Robot mowers

[Frimley111R]

normalbloke said:

Do all the robotic mowers rely on a wire system?
Apologies for being a late joiner to the thread and if it’s been covered before. Background, is I have a smallish lawn, and a trusty Honda Izy, which will be coming to the end of its life soonish. So I want to go battery. I was holding out for the upcoming Milwaukee mower( already have Milwaukee kit and batteries) but they keep putting it back, and allegedly price will be north of £1k. So, I’m also considering a robotic mower. My garden has walls on 3 sides, and two sections where the grass is edged by concrete edging strips instead of wall. There are no obstructions on the lawn whatsoever. Are there any systems that will recognise this boundary without a guide wire, or by mapping or other sensors to stop it mounting the edge strip and heading off into the yonder?
Thanks for your input.

Edited by normalbloke on Saturday 26th March 15:55

Honestly, it'll take you 20 mins. Just just walk around the edge pinning it down with pegs. It's far easier than you think.

[Frimley111R]

Am I being a bit over protective with Boris the Blade's battery? I haven't put him out yet and am waiting until the sub zero nights finish. Or can he handle it? (Flymo 1200R - or something like that).

[FishAndChips]

Frimley111R said:

Am I being a bit over protective with Boris the Blade's battery? I haven't put him out yet and am waiting until the sub zero nights finish. Or can he handle it? (Flymo 1200R - or something like that).

I've left mine (1200R) outside for both the last 2 winters, no issues.

[Frimley111R]

FishAndChips said:

Frimley111R said:

Am I being a bit over protective with Boris the Blade's battery? I haven't put him out yet and am waiting until the sub zero nights finish. Or can he handle it? (Flymo 1200R - or something like that).

I've left mine (1200R) outside for both the last 2 winters, no issues.

Ok, he's going out out this weekend then! I'll tell him you told me to

[gregch]

So the robot mower's been doing brilliantly so far. He was looking a bit grubby so gave him a brush down and noticed that the blades were a bit gunked up and don't pivot/spin as freely as they did, even having cleaned them up a bit. Is it a good/bad idea to put a drop of oil on them?

[mikeiow]

gregch said:

So the robot mower's been doing brilliantly so far. He was looking a bit grubby so gave him a brush down and noticed that the blades were a bit gunked up and don't pivot/spin as freely as they did, even having cleaned them up a bit. Is it a good/bad idea to put a drop of oil on them?

I doubt that is necessary....might be better to replace blades each year.

[deckster]

mikeiow said:

gregch said:

So the robot mower's been doing brilliantly so far. He was looking a bit grubby so gave him a brush down and noticed that the blades were a bit gunked up and don't pivot/spin as freely as they did, even having cleaned them up a bit. Is it a good/bad idea to put a drop of oil on them?

I doubt that is necessary....might be better to replace blades each year.

Going by the book / number of hours mown, I replace mine twice a year. At a tenner for 30 blades it's hardly a big deal.

[M1AGM]

gregch said:

So the robot mower's been doing brilliantly so far. He was looking a bit grubby so gave him a brush down and noticed that the blades were a bit gunked up and don't pivot/spin as freely as they did, even having cleaned them up a bit. Is it a good/bad idea to put a drop of oil on them?

The best you can do is clean them up. If you oil them more gunk will stick to them although I have used a tiny bit of wd40 occasionally on the screws/bolts to help the blades spin better.

I change the blades when the ends of the grass are split/torn and start to turn brown.

[gregch]

Sounds like it might be best to leave them oil-free. Have to say it seems to be cutting just fine so I'll leave well alone for now! Thanks folks.

[Ice_blue_tvr]

How well do robot mowers deal with twigs and other debris from nearby trees?

Also, we have some circular stepping stones in the lawn which aren't leveled very well and sunk in, would a robot mower be able to ride over them?

[beedj]

Ice_blue_tvr said:

How well do robot mowers deal with twigs and other debris from nearby trees?

Also, we have some circular stepping stones in the lawn which aren't leveled very well and sunk in, would a robot mower be able to ride over them?

Very easily - we have several trees including a small orchard area and our Husqvarna 420 takes twigs, fallen fruit, debris etc completely in its stride. Also would be fine with paving slabs as long as they don’t sit too proud of lawn

[Ice_blue_tvr]

I think I may take the plunge in that case!

Any good deals about? Ideally under £500 but upto perhaps £700.

Lawn is around 100-150m2

[gregch]

Mine is a Flymo Easilife 350 and you can get them on Amazon for c. £450-£500 (keep an eye on the price, it changes often - and sometimes the supposedly more expensive models - 500, 800 - are actually cheaper than the 350). It copes surprisingly well with bits off trees, pine cones, and a very bumpy lawn - just seems to clamber about and get on with it. My dad's identical model did manage to beach itself on a fallen tree branch and had to be rescued, but smaller stuff seems fine.

The Husqvarna would be far more capable, I suspect - but of course it's also a lot more money, and possibly overkill for a smallish lawn (I do have a hankering for the articulated 4WD model but couldn't justify it!). Incidentally, these robot mowers are often named for the size of area they can cover but remember that's on the basis of working all day every day - my understanding is that if you want it to run less often you need to go for one with a larger area capability.

[David A]

Has anyone on here got a Husqvarna 405x and any comments or feedback? I'm very tempted by one but thought I'd ask here for feedback first !

[elanfan]

You’d be hard pushed to do better Than a Worx Landroid

[Frimley111R]

TBH they all do the same thing and mostly work the same way. I can't see any that do anything my older Flymo 1200 can't.

[Deep Thought]

Frimley111R said:

TBH they all do the same thing and mostly work the same way. I can't see any that do anything my older Flymo 1200 can't.

+1

We're on our fourth year with ours. Other than replacement blades its needed no maintenance so far.

I wouldnt be adverse to putting a battery in it if it ever needs one, but other than that we'll just keep it running.

[oldskoolgent]

'Dave' is out but i think his winter holiday has upset him somewhat.
He keepswondering out into the middle of the garden, doing a little dance and reporting wire mising.

if i move him neared to the wire, he's happy and trundles on, only to stop / dance again in a random place.

[gfreeman]

David A said:

Has anyone on here got a Husqvarna 405x and any comments or feedback? I'm very tempted by one but thought I'd ask here for feedback first !

I have the 450X - does a bigger area than the 405X but cant see too many other differences that warrants an extra £2.5k TBH.

It is a great machine - had to replace the circuit board this year for just over £100 - no idea how old it is - negotiated with house purchase.

Great playing with the app and checking where he is on Google Earth.

[joestifff]

Is it hard to dig the wires into the ground? Can you hire machines?

We get rabbits, foxes and all sorts, don't want them being nibbled.