Robotic lawn mowers

[Participant]

Can't see a thread on these - does anyone have one and is it any good, or are they a gimmick and a pain?

I'm moving house to somewhere with a much larger lawn and am weighing up large petrol (or even ride-own) mowers vs. one or more robotic mowers.

It's 0.3 acre so nothing vast, but I currently have a 30cm budget petrol job for our small lawns and it would take me hours to do our next lawn with it.

 

[Mr.Cookie]

Haven't got one but helped someone move stuff recently so he could let an annexe out and he think it's made his grass look the best it ever has, something to do with it cutting such a small amount that goes back to the soil.

I also think there is a thread but not 100%

 

[Journey]

FIL has one as he can't mow easily these days, amazing invention his lawn looks great. I scarified it for him, and put some more seed down. It's the Worx jobbie he has.

 

[Semple]

Robotic lawnmowers are still very expensive, i think you're looking at nearly a grand for a decent one - but probably a lot cheaper than a ride-on mower.

I guess it's really a question of do you find mowing the lawn a chore or is it something you enjoy doing. If the former, get a robotic lawnmower, if the latter, then get a ride-on.

something to do with it cutting such a small amount that goes back to the soil.

It's called mulching. As it'll be a massive pain to have to have to empty the basket/hopper every time it does a cut.

 

[rG-tom]

Robotic lawnmowers are still very expensive, i think you're looking at nearly a grand for a decent one - but probably a lot cheaper than a ride-on mower.

I have a Bosch Indego S+ 500, and it's absolutely fantastic. It was about £700, and can cover a 500m2 garden comfortably.

I wanted something as a minimum that its own sim card so it could set its own schedules around the weather, and notify me of any issues. In the 4 months of having it, it's needed attention a handful of times where it had essentially "crashed" ie forgotten to go back to charge and run out of battery, or managed to cross the guidewire and be out of bounds, but given it's out 4-5 days a week in dry weather, the 30 seconds it took to go and put it right is still absolutely irrelevant.

The lawn looks great, and we never have to worry about it. Absolutely wouldn't want to mow my own lawn now.

Bosch was the only brand i could find where it actively tries to do straight lines instead of "random" cuts, and I quite like how neat it looks after a cut:

Yes I know we have a clover issue, and we've not gotten round to fixing that, but the regular mowing has really helped improve the health of the grass and the clover is less dominant now!

we're considering buying some more land from next door which would take us from ~350sq/m of lawn to ~3200sq/m, and we'd buy one of the big Husqvanas for that kind of size I think.

 

[Lyla77]

Very tempted by one of these. Your lawn looks amazing.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

How to these cope with lumpy, sloping grass?

 

[arknor]

someone on my old street had one, seemed like it either broke down a lot or just didn't return to it's charging house in time.

it was just sat half way in a bush for months at one point

would have been super expensive for sure, never seen a house like it before.
Your not rich until your house has an office block connected to it apparently

 

[rG-tom]

someone on my old street had one, seemed like it either broke down a lot or just didn't return to it's charging house in time.

it was just sat half way in a bush for months at one point

would have been super expensive for sure, never seen a house like it before.
Your not rich until your house has an office block connected to it apparently

These horror stories almost put me off, but honestly, I've had to put it back in the docking station ~3 times in the 4 months we've had it, and like i said it goes out 3-4 times a week if it's not raining...

 

[dl8860]

These horror stories almost put me off, but honestly, I've had to put it back in the docking station ~3 times in the 4 months we've had it, and like i said it goes out 3-4 times a week if it's not raining...

Did you need to buy extra boundary wire and pegs? Lawn looks excellent.

 

[rG-tom]

Did you need to buy extra boundary wire and pegs? Lawn looks excellent.

No, had a fair amount of boundary wire left which makes sense as I'm 180m short of the specified maximum area. Did use all the pegs though as I think you do need more of them for uneven areas

 

[sovietspybob]

Yeah i've had one for just over 3 years now and it's been fantastic, easily the best bit of tech i've ever bought after my first smartphone.

I've got a Husqvarna 420, my grass has never looked better with 0 input from me. My garden has quite a lot of lumps and bumps and slopes and it seems to cope with them all really well.

