We spoke to Jim Zwack, vice president of the Davey Institute, a nationwide horticultural firm that uses auto-mowers for a number of clients, about what to keep in mind when shopping for a robot lawn mower. Most robotic mowers require a pretty hefty investment – and it might be your first time bringing home a robot – so there’s a lot to think about before making your choice and buying one. What to Consider When Buying a Robot Lawn Mower Still, none of this is any more than the attention that a gas-powered or electric lawn mower demands. There are some robot mowers designed for difficult turf conditions or more acreage: If you have a big yard or one with slopes and rough terrain, make sure you’re shopping for a mower specifically designed to handle it.įinally, don’t get lulled into a sense of complacency with one of these machines and forget that you’ll have to periodically clean its undercarriage and sharpen or replace its lightweight steel blades. Pine cones, fruits, nuts, and fallen branches can get caught underneath it. A deep divot or a mushy zone can bog it down. The more wire you lay, the more you increase the likelihood of a break from somebody digging in the yard or a tunneling rodent chomping through it.Īlso, it doesn’t take much to stop one of these robots. Yards with more complex geometry require you to lay more ground wire. Others, like the wireless Husqvarna 450X EPOS, allow you to set “no-go zones” to keep the mower out, as you would with a robot vacuum inside your home.įor the most part, robot mowers are best suited to simple yards that are relatively smooth and flat. More advanced robot lawn mowers have sensors that can detect obstacles and maneuver around them. The easiest way to keep the robo-mower from toppling over a vase or garden chair is to move as many lawn features as possible outside the boundaries set by the ground wire. It’s also important to point out that, as it continuously roams and trims, your robot mower will likely bump into lawn features and other objects within its boundaries, then redirect around them. This style of gentle, low-impact mowing keeps your grass crisp and sharp all the time, but also means that the mower will be out there constantly shaving and re-shaving your lawn. The average robot mower (there are some exceptions) uses multiple small steel pieces, each about the size of a razor blade, to remove very small amounts of grass over many days and multiple passes. A robot mower’s action is closer to shaving the grass down than cutting it down. The cutting action of a robot mower is different than the typical walk-behind mower, which spins a large steel blade designed to cut an inch or more of grass in a single pass. Some mowers have removable batteries, so you can swap fresh ones in to keep the mower going while you charge the dead ones separately. When its battery is nearly depleted, the mower heads to the station for recharging, which usually takes one to three hours. As the mower approaches the wire, it picks up the signal, stops, turns around, and heads off in another direction. It also contains a generator that sends a low-power signal out on the wire. That wire leads to a charging station, which is plugged into a 120-volt exterior outlet. Most require you (or the dealer) to bury a wire in the lawn that forms a perimeter within which the robot mower will cut. How a Robot Lawn Mower WorksĪ robot mower consists of a plastic chassis, on which are mounted mower heads, a battery, drive motors, and one or more circuit boards to assess ground speed, direction, tilt, and obstacles. After spending many, many hours mowing lawns, I am content to let the robots take it from here. I’m also constantly taking on new projects to improve things in and around my rural Appalachian Pennsylvania home, and there’s little I can’t build or fix. Show more The Expert: I’m a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and many other places. Best Garden Hoses The Best Robot Lawn Mowers.A robot lawn mower is a serious investment – a good one will likely cost between $1,000-$5,000 – but it saves you a ton of time and effort. Your grass stays freshly mowed, and you barely have to lift a finger. Beyond automating the chore, they’re constantly roaming around, keeping your lawn level. The best robot lawn mowers take all the guesswork out of yard maintenance. Why not just let a robot do the work for you? Professional landscapers can help, sure, but that gets expensive, long-term. While some people take pride in breaking out their riding lawn mower to mow the lawn, many of us probably prefer to relax on a perfectly warm day. Robot lawn mowers are growing in popularity, and for good reason.
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