[Music] Hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today To do a different kind of review this is A first for me I do have familiarity With some robotic devices we've used Like a robo vac for a while but never Before have I reviewed one of these Robotic lawnmowers before and so I'm Here today to give you a REV you over The last few months I've been using this Kind of getting a feel for it I'm going To give you pros and cons whether I Think it's worth it or maybe who it's Worth it worth it for and who it's not Worth it for but we're going to take a Close look at the MIM motian Luba uh Luba 2 all-wheel drive model today it is A pretty amazing machine but you're Going to pay to get it so does that make It worthwhile well let's dive in and Let's find out first of the kind of Basic overview this is a robotic lawn Mower that will obviously cut your grass Uh you can program it to a variety of Functions it can even cut logos in your Lawn so it has a fair degree of Precision it comes in a variety of Different sizes from the Luba 100 or Luba 1000 all the way to the Luba 10,000 And it's differentiated by the size of Lawn that it's designed for so the Luba 1000 is for a quarter acre lawn it's the Smallest size the largest capacity is The Luba 10,000 which will cut two 2
And2 Acres though it can store 3 and 1/2 Acres of information if you have a Larger property I'm testing one of the Mid-tier models it's the Luba 3000 All-wheel drive and it is designed for About 3/4 of an acre or 3,000 square m Depending on how you're oriented one of The amazing things about this unit is Just how all-wheel drive it actually is It is able to climb up an 80% grade That's a 38° slope which is very very Steep it's pretty incredible how Surefooted it is it is it's a bit of a Mountain goat so obviously you're going To see very early on one of the best Applications and that is for those that Have a very steep kind of lawn it Doesn't use any kind of perimeter wire And so it is relatively easy to set up It relies on GPS uh cameras radar all of These different things working in Conjunction together to map out your Space and then to cut accordingly and so The setup is is fairly easy and there Really aren't any additional cost Involved and so that is one advantage When you're talking about an expensive Lawn mower you're not going to have to Do any kind of major Renovations or Changes to use it uh it can be remotely Accessed via an app and it's pretty Incredible how much control you have Over you can even remotely access a Firstperson point of view camera and see
Exactly what's going on and so even if You're offsite and you know you do run Into some kind of obstacle or some Obstruction you can look through and see What it's seeing and you know maybe get A sense of the way to handle that you Have the ability to set your lawn up and A variety of different zones and then to Schedule things accordingly it will Automatically return to its charging Station to charge either if you have a Big job in in between the the job or Just in between jobs itself it does have Security measures which is one of the Things I was kind of interested about Considering that this might be running And cutting your grass while you're not On site but it does a variety of Security measures to help to make sure That no one takes it away and it will be Registered to kind of your property your What they call a reference station That's a part of it and you could even Go beyond that and add more security Keys there's space for an an air tag Things like that but it will emit alarms It will not function off of your Property and so it is pretty cleverly Designed to offset the potential value Of someone trying to lift it from you it Is also designed to live outdoors and in Uh many types of weather um it has an Ipx or Ipx6 uh rating and so it is very
Waterproof and the um Reference Station That comes with it which is kind of the Intelligent Hub sending out signal toout Your yard um it is even has even an a Higher rating to it it's an ipx7 rating And So that obviously is going to be Very useful now obviously for myself Living in Canada over the winter I Certainly intend to kind of dismantle Things and put it away for the winter One thing to help to preserve the Battery life and but obviously depending On where you live your mileage may vary When it comes to that one of the Greatest strengths is how incredibly Quiet it is and so it is so quiet that I Have absolute confidence in shooting This review even while running it going Around me because the truth of the Matter is is it it's only within a few Feet of you where you actually start to Hear it it has a it's an under 60 deel Rating which tells you it is incredibly Quiet it's unlike any lawn mower you've Ever encountered before in that regard It does have rain detection sensors and So if you happen to be dealing with Adverse conditions and you have it Scheduled and maybe it's a downpour kind Of day you don't have to worry because It will detect that it's raining and it Will not run now just the offset to that Is that you you may have to disable that If you run sprinklers in the area where
