I’ve had a robotic lawn mower on my home tech wish list for quite some time now. It’s one of the few smart devices I haven’t tinkered with and reviewed yet. Testing the utility and smart aspect of such a device is quite intriguing to me, so when HOOKII offered to send me a sample of their new Neomow X robotic lawn mower, I jumped right in.
I may not have experience with robotic lawn mowers firsthand, but I do have extensive experience with lawn mowers in general. Years and years of mowing, trimming and raking in grass in my own home. It’s one of those chores I could definitely live without.
In this review, I’m sharing my experience with the HOOKII Neomow X Robotic Lawn Mower. It’s a premium machine with a premium price tag, ranging from €2.299,00 – €3.299,00 depending on the model. So, is the price tag justified? I believe it is, but there are some caveats that need to be noted first.
Neomow X Lite, X, and X Pro Differences
The HOOKII Neomow X is available in three models: the X Lite, X, and X Pro. The main difference between the three is the maximum mowing size of the lawn, set at 2000m2, 4000m2 and 6000m2 respectively. All of them are equipped with 3D LiDAR SLAM navigation system, AI obstacle avoidance system and a bunch of other features that make this robotic lawn mower quite capable.
The Neomow X Lite and Neomow X can both mow up to 600m² on a single charge, while the Neomow X Pro provides the largest mowing area per charge at 900m². Furthermore, The X Lite and X have a mowing time of 120 minutes per charge, while the X Pro brings that up to 180 minutes. This is thanks to the larger battery of 17.5Ah it carries, compared to 13.4Ah on the X Lite and X model. All other specs are identical.
Overview and Package Contents
I got the mid range model as a testing sample, the HOOKII Neomow X. It arrived in a huge box weighing over 25 kilograms. Everything was packaged neatly and professionally, containing everything you need to get started with this robotic lawn mower. The package includes an accessory kit, a power adapter, a charging stand, a user manual and obviously the mower packed underneath.
The first thing I unboxed was the power adapter of the Neomow X. This charger has an input of 100-220V at 50-60Hz and outputs 5A of current at 21 volts. It feels durable, robust and very well made. It actually feels like holding a brick, as it’s large and heavy, measuring at 155mm between the two wall mounting holes. I intend to install a smart plug and monitor the energy consumption of the Neomow X.
The accessory box provides essential components for the robot mower’s setup and ongoing maintenance. It includes 12 plastic screws and adhesive stickers for securely installing the charging station on your lawn. For future upkeep, a set of replacement blades and their corresponding screws are also included. Finally, a brush cleaning kit is provided to help keep the mower’s underside clean and neat for optimal performance.
Once I removed the main Styrofoam cover from the box, I was able to examine the HOOKII Neomow X for the first time. My first impression is that this robotic lawn mower is quite large. It’s difficult to grasp from an image, but it measures at about 75 centimeters in length and 50 centimeters in width.
On the top of the robot mower, there are several control buttons as well as an emergency stop button. Whenever you press this red stop button, the mower stops whatever it is doing and activates a software emergency alarm. The home button sends the robot to charge, while the grass button is used to start the robot. The power button turns it on or off completely.
I took it out of the box and placed it on my office sofa to examine the underside. The mower uses two large, knobby side wheels providing strong traction mounted at the front. These are the main drive wheels of the Neomow X lawn mower. Two smaller, freely rotating caster wheels at the rear provide the navigation and turning capability. With this setup, the Neomow X can turn 360° in one place, just like a forklift.
Positioned just ahead of the front and behind the rear caster wheels are black, horizontally ribbed grass combs. These combs serve a dual purpose: first, they lift the grass blades upright for a cleaner, more uniform cut, and second, as Hookii describes, they also collect any loose clippings, ensuring a tidier lawn after the mowing process to avoid raking.
Here’s a close up image of the front and back wheels:
The only thing that remained in the box was the charging station. The robotic lawn mower automatically drives up to this station to charge itself whenever necessary, docking itself at the two +/- metal contact points. I found it is very good at navigating to and from the charging station, provided it is secured to the ground properly.
Installation and positioning
One of the most significant advancements in robotic lawn mowers like the HOOKII Neomow X is the elimination of the cumbersome perimeter wire required by older models. Instead of burying or staking down a physical boundary around your entire mowing area, the Neomow X utilizes its advanced 3D LiDAR SLAM and GPS navigation system to understand and map your lawn’s boundaries virtually, offering a much simpler initial setup process free from wire breaks.
With that said, choosing a proper spot for the charging station is crucial for the correct operation of the Hookii Neomow X robotic lawn mower. The manual clearly states you need to leave at least 0.5 meters on each side of the charging station and 2 meters in front of it. It also needs to be level, on an incline of less than 5°. This space is needed to allow the mower to maneuver properly and reverse back into the charging station whenever it is docking.
Once I chose a spot in my front lawn, I connected everything and started the mapping process. Here’s how it looks like in my front lawn:
App onboarding and initial mapping
Onboarding the Hookii Neomow X to the app is very easy and intuitive. Obviously, you need to create an account and grant all the necessary permissions, including Bluetooth. I got a prompt to update the firmware during pairing, which took about 5 minutes from start to finish.
