Mammotion Luba 3 AWD review

Mammotion Luba 3 AWD: Introduction

• Type: Cleaning – vacuum only, mopping etc.
• Docking: What type of dock does it come with
• Navigation system: LiDAR, SLAM etc

Not all lawns are neat, level and completely flat; in fact, many are the exact opposite, full of bumps, slopes, divots and rough ground. For these types of garden, particularly big ones, the Mammotion Luba 3 AWD has the power to go where other robot lawn mowers can’t. With all-wheel drive, a wide cutting deck and a tough build, it’s aimed squarely at bigger, wilder spaces.

Does that make it ideal for tough terrain or does it fall behind in terms of cut quality? My review goes into all of the detail.

Design and components

• All-wheel drive  
• Adjustable cutting height  
• LiDAR and GPS navigation  

The Mammotion Luba 3 AWD comes in three versions, depending on the size of lawn you need to cover. The model numbers match the area in square metres: 1500, 3000 and 5000, the latter of which I have here. The difference comes down to the battery size, but the core features remain the same, so it’s simply a matter of choosing the right one for your garden.

I had mine sent to a friend’s place, where the mix of lawn, pasture and awkward terrain made for the ideal test.

Like the previous Mammotion Luba 2 AWD, this new model is a hefty piece of kit. It’s chunky, purposeful and looks a bit like a supercharged Formula One car designed for the garden. Thankfully, it also feels solidly built.

It arrives in several parts and needs some assembly. Most of that is easy enough, though the bumper is a little fiddly to attach. That’s quite possibly an issue that Mammotion has had, as the app later prompted a check to make sure the bumper was fitted properly (it was).

The Luba 3 AWD looks very similar to the Luba 2 AWD, with four chunky wheels and a familiar all-wheel-drive layout. Turn it over and you’ll find the dual cutting decks, each fitted with six pivoting razor blades. That’s two more blades per deck than the Luba 2 AWD had.

With a 400mm cutting width, the Mammotion Luba 3 AWD is built to cover serious ground quickly, cutting more grass on each pass.

The biggest change from the Luba 2 is the navigation system. The Luba 2 AWD required a reference station, but the Luba 3 drops that in favour of network RTK, with positioning data delivered over the internet.

Given the size of the lawns it can handle, it’s good to see 4G built in, much like the Husqvarna AutoMower 430V NERA. Mammotion includes three years of free service, after which 4G costs $49.90/£49.90 a year.

There are also cameras for obstacle avoidance and navigation, along with 360° LiDAR, which helps the mower keep moving even when GPS reception drops off, rather like a robot vacuum navigating a tricky room.

Installation is fairly straightforward. The docking station needs a clear view of the sky for GPS, plus a nearby power socket.

After that, it’s time to connect the Mammotion Luba 3 AWD to the app. With Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 4G, there are plenty of connection options. Like other robot mowers, it needs a map before it can work, which means driving it manually around the perimeter first.

That part is a little fiddly, but if you make a mistake, you can undo a point and start again.

You can create multiple zones and link them with paths, so the mower knows exactly where to travel.

The app is easy enough to use, with schedules simple to set up for each zone. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find cutting height settings, which can be set per area: the deck moves electronically between 25mm and 70mm, so you can have everything between a bowling-green style lawn and a longer, wilder area.

Performance

• Cuts brilliantly  
• Handles rough terrain  
• Can let the longer grass start to creep  

The first test came on wet, muddy ground. In those conditions, the Luba 3’s AWD system immediately impressed, carrying on through wet grass and fallen leaves without fuss. It even kept going when the front omnidirectional wheels were caked in mud, and only once did it get stuck on a steep muddy slope.

There was some turf damage where the Luba 3 AWD performed 180° turns on soft ground, but that’s more a sign of premature enthusiasm than a genuine flaw. The simple fix was to create avoid areas in the softest spots until later in the season when the ground had dried, which worked well.

Once the dryer weather arrived, the Luba 3 AWD really came into its own. The test lawn is lumpy, uneven and steep in places, making it a tough proving ground for any AWD robot. The only time it got stuck was when it grounded itself in a hole large enough to cause a nasty injury, so that really should have been filled in anyway.

Slope performance is particularly strong, with Mammotion claiming it can handle 80% inclines. The only real weakness appears when turning on a slope, where the mower can drift slightly downhill. If there’s an obstacle at the bottom, such as gravel or a retaining wall, it may get stuck. The answer is to leave a generous buffer between the edge of the zone and anything waiting below.

The Luba 3’s AI Obstacle Detection works well, even on the standard setting, although there’s also a sensitive mode. I didn’t run into any issues with it driving over things it shouldn’t. That said, it can be overly cautious around trees, allowing longer grass to build up. Once that happens, the mower starts reading the patch as a larger obstacle, and the uncut area gradually expands.

The same thing happens at the edge of the lawn where it meets meadow grass left to grow wild. Over time, the boundary seems to creep inward.

One workaround is to switch AI Obstacle Detection off, although the app says this should only be done with constant supervision, which is not exactly practical. It’s also wise to create no-go zones around anything the mower might otherwise drive straight over. A sensible compromise is to keep obstacle detection on most of the time, then occasionally switch it off to clean up the problem areas.

Cut quality is very good, although thicker or weedier grass may need at least two passes to look properly tidy. The test lawn is fairly agricultural, so weed and pasture grass seed blow in regularly.

Once the lawn is at the right height, the Luba 3 keeps it neat with ease if set to cut around twice a week in typical UK summer conditions.

On rough, lumpy grass with the odd twig lying around, the blades dulled after a while. Still, each blade has four sides, and flipping them over is a quick job, which helps extend their life.

Final thoughts

The Mammotion Luba 3 AWD’s main weakness is that it can avoid cutting longer grass around trees or where lawn meets meadow, slowly allowing these areas to grow. A quick pass with a strimmer, or perhaps turning off obstacle avoidance, helps tidy that up. But if you need a big, capable mower that can cope with very rough terrain, this is the one to buy. For smaller or more manicured lawns, my guide to the best robot lawn mowers is a better place to start.

How we test

When we publish our reviews, you can rest assured that they are the result of “living with” long term tests.

Robot mowers usually live within an ecosystem, or a range of products that – supposedly – all work in harmony. And they are designed to offer a range of different cleaning options. Therefore, it’s impossible to use a robo mower for a few weeks and deliver a verdict.

Because we’re testing smart home kit all day, everyday, we know what matters and how a particular smart mower compares to alternatives that you might also be considering.

Our reviews are comprehensive, objective and fair and, of course, we are never paid directly to review a device.

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