Kress Mission Nano 600 review in a sentence: A cool and compact robot lawnmower that loves to get stuck into tricky shaped gardens.
If you’ve got a garden or green space around your home, you’ve probably also got a lawnmower. You may even have one of the best robot lawnmower models on the market because they’re great for taking the time and effort out of this slightly tedious task. Now though, there’s another model that’s well worth investigating: the Kress Mission Nano 600.
This is especially so if you’ve got a garden like I have. It’s an odd shape, there are plenty of obstacles to navigate and numerous mole hills too. Not only is my lawn annoying to mow using my standard issue Flymo hover mower, but it takes longer than you’d think given its various quirks.
So, I was chuffed to get hold of the Kress Mission Nano 600 which is one of the smaller robot lawnmowers you can buy, but no less able. In fact, it’s ideally suited to the tricky terrain of my front and back gardens, so read on to hear just how good it is.
Kress Mission Nano 600 review: price & availability
The Kress Mission Nano 600 is available now, has a UK RRP of £999.00 and can be purchased from many major retailers. It comes complete with the mower itself plus a charging base, hex key, boundary wire distance guide, blades, battery pack and charger plus associated fixing screws and ancillaries.
Kress Mission Nano 600 review: what is it?
It might be quite a compact robot lawnmower, but the Kress Mission Nano 600 is able to cover areas right up to 600 m², which is probably going to be more than enough for many folks. My front and back lawns aren't enormous, but the unconventional shape of them makes mowing a chore and fiddly too. That alone makes the Kress Mission Nano 600 an ideal machine for the job, as it’s powerful and smart.
This is a cool looking bit of kit with a design that combines bold red, white and black coloured components to produce a machine that looks like it means business. Another bonus is the way there’s no hassle factor getting it ready to go. In fact, as Kress points out, it’s a plug ‘n’ play machine, and can be mowing in seconds, thanks to one-touch button simplicity. There’s INTIVA, or intelligent navigation technology inbound variable angle, which basically means the little Nano 600 is able to get around your lawn using smart tech. That, in turn, means more efficient mowing.
Another top feature about the Kress Mission Nano 600 is its ability to mow right up to the edges of your lawn, using STT or side trim technology. An off-centre mowing plate allows the machine to get right to those annoying edges that can often get missed by other models out there. There are other neat features too, like a charging connector on the side of the machine and the mower automatically comes back to the docking station if its batteries need replenishment.
Meanwhile, you can also set up multi-zone mowing and control the mower with an app on your smartphone. Crucially, this can be done using Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi if your signal isn’t strong enough to reach outdoors. In terms of cutting, the Kress Mission Nano 600 sounds promising, thanks to its forward and reverse rotating blades.
On the safety front, the blades stop if anyone lifts it up, which is reassuring given the way robot lawnmowers frequently attract attention from passers-by. There’s a rain sensor too, which makes the machine ideally suited to fickle British weather conditions.
Kress Mission Nano 600 review: is it any good?
Robotic gadgets are great, but you’ve got to have faith in their potential. I’ve tried a few robot vacuum cleaner models and while they’re good, you frequently find yourself keeping an eye on their progress just in case they go awry. I was therefore keen to see if I needed to do the same with the Kress Mission Nano 600. Thankfully I don’t really have any prized begonias in the garden to worry about, but there are enough obstacles for a roaming robot to get stuck on or in.
I guess this is perhaps the biggest drawback with the Kress Mission Nano. You have to do a reasonable amount of groundwork before setting it to cut. Due to my mole problem, I’ve got lots of small stones dotted around the grass. So, I had to try and find those first to avoid damaging the razor-sharp blades. My front garden is also the go-to dog toilet for locals, so a quick pass for any doggy doo is also necessary. Then, of course, you’ve got to peg out the guide lines around the perimeter, which all takes time.
Crucially, Kress advises that you shouldn't cut overly long grass with this model and suggests you buzz over your lawn with another non-robot mower first. Considering this was my first cut of the year, the grass was longer in places than the 60cm max height of the Kress cut capacity. So, it was out with the Flymo after all...
Nevertheless, once you’ve got your head around how everything works and done the correct preparation, thanks to the clear but concise instructions supplied, the Kress Mission Nano 600 is an impressive thing. I like the way everything is quite chunky and rugged with the design, especially the control buttons. It feels made to last the duration.
The only thing that slightly worries me is the blades, which are razor sharp and seem quite easy to damage on anything but a pristine lawn. There’s no chunk of steel or plastic type blades with this machine, the twin cutters are more like something you’d shave with. Luckily, there are spares included although Kress recommends you replace after two months, but they can be reversed to get maximum use.
Kress Mission Nano 600 review: performance
I was really looking forward to trying the Kress Mission Nano 600 and it was everything I’d hoped for. I had to peg out the boundary line using the supplied plastic pegs and was then able to set the mower on its way. You can do this using the controls on the top of the mower, or via the accompanying app. I’ve tried both routes and either options work well enough.
The Kress Mission Nano 600 was tried out on a lawn that hadn’t been cut for about six months, so there was plenty for it to get stuck into even after I'd buzzed over it with my regular mower. In fact, I was a little worried that some areas of my lawn would still prove too much for it. However, those razor-like blades scythed through even the thickest grass without any hassle at all. I was waiting for a crunch or two from any gravel that might have got picked up by the blades, but thankfully it made a circuit without any major issues.
The grass was a little damp mind, and Kress advises you cut dry grass only for better performance and less chance of grass getting stuck in and around the mower. Considering that fact, I’m pretty pleased with the Kress Mission Nano 600. It can munch its way through lawns that are quite tough going. The only real issue is that it doesn’t have a box to collect the cuttings, so everything is left on the grass. If you’re mowing regularly, that’s not an issue but for my first-cut-of-the-year scenario, it did involve getting the grass rake out.
Kress Mission Nano 600 review: verdict
Overall, I think the Kress Mission Nano 600 is a great little robot lawnmower and it works as expected. However, I do think it’s going to be best suited to lawns that are in good shape and get trimmed regularly. You’ll certainly get better performance and longer life from those mower blades if you cut little and often. In fact, this dinky robot lawnmower is a lot like the robot vacuums out there as they tend to work best if used frequently for giving things a quick once over, rather than deep cleaning.
The design is great to look at, the machine feels like its well made and worth the money plus there’s very little involved in order to start mowing. There’s some initial legwork getting everything ready though, which for someone with two smallish lawns seems to make getting the Flymo out almost as appealing. Nevertheless, if you can afford one, a robot mower makes total sense and the Kress Mission Nano 600 has to be one of the best of the smaller models on the market.
Want a different type of lawn mower? Head over to our guide to the best cordless lawn mowers
