Discussion
ThunderSpook said:
Just been away for a week expecting to come back to nice short grass. Found that my mower (affectionately called Willy) decided to mount a plastic plant pot that had blown on to the grass the day after we left 
Same, our Easilife just snuggled into the hedge and stayed there! He's now having some weird problems... he'll be going back to base, following the guide wire, act as if he hit something, LEAVE the guide wire, amble all over the lawn ("Searching") and eventually die with an empty battery. I also found that he does a great job of cutting the grass in proximity to the base, but never gets to the edge of the garden... presumably because he keeps on phantom-bumping. I've turned off Lawn Sense and cleaned him, but not sure what else to try.I have a Flymo 1200R.
We are having some work done on our garden which means my lawn will now be split in two by a 1.5m compacted self binding gravel path. The mower should be be able to cross the path easily.
My question is should I just include the path in the boundary so that the mower traverses it as part of the lawn? Or should I create a transit area say 1.5 m wide across the path?
Any advice gratefully received!
We are having some work done on our garden which means my lawn will now be split in two by a 1.5m compacted self binding gravel path. The mower should be be able to cross the path easily.
My question is should I just include the path in the boundary so that the mower traverses it as part of the lawn? Or should I create a transit area say 1.5 m wide across the path?
Any advice gratefully received!
RossP said:
I have a Flymo 1200R.
We are having some work done on our garden which means my lawn will now be split in two by a 1.5m compacted self binding gravel path. The mower should be be able to cross the path easily.
My question is should I just include the path in the boundary so that the mower traverses it as part of the lawn? Or should I create a transit area say 1.5 m wide across the path?
Any advice gratefully received!
We made a transit area for ours, just incase We are having some work done on our garden which means my lawn will now be split in two by a 1.5m compacted self binding gravel path. The mower should be be able to cross the path easily.
My question is should I just include the path in the boundary so that the mower traverses it as part of the lawn? Or should I create a transit area say 1.5 m wide across the path?
Any advice gratefully received!
I've got a Flymo Easilife 350 for my relatively small garden (the 350 was cheaper than the 200 at the time and the only difference as I understood it was extra cable) and seem to have problems when the ground is wet as it churns up the grass. The entire area where I live is basically on clay so the garden often gets quite boggy in patches when it's rained a lot. As I've noticed this trait over the last few months I've now reduced 'moto' to only coming out once a week and manually calling him out if it's been dry; seemed to be striking the right balance. But, he came out automatically on Saturday morning when it was lashing it down, I was at my lads football so couldn't stop it, now the garden is a right state.
I think the damage is being caused by the wheels when moto spins around to change direction (can't be the blades as it's on the highest setting).
Does anyone else find their robo damages the lawn when it's wet? Maybe it's time to retire him until the Summer.
Don't know whether another brand might be more forgiving but I doubt it. Was really surprised as the unit isn't overly heavy but guess with a sodden lawn any contact will churn it up.
Any thoughts, comments, experiences appreciated.
Flymo Easilife - Summary of my learning from the past five months
Hi all had my Flymo Easilife 200 for about five months now and thought I would post some of the things I have learnt for the benefit of others who are starting out.
1. Watch out for special offers on amazon. I bought mine from amazon then a few days later saw it for £150 less on amazon! – obviously returned it and bought again
2. Don’t worry about the differences between the Flymo 200, 350, 500. Get the right one based on your garden size. They are exactly the same machine but with software variations to adjust cutting duration to garden size.
3. It’s a sleek looking thing and quite low profile so manages to get under the higher bottom rungs on the kids climbing frame – something I was very happy with. (ended up taking off the lower rungs too so he gets in from all angles. Kids can adapt )
4. Set up was pretty easy. The slight headache I had was around the placement of the base station, and how to locate the boundary wire. See attached pic. My base station was located in a corner. This setup is now working perfectly with no failures of docking.
5. As you can see, I’ve made a little shelter from some outdoor storage furniture from Ikea. Definitely worth doing this as it keeps the body much cleaner.
6. The mower does not dock perfectly in a straight line. As you can see from my pic there is about a five-degree angle to the left. Just bear this in mind when creating the docking area.
7. Try and keep the required distance (2m) in front of the base station as per the manual.
8. Placing the boundary wire is really easy with the included measuring tool and stakes. The biggest hassle I had was how to situate it as it leaves the docking station. My final setup as per pic in post works perfectly. It took a bit of trial and error.
9. I haven’t got around to burying the boundary and guide wire yet (with and edging tool) but actually I cannot see it at all now and have even raked my garden multiple times without it coming up. Even the kids didn’t seem too interested in it when it was visible. However, ensure its low enough that it doesn’t get cut up by the mower on the first install. You should always set the initial cutting height to the maximum to avoid this and lower it over time.
