Dreame A1 Pro

Dreame rates the Dreame A1 Pro for slopes up to 45%, which it gives as 24 degrees. That's a reasonable figure for a two-wheel-drive mower and enough for most sloping suburban gardens, though not for steep banks.

Keep some margin. Manufacturer slope ratings assume good conditions, and grip falls on wet grass, loose soil and slopes the mower crosses sideways. With 2WD drive, the A1 Pro has less traction to spare than all-wheel-drive models when conditions are poor.

Measure the steepest part of your lawn before you buy; our slopes guide explains how and what the percentages mean.

Not fully, so keep a strimmer handy. The Dreame A1 Pro has an edge mowing mode that follows the boundary of the lawn, but Dreame's own UK spec table answers "No" for its Edge Master feature, the extending disc that lets some newer models reach further. With the blade disc set inside the body, a strip of grass is left along walls, fences and raised borders.

How much depends on the garden. Lawns that meet a flush path or mowing strip leave little to tidy, because the wheels can run onto the hard surface. Raised edges, walls and bedding boxes leave the most. Dreame doesn't publish the width of the uncut strip.

The cut itself is 220 mm wide, with height set from the app between 30 mm and 70 mm.

Basic protection only, as sold in the UK. According to Dreame's UK specification, the Dreame A1 Pro sounds an alarm and sends an alert to the Dreamehome app if it's lifted. It connects over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so that alert only reaches you while the mower is within range of your home network.

There's no remote GPS tracking out of the box. Dreame offers 4G through an optional Link module, but its UK store doesn't sell it, so tracking a stolen mower isn't realistic for most UK buyers. Dreame doesn't publish details of a PIN lock for this model.

Practical steps help more here: keep the charging station out of view from the road, lock side gates, and record the serial number. Our theft and security guide covers the options.

It uses LiDAR. The Dreame A1 Pro carries a 3D laser scanner, which Dreame calls OmniSense, that measures the distance to walls, fences, trees, hedges and other fixed features around the garden. From those measurements it builds a 3D map and works out where it is on the lawn, so there's no perimeter wire to bury and no RTK aerial to put on a pole. The only thing you install is the charging station.

This has two practical upsides. LiDAR doesn't need a clear view of the sky, so tall trees and the side of a house don't cause the signal drop-outs that satellite-guided mowers can suffer. And because it measures with its own laser rather than recognising images, poor light matters less than it does for camera mowers.

The trade-off is that it needs things to measure against. A large, open lawn with few features close by gives the scanner less to work with. The A1 Pro also has no camera, so Dreame relies on the LiDAR and a front bumper to deal with obstacles; small, low items such as toys and hoses are best cleared before a cut. Dreame doesn't publish a maximum obstacle height or a minimum passage width for this model.

Set-up is done in the Dreamehome app, where you map the lawn and add no-go zones; the app supports two maps. Our navigation guide compares LiDAR with camera and RTK systems in more detail.

Not from Dreame's UK store, which is the awkward part of owning a Dreame A1 Pro. The UK shop, run by distributor Cellcom Ltd, sells the mower but no mower accessories at all: no blades, garage, spare charging station or 4G module.

Dreame's European stores do sell blade packs and other mower accessories, so one option is ordering from there, with the extra delivery time that involves. Third-party sellers on marketplaces also list blades said to fit Dreame mowers; check the part is described as compatible with the A1 Pro before buying, since fit and quality vary.

It also helps to know what you're replacing. Dreame's UK product page doesn't say how many blades the A1 Pro uses or what type. The manual for the earlier Dreame A1 lists three pivoting razor blades on a quick-release disc, and the two mowers are very similar, but Dreame hasn't confirmed the parts are shared.

Small pivoting blades like these are cheap consumables that dull and chip over a season, so expect to replace them more than once a year on a busy lawn. Given the patchy UK supply, it's sensible to buy a spare pack at the same time as the mower rather than waiting until you need one. Dreame's UK after-sales team is the place to ask about parts under warranty. Our blade guide explains when to change blades and what to look for.