Here’s how the process looks like in a few screenshots:
The Hookii Neomow X has a simple mapping process, but it does require some time. You cannot just let it run across your lawn and have it create a map itself with its LiDAR navigation system. You need to drive the mower around the edges of the lawn and create a circle/square or whatever your lawn is shaped like. During this process, you need to follow these simple rules:
- Move the mower to an entry point in your lawn and press start
- Start driving along the edge of your lawn, keeping the mower wheels at less than ≤5cm distance from the edge
- If your lawn and pathway have a slight height difference (≤1cm), you can drive the wheel on top of the pathway and create a better edge trimming map
- If you have high obstacles along the lawn, such as a wall, it is advisable to keep the mower about ≤5cm from the wall to avoid collisions
When you start mapping, and you make a mistake in movement, you can press an undo button which will erase the last 1 meter of distance traveled. Repeat the process until you go around your entire mowing area and press save. Done!
Passage ways, no-go zones and recharge paths
Once my first mowing area was mapped, I added a second mowing area. This area is separated from the first with a tile walkway, which has a height of about 2 centimeters. This is not an issue for the mower, as it can go over the tiles, but the two need to be connected with a passage way. To explain the 4 mapping terms as simply as possible:
- Mowing area: Area where the robot mower needs to mow
- No-go zone: Area where the robot mower is not allowed to enter
- Passage way: Pathway that connects two mowing areas
- Recharge path: Pathway that guides the mower back to the charging station when it’s not withing the current mowing area.
Once I mapped the two areas of my lawn, added a passage way and created a recharge path, here’s how my map looked like:
Mowing and device settings
The HOOKII Neomow X has some interesting device settings that can improve and optimize its performance. If you click the three dots in the corner while looking at the map and then go to Device Settings, you will see the following:
The Work on rainy days setting is pretty self explanatory. Although I did not test this, the Neomow X should endure light rain and drizzles without issues.
The Patch mowing setting is a must in my opinion. This setting ensures the entire lawn is mowed properly, without any areas missed.
The Visual obstacle avoidance simply ensures the robot identifies objects and obstacles on the lawn and goes around them to avoid collisions. This setting is affected by the time of day and light level.
The Crossing route allows you to change where the robot should enter the mowing area or return to the charging station.
The Edging mowing mode only makes the mower move along the edges of the entire mowing area and ignore the middle. I am not sure where this would be useful, but I guess it does not hurt to have it.
The Manual task priority mode allows you to take control of the device whenever the mower is working. It will always prioritize manual operation.
The Edge-only obstacle avoidance avoids obstacles only along the edges. And finally, the HOOKII indicator setting allows you to control the behavior of the light up logo on the front and enable night mode.
These are the core device settings that you can tune on the HOOKII Neomow X robotic lawn mower. In order to adjust the speed, grass height and entry and exit angle, you need to access the mowing setting on the map selection screen. Here’s how this menu looks like:
In the Mowing settings menu, you can adjust the mowing speed, mowing height and specific angle at which the robot departs the charging station. To simplify this, you can choose one of the pre-defined presets: Daily, Strong, Tall Grass or create your own Custom preset.
Testing performance and operation
Okay, once I fine-tuned everything and setup the HOOKII Neomow X properly, I was able to actually test its performance. I’ve had it for almost a week now and have a good understanding of its capability and performance level.
First off, this robot lawn mower is virtually noiseless. No joke. It completely caught me off guard that it creates no noise whatsoever. The only thing you hear is the sound of grass being cut, without the roaring noise present in electric or petrol mowers. I was quite pleasantly surprised at discovering this, which meant I could have it mow my lawn while the family is sitting around.
Next, the mower performs great and cuts grass very efficiently and without issues. BUT, you need to understand that this mower is meant to cut grass on neat, tidied up and organized lawns. It is not capable of handling bushed, patches of weird plants, or thick leaves in a pile or something. Forget about twigs, branches or rocks. It will not be able to cut or go over them. Granted, it was never advertised that It could.
Further, bumpy surfaces and uneven ground under the grass are not a problem, as long as they are not too extreme. By extreme, I mean you don’t have a huge hole that would make the wheels spin in mid-air. My lawn is not even at all, and the mower had no issues finding it’s way around.
Next, the robot can travel on an incline of up to 24°. If your lawn has an uphill area with an incline under this number, it will be able to climb and mow it without issues. I suspect the battery life might be affected by this, but I am not sure as I do not have such hills.
Finally, the battery life is quite solid and can keep the X version going for up to two hours. To me, it doesn’t really matter as it will simply recharge and resume mowing whenever it’s out of juice.
Final Thoughts
The HOOKII Neomow X is very capable robotic lawn mower. It does what it promises and delivers some useful smart features like remote control and schedules. You can set it to run daily and never worry about bushy and neglected lawns ever again. That’s what I intend to do, at least.
From a smart features perspective, the app is very usable and intuitive. It has an uncluttered design and everything is two taps away, at most. However, there is no smart home integration with any ecosystem at the moment. HOOKII tells me they are working on third-party integration, but the device is very new at the moment and I don’t have a timeline.
From a performance perspective, it is very important to remember that this robotic lawn mower is meant to cut grass on properly tidied up, clean and uncluttered lawns. In other words, it will be able to maintain your lawn in perfect shape once the grass is cut bellow 10 centimeters. It will not be able to handle bushes, tall patches of grass, or random twigs sprouting in the lawn. This is the most important take away from my review, seriously.
When it moves close to the edge, it will leave a small patch of grass uncut (about 2 centimeters) if you haven’t mapped it to go over the edge. This can only be done if the height difference is smaller than 1 centimeter, otherwise you would need a trimmer. It’s worth noting that the blade automatically lifts itself when necessary, so it’s wont hit concrete if there is a height difference.
If you have a neat lawn with tidy grass, the HOOKII Neomow X is definitely worth a shot. It does its job well and is very silent in doing so. Whether or not it’s worth its price tag is debatable. Here’s where you can get it:
