Dreame made the best robot vacuum cleaner last year and now the company is taking on our backyards. The Dreame Roboticmower A1 is now available for pre-order in Australia, one of the first places in the world, for A$3,499. You’ll pay A$3,999 if you buy after April 21st 2024.
The A1 is completely wire-free and beacon-free. It’s OmniSense 3D Ultra Sensing System uses 3D high-precision LiDAR to find its way around. The A1 has a detection distance of up to 70m and a 360° × 59° omnidirectional wide angle giving the A1 a pin-point visual of the garden.
It’s quite an achievement to pull this navigation off without beacons, wires or GPS. How it really performs will be determined by our testing review video very soon.
The A1 won’t be a menace to your kids and pets. Point cloud data environmental information collection technology and intelligent obstacle-avoidance algorithm means the A1 will avoid obstacles, living or inanimate.
The A1 identifies and avoids more than eleven common lawn obstacles.
The real advantage for a LiDAR system is being able to mow at anytime of the day. Other systems relying on cameras will pull the pin when it starts to get dark. The great thing about robot mowers is the low level of noise they generate. So it’s no problem for the neighbours when they start mowing at midnight. You need LiDAR to do this. It also means the mower won’t be in your way during the day. I’ll definitely be testing this out.
Robot mowers can wander a bit off target when rolling across a bumpy backyard. I was impressed how well the A1 shifted its body into a U-Shape pattern, ensuring an even cutting job.
The height of the cut can be easily adjusted in the app on the run. Something many other can’t do. The blades rotate at 2200 RPM. That helps the A1 mow 1,000 square meters (0.25 acres) a day, saving up to 200 hours of hard yakka every year.
The A1 also has rain detection. If it senses rain it automatically returns to its charging station, then picks picks up where it left off when the rain stops.
At four thousand dollars its almost a thousand more than the ECOVACS GOAT G1. So it makes sense to get it for the pre-order price if you’re keen. With this in mind, I’ll be prioritising my review video to help you make that decision. Note: the A1 does come with a three-year warranty.
This is definitely a hot category right now.