Ecovacs Goat A1600 RTK Review: Husqvarna has a Competitor Now?

Ecovacs Goat A1600 RTK: Setup and smart features

The Ecovacs Goat A1600 RTK comes in a huge box. Lifting it out of the packaging is not much fun at all. At first glance, the Goat 1600 RTK looks like any other Ecovacs Goat robotic lawn mower. First of all, it is IPX6 waterproof. When you look at the underside, you will find the first special feature. The robotic lawn mower features a second mowing disc. The double-blade system was designed to ensure a better and more efficient mowing performance. The good thing about this design? Ecovacs dispensed with the familiar navigation beacons. In lieu of navigation beacons, you set up an RTK reference station in the open. To set up the robotic lawn mower in the app, a WLAN and Bluetooth connection must first be established.

The mapping process is unique. You can let the A1600 RTK map your garden automatically and independently, just like any other robotic vacuum cleaner (read our Best Of list). The result proved impressive. Yes, the robotic lawn mower does miss some spots. In this case, this was not due to poor navigation, but can be attributed to a kind of safety protocol that the appliance invoked when it came to certain obstacles. In our review, the robotic lawn mower skipped the area around a newly planted tree. You can then add certain "off-limits" areas of your garden manually. To do this, you can mow the missing areas within a circle.

You will need the Ecovacs Home app to control the appliance. As usual, the manufacturer included numerous settings in the software. Users can easily set the cutting height here, as well as the cutting direction, right from the base station itself. One highlight to take note of is the speed of the robotic lawn mower. The app even offers you the option of increasing the speed. Watch out, speed traps! You can choose between a speed of 0.4 m/s and 0.7 m/s. You can read in the next section whether the mowing performance suffers from an increased speed as a result.

Otherwise, you will find the usual customization options. The robotic lawn mower even comes equipped with a rain sensor. In the app, you can specify when it can get to work after a number of rain-free hours. How about that? Animal protection is also part of the range of functions. As usual, the time period during which the robotic lawn mower is not allowed to go about its tasks can be specified here. Speaking of time periods, users can precisely specify work schedules for the Goat A1600 RTK.

Last but not least, Ecovacs has not neglected theft protection. On the one hand, an alarm sounds when the Goat is lifted. On the other hand, you can view the live location of the device. Apart from that, there is of course a PIN that you have to enter.

Ecovacs Goat A1600 RTK mowing performance

On to the most important question: How well does the Ecovacs Goat A1600 RTK mow? Basically, you get a rock-solid performance! As with the Goat O500 Panorama, the A1600 RTK can also mow your garden in a structured manner. The entire exercise works on the same principle as robotic vacuum cleaners. The cutting height can be set in 1 cm increments from 3 to 9 cm on the smartphone. In our review, we set a height of 5 cm and let the robotic lawn mower run at maximum speed. According to the manufacturer, the appliance can cover up to 400 m²/h.

The lawn looked great after the mowing. Whether and how much the second mowing disc contributed to this pristine 'performance' is anyone's guess. The fact is, the robotic lawn mower always remained within the mapped area and even mastered gradients of 50 percent. 3D ToF and LiDAR-enhanced RTK navigation are responsible for navigation. The in-house AIVI 3D obstacle avoidance system also has a finger in the pie when it comes to obstacle detection.

One problem that most smart robotic lawn mowers share is mowing farther away from the edge of the map as a precaution. Such appliances normally leave a distance from their boundaries. Ecovacs tried to tackle this problem by integrating "TruEdge" technology into the appliance. This is intended to ensure even mowing around the edges. However, the Goat A1600 RTK also left a small safety margin around the garden's boundaries. This is a shame, because the overall performance of the top model was really impressive.

Another astonishing feature is the short charging time. The Goat A1600 RTK was fully charged in just 45 minutes. So if you're looking for a robotic lawn mower that feels like it's always ready for action, this model is the right choice.