Yarbo Review: 17 Months, 12 Tickets, Zero Working Seasons
Honest Yarbo review from a 2-year owner: 17 months, 12 support tickets, 129 emails, two hardware replacements, and zero complete seasons of unattended operation. The detailed timeline and evidence are below — read this before you spend ~$7,000 on a Yarbo.
Why This Yarbo Review Exists
I pre-ordered the Yarbo in May 2024 after watching the polished marketing videos. The unit arrived in early December 2024. In the 17 months since, I've opened 12 support tickets, exchanged 129 emails with Yarbo, had a full Core replacement, had a snow-blower module replacement, and have not yet completed a single full season of unattended operation.
This isn't a sponsored review or marketing fluff. It's a factual record of what actually happened, with dates pulled from my support correspondence. Where Yarbo support helped, I say so. Where the product or the company let me down, I say that too.
I'm writing this because I would want to read it before spending ~$7,000.
Yarbo Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Reality
To be fair: there are real strengths here. None of them have been enough to make the product actually work as advertised over my 17 months of ownership.
Yarbo Hardware Feels Solid and Durable
The Yarbo doesn't feel like a toy - it's built to last. Stands up to weather well and I'm not concerned about leaving it outside year-round.
Yarbo's Modular Design is Very Clever
Swapping between Yarbo's mower, snowblower, and leaf blower attachments is genuinely easy. The modular system lets you add new modules as they're released without feeling left behind.
Yarbo Support Staff Are Patient and Polite
Across 12 tickets and 129 emails, the people on the other end of support have consistently apologized, escalated, and arranged free replacement parts and modules. The frustration in this review isn't with them — it's with a product that keeps failing in the same ways regardless of who's helping.
Consistent Yarbo Updates (Double-Edged)
Regular firmware updates show they're actively developing. Though many are "duh" features that should have existed from day one, they badly need this rapid development.
Yarbo is Really Fun When It Works
Having the Yarbo follow you around the yard or watching it work autonomously is genuinely satisfying. When it's working properly, it feels great.
Bottom line on the positives:
I want to be fair — these are real. The hardware is well-built, the modular concept is genuinely good, and Yarbo support has been kind through every ticket. But none of that changes the fundamental problem documented in the rest of this page: the product doesn't reliably do the thing I bought it to do.
Yarbo "Autonomous" is Generous Marketing
Multiple cameras that seem unable to do basic obstacle detection. Yarbo needed a hotfix to avoid driving under cars - something I expected to work from day one.
Yarbo Lawnmower Performance is Wimpy
Too many clippings? Storm debris? Wet grass? Any of these stops the Yarbo dead. Feels built for Arizona golf courses, not real homes with weather.
Yarbo Snow Performance is Terrible
Yarbo constantly gets stuck on my gravel driveway, even in light snow. I spend more time rescuing it than it saves me.
Yarbo GPS Issues Despite Clear Skies — On Both Cores
4 acres, clear skies, charging station 6ft from the house, Data Center mounted 30ft up with a fiber connection. The original Core dropped GPS regularly at the end of the driveway. Yarbo replaced the Core in July 2025. The replacement unit drops GPS in the same place. Cellular failover, despite being marketed as the safety net, has never reliably engaged.
My Yarbo Experience: By the Numbers
A chronological record of the operational problems I've hit with my Yarbo across two snow seasons and two attempted mowing seasons. Pulled directly from my support correspondence so the dates and counts are accurate, not approximate.
Click any entry below to expand the details. Every date is pulled from the actual support thread.
May 2026OngoingBox of Replacement Parts, No Instructions1 photoDetails ▾
A box arrived containing what appears to be a replacement camera, cables, and assorted hardware. No instructions, no note, no email. The implicit ask is that I dismantle the unit and rebuild it myself — on a $7,000 product I bought specifically because I don't have time for this. Asked support what to do with it. Days of silence. Still waiting.
what showed up at my door. No instructions, no note, no email. April 2026OngoingMower Module Won't Cut, Camera Disconnected1 photoDetails ▾
Switched back to the mower module for the new season. Right camera reports disconnected and won't recover through reseating or power-cycling. The rover follows the mowing path but the blades never engage — it just drives over tall grass without cutting. End/Recharge buttons in the app become unresponsive mid-job. Right camera replacement initiated; remote diagnosis blocked because Yarbo's backend reported the wrong module attached. Currently unresolved.
