Just a few months into the French market, Dreame's subsidiary, Mova, is trying to make its mark on the same markets as its big sister. After a notable breakthrough in the world of robot vacuum cleaners, the Chinese manufacturer has turned its attention to robot lawnmowers. The Mova 600, the manufacturer's smaller model (there is also a Mova 1000), is its most prominent model. Designed for gardens up to 600 m² (hence its name), it combines two key advantages: the presence of a LiDAR for simple and precise navigation and a price of less than 900 euros.
The Mova 600 therefore arrives with serious arguments in a booming market and above all in the most competitive price range. It will be up against models such as the Navimow i105 that we have already tested (but which relies on an RTK antenna) or its close cousin, the Dreame A2 that we will tell you about very soon.
Design: one of the most successful on the market
This is the first thing you notice about the 600: a striking design. Mova's robot lawnmower is unlike any other of its peers and would even tend to imitate sports cars or grand tourers with its sculpted shapes and beveled nose. Moreover, the lower part of the mower, its shield of sorts, as well as two inserts on its wings take up the design of the carbon parts of certain racing cars.
Mova has therefore taken care of its design… except for one detail. The manufacturer has failed to hide the key component of its mower, its LIDAR. It sits on the front panel and happily pops out (so it can work). This integration is one of the constraints linked to the use of this technology and Mova is not the only manufacturer to choose to fully assume it.
This is also the case for a car manufacturer such as Volvo which has decided to fully display the LIDAR necessary for its safety system above the windshield of its EX90 and EX60. This notable growth not only disrupts the design of the Mova 600, it also limits its use for the simple reason that the LIDAR must be both protected and cleaned to be effective.
On this point, Mova has done things rather well. During transport or winter storage, it is possible to protect the sensor thanks to a small plastic hood that covers it completely. As for periods of operation, there is obviously no question of removing the hood by hand before each mowing. On the other hand, the manufacturer has installed a small removable brush on the top of its docking station that allows the LiDAR to be minimally dusted when it enters and exits. It's rather clever and it's also practical in terms of maintenance.
The rest of the design is relatively classic for a "small" robot mower weighing around ten kilos. Special mention should be made of the large toothed wheels, which give the 600 a certain versatility while enhancing its style.
Unpacking and installing the robotic lawnmower
LiDAR is not only effective in terms of environmental recognition and navigation, it also has another less visible advantage: it significantly reduces installation time. Indeed, in addition to eliminating the need for guide cables, this technology eliminates the need for the RTK antenna, which sometimes tends to complicate the installation process. With the Mova 600 (and other robot mowers equipped with LiDAR), there is none of this. All you have to do is take it out of its large box, plug in the docking station once it has been positioned on a flat surface and take out your smartphone.
Indeed, as with a robot vacuum cleaner, the Mova application will serve as the main interface. Of course, there are still a few physical buttons on the robot, including the one that lets you adjust the mowing height, but for almost everything else, especially the more complex settings, you'll have to use your phone.
This is also the last step of the installation. Let's be clear, it's also the most tedious, but unfortunately it's still necessary. This involves defining the robot's mowing areas. It's not about planting a cable like a few years ago, but simply guiding your robot around your garden using your smartphone, which has been transformed into a game controller.
On paper, the operation seems basic. In fact, the controller's lack of precision, the robot's sometimes abrupt movements, and some Wi-Fi signal loss made our task a little more difficult. We had to try three times before we could complete our lap. On this point, it's also worth noting that, despite all its qualities, the application sometimes suffers from some approximate translations that don't make the process easy to understand. With a little good will and a few tries, it's nothing insurmountable, but it's an area where Mova can definitely improve.
The Mova 600 in Use: A Good Robotic Lawnmower?
Like most robot lawnmowers, you need to perform a "classic" mowing before launching your robot into your garden. Indeed, if your garden resembles a jungle, it won't be possible for them to navigate easily, as their small wheels are undersized for tall grass. This unavoidable little inconvenience is immediately followed by a promise: that you will never need to get out your electric or petrol lawnmower again.
In this respect, the Mova 600 is pretty much true to its word. Once the layout and demarcation of the garden are complete, it acts alone and without assistance to map it completely thanks to its UltraView technology. The user can then use the app to determine the different areas of their garden and how often they need to be maintained. It is, of course, possible to define and program multiple areas.
