Robotic lawn mowers are ideal for homeowners who would rather spend time enjoying their lawn than hours maintaining it, but not everyone can afford the latest and greatest models. With the Ayi DRM3-600I ($895), you get a very competent robot mower that is Wi-Fi enabled and offers a handful of welcome features including a rain sensor, a user-friendly mobile app, and a quiet electric motor. It’s built like a tank and performed well in our tests, though it lacks the GPS capabilities that you get for $100 more with our Editors’ Choice winner, the Worx Landroid WR140.
Plenty of Features for the Price
The Ayi DRM3-600I is shaped similarly to the Robomow RC306 and sports a black-and-orange finish like the Worx Landroid WR140. At 9.5 by 14.0 by 19.7 inches (HWD) and 17.6 pounds, it’s a bit smaller and lighter than the Worx WR140 (10 by 15 by 22 inches, 21 pounds). It has embedded 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios for connecting to your home network and a mobile app, but it’s missing the GPS radio that you get with the Landroid WR140.
Included with the mower is a charging station and ground screws, an AC power adapter, a weather-resistant extension cord, 500 feet of perimeter wire, 180 plastic wire stakes, extra blades and screws, wire splicers, an Allen wrench, and an operating manual.
The DRM3-600I has two 7.5-inch rear wheels that propel the mower and two smaller front wheels that pivot for steering. As with all of the robotic mowers we’ve tested, it uses low-voltage perimeter wire to prevent it from leaving the specified mowing area. That said, it doesn’t offer an option for remote steering like you get with a number of other models.
Powered by an internal 22.2-volt lithium-ion battery rated to last between 90 to 120 minutes on a full charge, the DRM3-600I is designed for lawns of up to 15,000 square feet (1/3 of an acre) and can handle terrains with a 37% incline. It uses a pivoting three-blade cutting system with a height adjustment of 2 to 3.5 inches, a 7-inch cutting width, and a rotation speed of 3,500 rpm, and it has embedded lift, bump, and rain sensors. With a noise rating of 70dB, the mower is a bit louder than the Husqvarna 315X (58dB) and the Honda Miimo HRM 310 (58dB), but is still quiet enough to be run at night without disturbing the neighbors.
The top of the DRM3-600I contains a large orange Stop button to instantly stop the mower and two black protective covers. Beneath one cover is a cutting height dial. The other cover hides an onboard control panel that contains a 2.5-inch LCD, a Wi-Fi indicator, and nine function buttons that are used to program the mower, scroll through menu choices, turn the mower on and off, and enter a PIN code, which is needed to access the menu system.
The onboard menu system is straightforward and easy to use. Once the PIN code is entered, the LCD shows the mower’s status (charging, standby, mowing, emergency stop, spot mow) and the current time, date, and battery level. Tap the OK/Menu button to display options for initiating a Spot Mow, creating cutting schedules, configuring zones, and accessing the Settings menu. The Spot Mow feature has the mower run in a uniform spiral pattern for five minutes and is useful for covering a specific area of grass. The Zones menu lets you configure up to five mowing zones with different schedules for areas of your yard that may need more attention than others.
The Settings menu is where you go to configure the mower’s work time, enable the Rain mode feature, configure Wi-Fi settings, and change your PIN number. Work time is the amount of time that the mower will be active and includes charging. Other settings include Date and Time, Language, Device Information (serial number, name, firmware, etc.), and Factory Reset.
Ayi’s mobile app for Android and iOS is easy to use and does everything that the onboard controls do, but it doesn’t let you steer the DRM3-600I like you can with the Robowmow RC306. The app opens to a home screen that lists all of your installed Ayi devices. Tap the mower panel to open a screen with a large round button that starts and pauses the mower. Here you’ll see the mower’s current operating status, its battery level, and its total work time in hours. At the bottom of the screen are a Return button that sends the mower back to the base, a Spot Mow button that activates the above-mentioned Spot Mow feature, and a Setting button that takes you to a screen where you can create schedules and zones, enable Rain Mode, view work and error logs, and change the PIN number.
Using the Ayi DRM3-600I Robot Lawn Mower
Setting up the DRM3-600I for the first time isn’t difficult, but installing the perimeter wire will require time and a fair amount of physical exertion. I spent several hours laying perimeter wire and setting up the base station for my 1,950-square-foot lawn, but you can always hire a professional to do this if you prefer.
Once the wire was installed and connected to the station, I pressed the Start button and the mower began a perimeter run, following the wire around my lawn and back to the station. It then took off and began its first cutting cycle. As with other robotic mowers, the Ayi looks like it’s just making random passes over your lawn, but over time it manages to cover the entire area. I set the mower to come out every other day for an hour and a half, and it did an excellent job of adhering to my schedule and keeping the lawn evenly cut without missing any spots. It never got stuck or had trouble with inclines, and it was extremely quiet.
Although the DRM3-600I is designed for rugged outdoor use, I had no idea of just how durable it was until my neighbor accidentally backed over it with his 3,000-pound minivan and dragged it a couple of feet before realizing what happened. Other than a slightly bent wheel (which we straightened out) and a busted piece of plastic from it, the mower looked to be in pretty good shape, so I placed it in its charging station and waited for the next mowing cycle to begin. Sure enough, it came out on schedule and went right back to work with missing a beat.
The Most Affordable Robot Lawn Mower
At $895, the Ayi DRM3-600I is the most affordable robotic lawn mower we’ve tested, but don’t let its price fool you: This is one tough mower. It did a fine job of cutting my lawn and proved to be quite durable when it was accidentally run over by a car. It has a rain sensor that prevents it from going out in foul weather and it can be scheduled to work in the middle of the night without waking the neighbors. A GPS radio would be nice so you can see where the mower has worked and track it down if someone decides to liberate it from your property, but it’s not essential and would likely raise the price. That said, for an extra $100, the Worx Landroid WR140 includes GPS and remains our Editors’ Choice for offering the best balance of features and price overall. If money is no object, meanwhile, the Husqvarna Automower 435X AWD is the most advanced and feature-rich robotic mower we’ve tested, with all-wheel drive and a cellular radio, but at $5,199.99, it’s also the most expensive.