You happen to have it charging where the The reference station is because it Might detect that there's rain when it's Just your regular sprinkling cycle so You may have to turn that off so it may Or may not work for you depending on Your Circumstance it can do over-the-air Updates like a Tesla and in fact there Have been a number of firmware updates The firmware process is incredibly Simple You Got a notification on your Device that there's a firmware update You touch one button it updates the Firmware firmware it's really that Simple pretty incredible The Cutting Width is right under 16 in it is 400 MM Wide and it is a 150 minutes for it to Charge and it will run for 180 minutes On a charge so fairly efficient in that Regard so let's that's some of the basic Specs many of those things you could get By just looking on the internet so let's Take a deeper dive first by looking at What comes in the Box what do you have To do when it arrives the first thing That I notice when pulling it out of the Box is it does have a very robust Construction you can tell that there is A lot of high-end Parts here it is very Well assembled the tires really stand Out to me is being very robust and at The front of it there's a very there's Only a couple of things you have to do
In terms of the actual assembly there's A camera assembly that you need to mount On the top and then there is a front um Impact detection bar that is designed to Depress in and out and so that helps to Avoid any damage to your machine and Both of those things are quite easy to Install I would say that my overall Setup time was about a half hour but a Fair bit of that was just unpacking Things and taking them out of the box Now your mileage may vary obviously Depending on how handy you are around Tools but um I didn't find anything There too onerous it was a pretty quick Setup the one thing I will say is that When I initially tried to do the mapping Of the perimeter of my property I found A little bit frustrating it turns out That it needed a firmware update because It kept losing sync between my phone and The device itself and it really was just A matter of it needing a firmware update Once I did that I've had no issues with Connection with easy then to kind of Follow behind and you just kind of Remote control it using your phone There's some like on screen controls That you use to either go forward or to Turn with and you basically just drive Around the perimeter of your uh the area That you want to cut and you can set up Multiple areas which what as I'll get to In a moment which I've had to do here
And then you can um modify that by if You've got a tree for example in the Yard or something you need to exclude You can map out that area if you need to Cross over non- lawn sections and you Want to have a specific Channel you can Map that out as well um you know in my Case I had an area that was fairly Completely cut off I just have a a slim Channel maybe 3 ft wide and and so I was Able to map that out and so it drives up That kind of long area and kind of a Garden area that I've enclosed it's part Of the new construction project I've Been working on this year and and so Then it will come to the front and mow My front lawn it will come back up that Channel and either return to charge or If it's moving on to another T ask it Will a Char or it will um mow there at The rear of the property there have been A number of firmware updates as noted And I've really appreciated some of the Gained features and not just features But also kind of intuitiveness as a part Of the app that has come with that so It's uh evolved the ability to be able To name areas and so it makes it much Easier if you're setting up task you can Set up a name that you will recognize And so it's easier to do that other Areas where you can kind of have more Control control over how you want to set Things up and customize it and so I have
Appreciated that it has become more Logical and intuitive over time so to Give you a Qui quick breakdown of of my Needs I have a fairly complicated lawn Here it's about 2third of an acre but it Is in a number of sections and it's also In a couple of different tiers I had a Piece of property that when I purchased It about seven years ago it had a slope From the back the property to the front And part of that would just be running Right into the house and so rather than Have water moving towards my house never A good idea I instead built two tiers And so that I could have just two flat Lawn surfaces put in a retaining wall And so as a byproduct I do have as a Part of this area to access it some Fairly steep climbs my lawn when you Look at it mapped out looks more like a Wishbone and so I found it initially I Set it up to just mow it all as one pop But I found that it took too long and Thus there was too many uh potential Issues that could come along it took um 5 to 6 hours to mow the whole thing and So that was just too long and so I found It more efficient to divide my lawn into Individualize sections and then I had to Create these channels for the mower to Move in between sections on the days That I want I do want to say thanks to M Moan for having patience with me uh when They approached me it was very early on
