Robot lawn mowers, which are already a common sight in Europe, are only just starting to catch on in the United States. A big barrier to entry here has been the steep upfront cost, with many robotics that pass through the Good Housekeeping Institute Home Improvement and Outdoor Lab for testing priced at thousands of dollars.
That makesAmazon's Memorial Day Weekend sale on the Eufy E18 Robot Lawn Mower all the more noteworthy, especially given its solid performance in our tests.
Like most of today’s robotics, the Eufy does away with the perimeter wires that were once used to define a property’s mowing area. The E18 features Eufy’s proprietary V-FSD 1.0 system (Vision Full-Self Driving) to navigate your yard with camera-based obstacle detection and visual edge mapping. That means all you need to do is unbox the E18, drop it on the lawn, and let it work.
“The Eufy comes fully assembled and set-up of the base station was very simple and easily accomplished,” reported our consumer tester, who evaluated the mower over several months at his quarter-acre property in New Jersey.
As for the E18’s mowing performance, it was solid—though it stopped short of perfect. Extensive tests confirmed that the robotic mower can handle slopes up to 40%, which made it more capable on hilly terrain than many other vision-only models. It was also able to avoid pets and yard obstacles with ease. The app, meanwhile, allows you to monitor progress in real time, adjust mowing zones, and even track the mower’s location thanks to a built-in GPS and 4G connection.
However, our tester observed that the E18 couldn’t always distinguish between the edge of his lawn and a garden bed with low green plantings. As a result, "the perimeter of the lawn really needed to be done manually with a walk-behind mower to get a clean, manicured look."
Bottom line: If you’re curious about robotic lawn mowers and your yard consists mainly of straight-edged lawn, the Eufy E18 could mean never having to mow the lawn on your own again.