Smart Vision page with the right camera missing. This is the blocker that started the current ticket. March 2026n/aMystery Box of Contact SpringsDetails ▾
A package arrived with zero notice or explanation. After I asked, Yarbo confirmed it was a kit of small contact springs for the module connectors, intended to prevent recurring overcurrent on a different module. The fix itself was fine — but I had to email support to find out what was sitting in my driveway.
January 2026~3 weeks of diagnosis + ship + installSnow-Blower Module Replaced3 photosDetails ▾
Snow-blower module threw auger-overcurrent within minutes of starting, even with light, loose snow. Backend log access stalled on a serial-number mismatch between what the app showed and what Yarbo's backend had on file. R&D eventually traced it to an internal cable; a replacement module shipped under Advanced Replacement and resolved the auger fault. Track slippage on snow remained unresolved.
auger overcurrent OA002, suspended at <1% progress in light snow. 
auger packed with snow on what should be a normal run. 
me shoveling out the autonomous snow blower, again. December 2025RecurringReplacement Core, Same GPS Drops3 photosDetails ▾
Brought the replacement Core out for snow duty and immediately hit the same end-of-driveway GPS loss as the original unit. PPVS tuning improved one run; cellular failover, despite being marketed as the safety net, has never reliably engaged when the rover loses HaLow.
GPS disconnect popup, replacement Core, same failure mode as the original. 
being told to move the rover for GPS, on a 4-acre property with clear skies. 
snow job paused mid-run while GPS tries to recover. This is most snow events. July 20253 weeks down → full Core replacementFirmware Lockup Killed the Mowing SeasonDetails ▾
On July 4 the rover entered a firmware update state it never exited, stuck on v3.1.47. Ten days of reboot scripts and tier-one replies got nowhere. After a video diagnosis call, Yarbo dispatched a full replacement Core. By the time it arrived, the summer was effectively over and the lawn never got the season I bought the unit for.
May 2025~2 weeks downtimeCutting Discs Shipped IncompleteDetails ▾
Discs broke on the first mowing runs of the season. The reorder needed a follow-up to actually ship, and when the box arrived only one of three discs ordered was inside. A second shipment had to be arranged.
May 2025~1 week downtimeDrove Under a Delivery TruckDetails ▾
While returning to the dock, the rover drove under a parked delivery truck and sheared off both antennas. Six cameras did not detect the truck. Yarbo shipped replacement antennas within a week at no charge — fast turnaround, but the incident raises the obvious question of what the cameras are actually doing.
February 2025~8 weeks to fulfillHaLow Antenna Replacement Took Six WeeksDetails ▾
An antenna snapped off in a winter storm. Reordered the part on Feb 6, heard nothing for six weeks, had to ping support twice, watched a tow hitch ship first by mistake. Tracking finally appeared in early April — most of the late-winter snow season already gone.
December 2024~2 weeks downtimeGPS Lost Within Weeks of First SnowDetails ▾
Five days after Christmas the rover lost RTK lock with snow on the ground and never recovered on its own. Yarbo identified a Data Center software issue but couldn't push a fix; the unit sat dead through multiple snow events while I shoveled by hand.
December 2024PermanentReturn Window Closed Before Mowing Season BeganDetails ▾
Pre-ordered in May 2024 expecting summer delivery; the unit arrived in early December. Yarbo confirmed the 30-day return window starts at activation or April 30 automatically, whichever comes first. That meant the lawn mower — the main reason for the ~$7,000 purchase — couldn't be tested until weeks after the return window had closed.
My Property Layout - For Context
To help you understand my situation and validate that my expectations aren't unreasonable, here's what I'm working with:
This isn't a golf course in Arizona - it's a typical family property with normal weather and reasonable complexity. The Yarbo should handle this setup without constant intervention.
Additional Yarbo Frustrations (In Detail)
Here are some Yarbo issues I've encountered which are upsetting, but might be more specific to me and when I purchased it. Regardless, I think it helps tell the whole story. If you're considering a Yarbo purchase, these are the examples of situations you might face as well.