In the season here in Canada I don't get Along as quick as what many of you do And then also this was just a tough year In that I was a year that I was planning To address some needs my property is 7 Years old so there's been some settling Points I needed to bring in some top Soil and I have spread about 20 cubic Yards of top soil this year either Leveling out spots repairing areas and So as as a byproduct it's been a a slow Process to get kind of to a place where My lawn is at normal type conditions so It's kind of some short-term pain for Long-term game but not necessarily a Great year to be testing a laot more so I had to beg for some extra time to Where could really get a sense as the Lawn started to get more normal how good Of a job it actually was doing in Cutting the grass and so I I have now About two months of experience as a as a Byproduct of that so let me give you Some of my general observations having Used this now for that two-month period As I've already noted it is unbelievably Quiet and it's quiet enough that you Almost have to encounter it in person to Realize how quiet it actually is but you Can see in some of these shots that even When it just pass is right by there's Almost no sound being picked up another Thing that is really really nice if You're you know a little bit OCD is the
Fact that it is able to do incredibly Precise lines and so I don't know how Steady your hands are when you're doing A long row and in my case here I am Doing uh you know nearly 200 feet of Depth on this property when I'm mowing That is a long stretch to have a all Straight line and so uh as a byproduct It is is very nice to have that kind of You know GPS and radar guided Precision That it's able to achieve and so it Looks really really great I will note However in that in having tested lawn Mowers before that lawn mowers are a Part of what you evaluate is their lift Ability and so kind of the ability to Suck up and and so it can be used for Mulching so that it can be used to lift And to cut more thoroughly that's not What this does there are two rotating Decks underneath there that have small Almost like straight razor blades that Are used and so it really works more in A trimming action than what it does in a Lifting kind of sucking and so it's not You're not going to be able to use it For mulching or things like that that's Not really what it's designed for and so It really it trims your grass but it Does not mulch it does not lift and suck Up at the same time and so obviously the Way it's doing you're not you don't have Any option of bagging it any trimmings Are going to be left on the lawn itself
Which by the way is actually the the Best thing for your grass and the way That if you're setting it up often I've Never seen any kind of clumps that is One thing about when you have that Sucking action sometimes we're in a Place where the the suction drops you Know a typical lawnmower will drop Clumps here and there I found that it Produces very very clean results none of That clumping type effect and so I Appreciate that it it's very interesting It does talk to you and and so one of The nice things when you're mapping Things out or you're creating obstacle Avoidance or if it's going to go to Charge things like that it will actually Tell you what it's doing in a nice loud Voice which kind of freaks people out The first time that they hear it I will Note that right now it's it's maybe Slightly off frame but the L more is Just passing me right now and very Likely you have heard almost nothing Picked up by my microphone because it is Just that quiet it is incredibly good at Climbing steep places uh I'm just amazed By how surefooted and how Nimble it is And it can do that while mowing it's Pretty cool when it comes to that it is Also able to execute very tight turns But the way that it does that and the Fact that the tires are so grippy means That if you're you know for example I've
Been doing a lot of top dressing this Year if it's turning during that place It will really kind of gouge in until You have some nice thick grass it is Going to dig in somewhat when it's doing Tight turns and so I have kind of Learned be to not try to push it so Tightly because the truth of the matter Is is that you are still going to have To trim your edges if you have a you Know a a weed eater as it's often called Um but an edger or trimmer you're still Going to need to do that because it's Not going to hit into those you know Corners where it can't reach to and so Just know that that you're still going To have to be able to do That you know as with all robotic Advices in my experience there are Moments when I think wow that is Incredibly smart and then there are Other moments when I think wow that is Incredibly dumb it is able to think to Some degree but it can't think like you And so every now and then you're going To be frustrated by how simple a thing Can stump it and then there's going to Be other times you're going to think man This thing is really really brilliant so Just know that there will be moments of Agulation and moments of frustration Along the Way another area where it really will Chew up is the area in front of the ch
