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I let a modular yard care robot mow my lawn - here's my verdict after a month

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Yarbo Robot Mower ZDNET's key takeaways The Yarbo is a modular yard care robot starting at $5,000.

It does well caring for large yards with complex layouts thanks to its tracked design, and its modular features make it easy to use year-round.

The Yarbo is one of the most expensive robot mowers on the market; it presented multiple connection issues, and its attachments are heavy and bulky. View now at Amazon

The Yarbo is one of the most visually appealing robot mowers I've seen. It's more of a modular yardwork assistant with a variety of uses than a single-purpose machine. It can act as a lawnmower, leaf blower, or even as a snow blower, thanks to the different attachments it comes with.

Also: Should you buy a robot lawn mower with no boundary wire? My verdict after months of testing

The Yarbo Core is strong enough to tow up to 3,500 pounds and can follow you around the yard to wherever you're working. You can also drive it around using the app or the included remote control and add other tools to the included tow hitch, like a dethatcher, aerator, and more.

I've been using the Yarbo for a few months, but I encountered too many issues that required troubleshooting to get this review out any earlier. For example, the first time I tested the mower module, the rotating disc that holds the blades broke. Upon researching this issue online, I found it's more common than I expected, as there are many reports of the same problem happening to more users.

The disc is made of plastic and appears to have hit a protruding tree root that sticks out about an inch from the ground. This same spot had been covered by several other robot mowers before and after the Yarbo, and none have ever had this problem.

Maria Diaz/ZDNET

Thankfully, Yarbo remediated the issue immediately and sent me replacement discs. While the new disc was made of the same material, it withstood my rough backyard's landscape and hasn't broken again, so I chalked up the first one's demise as a freak accident.

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