Segway Navimow X350 robotic lawn mower review – Are we living in the future?

REVIEW – As I’ve gotten older, I developed what’s called Interstitial Lung Disease. In a nutshell, I can’t exert myself as I once did with yard work, especially in the hot, humid Florida climate. That resulted in having to spend hundreds of dollars per month for a lawn service (we have a 1-acre backyard). When the Segway Navimow X350 Robotic Lawn Mower came up for review, I practically begged to test it. And boy, am I glad I did. Not only will this mower save me money over time, it could help me stay as healthy as long as possible.

⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $3,499  (Garage – $300)
Where to buy: Segway

What is it?

The Segway Navimow X350 Robotic Lawn Mower is a self-driving mower that can cover up to 1.5 acres. It works by following a pre-set “map” of the property, that can be mapped either by the mower itself or manually. My highly irregular backyard could only be mapped manually with about 10% assisted help. More on that later.

The X350 weighs 44 lbs—lighter than a regular mower. At only 12 in. high, it sits low to the ground and can achieve speeds up to 3.3 ft/sec. It can climb a slope up to 27°. Mowing height can be adjusted from 2-4 inches.

A large dot-matrix screen sits on top of the mower, showing different icons that indicate various functions that are happening in real time or need to happen with instructions. 

The mower is easy to spot in the yard with its gray shell surrounded by bright orange trim. The equally bright orange wheels have thick tread for navigating uneven terrain. 

Mowing time between full charges is 200 minutes (covering appx 1.5 acres). Charging time for the built-in 10Ah battery is 80 min. from 0-100%.

Water resistance is rated at IP66, meaning the X350 can withstand dust and powerful water jets from all directions. In other words, it can remain outdoors in a rainstorm with no ill effects. Note that the X350 is not made to be submerged.

The X350 uses EFLS 3.0 (Exact Fusion Location System), which features upgrades in RTK coverage, VSLAM (Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), and VIO (Visual Inertial Odometry) technology. This ensures accuracy in complex settings or challenging signal environments. In layman’s terms, the X350 talks to satellites for mapping and location accuracy.

There are three cameras located at the front and sides of the X350. They can help detect objects, obstacles, pets, wild animals, or children. When encountered, the mower will re-route itself to a safer distance.

The mower can be set to return to base (home) due to weather, excessive heat, snow, or nighttime. These settings can be customized in the included app.

Note that the X Series mower comes in 4 versions with different coverage and prices:
X315 – .5 acre
X330 – 1 acre
X350 – 1.5 acre (this review)
X390 – 2.5 acre

What’s included?

• X350 mower
• Antenna (with pole)
• Power supply (for base station)
• 33 ft. Power cable
• Pegs and screws for attaching to ground
• Extra blades

Tech specs

• 6 Cutting blades
• 3 Camera sensors
• 3D Camera sensor
• Headlight
• Large dot-matrix display
• Control buttons
• Lifting handle
• GNSS antenna
• Bumper

Design and features

About the only way to review the Navimow X350 mower is to go through the procedures of setup, features and use. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started.

Unboxing and Setup

The box is large and heavy—no surprise. However, the X350 inside is already assembled. The only items that required assembly were the base station and GNSS (GPS) antenna. 

Putting the base station together is easy. 3 pieces snap together. Long plastic screws are used to “screw” it into the ground. It works surprisingly well. A wire connects the base station to a large power brick, which connects to an outlet. The wiring is lengthy, so the station doesn’t need to be that close to an outlet. Note that the wiring and power brick are all water-resistant.

Once the base station was assembled, the most difficult part was finding the right spot for the antenna. It requires an open sky facing in a southern direction with no buildings or trees blocking the view. I learned that the best place for the antenna was on the roof of my backyard studio building. Since I needed to get everything up and running, I decided to do this more permanent location later. For now, I found a good spot on the ground next to the home base. It required (more than) a few attempts in the app to find a spot that would connect. Once I found it, though, everything went smoothly. 

Matching the mower to the signal requires Wifi, Bluetooth, and 4G cellular. Once that’s done, the yard needs to be mapped. Note that for the X350, 4G is free for 3 years. After that, there’s a yearly fee.

The Navimow app (iOS and Android) is super helpful with numerous guides, videos, manuals, and more. It will answer most questions to issues that may (and will) come up. More importantly, if the help section doesn’t answer a question, Segway’s Online Customer Support is amazing. It must use AI, because I received instant answers with every query I sent—and they were almost always spot on! Plus, if I needed more, there’s a button to connect to a live person. I’ve never had online customer support be that easy or helpful.

Mapping

Here’s where it gets interesting. Mapping (which is done in the app) introduced me to terminology I had never heard before: VisionFence, Channel, Off-limit Island, and even Doodle. I won’t detail all these terms. This isn’t a manual for the X350. I will say that these new terms may seem daunting at first, but I got used to them once I decided what items pertained to my needs and what I could ignore.

Mapping can be performed in two ways—manually, assisted, or both. I did both, but probably should have stuck to the manual. As you see from my map, my backyard has almost no hard edges. It’s basically a mess. 

