School me on robot lawn mowers

Donald

Donald

Joined
Mar 21, 2004
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Near the beach in Delaware
If you have purchased a robot lawn mower for your lawn please list the make, model, year purchased and your experiences.

I am always up in the air about something. This time it's a ZTR or robot mower. I have about 1/2 to 2/3 an acre of grass to cut. Cool season grass. Lots of planting beds to mow around.

Current mower is 30" Toro Timemaster (which does give me needed exercise).
 
I live on 3 acres and had a robotic mow dealer come out and try to set up mowers. I bought a 2500ft spool of boundry wire and one mower had zone A and the other mower had zone B. It didin't work out good. But the company was new and lacked proper knowledge.
That was in spring 2023 and I'm sure they are getting better as new models replace old.

img_4384-webp.149500
 
skyactiv said:
I live on 3 acres and had a robotic mow dealer come out and try to set up mowers. I bought a 2500ft spool of boundry wire and one mower had zone A and the other mower had zone B. It didin't work out good. But the company was new and lacked proper knowledge.
That was in spring 2023 and I'm sure they are getting better as new models replace old.

img_4384-webp.149500
Click to expand...
I read about all the fancy navigation electronics ones from Segway have. I am sure other brands also.

Read over Husqvarna and seems most of their current models use or can use physical boundary wire. I thought they all moved beyond physical boundary wires but maybe not.
 
skyactiv said:
I live on 3 acres and had a robotic mow dealer come out and try to set up mowers. I bought a 2500ft spool of boundry wire and one mower had zone A and the other mower had zone B. It didin't work out good. But the company was new and lacked proper knowledge.
That was in spring 2023 and I'm sure they are getting better as new models replace old.

img_4384-webp.149500
Click to expand...
What were some of the problems? I've toyed with the idea. With what I pay a lawn service, I have ample budget. While I see a lot of positive reviews from the robotic vacuum cleaners, I haven't seen much adoption of robotic lawn mowers. One golf course that I play once a year has them. That is the only time I've seen them in use.
 
ripcord said:
There's no way I'd consider using one unless I had a securely fenced yard or lived where there is zero chance of kids being in the vicinity.
Click to expand...
They don't have a metal blade like a normal lawn mower. Have cameras to detect kids and pets. And an alarm if picked up.

What are you worried about? Theft or injury.

If they were an injury liability insurance companies would ask for homeowners insurance. Typically they only ask about three things. Wood stove, trampoline and a dog.
 
Another advantage if you cut your own lawn is on vacation you can just have the robot cut it like normal vs having to pay someone to cut it or coming back to talk grass which normally results in clumps of grass after the first mowing after you return.
 
My Opinion:
I dont think robot is ready yet. maybe another 5 years.
Currently its still excessively expensive and gimmicky.

Now if you have some sort of hill crazy yard and you need a tracked mower etc.. there might be a reason for robot.

I hear you about the vacation clumping. I had that today as well as an emergency repair when my deck randomly lost 2 wheels.
(one fully off and the other with a few threads left)
visiting ace hardware tomorrow and I'm going to cross drill and cotter pin them on this time. red locktite failed :rolleyes:
 
The tech is getting good. Several folks at work are now hooked. Newer ones dont need a wire fence but learn and track via gps. First training is now driving it like an RC car to teach it the perimeter, specific paths between zones if you want, and keep-out areas. Then they remember that while operating from then on.

They are quiet, but dont vacuum grass with the big lifting blade force.

There is a new one out that does use tracks instead of wheels and uses two 10” blades inside of razors on a disc. I like its concept. It’s $400 shy of a ZTR.

There might be a time when I have one. But I really want to see maintainability be commonly and demonstrated to be supported if we are spending that kind of money.

But yes the tech is getting pretty good. If you like the way it cuts the grass and are ok trying something new, there are plenty not too far past what a Honda push mower would cost.
 
I had a brief unpleasant experience with the entry level husqvarna robot mower. 970something model iirc. I spent a day measuring and laying boundary wire from the docking station. At the end of the 7 hrs I spent going along the fence line and around trees, etc the mower initially started and ran. Board was green. 5 minutes into its inaugural run, it gave me the error code for “boundary wire short.” I put the thing back in the box and retuned it then and there.

As @meep suggested, there’s some new contenders that look promising that use gps vs trash 10/12 ga wire and have tracks. I think it’s called yarbo? I considered trying that one, but then saw its price and said “not yet.”
 
I am thinking to buy a Segway at Lowes on Lowes credit card. That gives me an additional 5% off beyond sale price and also a full year to return it vs 30 days if I buy directly from Segway.
 
I do like the idea.

They really need to make one that’s the size of an actual mower. Gas/ diesel powered. The thing could mow by itself and send you an alert on your phone when it needs fueled up.

I was at a husqvarna dealer earlier this year that had a remote controlled flail mower. It was $40k. 😐
 
Donald said:
They don't have a metal blade like a normal lawn mower. Have cameras to detect kids and pets. And an alarm if picked up.

What are you worried about? Theft or injury.

If they were an injury liability insurance companies would ask for homeowners insurance. Typically they only ask about three things. Wood stove, trampoline and a dog.
Click to expand...
They're still pretty new so claims will be few and far between, but if these things become more popular and claims start rolling in, then you better bet that insurance companies will take notice and adjust their policies and premiums accordingly.
 
Donald said:
Another advantage if you cut your own lawn is on vacation you can just have the robot cut it like normal vs having to pay someone to cut it or coming back to talk grass which normally results in clumps of grass after the first mowing after you return.
Click to expand...
Is the robot smart enough to not cut wet grass?
 
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