Dreame A1 Pro

Love the mower,it cut the lawn perfectly. More than 2 zones would be a great improvement Show details ·  1

This is a game changer. Mows quietly and efficiently and leaves the lawn looking smart. Takes a bit to set up if you have a complex garden with overhanging shrubs for example and trees to move around, but once set up the mower can't be faulted. I have kikuyu which is tough grass and the A1 Pro has no problems chewing through this at all. The clippings are so fine that the days of grass being traipsed inside the house are gone too! Show reply

Where do I start. I only opted for an upgrade as my older model from another company was getting a bit worn out. Before the purchase I did a lot of research Dreame A1 Pro came up on top when it comes down to value for money but also had stellar recommendations. It was delivered swiftly and that's when it all started: * Looking at all the videos… Read more

the setup seems to be a breeze. Well, it's not. First, the base can only be placed on the lawn, i.e. outdoors. That also means you need electricity connector in the right position, also the robot will be directly exposed to sun and rain, in Australia where we based, good luck with survival rate.

* Being used to setting up things swiftly these days, this one is far from it. Video guides have 1-2 min, and all looks easy. The initial setup works ok, then setting up multiple areas around the house was a nightmare. The robot is not great in dodging edges, walls etc. You need to set it up quite a bit from the edge, which then you have to do yourself manually. What? Yes. When cutting corners, it literally hits the walls and scratches itself, which over time will cause damage to the device.

* I managed to setup 2 out of the 4 zones, not ideal either as it's not that easy to manipulate with phone while setting up to get the precise working area. All the video guides will show you perfectly squared garden with a large flat area to cut. The one 90% of houses just won't have.

* After setting up 2 working areas, finally managed to connect them. Next, I was off to setup last 2 front lawn areas, but somehow the option vanished from the app. I spent days troubleshooting, gave up and contacted customer support.

* A few calls later when automated voice told me they are too busy taking calls and kept hanging up on me, finally went through to the actual person. Took us 20 min to get the spelling of my full name right, no joke. I thought to pull out my file. To my speechless surprised, it was only to get the email right so they can send me a form to fill with all my personal details, purchase details, robot details and issue details. Basically, all the information they have on file anyway. The customer support lady suggested that she can't help me otherwise. I gave up.

* Tried Google instead. Apparently, a common issue, whereas sometimes the app drops the option to add additional maps completely for no reason. There is up to a dozen of steps to self-service to troubleshoot starting form restarting the robot, the app, deleting the app and setting up again, shut down the robot and try again,.. all the way to complete factory reset that don't guarantee it will fixed.

Now, nearly 2 months from the purchase I have 2k+ fancy lawn mower that doesn't operate. I don't want to spend any more hours and days to try to setup. The old one was 3 years old and worked almost out of the box, plug and play. Don't get confused about the ton of above comments driven by frustration. I don't write reviews, actually ever. But now I 'm furious and I want my money back. Will be contacting them tomorrow on the best approach. Hope the mower works for most of you, just didn't for me.

Hope you find this review useful.

Manoeuverability could be much better due small front caster wheels. Mower needs better path finding/obstacle avoidance around trees near edge/fence, mower will not go between space even if there is enough room. Although the app is good, map editing is not user friendly and lacks ability edit zone size, it needs to deleted and completely recreated.

Firstly, I have found it very difficult to get a good zone map that covers little nooks in the lawn and even getting close to edges where the mower has to turn. The toggle isd not easy to use. Secondly, I am now conscious that having the mower operate on footpath lawns, out of view, risks the mower being stolen or at least interfered with. I… Read more

cannot go out and supervise that zone as it will take over two hours. I may as well just mow it myself which would be quicker. Bit disappointed considering the positive reports given by some.

The setup for path is very confused, need more instructions. Show reply

Easy set up, excellent tracking, and no wires or RTK antennas makes this mower perfect for people with medium-sized lawns that want a quick and hassle-free robot mower. Show reply

Great product, didn’t take too long to set up even for IT illiterate like myself. Works well Show reply