I’m obsessed with how easy this robot lawn mower is to use – it actually worked first try

What is the Mova ViAX 300?

The Mova ViAX 300 is a robot lawn mower that skips the two things I thought were required: a buried boundary wire and an RTK base station. Instead, it uses something called UltraEyes 1.0, which is basically a pair of smart cameras that help it see your yard like a self-driving car sees the road. It maps out the edges, dodges obstacles, and figures out where to go as it works.

​You set it up in the MOVAhome app on your phone. It is designed for lawns up to 300 square metres and can manage multiple zones or two independent maps if your lawn is split into separate areas. Here’s my honest review. 

How did my test go?

In my test run, everything went smoothly. Here’s what happened.

Setting up

The box was huge, but it opened with no trouble. I pulled out all the parts right away. The guide is big and actually easy to follow, which I appreciated. To set up the robot, I just connected two pieces to make the charging dock, plugged it in, and put the robot on top. That was all it took.

Connecting the robot to my phone and Wi-Fi was simple and actually worked on the first try. After testing so many robot vacuums, pool cleaners, and other robot mowers, I have to say this has never happened to me before. I still have a robot vacuum that has never connected to my Wi-Fi. So I am genuinely impressed with how easy the set-up was with this device. 

Mapping

Next up was mapping my yard. My place is pretty flat and almost a rectangle, so there weren’t many obstacles to worry about. You set the starting point, then drive the robot around the edge like a remote-control car. After that, it goes out again on its own to learn a bit more with its AI camera and get a better feel for the yard. Once it finishes, it’s good to mow.

Mowing

Press ‘start mowing’, and it takes off. A notification will tell you how long the job will take. In my case, it was an hour and 15 minutes. Instead of getting on with my day like most people probably would, I actually found it oddly relaxing to just sit and watch it work. One thing I noticed was how quiet it was in comparison to an actual lawn mower. Will small children who still nap, that is definitely a plus for me. 

There is no grass catcher, but the clippings work as mulch for your lawn. If you mow your lawn regularly, the clippings won’t be that long anyway. It avoided the clothesline during my test, although I’d still recommend removing small toys, cords, and pet waste before each mowing cycle for an even cut.

Note: MOVA recommends cutting grass taller than 10cm before using the mower.  But that was fine for me. To change the blade height, just flip the lid on top and turn the knob.