10. Don’t get too worried about creating ‘islands’. I spend ages pondering this. Yes, you need to for flower beds and such, but otherwise with solid obstacles, its fine just to let it collide with things and adjust its course. I have made no islands in my garden.
11. The low voltage cable, adaptor and plug etc seem pretty robust. I have an external socket which I use. No issues with the electrics at all.
12. Place the guidewire from your docking station to one of the furthest most remote parts of the garden. The triple connector makes it very easy to do this if you follow the instructions. BUT you need to plan the course of the guidewire carefully especially if you have a tight obstacle ridden garden like mine – see below.
13. The initial calibration is very important to get right. When it calibrates, it also sets the corridor width of the return path down the guidewire. What this means is that when the mower follows the guidewire back to the docking station, it will always travel within a certain corridor width, to the LEFT of the guidewire. This width needs to be set depending on your garden and obstacles. For example, depending on where you place your guidewire, the corridor width needs to be set at the distance of the closest obstacle to the left of the guidewire (as you look to the docking station). You can see this on my image attached. For me, it was 60cm, which the minimum. For you it may be different.
14. Now, related to point 11, before you start calibration, you need to set the distance from the base station that the mower will move forward, BEFORE it starts mowing, and BEFORE the guide wire calibration starts. This is important. You can see in my case I set this as 135cm which is the distance to the closest object to the left of the guidewire. At point, during calibration, the mower will come out, then move to the left until it hits the first object. This is now the corridor width and you need a minimum of this distance to the left of the guidewire at all times.
15. If you have the above points spot on, the calibration will succeed, and you will have no issues.
16. The schedules (whether automatic or manual) are not exact. The mower will always start cutting at the designated time, but it may finish earlier, or later. In my case it was a lot earlier. This bugged me for ages and support had no answers, but in the end as the cutting performance was fine, I just let it go.
17. It’s really quiet. Mine has become a bit nosier as the blades need changing, but generally its super quiet and you can just hear the cutting of the blades. Noisiest bit is when it collides with an obstacle but even that is not intrusive.
18. Cleaning – weekly if possible, I would suggest. The underside gets quite mucky with grass debris and It coats the blades which then get stuck to the screw and are unable to freely rotate, which I’m guessing affects cutting performance. Contrary to what others have said, its more than a just quick wipe – the blades need unscrewing and cleaning properly and the rest needs a gentle scrub down with a brush and water. Doesn’t take too long though.
19. Rain – it can cut in the rain of course, but I try to avoid as the underside gets dirtier and if it collides with obstacles or gets stuck, sometimes the wheels spin which can damage the grass. This is where the next two points come in..
20. Rain sensor – it doesn’t have one, and I don’t know how well they perform on other models, but I find myself wishing it did have one because I have to manually override the schedule if it’s raining.
21. Wi-Fi – before buying, I thought I would never need this, but I’ve since discovered that because I don’t like it cutting in the rain, to override the schedule, I need to use the app and connect via Bluetooth. Obviously, I can only do this when at home, and need to go to the window for it to connect. Wi-Fi would ameliorate this problem.
22. About a month in, the mower developed a problem which I will call ‘ghost collisions’ as you can image it was behaving as though it kept colliding with objects unseen. I think I posted this on the forums earlier. It was clearly wrong and cutting performance was awful. I contacted support and they said it needed a software update. I had to drop if off to a dealer in Wakefield (about 25 miles away) and they had it for about ten days. This was obviously covered under warranty. It’s been perfect since.
23. The firmware is not user upgradeable. Even if you could get to the USB port. Support said they are planning this for the future. It would have saved me the hassle above, so I hope they sort this out
24. Changing of the blades – I haven’t changed them yet, but I think I ought to have. Won’t bother now as the season is over but next year, I think I’ll change them 2-3 times a season. They’re dirt cheap online.
25. Leaves and other debris. Keep the lawn clear of all toys, etc that could get caught under the chassis. Large amounts of leaves will cause a problem as will sticks etc, but small numbers of leaves will be OK. It will NOT mulch them up, more often they will get pinged aside and sometimes stuck under the chassis, especially dry ones.
26. Lawn sense – Not used it. Maybe will try next spring.
27. The mower rarely gets stuck. A couple of times as he was backing up his rear end collided with the underside of the rung on the climbing frame and this pushed the STOP button. Sods law, this happened the day after we left on holiday for 10 days. The other time, he tried to mount the slide and stopped working.
28. Edges. You WILL have to do the edges every couple of weeks or so. He leaves about a 15cm strip of uncut grass all the way around (as I have in effect a wall as a boundary). I suggest the Bosch ISIO with the long handle to do this. Works really well.
29. Quality of the lawn – yes it does improve. Although whether this is due to the ‘fertilisation’ with tiny grass particles as per the marketing, or the avoidance of the trauma of major periodic cuts I am not sure. It still needs raking, aerating and treating though.
