review with features, price and specifications

A year ago I had the opportunity to try the Dreame A2a 2,800 euro robotic lawnmower that I loved, but it was too much for the 100 square meters of the garden at home. In a garden like this something smaller, more compact and, above all, cheaper would have been enough. Then Mova, Dreame’s sub-brand, arrived and put its ViAX 500a smaller, more humble lawnmower robot with a price tag of 749 euros. And that’s another movie.

✅ Buy it if…

• You have a small garden and you want to forget about periodic maintenance.
• You are looking for a silent robot.
• You value good obstacle detection.

❌ Don’t buy it if…

• You have a large garden, greater than 100-150 square meters.
• It is full of trees or decorative objects.
• You want to configure absolutely everything from the app.

The essentials in 30 seconds

The Mova ViAX 500 stands out for delivering what it promises: it is a robotic lawnmower designed for small gardens, with good navigation and programming capabilities. The cut is uniform and adjustable and the battery is enough to cover a garden of 100-120 square meters such as that of a chalet.

Its biggest problem is around the edges and in smaller areas. The robot seems to be afraid of getting too close to the edge, especially when the surface is not quite ready, and small areas of grass tend to not go over them completely.

In general, it is a good purchase if we are looking for a robot that we can program and forget about it until it is due for maintenance. Now, in a large house with extensive gardens, many nooks, trees and narrow areas, it is quite likely that it will suffer more.

Our experience with the Mova ViAX 500

Setting it up is very easy (and a tip). Setting up these devices is just as easy as setting up a robot vacuum cleaner: You take it out, put it in the base, connect it to WiFi and map the area. You must do the latter by hand, controlling it as if it were a radio-controlled car. The base must be anchored to the ground with the included plastic screws and, obviously, you must connect it to the power. The cable, luckily, is very, very long, so you can pull it into the house if necessary.

• The little advice: If you can, put the foundation in the shade. The summer heat plays against these devices, even more so considering that the base does not have a hood. If your garden allows it, place the base in a place where the sun does not shine fully all day. Don’t worry about irrigators or rain, the robot has IPX6 resistance and can withstand them without problem.

Cuts the grass pretty well. The robot has a rotating platform with three blades at the bottom. We can adjust this from the robot itself (not from the app) so that the cutting height is between two and six centimeters. My recommendation: three-four centimeters. It can also be configured to cut in a zig-zag pattern, which is recommended to improve uniformity, as well as programming. No complaints in this regard, except that the smallest areas are usually reviewed halfway. It’s as if the robot thinks it’s too big to work in that area.

Be careful with edges and trees. Although the navigation via LiDAR and camera is exceptional, I have to give the slap on the wrist at the edges. Although it can be configured to “go in” a little further, the truth is that if the edge is not perfectly flush with the ground you will see that, over time, it will end up being longer than the rest of the garden. And it will be noticed. The same thing happens when approaching trees or decorations. Many times it seems that the robot is afraid to get a little closer, a fear that robot vacuum cleaners overcame a long time ago.

A fair and necessary autonomy. The robot has a battery with enough capacity to, in standard mode, cut 120 square meters in about an hour and a half. Enough for my garden. With efficient mode, the figure reaches 150 square meters. If the battery runs out, the robot returns to the base, charges itself (in about an hour) and picks up where it left off. Zero problems with this.

Don’t forget the rest of the garden. Although the obstacle detection works really well, my recommendation is to spend a few minutes cleaning up the garden before starting the robot. If you have fruit trees and the fruit has fallen, pick it up or prepare for an exquisite wheel and blade cleaning session. I speak from experience. If you have left the hose loose, pick it up; And if you have pets, I, personally, would put them inside the house while the robot does its thing for a mental health issue.

Mova ViAX 500 technical sheet

Mova ViAX 500, Xataka’s opinion

The Mova VIAX 500 is a robotic lawnmower that I could recommend to any of my neighbors, who have gardens similar to mine. It is true that the robot does not have anything particularly striking, but what you have works well. Do you know that type of product that you have, that works well, that goes unnoticed during the day and that simply works well? Well that’s how it is.

The only drawback I can make is that the cutting of the edges can be improved, in my case, but as each lawn and garden is different, it is possible that in other houses with a smoother surface it is different. In any case, for 749 euros I think it is a recommendable purchase to get rid of daily maintenance. Be careful, from the newspaper, at the moment there is no robot that will leave your garden nickel-plated.

Do I recommend it to you?

If you have a small garden, yes. The reflection is similar to what we could do with a robot vacuum cleaner: you know that it is not going to take you away from cleaning by hand or mopping, but daily and even weekly maintenance does take it away from you. It is a task that you can erase from your head. Of course, when the time comes you will have to go over the garden by hand to leave the edges and areas around the decoration beautiful.

It is a plug-in, set-up, program-and-forget robot lawnmower. It is not the most complete on the market, but it more than meets expectations.

Images | Xataka

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This device has been provided for testing by Mova. You can consult how we do reviews on Xataka and our relations policy with companies.