The Yarbo "Pro" Module Insult▾
Yarbo just released a new "Pro" lawnmower module that supposedly fixes the problems with the original mower. Asking me to buy another module when I haven't completed one mowing season with the existing one is infuriating. Why invest more money in a product that didn't work as advertised the first time?
Return Policy Bait and Switch▾
- Ordered May 2024, told it would ship late summer; actually arrived in early December.
- 30-day return window starts at activation OR April 30 automatically — whichever comes first (confirmed in writing).
- No snow until after the window; couldn't test the mower until well after warranty auto-started.
- Returns require freight shipping back — not Amazon-style.
- Effectively stuck from the moment the unit was activated.
No-Go Zones Don’t Work Intelligently▾
I carefully mapped edges around trees and fences expecting the rover to follow the path I drove. Instead it stays much farther out. Yarbo's suggestion is to map "over" areas for tighter mowing — which doesn't work with physical impediments like fences. I still need a string trimmer for large sections of my yard.
Mysterious Behavior Mid-Job▾
It's always unclear what the Yarbo is doing. My family watches it mow paths, then sit there backing up and adjusting repeatedly before continuing. No explanation, no indicator in the app — just opaque robot behavior on a $7,000 product.
App Notifications Are Broken▾
iOS settings are correct, but I still find the rover sitting in the yard upset about a non-existent obstacle and never sending a notification. I have to manually check the app, back it up two feet, and tell it to start again. Not autonomous.
Controller Experience is Awful▾
Clunky, error-prone, and unintuitive. You have to memorize button combinations with no on-device guide. I end up using my phone to control it, which is miserable in winter. At minimum there should be decals showing key functions.
Documentation is Scattered▾
No single user manual that's consistently updated. Instead it's a hunt across miscellaneous knowledge base articles with no connection to each other.
Update: Yarbo recently released a wiki that's linked from their support page. Too early to tell if it actually consolidates things.
The Diagnostic Burden Falls on the Customer▾
When the Yarbo fails, debugging is my job. I'm asked to enable "record issue" mode, run a job, screenshot the error, take a video, then disable record-issue — often while the rover is stuck in snow or the app is timing out. Yarbo's backend frequently shows the device offline when the app says it's online, blocking diagnosis until the discrepancy is sorted.
For a $7,000 connected product there should be a one-tap in-app bug report that bundles logs, app state, and a description. Instead every escalation is a multi-day email exchange where I'm the data collector.
Cellular Failover Doesn’t Actually Work▾
Yarbo's answer to HaLow loss at the edge of the property is "enable 4G — it'll take over automatically." In 17 months I have never confirmed a successful auto-failover. When the rover hits the end of the driveway it goes offline; the app times out before I can reach the diagnostic page that would tell me whether cellular engaged. This eliminates the entire premise of a self-recovering autonomous unit.
Hardware Replacement Doesn’t Fix Software Problems▾
Yarbo has, to their credit, replaced both the Core (July 2025) and the snow-blower module (January 2026) free of charge and reasonably quickly.
But the GPS drops at the end of the driveway? Same on the replacement Core. Cellular failover? Same. App/backend online-state mismatch? Same. The systemic issues aren't in the hardware — replacing it just resets the clock.
Frequently Asked Questions About Yarbo
What Yarbo Should Focus On
I want the Yarbo product to succeed. Here's what I think would make the biggest difference for future Yarbo customers.
Fix the Yarbo camera system, GPS reliability, and obstacle detection. If I have to manually intervene multiple times per Yarbo session, it's not autonomous. The fact that a Yarbo hotfix was needed to prevent it from driving under cars shows how basic the Yarbo problems are.
The Yarbo lawnmower needs to handle normal yard debris, wet grass, and typical weather conditions. If you encounter yard debris, use one of the 6 cameras to maneuver around it. The Yarbo snow blower needs to work on gravel driveways without getting stuck every few minutes. Build Yarbo for real homes, not perfect conditions.
Stop releasing Yarbo "Pro" modules that fix problems the original Yarbo should have solved, or at least create a more reasonable upgrade path for existing customers. Fix the existing Yarbo product before asking customers to buy more Yarbo modules. Stop creating unrealistic marketing videos that don't reflect the reality of the Yarbo.