Note that a map must be made before any mowing can happen. A Bluetooth connection is required for controlling the mower while it uses GPS to store the mapping data in the app. Once I understood how mapping worked, I set a starting point and walked behind the mower around the perimeter of my back yard as I steered it. It’s easy to do if you’re familiar with gaming controllers. I’m not. So I struggled a bit with steering, trying not to veer into plants or drive over exposed roots. However, mapping got easier and became, dare I say, fun! Note that there are no wires or other hardware needed, as with some other robot mowers—it’s all wireless.

Once I mapped my backyard and the mower was charged, I hit the MOW NOW button in the app, and the mower immediately left HOME and followed the boundary I had set up. After that, it proceeded to fill in the rest of my mapped area using the stored GPS data to maneuver around my yard. 

After a couple of weeks of mowing parts of my yard that needed it less than other parts, I decided to divide my yard into four quadrants. I then set a schedule for mowing these 4 sections on different mornings. This took about 30 seconds because the Navimow app is easy to understand and easier to use. 

Over time, I noticed the mower would sometimes get stuck on an exposed tree root or other partially buried obstacle. Note that, as advanced as the X350 is, it sometimes misses things and needs help. When the mower became stuck, I would get a notice on my iPhone and had to physically go to the mower and “unstuck” it. 

Some obstacles would repeatedly cause the mower to become stuck. When this happens, the map can be altered, creating an “Off-Limit Island” by manually steering the mower around the obstacle. This tells the mower to avoid this area in the future. I became good at creating a few “islands,” and now the X350 doesn’t get stuck in most spots anymore.

The X350 Mower

The mower itself is fairly maintenance-free. It should be periodically hosed down—both on its shell and underneath. Segway recommends that the blades be changed every 120 hours of mowing time. Based on my use, that’s about every few months. I changed the blades after only 31 hours to see how easy or difficult it was. It was easy. Replacing blades also affords you the chance to inspect the mower underneath for accumulated debris or damage. 

The Navimow App

Much of the app has been mentioned already. The app is necessary for the mower to function. There is so much info and control that I won’t get into everything. Some of the settings are: Scheduling mowing times and frequencies, Cutting height, Night mowing (not recommended), Map management, Weather, Traction control, and Anti-theft settings. 

If you have Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, the X350 can be controlled with voice commands. I refuse to open my life to these intrusive Smart home “services”, so I don’t use this feature. 

Accessories

There are a few extra-cost accessories available for the X350. Only you can determine whether they are necessary or not.

For me, I needed the optional $300 “garage” for the mower. I don’t have a sheltered place for the home base, so I opted for the garage. It doesn’t keep all rain and dust off the mower, but it will keep the sun from relentlessly beating down on the top of the expensive X350 (and especially the dot-matrix screen). During promotions, this garage sometimes comes with an X-mower purchase, but it should always be included with the mower, especially at these prices.

An optional clip-on trimmer (think weed-whacker) is offered, but I can’t see myself using it because of my weird yard layout. It could be useful for yards with clear boundaries. It’s also expensive.

Extra-large yards may need an additional Signal Enhancement Antenna for more accurate mapping and a stronger signal. This can be useful if the back and front yards are far apart. An antenna extension cable is offered for the antenna, but the supplied cable should be long enough for most uses. For mounting the antenna higher, there’s an optional Antenna Mounting Kit for the roof. I may install this later for better coverage.

Things to think about

After using (mostly watching) the Navimow X350, some things to think about became apparent.

• The X350 doesn’t have “normal” blades, so I don’t recommend going more than a week between mowing during peak lawn season. Think of the X350 more as a maintenance mower than one to use only when the grass gets too high.
• The X350 won’t cut everything—unless you have a perfect yard. Robot lawn mowers are much like robot vacuum cleaners. Certain areas will be missed. Some parts will still need to be weed-whacked or mowed with a traditional mower (especially in weird places—my yard has plenty)
• I recommend always being home when mowing, especially in the first month or two of use. When all obstacles have been tagged in the map and the X350 can mow without becoming stuck, then being home or not won’t matter so much.
• Turn on anti-theft. When activated, the Anti-theft feature can sound an alarm, notify the owner with an app notification when the mower is moved, use GPS to show its location, and be set to just not work without a PIN number.

Final thoughts

When I took delivery of the Segway Navimow X350 Robotic Lawn Mower, I dreaded the expected learning curve I would need to learn. While there was some learning involved, it wasn’t difficult to grasp, and mapping actually became a fun game. Plus, it’s satisfying looking out the window in my air-conditioned house at the Segway robot mower diligently working away. The X350 is quite expensive—much more than a traditional mower, gas or battery. However, if your time is valuable or limited or there are health issues preventing you from mowing (as in my case), the X350 becomes a viable solution, which can reduce or eliminate the need for an expensive lawn service. The comparative value of this mower will increase over time. Do the math and see if it’s right for you. It was—and still is—for me.

What I like about the Segway Navimow X350 Robotic Lawn Mower

• It will spoil you
• Easy to set up
• Existing maps can be customized after they’re made
• Blades are easy to replace
• Killer app is extremely useful
• Customer support is great

What needs to be improved?

• Expensive
• It can be tricky for the antenna to locate satellites
• Remapping from scratch is required if the antenna is moved or relocated

Price: $3,499 (Garage – $300)
Where to buy: Segway
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Segway. Segway did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.

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