We report a wave-locked 878.6 nm diode-laser-pumped multi-segmented Nd:YVO4 laser operating at 1064 nm, which is compared with the high doping concentration and the low doping concentration monolithic Nd:YVO4 lasers. Experimental results show that the configuration of the wave-locked 878.6 nm diode-laser-pumped multi-segmented crystals not only can reduce thermal effects of the laser but also can improve the optical-to-optical conversion efficiency. We have achieved an output power of 28.2 W at 1064 nm with an incidence pump power of 40 W, corresponding to the optical-to-optical efficiency of 70.5%, slope efficiency of 70.6%. For absorbed pump power, the optical-to-optical efficiency is 76% and the slope efficiency is 76.4%. The laser also has an excellent output stability while the temperature is varied from 10 ℃ to 40 ℃.