Ecovacs GOAT A3000 robotic lawn mower review: Smart, thorough, and pricey

Ecovacs GOAT A3000

Rating: 4 Stars

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Rating: 4 Stars

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Pros

• Dual LiDAR navigation
• Sleek and stylish
• Consistent and thorough mowing
• Easy-to-use app

Cons

• Struggles with edges a little
• Expensive

Buy From	List Price	Sale Price
	$2,999.99	$2,599.99	See It

As robotic vacuums have gotten better and better, the technology developed for them has started to be used in other products too. Surprise, surprise, it’s the manufacturers of robotic vacuums that are now turning to things like robotic lawnmowers. Ecovacs has been a leader in the world of robotic vacuums for some time now, and recently, the company unveiled its latest robotic lawnmower in the form of the Ecovacs GOAT A3000.

Of course, robotic lawnmowers aren’t just robotic vacuums with blades on the bottom. Lawnmowers have to be able to judge where things like grass are, stay within boundaries that aren’t physical walls, and offer enhanced safety features. Can the Ecovacs GOAT A3000 leverage robotic vacuum technology in a way that makes it a solid choice for outdoor use? I’ve been using it to find out.

Ecovacs GOAT A3000 specs

Ecovacs GOAT A3000 review: Design

The Ecovacs GOAT A3000 is a relatively premium-looking machine. It has a black and white color scheme with a largely plastic exterior, but I found it to look nice in my backyard.

On the top of the GOAT A3000 can be found a few buttons and controls along with the sensors that it uses for navigation. The LiDAR sensor can be found in the ball on the top of the mower, and it looks kind of futuristic. Also on the top can be found a large stop button to use in emergencies and other controls that allow you to send the mower home and perform other functions.

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

The station that comes with the lawnmower is minimalistic and serves only as a point for charging. This makes sense. While robotic vacuums require larger stations to hold water and debris, there’s nothing to store in the station.

If you’re new to robotic lawnmowers, you may find it to be slightly larger than you expect, but it’s still decently compact and should fit out of the way in most backyard layouts.

Setting up the GOAT A3000 is relatively simple. You’ll unpack the lawnmower and set the station up where you want it to be, which might be near a power outlet. The lawnmower comes with a long power cord, though, and you could stretch it quite a distance if you wanted to. The Ecovacs setup instructions note placing it on dirt or grass and bolting the station into the ground, but I ended up placing it along a wall on concrete. After a few weeks of use, I haven’t experienced any issues related to that placement, though I can understand why bolting the station in place is a little more secure.

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

The GOAT A3000 has relatively large wheels too, which can come in handy. Things like gopher holes can prevent other robotic lawn mowers from being able to mow properly without getting stuck, but the large rear wheels help avoid that issue. On the bottom can also be found a dual blade system that helps it mow larger areas.

Generally speaking, most will find that the Ecovacs GOAT A3000 looks good and feels premium, both when it’s stationed and when it’s on the move.

Ecovacs GOAT A3000 review: App and smart features

The Ecovacs GOAT A3000 works in the same Ecovacs Home app as the company’s robotic vacuums, which is handy for those who have an Ecovacs vacuum.

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

To set the GOAT A3000 up in the app, you’ll turn it on and follow the on-screen instructions to connect to the mower through Bluetooth. After you set a PIN code and add the mower to your account, you’ll start the mapping process.

Mapping with a robotic lawnmower is different from a robotic vacuum. To map the grassy area, you’ll manually control the mower with your phone, telling it exactly where to go to create a boundary of the grass. This can take a few minutes, but it’s relatively simple as long as you stay reasonably close to the mower so that it has a consistent Bluetooth connection. Once you’ve created the boundary for one area, you can do so for a second area. For example, I mapped my backyard and then opened the gate and sent the mower through to the front yard as well.

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

I did find that it wasn’t quite as easy to set up things like no-go zones through the app alone. To create a no-go zone, you’ll have to manually control the mower again, sending it around the area in order to create a no-go boundary. This can be a bit tedious, but it’s not a huge issue.

Once you’ve mapped out the area, you’ll have access to a range of helpful mowing features. You can set the mowing height for individual zones, or simply tell the mower to use an automatic height for all zones. You can create schedules for mowing, have it mow in different directions each week, and set up how you want the mower to approach the boundaries of mapped areas, whether it be straddling the edge of a grassy area or avoiding going off the edge altogether. I did find that it struggled a little with edges, and that resulted in the mower getting stuck on a number of occasions. On one occasion, it got stuck, but in trying to get itself unstuck, the wheels cratered the grass that it was half on, leaving a bit of a hole. The other times that it got stuck weren’t as frustrating, but still meant that I had to check on the mower.

Having recently reviewed an Ecovacs robotic vacuum, it is very clear that Ecovacs has spent longer developing vacuums compared to robotic lawnmowers. There are tons more features that you can access for a robotic vacuum than the GOAT A3000. I expect that more features will be added to the app over time, but the features that are available are a good start.

Ecovacs GOAT A3000 review: Performance

Issues with things like lawn edges and scaling obstacles aside, the Ecovacs GOAT A3000 performed very well. The lawns that it mowed were consistent in length and thoroughly cut, leaving a small trail of cut grass in its wake. The idea of a robotic lawnmower is that you’ll use it relatively often, meaning that you won’t get piles of cut grass behind it. The first time I used it, my grass was a bit longer, though, meaning that more grass was left behind. Even then, however, it cut consistently and evenly.

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

Still, unless your lawn is perfectly level with anything around it, you will likely need to engage in some manual labor when it comes to edges and corners. I found that I had to use an edger every couple of weeks to keep things looking consistent and clean, but I certainly didn’t think that was a big deal considering how much less manual work I had to do with the GOAT A3000 compared to a typical lawnmower.

The Goat A3000 was good at navigating obstacles and making sure it covered all of the lawn too, thanks largely to its dual LiDAR sensor on the top, which replaces a camera-only system for more thorough mowing and better obstacle avoidance. While you wouldn’t want to put your pets or kids in front of the mower on purpose, it was good at avoiding any obstacles that I placed on the lawn and should avoid animals without issue.

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

I was also very surprised at how quiet the GOAT A3000 was while mowing. It was quiet enough to be perfectly usable at night without disturbing neighbors or even sleeping people with windows that face the lawn. That’s helpful considering the fact that the mower uses LiDAR, which means that it can mow in low light conditions like at night.

Conclusions

The Ecovacs GOAT A3000 is an excellent robotic lawnmower. The dual LiDAR navigation system helps make it accurate and thorough while ensuring that it avoids obstacles like animals. It’s not completely perfect. For example, it did struggle with rougher terrain around the edges of my lawn, but most will find that it’s able to cut their grass without issue. That said, it is very expensive, and if you could stand to save some cash, you might want to consider waiting a year or so until LiDAR-based robotic lawnmowers are a little more common.

The competition

There are other robotic lawnmowers out there, but the Ecovacs GOAT A3000 is among the first to have a dual LiDAR system for better navigation and obstacle avoidance. I found the GOAT A3000 to be easy to use and thorough, and I think it will beat other robotic lawnmowers out there.

Should I buy the Ecovacs GOAT A3000?

Yes. It’s an excellent robotic lawnmower that takes some of the hassle out of yard work.