Our garden is set in 1/2 an acre but probably only only just over 1/4 an acre is actual grass for it to cut, maybe a bit more.

Mine only really gets stuck by something I've done, ie i cut a hedge and didn't pick up all the cuttings for a couple of days and it got stuck in them as i'd taken about 1m off the top of the hedge so they were pretty big branches laying around. Also it can get beached on top of some of the windfall cooking apples as they're massive.

Mine isn't a very 'smart' one which i did worry about when buying but i think after the novelty wears off after a few weeks it doesn't matter at all and I'm glad i didn't waste money on a GPS/sim connected one, i can set it's schedule up via an app and that's all i need, it currently mows for about 3 hours in the morning before we get up and another 4 in the evening from 7pm so it's never out when we're using the garden. I'll change it shortly to remove the early session when we start getting frosts but i only need to interact with it a couple of times a year so anything more 'connected' would have been a huge waste imo.

obligatory picture of my grass:

If you want to know anything specific from a long term user feel free to ask.

 

[Participant]

I am so sold on these now. Awesome pictures of nice lawns with minimal effort.

 

[sovietspybob]

What i find the best bit is that the lawn is ALWAYS perfect.

Nice day in the summer and the kids want to get the paddling pool out? no worries the garden is perfect.
Want a BBQ, no probs the garden is perfect.
Been raining for 7 days solid and just glancing at your garden from the landing window, ideal the garden looks perfect.

I really notice now when i see other gardens that they're only perfect for 1 or 2 days at most before the grass starts looking a bit scruffy, and even freshly cut grass doesn't look quite as good until it settles in compared.

 

[mjt]

How does it work with boundary wires and children? I'm about to move to a house with a decent-sized garden (1500-2000m2), and we'll either need a ride-on mower or one of those beasty Husqvarna robomowers mentioned above.
I'm concerned about the kids kicking a ball into the wires, or tripping over them, etc..

Like that bush @sovietspybob. Is there a boundary wire around the hedge, or does the mower realise there's a bush there, and go around it?

 

[sovietspybob]

How does it work with boundary wires and children? I'm about to move to a house with a decent-sized garden (1500-2000m2), and we'll either need a ride-on mower or one of those beasty Husqvarna robomowers mentioned above.
I'm concerned about the kids kicking a ball into the wires, or tripping over them, etc..

The wires are pegged down on top of the grass and after a couple of months they disappear below it and you won't see or feel any trace of them.

When i had to alter my boundary wire a bit it was amazingly difficult to find. I was on my hands and knees for 10 mins scraping around where i KNEW i'd laid it but i couldn't find it at all, i ended up gently using a pick to 'scoop' it out of the ground.

I've driven cars, lorries, mowers over our boundary wire and it's been fine. I'm just a bit careful with the strimmer at the edges of the garden but that's it.

 

[Firestar_3x]

How does it work with boundary wires and children? I'm about to move to a house with a decent-sized garden (1500-2000m2), and we'll either need a ride-on mower or one of those beasty Husqvarna robomowers mentioned above.
I'm concerned about the kids kicking a ball into the wires, or tripping over them, etc..

Like that bush @sovietspybob. Is there a boundary wire around the hedge, or does the mower realise there's a bush there, and go around it?

You can burry it?

 

[sovietspybob]

The wires are pegged down on top of the grass and after a couple of months they disappear below it and you won't see or feel any trace of them.

When i had to alter my boundary wire a bit it was amazingly difficult to find. I was on my hands and knees for 10 mins scraping around where i KNEW i'd laid it but i couldn't find it at all, i ended up gently using a pick to 'scoop' it out of the ground.

I've driven cars, lorries, mowers over our boundary wire and it's been fine. I'm just a bit careful with the strimmer at the edges of the garden but that's it.

For the bushes, trees and things like raised beds i just let it bump into them, i have gone around the smaller ones in my orchard though - see here https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/husqvarna-automower-robot-lawnmower-review.18824920/

 

[rG-tom]

I've gone around the two trees on my lawn with the wire as there's also a soft bed it would get stuck in around the trunk. If it was just a tree i would let it bump into it!

 

[Participant]

Looks like the Worx Landroid L1000 is a good bet for 850m2.