Segway Navimow X350 evaluation: Excessive-end mower, not-so-high worth

Greatest Costs At this time: Segway Navimow X350

Segway’s all-new Navimow X3 collection of robotic garden mowers boasts enhanced navigation savvy and onboard AI. The Navimow X350 reviewed here’s a large step up from the Navimow i110n mower I reviewed in 2024.

The Navimow i110n’s navigation was one of the best in its class on the time, and its chopping efficiency is incredible. That stated, I discovered the older mower—which can proceed to be out there on the market—to be underpowered, and it had an uncanny potential to search out its approach onto the road throughout my evaluation interval resulting from its poor cliff detection.

Segway has since improved its mowers’ obstruction and hazard detection with firmware updates, however software program alone can’t make up for a scarcity of energy. The Navimow i110n is nice for easy yards, however sloped and uneven yards will current it with all however insurmountable issues.

The Navimow X3 collection modifications that equation with much more energy. Segway despatched us the next-to-the-top-of-the-line mannequin X350, a 1.5-acre mower that retails for $3,499. The entry-level mannequin Navimow X315 has a capability of 0.5 acres and retails for $2,299, whereas the mannequin X330 ($2,700) can deal with 1.0 acre. The costliest mannequin, the X390, retails for $4,999 and has a most capability of two.5 acres.

Placing the worth in perspective

Ed Oswald/Foundry

Segway’s X3 collection of mowers isn’t the successor to its I-series; somewhat, it’s nearer to the H collection, which was Segway’s first line of robotic mowers launched in Europe again in 2023. Pricing is much like that line, though with much more capability and a bigger wheelbase.

Whereas the X3 collection is 3 times the worth of the I collection fashions, it’s just some hundred {dollars} greater than the H collection, with a lot sooner charging occasions. Relying on the mannequin, the mower might be absolutely charged from a useless battery in simply 60- to 90 minutes; that’s a 3rd of the time it takes to cost H-series mowers.

There are additionally enhancements in slope capabilities. The place the I collection handles slopes as much as 30 %, the H collection can deal with inclines as much as 45 %, the X3s collection has a most slope potential of fifty % mixed with a traction management characteristic, which ought to make slope climbs rather less anxiety-inducing.

Navigation has additionally improved. Segway is sufficiently assured in its AI to allow assisted mapping, and the X3 collection detects greater than 50 further obstructions in comparison with its earlier fashions.

One factor that is still lacking is all-wheel drive. The X3 doesn’t have that, however its ample wheelbase (10 inches); plus, a proprietary traction management system helps it climb slopes that others, together with different Segway fashions, can not.

Set up and setup

Ed Oswald/Foundry

Most RTK/VSLAM-based mowers require a substantial period of time to assemble the antenna and base station, as these parts play a vital position. That’s not the case with the Navimow X350. Whereas there are screws to make sure the whole lot stays collectively, many components merely snap into place, and it’s apparent which half goes with which. Thanks, Segway, for making every half a novel form!

Even at 10:00 p.m. (my neighborhood skilled daytime temperatures of 95- to 100 levels Fahrenheit throughout this evaluation interval), I used to be in a position to get the whole lot working in simply half-hour. In my expertise, that’s an exceptionally quick setup time for an antenna-based mower.

Mapping ought to, after all, occur throughout daylight for optimum outcomes. This expertise has improved since our final take a look at. With the Navimow i110n, the app controls on the time have been far too delicate, inflicting the mower to lurch in surprising instructions.

We did strive the AI-assisted mowing, with blended outcomes. Whereas it labored completely in mapping a boundary on a flat floor, on our sloped yard, it didn’t detect that the slope was far too steep for the mower, inflicting it to get caught. We’d suggest utilizing this solely in conditions the place your entire part of yard you’re mowing is mostly flat and free of serious obstructions.

Efficiency

The Navimow X350 doesn’t waste time mowing your yard. At the usual mowing setting, the mower (not less than to me) appeared to maneuver considerably sooner throughout the grass than others I’ve examined.

