Though summer season has hit full stride and temps are excessive the place I reside, my grass remains to be rising quick sufficient that I would like to chop it a few instances per week to be able to preserve it. I haven’t got an additional 5 hours per week to spend sitting on a garden mower. However due to robotic garden mowers, I haven’t got to spend that point mowing, and the grass appears much better than if I would lower it myself.
Practically two years in the past after I examined my first robotic garden mower, the Husqvarna Automower 430XH, I gained the ability to regulate time and get a wonderful garden.
OK, I do not actually management time, however the robotic garden mower takes on one among my greatest weekly chores and provides my household and me extra time collectively. Whereas the Husqvarna Automower 430XH opened my eyes to what a robotic mower can provide when it comes to getting time again, I’ve since examined more-advanced autonomous fashions with essential new options, resembling GPS steerage.
The consequence? A fantastically manicured — not simply lower — garden and even extra time to spend on summer season enjoyable.
In case you’re interested in including a robotic garden mower to your yard and out of doors arsenal, this is my expertise with two new robotic mowers, the Segway Navimow i110N ($1,299) and Mammotion Luba 2 AWD ($4,099), and why they’ve grow to be my secret weapon for an ideal summer season.
I began with a non-GPS robotic mower and it was irritating
The Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H is ruggedly constructed and extremely able to dealing with lawns of all sorts.
Husqvarna provides extra superior choices than the Automower 430XH, which was my was my first foray into robotic garden care. Now it resembles a extra budget-friendly robotic vacuum cleaner.
Like much less superior robotic vacs that do not have fashionable lidar (a type of laser mapping), the Automower 430XH was with out GPS steerage and mapping and required a bodily boundary wire to be put in. This wire acts as a digital wall for the mower to “bounce” off and helps it discover its charging base. Whereas this finally will get the job achieved, the mower would often get caught on objects, mow over objects my children left within the yard or get misplaced looking for its approach house.
Whereas the Segway Navimow 110i is small, it’s mighty and able to slicing a pleasant garden.
Not solely did the randomness go away unusual mowing paths in my yard, but it surely additionally left my yard uneven. Whereas this may occasionally sound like complaining, I am nonetheless glad that I wasn’t the one doing the mowing. It additionally means I am a lot happier now, as a result of, like with robotic vacuums, there have been lots of developments and new gamers within the robotic garden mower class.
One of the best factor about fashionable robotic garden mowers is the mixing of GPS expertise permitting mowers to deftly deal with a complete garden with virtually no effort required from me, each within the preliminary setup and through mowing classes. Except for the time I save by not mowing the yard myself, the period of time required to get began with the mowers is dramatically lower than those who want a boundary wire.
GPS steerage makes robotic garden mowers a pleasure to make use of
These enhancements embody annoying boundary wires being changed by GPS-guided mowing in addition to superior object recognition, improved effectivity and, in the long run, a better-looking garden for much less work. Two robotic mowers I am at present testing are the Segway Navimow i110N and the Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H. Each have strengths and weaknesses and are nowhere close to excellent, however they’ve grow to be important instruments in my garden care and way of life.
Segway’s Navimow is nice for smaller lawns
The $1,300 Segway Navimow‘s navigation is proscribed to a quarter-acre of mowing, due to some onboard storage limitations. This is not a lot of my 5 acres of rural property. I discovered the proper a part of my garden for it, and after driving it round like an outsized, very gradual RC automotive utilizing my OnePlus Open telephone because the distant. I arrange a mowing schedule, and the Segway robotic mower does the remaining. This Navimow saves me about 30-45 minutes of mowing twice weekly.
Mammotion Luba 2 can deal with 2.5 acres of yard
The Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H has so many options that enable it to deal with lawns of all sorts.
This implies the remainder of my regained time has come from the Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H. This specific mannequin can deal with as much as 2.5 acres. Once more, no wires are wanted, and whereas slower than an RC automotive, the Luba 2 AWD can transfer as much as a surprisingly quick 4 ft per second. The AWD portion of the identify means this robotic mower has all-wheel drive, serving to it to deal with extra demanding lawns. Mammotion’s mower has two mowing decks, in comparison with Navimow’s single deck, can lower from 4 inches all the way down to 2.2, and has way more customization controls. This souped-up mannequin will price you greater than $4K.
Handsfree, excellent garden
My yard has by no means had such an expert look.
Completely manicured lawns with mowing stripes and checkerboard patterns aren’t quite common for Kansas nation houses, however I’ve it this spring. It isn’t unusual for mates of mine to name me a “high-tech redneck” with all my good units, and so they could also be proper, however I do not stress over getting my grass lower. I haven’t got to work all day after which spend hours in the summertime warmth mowing my yard. I can have my weekends to go on household tenting journeys, ball video games and extra.
Even high-end robotic mowers have dangerous days
The Segway Navimow i110N and Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H each have quirks and sometimes want human interplay to maintain going. Typically a stick will get caught within the wheel or mower deck, so the mower stops and I’ve to take away it. Typically the mowers will overlook the right way to get again to the charger or will get high-centered on a clump of grass and have to be bodily moved. These points should not mechanical and have by no means required various minutes to clear up.
No matter whether or not you’re contemplating a smaller, entry-level robotic garden mower to are inclined to your yard or a extra superior mannequin, there are some elements you may wish to contemplate earlier than buying to make sure you have the very best expertise.
Robotic garden mowers have gotten more and more frequent. As expertise improves — specifically, superior GPS steerage — and costs decline, it is nearly as good a time as ever to splurge on one. They’re a splurge, ranging wherever from $600 to properly over $5,000. Do I nonetheless take pleasure in mowing the garden? Positive, however solely after I wish to, not as a result of I’ve to.
Watch this: Learn how to Prep Your Garden Mower for the Season