Charging station because it's always Going to be executing its multi-point Turns there and it backs up to charge And so however it approaches it will Turn around and it will back up and Start to charge itself you may want to Do something to protect what you're Going to have to do with your grass Being chewed up in that area I'm right Now I'm kind of experimenting with I've Moved it up onto a patio area to see how It does you know the downside is it will Bring some mud up there particularly While my grass is still top dressed in Some areas but at the same time it's Also not chewing up anything you know I'll experiment with more probably even In the future but just be aware of That the uh remote capabilities of it Are really quite impressive now you do Even have the option if you know if You're you want to go all out you can Actually drop in a 4G uh card into it And so that it can have also cell access Which is an interesting application but Other than that you can um connect to it Either via Bluetooth if you're closer or Through Wi-Fi and that Wi-Fi allows me To I've been able to check in on it While I'm driving while I'm offsite and It's not just I can actually see what It's doing if I'm so required I can see Where it's at on the map how far it is To charging how much it has left to do
Uh I can tell it to stop and go back or Charge I can tell it to start a task I Can even do remote firmware updates it's Really quite impressive being able to do That and then finally just as a general Observation I'll note that being able to Set the grass height you do have several Inches of VAR ability and so being able To set kind of an optimal hype for the Health of your lawn and then to you know Just set it up to mow regularly is Really really great because number one It looks like your lawn is always cut But then also you're allowing it to Maintain that optimal height to help to Eliminate weeds which is also very very Useful to where the weeds are not Growing up above the grass level and if They're continually kind of shaded by a Nice thick grass it really does help a Lot with weed control and so I have Appreciate did that so what's my Conclusion I would say that for the most Part the Luba 2 allhe drive it does Deliver on its promises it does the Things that it claims it's able to do Maybe not as perfectly as what the Marketing might claim but it really does Pull off a lot of things really quite Impressive I would disregard the 17-minute setup time now depending on Your lawn you may be able to set it up And set up the perimeter in 17 minutes But I I think that what you're going to
Find at least as I have is that you need To experiment with some of the different Settings there's a wide variety of Settings you can put into your task you Can cut at various patterns and angles And all of those things different Heights you can even adjust the speed um From I think the way mine set up it's Three MERS per second up to I think six Meters or it's either five or six meters At the top end and so you're going to Probably want to play with it to Determine what is the optimum blend of Getting the look that you want in your Lawn and then also making it run as Efficiently as as possible and so I Think it's better if you're going to Spend this amount of money to take the Time to set it up right and in my case That's meant I've really had to settle Set it up multiple times because I've Been doing construction projects I've Actually changed the parameters of the Outskirts of my Lin or of my my could Tell I'm used to doing camera reviews Not My Lens my yard on a number of Different occasions and and but in doing That I've been able to get it uh just Kind of fine-tune the process every time And so I think that that is worth doing So finally let's talk price obviously The price is going to vary depending Upon the capacity that you buy the unit That I'm using retails for about
$2500 so obviously that's a pretty big Investment um you know it's it's very Very cool so cool that I've watched People going by on bikes just about fall Off their bikes you know as they're Wiing by and they see my lawn being cut By this robot and you know they just About Go off into a ditch cuz they're They're so in tune with watching it it Is real really cool but it's also a Serious investment so who does it make Sense for if you've got a really Complicated lawn particularly one that's On a lot of an angle where it's Difficult to cut through conventional Means this is a really great option Obviously it's still going to be a big Investment but I think that it's going To save you a lot of frustration and Effort and and so I think it could be Worth it for someone that has that kind Of situation I think it also makes sense For either those that either really hate Cutting the grass or they don't have a Lot of time to do so this really does Solve both of those problems you know Once you kind of get things set up and Optimized and you really get it set up To where it's working and the schedule Is working there's really not a whole Lot you have to do at that point and and So I think that it is you know it's Really worthwhile uh for those for other People I mean it's your money I think
It's a big investment you have to really Need or want it and maybe only you can Make it determination on whether or not That's the case I will say that it is an Effective device it I like like the look Of the lawn once it's done cutting it it Does do a good job with that but again You know your mileage may vary as to the The value to what you get for it uh that Ratio is going to depend on your Particular needs and wants I'm Dustin Abbott and I hope that I've given you Some useful information here if you want To check out more information you can Find uh links to it in the description Down below there are some buying links There as well if you want to explore it Further or maybe purchase for yourself As as always thanks for watching have a Great day and let the light in [Music]