The mower’s giant 10-inch chopping radius (two inches wider than the I collection, and one inch wider than the H collection), delivers a faster mow with none sacrifice in reduce high quality that I may see. Robotic mowers are notoriously gradual and methodical, so it is a welcome enchancment. Segway’s newest navigation platform can detect and determine obstructions extra shortly than earlier variations, thereby enabling it to function extra effectively.

Ed Oswald/Foundry

The X3 collection alternates the route of reduce to stop tire tracks from showing in your yard, simply as earlier fashions do. Over time, it additionally optimizes the map it creates, making word of latest obstructions and guaranteeing every part is mowed in probably the most environment friendly approach doable.

You’ll discover this in how the mower behaves. Throughout the first few mowing classes, you may see the mower cease in its tracks often in the midst of the yard. Whereas it’d seem to be one thing’s fallacious, it’s taking measurements and making observations of its environment.

The following time it’s in that space, the mower ought to function extra easily, because it now has higher knowledge to by—and it did, in all however probably the most difficult conditions. Its nighttime mowing capabilities have been simply as spectacular as these of the Navimow i110n, which additionally carried out nicely in low-light situations.

The mower lacks a rain sensor, which allowed it to proceed working even throughout a heavy thunderstorm. As an alternative, Segway offers this knowledge through the cloud, which is a disappointment for a mower on this worth vary.

The X350 is extraordinarily quiet –it’s one of many quietest mowers I’ve examined thus far. You may mow in the midst of the evening with out anybody figuring out, though the massive Cybertruck-like headlight in entrance and the massive LCD show on the highest of the mower will give away its location at midnight.

Ed Oswald/Foundry

The show, which I initially thought was utterly pointless, has grown on me over time. The display resembles a pixel artwork show, that includes animated icons that point out the mower’s present standing.

Whereas charging, it shows a plug with the present battery cost degree. Throughout firmware updates, an animated cloud signifies that the robotic is updating. Whereas it mows, a progress bar seems on the highest of the mower. And if an error happens, the error code is displayed right here.

Now for the unhealthy information. The mower’s giant dimension makes it considerably troublesome to maneuver by tight spots, and to maintain it shifting in a straight line on any sort of slope. I needed to strive a number of totally different paths to get it to the decrease sections of my yard, because the mower would slide down the hill unexpectedly.

Segway’s traction management works remarkably nicely when the mower is touring perpendicular to a slope, nevertheless it doesn’t present a lot help when the mower travels parallel to it. Gravity takes over, and the entrance finish slides down the hill, taking the mower with it.

We’ve a small path that mowers should traverse to get to the decrease components of our yard. The X350 was too large for this path, and we couldn’t discover a route that the X350 may take with out encountering hassle.

It was one of many few points we encountered with this mower, and our yard is very difficult, with just a few of the mowers we’ve examined in a position to deal with the slopes; all of those have been all-wheel-drive fashions.

The Segway app

I received’t write a full evaluation of Segway’s app right here. I didn’t spot many variations between this model and the one I used after I wrote my Navimow i110n evaluation final 12 months. A lot of the modifications are particular to the Navimow X3, which I’ve mentioned all through the remainder of this evaluation.

Do you have to purchase the Segway Navimow X350?

Segway has stepped up its robotic garden mower sport in practically each approach, from its AI-assisted mapping and improved controls to important upgrades in impediment avoidance. The absence of all-wheel-drive, nevertheless, is a bummer. The mower’s traction management system helps, however solely when the robotic is touring immediately up or down a slope, not whereas traversing it.

However don’t let that dissuade you from shopping for an X3-series robotic garden mower—except your yard has important inclines or is oddly formed. The $2,799 Navimow X350 is a robust worth for yards as much as 1.5 acres; and for lower than $5,000, you may get the Navimow S390 for yards as much as 2.5 acres. Few robotic mowers off that sort of capability, and so they all value considerably extra.

This evaluation is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the finest good robotic garden mowers.