uses real-time weather reports for your area, avoiding a cut if it’s about to rain, with a choice of sensitivity settings: light rain, drizzle or moderate rain.

There’s no control over the cutting deck via the app, with the motorised height adjustment of the H500E replaced by a manual control on top. This provides a cutting height adjustment of between 20mm and 60mm, which covers most bases.

I do like a motorised deck, as it allows me to reduce the cutting height through the season more easily.

Flip the robot over, and there’s a standard cutting deck, which uses three razor blades. These are dual-edged. With the Segway Navimow i105E adjusting the spin direction, the life of the blades is extended, and the app will let you know when it’s time to replace them.

Don’t have the app to hand? There’s a control panel at the back, which lets you start and stop a mow, plus a big red Stop button that you can hit in an emergency; note that the Navimow i105E also stops its blades if it’s lifted or tipped over.

My one minor complaint is that there’s no option in the app to turn off the base station and robot’s lights. There’s an option to dim the lights at night, but they’re still very bright and there’s really no need for them.

Performance

• Excellent cutting performance
• Smart navigation and obstacle avoidance
• Deals well with rough ground

Before the Segway Navimow i105E can be used for the first time, you need to mow the lawn so that the grass is less than 6cm high. If you don’t, then tall grass can both confuse the VisionFence camera and clog the cutting deck.

Once that’s done, you won’t have to touch a manual lawn mower again, and the Segway Navimow i105E proved to be an excellent robot lawn mower. Its navigation is excellent, and the i105E never ran into flower beds or strayed from the boundaries on the map.

With no-mow May, the Segway Navimow i105E avoided the wild patch I’d left behind; at the end of May, I’ll have to manually tackle this patch and then redo the map, but as discussed, that’s easy to do.

There can be a slight variation in runs due to variances in GPS. On one run, the Segway Navimow i105E might not get quite as close to a boundary as on another; however, run the robot regularly enough and you won’t see any differences in the cut.

Where the robot can use Ride-On mode, it will cut right to edge. For physical boundaries, such as flower beds and walls, the 18cm cutting deck is placed in the centre of the robot, which means it leaves around 10cm at the edges of the garden, which have to be tackled manually with a grass trimmer.

Rather than just running back and forth, the Segway Navimow i105E varies how it tackles a map, and the angle that it approaches a boundary. As it’s fully aware of the map size, the robot will ensure every inch is covered rather than bouncing around at boundaries and hoping to catch everything. That’s good news for battery life, as the Segway Navimow i105E will return to dock when it has finished cutting an area, rather than continuing to run until a scheduled time is up.

When encountering longer grass, the Segway Navimow i105E spins on the spot, giving a closer cut; for shorter grass, a simple pass is enough.

I was impressed with the obstacle avoidance, too. With a garden table, a pair of shoes, and a clothes horse, the Segway Navimow i105E just got close to each object but then either turned around or skirted around it. That’s great, as you can leave the lawn as messy as you like without worrying about the robot getting stuck or damaging something. Just remember to move furniture around if you want a clean cut.

By frequently cutting small amounts of grass, cuttings aren’t visible, and mulch is incorporated into the soil to feed the grass and help it grow. This year’s wet Spring has helped, but my grass is looking fresh and lush and has a nice spring to it. In terms of lawn health, robot lawn mowers are the easiest way to keep your grass looking good.

I found that this robot moved more easily than its predecessor, too. My cats will dig up bits of the lawn, leaving divots behind. I found that the Segway Navimow i105E could just power over them, continuing to cut the lawn without getting stuck.

As with other robot lawn mowers, the Segway Navimow i105E is very quiet, with just a gentle buzz as grass is cut.

Latest deals