To do this, you need to use a double map, which also allows the Mova to only mow the appropriate areas and not on a specific path, for example. Be careful, however, because a double map also requires a double docking station and a new checkout. What remains free, however, is to indicate to the robot a prohibited area that it will not pass through: the swimming pool, the children's playhouse, or simply the garden furniture.
What about performance? After more than three weeks of testing, the results of this Mova 600 are rather positive. Its regular passengers allow you to control the height of the lawn and give the impression of a regularly maintained garden. Another positive point: the silence of the mowing, which is obviously nothing compared to traditional mowers and which will facilitate relations with the neighborhood. Indeed, with an operating noise of less than 60 dB, there is no longer any need to worry about programming days: you can start mowing on Sunday morning which will finish before the midday barbecue and even at night. But to achieve this result, you must be aware of the few limitations of the robot mower:
The first concerns the mowing height: the Mova 600, like many of its competitors, offers a mowing height between 2 and 6 cm high. For fans of high mowing, this is obviously a no-go; For others, you should keep in mind that a close cut may be more pleasant for playing football in your garden, but it does not prevent the lawn from burning in strong sunlight.
The other limitation concerns the edges. On this point, Mova does better than the Navimow i105 that we tested by sticking fairly rigorously to the edges of the ground, but the robot is not able to manage the few differences in height at this level, so you will have to use the trimmer if you want a perfect result.
The differences in level are undoubtedly what poses the most problems for the Mova 600. In a slightly bumpy garden, it could have difficulty overcoming difficulties that seem classic. A small hole can cause difficulties for the robot mower, which then sees its wheels slip to dig even more. In these cases, it is advisable to monitor the robot's first passengers and try to smooth out the terrain in areas where the Mova 600 is having some difficulty.
This is undoubtedly one of the advantages of the Mova 1000, the higher version equipped with so-called "all-terrain" wheels. These more efficient wheels are compatible with the 600 version, they can be purchased separately or as a kit, but you will have to add 99 euros to the bill.
On the other hand, we must also point out some oddities in terms of navigation, despite the presence of a LiDar which is in principle the guarantee of precise execution. The Mova 600 easily detects the presence of a person in its path and goes around them without blinking. On the other hand, it has difficulty distinguishing between certain types of obstacles: it can, depending on your choice, bump into a garden table, try to climb the uprights of a children's trampoline or get stuck in a barrier of stones that isolate a fruit tree.
Depending on its degree With stubbornness, the result can vary. A simple U-turn after hitting the table, or the need to get it out of the bowl when it's stuck on the stones.
To avoid this kind of inconvenience, the most interesting solution is to manually add exclusion zones on your map (in the most dangerous places in the garden) and to deactivate obstacle recognition. You will also gain in mowing performance since the Mova 600 will no longer stop in front of slightly tall grass and other small stems.
Autonomy and maintenance of the Mova 600
Autonomy is not really a concern for new generation robot mowers. Since the robot can return to its base at any time to recharge, you just have to let it do its work. Provided, of course, that the returns to the station are not too regular. In our case, we found that one charge allows the 600 to mow an area of approximately 55 m². It must then return to charge.
For its part, the Mova 600 is programmed not to fall below 15%, so it returns to the docking station as soon as it approaches this threshold. Ultimately, in our test configuration, it's capable of spending the day maintaining the 350 m² assigned to it, but, and this is the magic of robot lawnmowers, all of this can be done in your absence and programmed in advance.
Test verdict:
Mova makes a remarkable first entry into the world of robot lawnmowers. Dreame's sister brand has found with the 600 a stylish, rather efficient and fairly easy-to-use product. But it's mainly in terms of value for money that the Mova 600 stands out. At less than 900 euros, it has relatively few rivals and even allows itself to make models like Segway's Navimow i105e, which still relies on an RTK antenna, look old. Despite the presence of its LiDAR and relevant navigation technology, the Mova 600 nevertheless gives the impression that there is still significant room for improvement for its successors. Finally, if the starting price is attractive, this is absolutely not the case when it comes to accessories (wheels, 4G module and docking station, etc.), which are almost prohibitive.
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