Welcome to T3's review of the Mammotion YUKA 1500, a very clever GPS-guided mowbot with optional grass collector to help keep any lawn in tip-top condition.
I’ve already reviewed this mower’s stablemate, the impeccable perimeter wire-free Mammotion LUBA 2 AWD, which blew me away with its amazing ability to mulch-cut a lawn while leaving rows of beautiful lawn stripes in its wake. In fact, the LUBA 2 so impressed this writer that I was left with no choice but to plant it straight to the top of our guide to the best robot lawn mowers money can buy – with a bullet.
When Mammotion recently offered the opportunity to test the LUBA 2’s smaller sibling with optional grass catcher-cum-leaf sweeper, I naturally jumped at the chance. A wireless robotic lawn mower with an optional grass catcher that also sweeps leaves off the lawn and then self-empties its contents in a separate designated area? Really? Bring it on.
Well Mammotion brought it on and, as a result, the YUKA 1500 has been cutting my lawn for the past two weeks and even cleverly dumping its load in a spot a few feet away from the cutting area. How does it do it, and is it as good as, if not better, than its highly accomplished sibling?
Mammotion YUKA 1500 review: price and availability
The Mammotion YUKA 1500 3D Vision Robot Lawn Sweeping Mower is available to buy as a solo unit for £1,449 or as a combo with grass catcher for £2,148. If shopping in the UK, solo and combo packages are available direct from Mammotion or if you're just going for the solo robot, from Amazon UK.
If shopping in the US, head to the Mammotion website where the combo model sells for $2,048 and the solo unit is $1,399.
Mammotion YUKA 1500 review: Set up
Like the LUBA 2 AWD, the YUKA 1500 is an RTK GPS-guided bot so it doesn’t require any perimeter wire to function. And that means you don’t need to get down on hands and knees to lay a complicated wiring system around the circumference of the lawn and every garden obstacle. You simply drive the YUKA 1500 around the lawn’s perimeter like an RC car and set its boundary using the Mammotion app.
The YUKA 1500 comes with a large assemblage of items that need to be installed before the fun begins and this includes fixing the charging station to a flat surface on the edge of the lawn, connecting it to the mains and then installing the satellite receiver (known as an RTK station) next to the charging bay.
Since RTK GPS bots require a good line of sight to around 20 satellites, it’s imperative that the charging station and RTK antennae are positioned accurately or there will be connection issues. Thankfully, Mammotion also supplies an optional RTK wall mount and separate mains cable for mounting it high up on the side of the home or a fence.
Once everything’s installed and the robot’s charged, it’s time to connect the system to your home’s WiFi and your phone’s Bluetooth. WiFi is only required to assist you in checking the status of the YUKA 1500, installing updates – of which there are many – and for receiving messages remotely on your phone. Once the mission is activated, the YUKA 1500 will carry out its workflow without WiFi though I would always recommend having a solid signal at least to the base station because so much other stuff is dependent on it.
Mammotion YUKA 1500 review: design and features
The Mammotion YUKA is available in two main variants: the 1500 as reviewed here, which is good for lawns up 1,500 square metres and the 2000, which is designed for larger lawns up to 2,000 square metres.
In design terms, the YUKA 1500 looks less like its racy sibling, the LUBA 2, and more like the majority of conventional robot mowers, including the Segway Navimow iSeries 105E I recently reviewed. At around 60cm in length, the YUKA is about 7cm shy of the LUBA 2 and yet, at around 50cm in width, its actually a few centimetres marginally wider, despite having a smaller cutting deck of 32cm against the LUBA’s 40cm.
An 8cm difference is neither here nor there when it comes to robot mowers since they all get the job done eventually but there’s no question that the LUBA 2 would be the better choice for larger lawns. Nevertheless, 32cm is still a lot wider than the 18cm average for most robot mowers and it’s good to know that this one cuts much closer to the edge than much of the competition. Like the LUBA 2, the YUKA’s floating cutting deck comprises a set of six razor blades attached to two spinning disks which fling the blade edges around so they cut grass as well as a pair of scissors.
Where the more expensive LUBA 2 has all-wheel drive and the wherewithal to scale inclines up to 80%, the YUKA can handle up to 45% without the grass catcher attached and 18% with it. On the plus side, the YUKA has a single trolley-style front wheel that can make much tighter turns than its stablemate and with very little grass damage in the process. Its two giant rear wheels, meanwhile, ensure excellent grip on even the gnarliest of terrain.
Like the LUBA 2, the YUKA only has a few interface buttons on the unit itself: on/off, home, cutting, start and a big red emergency stop button which halts everything immediately. You will very rarely need to use these buttons since almost everything is controlled via Mammotion’s iOS and Android app.
Unlike the LUBA 2 which features automatic cutting height adjustment via the app, the YUKA’s cutting height – from 2cm to 9cm – has to be manually adjusted via a spring-action dial just behind the stop button. Although I’ve been happy using it on level 4 (40mm), I’d be even happier with a choice of half-centimetre increments like the LUBA 2.
The IP6 waterproof-rated YUKA uses both inch-accurate RTK GPS and its stereoscopic 3D vision camera to navigate. The same camera – with integrated windscreen wiper no less – is also used to avoid obstacles that can be set to four different parameters: direct touch, slow touch, less touch and no touch.
I’ve personally had no issues in the obstacle avoidance department though I have had to rid the lawn of dog mess on a regular basis because no robot mower, bar perhaps the camera-based Worx Landroid Vision M600, is capable of avoiding doggy dos. As an added bonus – and a bit of a gimmick – the camera also streams live video directly to your phone so you can drive it around FPV style.