Overall thoughts:
Go for it. I have no regrets at all. My wife and I like gardening. We are not lazy. Our lawn was a right pain to cut as although small, it was really awkward with lots of obstacles. Apart from the edges, we’ve not had to cut anything. We’ve had more time to just do other gardening and play with the kids. Along with my robot vacuum, one of the best purchases I’ve made for my house as it gives me back my time, and there’s not many appliances that can do that.
Hope you found this helpful.
rogerxp said:
I've got a Flymo Easilife 350 for my relatively small garden (the 350 was cheaper than the 200 at the time and the only difference as I understood it was extra cable) and seem to have problems when the ground is wet as it churns up the grass. The entire area where I live is basically on clay so the garden often gets quite boggy in patches when it's rained a lot. As I've noticed this trait over the last few months I've now reduced 'moto' to only coming out once a week and manually calling him out if it's been dry; seemed to be striking the right balance. But, he came out automatically on Saturday morning when it was lashing it down, I was at my lads football so couldn't stop it, now the garden is a right state.
I think the damage is being caused by the wheels when moto spins around to change direction (can't be the blades as it's on the highest setting).
Does anyone else find their robo damages the lawn when it's wet? Maybe it's time to retire him until the Summer.
Don't know whether another brand might be more forgiving but I doubt it. Was really surprised as the unit isn't overly heavy but guess with a sodden lawn any contact will churn it up.
Any thoughts, comments, experiences appreciated.
The other thing is that if you have a lot of worm activity you will get lots of worm casts on the surface which get flattened by the mower. These make it look quite muddy, but may not actually be an issue with the mower itself if you know what I mean. Still might be worth reducing the cutting time to the minimum possible.
I also agree probably time for mower to hibernate for the winter now. Also make sure you apply an autumn feed before mid November to get some resilience back.
Bhamani said:
19. Rain – it can cut in the rain of course, but I try to avoid as the underside gets dirtier and if it collides with obstacles or gets stuck, sometimes the wheels spin which can damage the grass. This is where the next two points come in..
21. Wi-Fi – before buying, I thought I would never need this, but I’ve since discovered that because I don’t like it cutting in the rain, to override the schedule, I need to use the app and connect via Bluetooth. Obviously, I can only do this when at home, and need to go to the window for it to connect. Wi-Fi would ameliorate this problem.
Interesting that you posted this, about 8 minutes after my post (above), did you find your mower churned up the grass at all when wet or was it literally just getting overly filthy that made you not want to mow in the rain? Also, the wifi option I miss too, could've used this whilst at football on Saturday instead of coming back to a trashed garden. Like you I just didn't think the feature was necessary.21. Wi-Fi – before buying, I thought I would never need this, but I’ve since discovered that because I don’t like it cutting in the rain, to override the schedule, I need to use the app and connect via Bluetooth. Obviously, I can only do this when at home, and need to go to the window for it to connect. Wi-Fi would ameliorate this problem.
Sorry, just noticed you replied to my post a short while ago, interesting comments. I did consider trying to shave some length of the tyre treads so they wouldn't dig in quite so much (maybe a little extreme!) but maybe I need too accept it's more of a fair weather mower. It didn't seem to let me switch off the schedule completely, I had to leave 1 mow per week, not sure whether I've missed anything there or if that's just how it is - sods like that single scheduled mow coincided with a massive rain storm!!!
Edited by rogerxp on Monday 12th October 14:50
rogerxp said:
Interesting that you posted this, about 8 minutes after my post (above), did you find your mower churned up the grass at all when wet or was it literally just getting overly filthy that made you not want to mow in the rain? Also, the wifi option I miss too, could've used this whilst at football on Saturday instead of coming back to a trashed garden. Like you I just didn't think the feature was necessary.
Hi, see my post above, but a mix of both. The normal navigation was not churning up the grass, but only when it had to change direction after a collision. This caused spinning of the wheels which damaged the grass. rogerxp said:
Interesting that you posted this, about 8 minutes after my post (above), did you find your mower churned up the grass at all when wet or was it literally just getting overly filthy that made you not want to mow in the rain? Also, the wifi option I miss too, could've used this whilst at football on Saturday instead of coming back to a trashed garden. Like you I just didn't think the feature was necessary.
Sorry, just noticed you replied to my post a short while ago, interesting comments. I did consider trying to shave some length of the tyre treads so they wouldn't dig in quite so much (maybe a little extreme!) but maybe I need too accept it's more of a fair weather mower. It didn't seem to let me switch off the schedule completely, I had to leave 1 mow per week, not sure whether I've missed anything there or if that's just how it is - sods like that single scheduled mow coincided with a massive rain storm!!!
