Honda Miimo HRM 40 vs Ambrogio Twenty
- Designer
- August 28, 2020
Although we are an Ambrogio dealer and always like to think our products are best, we do keep an eye on the opposition. The Miimo HRM 40 popped up on my feed so I thought I would take a closer look.
Honda Miimo HRM 40
The Miimo HRM 40 comes in two flavours:
They both come with an installation kit with 125m of wire, a similar kit for the Twenty would be £80 but would be 150m.
Both flavours can cover up to 400 m² and have an LCD screen which allows you to program and control the mower but the Live also allows you to use an App to program or control the mower from anywhere in the world.
There are a couple of features which Honda say are unique:
- Map & Mow – this allows the mower to calculate the garden size itself and create a mowing schedule.
- Logical Cutting Pattern – it will mow your lawn in 5m stripes
- Place & Mow – you can put the mower in a particular small area (to to 3m x 3m)
More about these later.
Ambrogio Twenty
Similar to the Miimo, the Twenty comes in two flavours:
- Deluxe RRP £999 (we sell them for £849)
- Elite RRP £1299 (we sell them for £1099)
The Deluxe can cover up to 700 m² and the Elite up to 1000 m², neither machine has a screen as they both programmed via an App. The Deluxe uses Bluetooth and hence you need to be within 10m to use the App, the Elite has internet connectivity which means that you can control it from anywhere in the world.
Additionally, the Elite also has a GPS module, which means:
- It is trackable – if someone takes it away, you’ll be informed when it leaves your area and then it’s location can be found anywhere in the world.
- It provides better coverage – the machine knows where it has mowed and uses that information to mow more efficiently.
Both robots allow you to mow up to 4 areas i.e. 4 connected lawns without any human involvement and use the Amico tag which keeps your pets safe i.e. turns the blades off when going near them.
Feature Comparison
If you have read our article about finding the best robot lawn mower for 2020, you’ll know that the only person who can decide on the best mower is you – it’s based on your specific requirements, but below is how they stack up feature wise.
| Feature | HRM 40 Standard | HRM 40 Live | Twenty Deluxe | Twenty Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max. Lawn size (m²) | 400 | 400 | 700 | 1000 |
| Max No. of Areas | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Closed Area? | ✔ (limited to 45m2) | ✔ (limited to 45m2) | ✔ (no limit) | ✔ (no limit) |
| Terrain Ability | ||||
| >>Wheels/ Tyres | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| >>Grip | Low (max incline 27%) | Low (max incline 27%) | Medium (max incline 35% to 45%) | Medium (max incline 35% to 45%) |
| Flexibility | N/A (as only one area) | N/A (as only one area) | ✔ | ✔ |
| Robot Free Time | 10h @400m | 10h @400m | 16.5h @400m 14h @ 700m | 17.5h @ 400m 13h @ 1000m |
| Setup/ Control | ||||
| >>Mower | LED screen | LED screen | Keys for specific commands | |
| >>Bluetooth App | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| >>Internet App | ✖ | ✔ | ✖ | ✔ |
| Security | ||||
| >>Pin | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| >>Tracking | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| >>Geofence | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| Noise | 63 | 63 | 57 | 59 |
| Size (mm) | 445 x 364 x 202 | 445 x 364 x 202 | 420 x 290 x 220 | 420 x 290 x 220 |
| Weight (kg) | 8 | 8.1 | 7.1 | 7.2 |
Manufacturer Comparison
| Feature | Honda | Ambrogio |
|---|---|---|
| Longevity | Honda was founded in 1946 and originally developed small engines. It became a motor company in 1948 and produced motorcycles and cars. | Ambrogio Robot mowers part of Zucchetti Centro Sistemi family was founded over 20 years ago and have been have been manufacturing robot mowers in Italy since 2002 and was one of the first three brands sold in Europe in the early days of robotic mowing. |
| Specialisation | Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate corporation. It produced its first walk-behind lawn mower in 1978 and introduced its robotic lawn mowers in Europe in 2012. | Ambrogio specialises in the development and manufacture of garden robots, both for lawns and swimming pools. |
| Innovation | Honda have been expanding the robotic mower line-up over the last few years. The Miimo HRM 40 does have some interesting features which speed up setup but are not ahead of the opposition. Software updates have to be performed by a dealer…so that probably means at most once a year. | Ambrogio have a large research and development site in Tuscany where as well as bringing new products to market, are committed to the continuous improvement of the existing products. Updated software for the mowers is released on a regular basis and via the dedicated App can be installed by the owner. |
| Build Quality | Reviewers have been impressed by the build quality but it has not been around long enough for a full analysis. | Ambrogio is renowned for its build quality which is very important as your mower will be outside all season long and will be mowing every day. |
Unique features?
Let’s look at some of the other Honda Miimo features:
Map & Mow
Automatically calculating the size of your lawn sounds great but when you are deciding which mower to buy, you will have worked out the size of your lawn already.
Automatically setting the schedule sounds good, but only you know when you want it to start mowing so , you’ll probably end up changing it. The Ambrogio manual will tell you the desired schedule for your sized lawn.
Verdict: Nice to have but doesn’t really add much.
Logical Cutting Pattern
It says it will mow your lawn in 5m stripes…which implies that the mower will create stripes in your lawn. As you will know, for stripes you need a roller so this refers more to the mowing pattern than the look of the lawn afterwards. All the machines have a logical cutting pattern, what really matters is how quickly they will cover an area completely, the Miimo needs to be run scheduled for 14h a day, 7 days a week to cover 400 m², the Twenty Deluxe needs 7.5 hours a day & the Elite 6.5 hours.
Verdict: Great sounding but mowing time doesn’t live up to the promise.
Place & Mow
The place and mow idea sounds good, if you have a particular area that doesn’t get cut normally i.e. under garden table and chairs, then you put it there and set it to mow the area.
Verdict: Not sure how often you would use it but a good idea.
Others
There are lots of other features which do not really differentiate the Miimo from other robot mower – they are more features that you would expect from a robot lawn mower. One thing which stood out was that the Miimo only had 3 cutting heights 30/40 & 50 mm – the Twenty has a 25 – 70mm range and you can adjust it anywhere in-between.
Verdict: Cutting height lacks range and adjustability.
Overall Verdict
On the face of it, the Miimo look like a good little machine if you have up to 400m² to mow. It is slightly cheaper than the Twenty if you take into account the installation kit but the Twenty still wins out as :
- It can handle a bigger area
- It can handle steeper slopes
- It mows the area quicker leaving it free for you
- It is controlled by an App even on the Deluxe
- It is quieter
- For security, the Twenty Elite’s geofence and tracking capability puts it lawns ahead of the HRM Live.
Notes
The information for the HRM 40 used in this comparison was taken from the Honda marketing material and other reviews…if you have any feedback or think anything is incorrect, please let us know and we’ll change it. If you are interested in mowers for larger gardens, we cater for all garden sizes up to 20,000 m² and beyond.
