Robo mowers
 

Does anyone in this forum ever used a robotic lawn mower? If so, please PM me and let me know of your experience.

IMHO, if you have a small yard, then I believe the robo mowers are a good fit, however for a large yard, not so much. My reasoning is that these seem to be a RANDOM cutting pattern, so you tend to see a random cutting pattern in the lawn. If there is a model that somehow follows a fixed pattern then I would consider one.

If I was a full time resident, I might consider it.
As a part timer, I would be afraid it tips, or doesnt charge, and my grass doesn’t get mowed.

I believe some higher end models are programmable and do have mowing patterns thanks to AI. To me, the issue is more the width of the cut area. Pretty narrow compared to a typical mower. Also, the associated jobs of edging, cleanup, etc, still need to be done.

i have seen one working and im not impressed. the lawn looks like it has not been cut ,yes i know it only cuts 1/2 inch at a time . and you still have to cut all the borders. its not for me.

I looked into it, and quickly decided against it. The price, set up, needing to monitor it to make sure it does it's job, cleaning/maintenance and all of the other lawn tasks I would still need to do (edging/blowing) just didn't make it worth it.

Ironically, they are only good for small yards. So they aren't going to really save me that much time, when I can mow my small yard in about 20 minutes with my battery powered lawnmower, no more than once a week.

When I lived north on 1.5 acres, I would have been much more interested in an automated solution, due to the time I had to spend on just the mowing part.

My country club in CT has Husquvarna robot mowers cutting the fairways on all 18 holes. Lightweight, silent and solar panel rechargeable. I've seen them trimming as far away as 300+ yards from their solar charging stations. Can cut all 18 holes at the same time, even at night. Amazing perfect fairway grass to die for. Not cheap, but I've been told they will pay for themselves in 2 years time.

Can you provide the name of the club? Would like to check that out.

That said, that usage is a bit of a different scenario than the average homeowner. I would think the economies of scale, the ability to do it at night when the course is not in use, and being able to not hire so many people would play into making that worth their time.

Also, they might have been able to get some form of a subsidy to cut the cost, being a business and being solar powered.

Blackhawk Country Club, (formerly Oronoque), Stratford CT. The mowers have solar powered docking stations that transfer the charge to the mowers. The mowers use GPS and area plotting so they are programmed to cut only designated areas. Fairways are amazing. No heavy equipment and they are trimmed often. The mowers themselves are priced at about $5k each on the Husquvarna website, so these are way too expensive for most homeowners. But the results are impressive.

My neighbor has one in TV. But I don't think they're a good fit for St Augistine grass and other similar Florida grasses. Our grass is too thick so the mower needs to run at minimum every 2 days, which is not very good for the long term health of your grass. It looks like his burnt out or something because he seems to be on his second one and our homes are only just over 2 years old.

A neighbor has one that does a great job. It is one of the models that has programmable patterns and we often see it doing patterns set on opposite 45 degree paths. The only drawback I see, and the reason I don't mention the brand name, is that it has a limit of 2.5 inch mowing height. If used too frequently, large swaths of browning appear. St. Augustine grass wants to be 3- 4.5 inches tall.

If you intend to get one, go for a model that can cut at a 4+ inch height.

BTW, he has a large corner lot on a cul-de-sac, and the mower handles it well. So much for the small-moderate size lot advice.

We are seriously considering one, because the lawn mowing services seem to bring in new weed varieties from other people's lawns with great regularity. The break even point of owning a robot versus using a mowing service looks to be about 3 years.

Robotic lawn mower
 

We have had one for about 2.5 years. We live on a corner lot and it went out twice a day (because of needing to charge) in a random pattern. There was never a time when the lawn looked like it needed cutting. Many neighbor dog walkers said their dogs loved it and it is fun to watch. It was wonderful until recently. Our home was new and the lawn was still growing in. This summer the grass has gotten very thick (and beautiful) but now because of the nature of St. Augustine grass it continually gets stuck. The weight of the mower sinks into the squishy grass. Alas, we have decided to retire our friend, Radar. If you had Zoysia grass or newer, less thick St. A, it works great. We built him a nice charging house that he goes in and out of freely. We are going to list it as a one room home with landscaper included. Let us know if you are interested.

I am interested in your one room home with landscaper included. LOL
Ronnie 404-319-3362
Village of Duval

Until it can cut , edge , and blow off the street, I don’t think they are practical. In my opinion a freshly mowed lawn is not finished until it’s been edged.

Get a regular lawnmower and then pick up one of these. Asimo - ROBOTS: Your Guide to the World of Robotics
A $2.5 million bargain.