On the app you can select 'wait until further notice' so that's what I use. Then 'wait for next schedule' when you're good to go again. But that wouldn't have helped you during football!Sorry, just noticed you replied to my post a short while ago, interesting comments. I did consider trying to shave some length of the tyre treads so they wouldn't dig in quite so much (maybe a little extreme!) but maybe I need too accept it's more of a fair weather mower. It didn't seem to let me switch off the schedule completely, I had to leave 1 mow per week, not sure whether I've missed anything there or if that's just how it is - sods like that single scheduled mow coincided with a massive rain storm!!!
Edited by rogerxp on Monday 12th October 14:50
rogerxp said:
Interesting that you posted this, about 8 minutes after my post (above), did you find your mower churned up the grass at all when wet or was it literally just getting overly filthy that made you not want to mow in the rain? Also, the wifi option I miss too, could've used this whilst at football on Saturday instead of coming back to a trashed garden. Like you I just didn't think the feature was necessary.
Sorry, just noticed you replied to my post a short while ago, interesting comments. I did consider trying to shave some length of the tyre treads so they wouldn't dig in quite so much (maybe a little extreme!) but maybe I need too accept it's more of a fair weather mower. It didn't seem to let me switch off the schedule completely, I had to leave 1 mow per week, not sure whether I've missed anything there or if that's just how it is - sods like that single scheduled mow coincided with a massive rain storm!!!
On the app you can select 'wait until further notice' so that's what I use. Then 'wait for next schedule' when you're good to go again. But that wouldn't have helped you during football!Sorry, just noticed you replied to my post a short while ago, interesting comments. I did consider trying to shave some length of the tyre treads so they wouldn't dig in quite so much (maybe a little extreme!) but maybe I need too accept it's more of a fair weather mower. It didn't seem to let me switch off the schedule completely, I had to leave 1 mow per week, not sure whether I've missed anything there or if that's just how it is - sods like that single scheduled mow coincided with a massive rain storm!!!
Edited by rogerxp on Monday 12th October 14:50
ash73 said:
Bhamani said:
20. Rain sensor – it doesn’t have one, and I don’t know how well they perform on other models, but I find myself wishing it did have one because I have to manually override the schedule if it’s raining.
I don't think they help much because they start cutting again when it stops raining and the grass is still wet.Bhamani said:
24. Changing of the blades – I haven’t changed them yet, but I think I ought to have. Won’t bother now as the season is over but next year, I think I’ll change them 2-3 times a season. They’re dirt cheap online.
I change mine every 2 months. You can also turn them over to use the other side of the blade.Bhamani said:
25. Leaves and other debris. Keep the lawn clear of all toys, etc that could get caught under the chassis. Large amounts of leaves will cause a problem as will sticks etc, but small numbers of leaves will be OK. It will NOT mulch them up, more often they will get pinged aside and sometimes stuck under the chassis, especially dry ones.
This is the big drawback with all the razor blade models, I end up mowing the lawn with the lawnmower at this time of year just to pick up the leaves! The ones with metal solid blades (e.g. Robomow) will chop up leaves, but they're twice as noisy.ash73 said:
This is the big drawback with all the razor blade models, I end up mowing the lawn with the lawnmower at this time of year just to pick up the leaves! The ones with metal solid blades (e.g. Robomow) will chop up leaves, but they're twice as noisy.
My flymo cuts the leaves up fine?Maybe the blades aren't sharp enough.
I guess it depends on the size of the dog. I have a West Highland Terrier.
I find that most of the time I have to clean the garden up a lot less because things are getting chopped into very small pieces. I sometimes direct a hose at the wheels when it gets close enough to the house and I’m outside, but otherwise it’s fine. It’s only really the wheels that pick it up.
I find that most of the time I have to clean the garden up a lot less because things are getting chopped into very small pieces. I sometimes direct a hose at the wheels when it gets close enough to the house and I’m outside, but otherwise it’s fine. It’s only really the wheels that pick it up.
Today I have decided that it’s hibernation day for Willy (named after Groundskeeper Willy). It’s getting soggy enough that much more movement on the grass will just turn it to mud.
I’ve had Willy for around 4 months now, and overall I’m very impressed. He gets stuck every now and then, and every couple of weeks or so he decides his loop isn’t working, even though it is. As soon as I prod him he starts up again, and I’ve had one instance of him getting lost and running out of batteries. But otherwise he’s been brilliant. I haven’t had to manually cut the grass since getting him, it’s great
I’ve had Willy for around 4 months now, and overall I’m very impressed. He gets stuck every now and then, and every couple of weeks or so he decides his loop isn’t working, even though it is. As soon as I prod him he starts up again, and I’ve had one instance of him getting lost and running out of batteries. But otherwise he’s been brilliant. I haven’t had to manually cut the grass since getting him, it’s great
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