Mammotion YUKA 1500 review: using the grass sweeper
Where almost all robot mowers use the mulching technique of snipping off mere millimetres of grass so the cuttings can be fed back into the lawn as nitrogen-rich fertiliser, the YUKA goes one better by being able to collect grass cuttings using the optional, albeit pricey, Mammotion Sweeper attachment. Once attached, this clever box of tricks activates a motorised plastic comb that quite literally sweeps grass cuttings into its 22-litre fabric grass catcher. This same comb will also sweep autumnal leaves off the lawn and that’s something I’m keen to try out properly in the next couple of months.
The Sweeper attachment does involve a little assembly, including mounting a heavy lump of iron above the YUKA’s camera to act as front ballast so the nose of the YUKA doesn’t tip up under the weight of the grass catcher when full. It also requires fitting an extra battery to power the grass comb.
I’ve got to say I’ve been pretty amazed at the efficiency of this sweeper which genuinely collects the vast majority of grass clippings and about 90% of leaves, though I’ve yet to test the latter to the full. What’s especially cool about this attachment is that when the collector is full, the YUKA will trundle over to a predetermined spot on the outskirts of the lawn and automatically empty its contents like a pick-up truck. It will then wiggle its bottom to dislodge any remaining clippings or leaves. I should add that the sweeper adds extra noise in the form of a ticking sound but even this is way below the volume of any standard push mower.
The jury is out on whether you actually need this grass collector since robot mowers can be programmed to cut the lawn everyday if you so wish, and that means you will never see any evidence of grass cuttings littering the lawn. However, there’s no question that the sweeper is still very useful for reasons other than just collecting grass cuttings and leaves.
Like all lawnmowers, some grass is inevitably flattened by the mower's wheels and, as a consequence, many grass stems end up growing horizontally. Since the sweeper’s revolving comb digs deep into the grass, it just so happens to do a fine job of tufting up longer stems while collecting an amazing amount of dead cuttings and even some evidence of thatch in the process. After a run with the grass sweeper attached I sometimes remove it and send the bot out for a mulching cut which snips off any remaining tufts. Job's a good'un.
Mammotion YUKA 1500 review: navigation performance
Where many of today’s robot mowers still require a perimeter wire to function, all you need with the YUKA 1500 is decent line of sight to upwards of 20 satellites so its military-spec RTK GPS antennae can lock on for reliable day-in, day-out use. Since my home is surrounded by tall beech trees, I thought the LUBA 2 that I’ve already reviewed would have had trouble navigating the lawn. But against all odds it worked just fine, and I’m mostly finding the same level of success with the YUKA 1500.
The very best thing about RTK GPS-controlled mowbots is that they cut grass in a linear fashion and that means you end up with a swathe of perfectly straight lawn stripes that look utterly amazing. Since mapping the extremities of my lawn, I’ve experienced no issues with the YUKA going off piste and destroying any flower beds. If you have any obstacles like ponds in the middle of the lawn, you can easily program a no-go zone by simply steering the YUKA around its perimeter and setting it as a no-go zone.
Fear not if you have two or three different lawn spaces because the YUKA 1500 can cut up to 10 different zones as long as there are no obstacles like stairs or gates in the way. Again, this function is programmed by the user and involves steering the bot RC car-style from one lawn to the next. From thereon in the YUKA will simply follow any preset passages and venture from lawn to lawn. And if the YUKA runs low on battery mid cut, it will trundle back to its dock for a recharge before heading out again to finish the task.
At this juncture I should point out that the YUKA I received has experienced a few technical hiccups which all appear to be software or firmware related. In fact a recent update seemed to do more harm than good with the robot losing connection to satellites and sometimes grinding to a halt in the middle of the lawn. I’m pleased to say that a subsequent update solved some of the issues but one or two connection problems still persist.
Since I had zero issues before the first update two weeks ago, I’m hoping that a third fix will soon be winging its way from Mammotion’s IT department who, it must be said, have been quick to address most customers’ concerns. As a side note, I should add that I have had no issues at all with the LUBA 2 which continues to perform as reliably as the day I took it out of the box.
Mammotion YUKA 1500 review: cutting performance
Although the YUKA 1500 cuts lawns immaculately well, I think its stablemate, the LUBA 2, does a slightly better job, especially when it comes to the width of the lawn stripes. This doesn’t surprise me, mind, because the LUBA 2 has a wider cutting deck (40mm vs 32mm) and much wider wheels. With a correctly set overlap of 20-25mm I think the LUBA's stripes look more uniform than the YUKA's and they're a bit more aesthetically pleasing, too. But I’m nitpicking here because the YUKA’s cut is no worse than direct competitors like Segway and Husqvarna.
Mammotion YUKA 1500 review: Mammotion app
In order to maintain fully functionality, it’s imperative that you use the YUKA 1500 with the Mammotion app. Although complex in nature, once you’ve got a handle on the app it opens the door to a myriad of settings, including schedules, style of cut – zigzag, chessboard effect or a set of preset 'lawn printing' patterns – direction and angle of cut including a random setting, your preferred obstacle detection mode, the number of perimeter laps for close-to-edge finishes and whether you want to mow the lawn with or without the grass sweeper. The app will also notify you of any firmware updates and errors.
Mammotion YUKA 1500 review: verdict
Mammotion is a leading brand in the burgeoning arena of autonomous lawn maintenance and the YUKA 1500 is a prime example of just how far robotics have advanced in such a short space of time. Although I prefer the larger all-wheel-drive LUBA 2 AWD, I still think the YUKA 1500 is a sterling robot mower that not only cuts grass impeccably well but collects the clippings and dumps them to the side of the lawn in the process. Amazing.
