Chinese Robotic Mowers

[Jerry]

I have found a site http://www.esaleschina.com/robot-mower-lawn-mower-robotic-lawn-mower-2299.htm that is selling multiple Chinese brands of robotic mowers priced from $570 to $800. First off this particular site charges about $170 for shipping(I have already found a site that offers the IMower for $870 with shipping costs included) and I would be a little wary of buying one unless it was sold by a dealer that is located in the US because of support issues dealing with a Chinese supplier, also there could be an issue with availability of accessories/replacement parts and on top of that there would be a long wait to have the parts shipped here. That aside the prices for these mowers is great and I do not expect there reliability to be excellent but I am willing to bet that the reliability is as good if not better then the Lawnbotts. Even if the reliability is worse then the Lawnbotts you would not have a lot of upfront money wrapped up in one to start with and I am sure the replacement parts will be dirt cheap. I think we all can agree that the more companies competing against each other the better it is for us consumers.

[jzawacki]

Uhmm.. that video of the mower mowing.. is directly stolen from the robomower video.  And they all seem to have the same video..  And most of the specs look like they are geared the same as the robomower.  Like, the robomower blade motor RPM is 5800, Lawnbott is 3000, knock-offs are 6000.

But you have me kind of excited now..  I mean.. the cheapest bot is what?  $567.. that's just a little more than a blade motor for the Lawnbott.. At that price, if it breaks, you'd just buy a new one.  But, I did notice this, " Cutting Height: approx 4cm (1.6") " on the cheapy and Cutting height: 2.5cm - 6.5cm (which is 2.5") on the "expensive" one.. and for the price difference, I could buy a couple of them.

As with most Chinese knock-offs, they have directly stolen text from other sites.. I mean.. as I read what is listed, I see word for word items listed the same as what I have read on both robomower and lawnbott reseller websites..  Of course, being China, there isn't anything anyone can do about it.  But, it might be interesting to do some digging and see what reviews are out there from the customer side.

Edit: I really want to get a hold of one of these..  I have no idea what exactly they have stole.. I just watched a video and it did a "smart spiral".. It turns around like the lawnbott as well, vs. going in reverse like the robomower.  and text on the video said it will keep on going if the parameter wire is cut.. that's not good.  I couldn't find any videos of the underside, but it looks like the 2 wheel/2 casters of the lawnbott design.  Though, I'm not sure if that is any different from robomower.

Edit2: They sound a lot louder as well.. though.. you can't really tell from a video.. maybe I had the volume set to high..

Edit3: Underside looks like a lawnbott, with a 8"-ish (?) blade.. but like a regular lawn mower, only two cutting edges vs. 4 on the lawnbotts.  I really want to get a hold of one of these!

[RobotLady]

Beware of scams and good luck!