I am moving into a new house, which has me thinking about how to care for this large yard (about 1.5 acres). Talking with a few lawn services and it seems like I’ll need to pay about $120 per cut. That’s a price I’d rather not pay.
Doing some research I’ve stumbled across robot lawn mowers. They are essentially big rumbas for cutting the grass. Most websites I’ve come across are focused on selling me a robot mower. I don’t want to be sold. I am curious about people’s experiences. If anyone here has a robot lawn mower and am wondering has been a worthwhile purchase?
This is a great question. If someone here does have I am curious about a few other things. How do they handle obstacles? What happens with trees (especially with roots) or flower beds? Do they do well on slopes?
Do you set boundaries? If not how do you prevent the mower from wandering into your neighbors yard?
I don’t really know anything about robot mowers, but I feel like the amount of yard that needs to be mowed here is going to be prohibitive.
The most powerful robot mower I found is only rated for 0.8 acres. Although, it looks like it returns home to recharge so maybe it can mow in sections.
As for boundaries, it looks like there is a boundary wire that you install around your property.
I can answer questions concerning robotic lawn mowers. @nebraskadoc that is a substantial amount of lawn. Regardless, I have had my Husqvarna Automower for 2 months and am quite pleased with the performance. The only work that I have to do is edging and trimming. This summer has been a hot one in Utah and I am thankful that I did not have to push my old mower around in it. I know several (7) people who have also gone the automower route. All of these individuals are on .3 - .7 acre lots. Larger units will cover more acreage. 2 individuals have very complex landscaping. One has opted for using two separate automowers, 1 in front the other in back. The other person has tiered sections and has opted to use a larger unit and prefers to manually move it between his front and back yard.
My unit, a base model, handles top roots and unlevel ground well. I am on .3 of an acre. The mower cuts for around an hour and returns to it’s charging station for another hour to recharge.
Boundary wires are typical for most of these installations. However, there are units that utilize GPS zoning coming to market. And, these units allow for ‘overcut’, cut past the boundary wire. This prevents from needing to trim due to excessive uncut sections or worry about boundary wire layout due to obstacles.
@guystein Speaking of obstacles, boundary wires can be set to cut around landscaping features, trees, inground trampolines, etc… These units are supposed to be able to handle up to 45* slopes. I can attest to seeing my friend’s unit doing a 30* slope on a regular basis.
Although you can install these yourself, as I did, I would highly recommend that you have an authorized dealer for the brand you choose in your contacts to facilitate your installation process.