Regular readers will know that in our home we welcome robot helpers into the family, we name them. Sadly we don’t get too attached to the robot Vacuums because we review so many they are a bit transient, but our robot Lawn Mower Edward has been with us for three years however, his time is up. He’s been replaced by the Goat. Literally.
When I say literally, I don’t mean a four legged Goat, I mean the brand new Ecovacs Goat G1 robot lawn mower.
Setting up Edward was an exercise, one I was totally down for and got done no issues – but running a wire around your entire lawn just feels like a big deal and i’ve got zero doubt it’s the reason many people choose not to install a robot lawn mower.
Ecovacs has taken a different approach. Instead, inside the box with your Goat (we called him Garry by the way), you’ll get two “beacons”. These beacons need battery power (included) and are simply pushed and screwed into the ground at corners of your yard. I have an L shaped yard so needed an additional beacon to really make it work, but a standard yard should be ok with the two.
Top right of this photo you’ll see one of the beacons:
So there’s no wire to run at all.
Power needs to go to the Robot base station, but that’s the same with any Robot Mower.
Here’s the thing though, I’m thinking – how the hell does it know where the edges of my lawn are, what’s path and what’s grass.
While it’s smart – it’s not that smart, instead, we get to play remote control during setup.
Using your Smartphone, you drive the Goat around the very edge of your yard. It learns this and makes it the map!
Took me two goes, and I realised this is done with a Bluetooth connection, so you need to walk close behind your Goat when teaching it your border.
So at this point, I think it’s all very cool.
Then it gets better, way better.
I sent Garry the Goat out for a mow, and i was shocked.
This was not random. Other mowers I’ve tried and seen just go out and randomly mow. Totally fine, but after a big week of rain when the Robot has stayed docked and you send it out to trim again, it looks horrible for a day or three while it all gets done.
The Ecovacs Robotics Goat G1 mows your lawn like you do. Up and back, in lines.
You can even choose, and change the direction – which I have found is a great way to get the best overall finished look.
These photos won’t do it justice, but trust me, there’s visible lines that Garry did his job.
The Goat is a big, big unit. Double the size of our Worx Landroid, taller, longer, wider.
What the Ecovacs Goat does NOT do is cut to the edge of the machine. Something Worx pride themselves on, and worked great if you could manage your boundary wire perfectly. But let’s be real, we’re still trimming the edges manually, so I haven’t noticed I’ve had more to do in the few months using Garry not Edward.
You can send it out in Edge mode so it focuses on that boundary you first set and trims that well.
One thing I have certainly noticed is it’s drive, motor and wheels. Edward was getting stuck on thick thatched grass struggling to turn around, needed rescuing several times a week. I’ve never had to rescue Garry the Ecovacs Goat G1.
On board is a fair bit of vision AI – through sensors and a 360 camera.
Yes, you can remote control the Goat and see what’s happening in your backyard. Likewise you can put it into a “Guard” mode, but in my testing that just makes the Goat shout out that it’s in guard mode, doesn’t record any video or otherwise, so – just get a security camera or two folks.
However, I put a gas bottle in the middle of the lawn to test if it was just bump and mow, or detecting it – it went around it.
Even showed on the map that it had not mowed that area.
You can send the Ecovacs Goat out to mow manually, or as I have, put it on an Automatic Schedule.
The Goat is capable of a cutting area of 1600m2 and it will do 600m2 per day. That’s plenty for the average home.
The same restrictions apply as any other robot mower though, it’s only mowing continuous lawns, it won’t go out and open the gate to mow the front yard too – unless they are interconnected.
In answer to all the regular questions I get about robot mowers:
- where do all the clippings go?
- This is a trim and mulch style – so your clippings are going into the lawn. If you’re a real lawnie, you’ll probably mow low every few months in addition to having a robot for ongoing maintenance
- how often do you use it?
- In summer, your robot will probably be out each and every day trimming that lawn.
What I also notice is less weeds with a Robot – they just don’t get a chance to pop their heads up I guess.
The price is the only thing to put you off here. $2999 is a big bit of coin.
But, if you’re paying someone to do the yard, this will offset over a decent period of time, all I do out the back now is just trim the edges every few weeks.
Garry really is the greatest of all time – the Goat. As well as being an Ecovacs Goat G1 of course:)
If you’ve got a decent back yard, I’d 100% consider a robot lawnmower, it’s been a gamechanger for us, and the Goat G1 has upped that game big time.
Hard to ignore the Ecovacs option if you’ve got any Ecovacs Robots inside the home too – a single app to control it all – yes please.
