Affordable, compact robotic lawnmower for smaller gardens: Anthbot M9 review

The recommended retail price of the Anthbot M9 is $899. It is available, among other places, directly from the manufacturer - often at a significantly lower price and in a bundle with Garage or NetRTK (4G).

There are numerous wireless robotic lawn mowers on the market. However, many models are not only quite large, but also only designed for expansive lawns. But hardly anyone has one, especially in cities.

With the M5 and M9, Anthbot offers quite handy robotic lawn mowers for smaller gardens. While the M5 is designed for gardens up to 500 square meters, the Anthbot M9 we tested mows up to 1,000 square meters.

Both models are largely identical in construction, as a comparison of the Anthbot M5 and Anthbot M9 shows. The only differences are the size of the battery and therefore the area coverage and weight. This means that the findings from our Anthbot M9 test also largely apply to the Anthbot M5.

Like the M5, the Anthbot M9 relies on classic RTK navigation and uses dual full-band RTK with many satellites. An RTK antenna around 1.25 m high is required in your own garden if you are not using the NetRTK, which is also available. Alternatively, the Anthbot M5 is also available with LiDAR technology, which will be used in many new robot mowers in 2026, but not in the M9. The RTK technology is supported by two cameras in the front, which are responsible for object recognition with 150° HDR AI vision.

This wireless robotic lawnmower for smaller gardens is also quite classic in other respects. It mows with a round cutting disc with five blades, which has a manageable cutting width of 20 cm. The cutting height can be adjusted electrically between 30 and 70 mm, which is not a matter of course in this price range. This is packaged in a fairly compact housing measuring around 50 cm long, 40 cm wide and 25 cm high. Thanks to a weight of around 10 kg and a handle at the rear, this can be carried quite easily if necessary.

Setting up the Anthbot M9 requires the usual steps. Once the charging station has been set up in a suitable location, it must be connected to a power socket. The RTK antenna must then be set up nearby. This should have as clear a "view" of the sky as possible.

The connection between the smartphone, home Wi-Fi network and robotic lawnmower is then established via the Anthbot app. To do this, first add a new device and then follow the instructions on the display. We had no problems with these steps when testing the Anthbot M9.

Finally, the necessary mapping of the robot mower's new area of operation is carried out, i.e. the exploration of the lawn. This can be done either manually or automatically, controlled by AI. With the AI-based solution, the robot independently drives along the edge of the lawn at a distance of a few centimetres. This worked well for the most part in the test. It only got tangled up in a flowerbed island positioned close to the edge of the lawn. Here it was necessary to switch briefly to manual mapping. In this mode, the Anthbot M9 is controlled with two virtual joysticks on the display, which works well. Overall, not a brilliant performance, but absolutely solid.

Thanks to IPX6, the Anthbot can be cleaned with a garden hose for occasional maintenance. A suitable screwdriver for changing blades is included in the scope of delivery, as is a first set of replacement blades.

The Anthbot M9 is controlled and programmed in the usual way via the Anthbot app, which is already used during setup. Although the German localization is not perfect and sometimes takes some getting used to, it offers many functions.

The live overview shows mowing progress in real time, as usual. The mowing settings can be changed using the gear icon. In addition to the number of mowings (once or twice), the mowing height (in 5 mm increments) and the freely adjustable mowing direction, the obstacle detection can also be adjusted in three stages. More on this below in our Anthbot M9 review.

The map management offers various functions. In addition to a backup to save a map, the behavior at edges can be set (more details on this below). There are also various zones including paths and the option to customize the current map. Various settings such as schedules, behavior in the rain, anti-theft mode and firmware updates round off the Anthbot app. The only thing we missed was a live video function.

Thanks to its mostly reliable navigation, the Anthbot M9 systematically made its way across our test area during the test. Due to its relatively simple technology, it is not particularly capable on rough or uneven terrain.. Its maximum climbing ability is 24°/45%, although our impressions were that it then struggled depending on the surface. However, thanks to its relatively compact shape, it is maneuverable and can usually cope with narrower passages from around 70 cm. The M9 is therefore well suited to more complex lawns, but these should not be on steep slopes or surrounded by many tall trees.

There is little to criticize about the mowing performance itself. With its mowing disk and five blades, it reliably cuts the lawn to the electrically set height of between 3 and 7 cm, just like most robotic lawn mowers. Anyone using a smart lawn helper for the first time will quickly notice a visible difference.

The manufacturer specifies a running time of 90 minutes per charge for the 5 Ah/90 Wh battery of the Anthbot M9. The test device was even able to exceed this in practice, although this of course always depends on the height of the lawn and therefore the mowing intensity as well as the terrain. Overall, the robot mower managed to cover almost 300 square meters on our test area with one battery charge, which is a remarkable result considering its size and price.

During the subsequent pit stop at the charging station, which the robot did not always reliably "hit" on the first attempt, it took a little longer than the manufacturer's specification of 90 minutes. In around two hours, just under 110 Wh with up to 55 W flowed through the measuring device. We measured the energy consumption in standby mode (when the robotic lawnmower is waiting in its station for the next use) at approx. 7 W.

If we extrapolate this for our usual comparison scenario of mowing 500 square meters three times a week, this results in a monthly power consumption of just under 7 kWh. This means that the Anthbot M9 is not the most economical robotic lawnmower on the market, but it is absolutely reasonable. This also applies to the noise level. From a distance of 1 m, we measured the M9 at around 60 dB, sometimes louder during intensive mowing - not particularly quiet, but not noticeably loud either.