During its first mapping and mowing run, in less-than-ideal conditions, the E18 still managed adequately, roughly on par with having a teenage neighbor come do the job. It struggled a bit trimming the six-inch grass down to a 2.9-inch (75mm) height that first time, missing the edges completely and leaving a few tufts behind, but it also completed the job and mowed the majority of the lawn on its own. However, after remapping with a pretrimmed lawn and tweaking a few mower settings, it did much better.
(Credit: Tyler Hayes)
The results on subsequent cuts were more impressive. Each time it rolled onto the grass, it seemed to marginally improve, fine-tuning its work. It began handling 85 to 90% of the mowing work for the small backyard lawn I was using it on. Ultimately, after a couple of weeks of use, the highest praise is that I don’t think anyone would guess I was using a robot to handle mowing duties.
Depending on the type of material your grass bumps up against, edging might always be a task you need to do manually. Eufy states there’s a four-inch gap between fences and walls that the mower can’t reach. Awkward corners, around trees, or other unique designs might present issues, too. I was a little disappointed that it didn’t straddle the perimeter next to the flat pavers more, for a closer edge, but it seemed to be playing it safe.
Finally, note that the grass clippings aren’t collected. Those fall to the ground as the mower moves along. While I wouldn’t describe the cutting results as mulching, it’s not that far off. Even when it cut taller grass than recommended, the clippings were fairly small. But if you don’t want clippings left on your lawn, the remote-controlled Mowrator S1 ($3,999) comes with a grass catcher bag and supports automatic dumping.
