EcoFlow Blade robot lawn mower in a practical test

manufacturer information

At first glance, the Blade is reminiscent of a Mars rover. But it quickly becomes clear that its extraordinary design is not only visually appealing, but also functional. The large front wheels with an angle of 45° enable better overcoming of obstacles and easier maneuvering in tight spaces. This sets the mower apart from the competition. However, EcoFlow also offers four other outstanding features:

• Virtual Boundary: Thanks to a GNSS receiver for navigation, there is no need to lay a physical boundary wire.
• route planning: Highly efficient mowing through a planned route, which means areas are neither double mowed nor missed.
• obstacle detection: Small obstacles (such as tree roots) can be driven over and larger obstacles (e.g. B. garden chairs) can be bypassed without contact.
• foliage pickup: With an additional grass catcher, the mower can independently pick up leaves.

Unpack & install

The Blade comes securely packed in a large box. Weighing in at 12.3 kg, it's heavier than expected, which is a rather positive surprise for us, as we're hoping for better traction from it.

The construction is very simple. Although instructions are included, we installed the app and followed all the steps there. The material used is high-quality and well-made, which makes the construction pleasant. There are no sharp edges and the connectors and cables are well labeled, making installation intuitive.

Before starting up, the receiver and the charging station must be placed in the garden and connected to the power supply. The manufacturer also offers a large power bank that allows for an island solution for the charging station. In our case, however, we used electricity that was available directly in the garden.

Setting up the mowing area

Next we set up the mowing area. We establish a Bluetooth connection to the lawnmower via the app and follow the instructions of the setup assistant. With the arrow keys displayed on the smartphone, we steer the mower along the edges of the mowing area until it is completely surrounded.
Permanent obstacles like a pond or a tree can be entered in the same way. We have defined an area of ​​freshly seeded grass as a no-go area to prevent the mower from driving there.

If the garden consists of several separate areas, it is also possible to create a second garden in the app. In this case, a path must also be defined, which the mower uses to drive between the areas.

Setting up the mowing areas went smoothly. In order to test the customer support, we contacted the manufacturer and were pleasantly surprised when we quickly reached a real contact person in the chat.

challenges

As already mentioned at the beginning, the Blade stands out from other robot lawn mowers in a number of aspects. In order to test these features extensively, we have prepared various challenges.

route planning

Thanks to the mapping and the GNSS antenna, the robotic lawnmower is able to recognize its position on the route and follow a given route. This sets it apart from other machines that use more random mowing patterns, which means it should be able to cover the entire area with each use.

Our test has shown that the mower creates a route and follows it precisely. At the beginning of the video he can be seen turning around to change route. The specified area is mowed perfectly and left-out areas are reliably left out. As for the edges, we found the Blade to drive on sight. Due to the demanding proving ground, the edges aren't always perfectly trimmed. Nonetheless, we are optimistic that he will achieve excellent results on easier terrain.

judgement: The biggest advantage is the non-necessity of physical boundary wires. In this way, mowing and restricted areas can be spontaneously redefined without having to dig up the garden. As a compromise, the system requires a receiver, which, however, could be unobtrusively integrated into the garden. The intelligent routing gives you the good feeling that the mower is doing its job 100% without having to cover unnecessarily long distances.

Avoiding large obstacles

With the help of a LiDAR sensor and a camera, the mower creates a three-dimensional map of the area. This allows obstacles along the planned route to be detected and avoided in real time. This distinguishes the Blade from many conventional models, which do not always work correctly with ultrasonic and shock sensors.

During our tests, the robotic lawnmower recognized and avoided all larger objects such as toys or garden chairs without any problems. After detouring, he returns to the originally planned route. A scene about this is in Video (0min57s) documented.

judgement: Temporary obstacles are mastered excellently by the robot without leaving large uncut areas.

Climbing over small obstacles

Thanks to the large front wheels with a diameter of 20 cm and good traction, the Blade should be able to negotiate small obstacles up to 4 cm high.

To check this function, we simulated a tree root with a weighted wooden slat and let the mower drive over it. Like in Video (1min50s) can be seen, the obstacle is easily crossed. During the tests, we observed that on various objects in the limit of +/- 4 cm lie, the decision as to whether the object is driven around or driven over is made depending on the situation becomes.

judgement: Overcoming obstacles works well. Sometimes it is incomprehensible why an obstacle is climbed over or avoided. In no case, however, was there any damage.

Abort in case of splashing water

The mower is splash-proof (IPX5) and equipped with a rain sensor. In rainy weather, the mowing process should be stopped and the device should return to the charging station.

To simulate precipitation, we artificially sprinkled the mower with water. He didn't react to the first drops of water, but as the humidity increased, he deviated from his route and headed towards the charging station (see Video 2min06s). The demolition is displayed in the app and the remaining uncut area is highlighted in color.

judgement: The rain sensor works reliably.

collect leaves

According to the manufacturer, the Blade is the world's first lawn sweeper robot. Camera and sensors are designed to foliage and pinecone Recognize and collect before and after mowing. The sweeping set is sold separately.

At the time of our test, the sweeping function in the app was unfortunately not yet activated. We will report the results here in due course.

Conclusion

Overall, the Blade robotic lawnmower impressed us. The mowing performance is excellent and although the device can be heard during use, it is not perceived as a nuisance. Obstacle detection offers additional safety and the virtual area boundary represents a major advantage over conventional models.

Despite the uneven test terrain, which was characterized by molehills, the Blade mastered the challenges with confidence. The well thought-out weight distribution and traction of the device plays a decisive role here.

In our opinion, the Blade robotic lawnmower currently offers the best range of functions on the market. For all those who are at the lawn care don't want to compromise, this device is the ideal choice. Due to the very large mowing spectrum (20 - 76mm) and the flexible choice of area, the Blade is suitable for gardens with short-mown areas as well as for natural gardens with unmown flowering islands.

A possibly deterring factor could be the high price of RRP 2,999 euros. Also, for some users, installing a GNSS receiver may be less appealing than the use of a physical boundary wire, although the receiver has additional flexibility offers.

Note: The manufacturer provided us with the product for the test. Nevertheless, our research, the test setup and the evaluation were not influenced in any way.

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