Robot mowers

[Semmelweiss]

Tidying up the back garden, with my rough cut Lawn Boy 2-stroke (they sound like a little dirt-bike!), I managed to chop the guide wire, where it has become exposed over the winter. Fortunately I found the cut within 1m of first search. I didn't fancy chasing the break for 80m...

At the same time I got to re-bury the exposed guide wire, all around. The ground is still too wet to send the Paranoid-Landroid out.

[Frimley111R]

dave_Sw1 said:

Frimley111R said:

Yuka, it's about £1000. The Luba was double that.

Have to wait until June but it can drive down the side of the house and cut the front lawn too plus it mows stripes in the lawn which is nice. And no perimeter cabling either.

Interestingly it also can pick up leaves, collect them and dump them in a specific spot for collection later.

Quite a technical step up.

Take June with a pinch of salt, i'm waiting on a luba 2 that was 2nd week of March delivery, thats now "Maybe end of April" i was counting on it to not have to go buy a manual mower to tide me over until it arrives but the grass is already out of control

Yeah, I just cut the lawn and it took me an hour. I could be doing this a lot this summer. I brought Boris the Blade back into the garage now he's dead so might use the time to tinker with him to see if I can fix him (minimal chance )

[WrekinCrew]

A tip for anyone with a Husqvarna 320 Nera. If you want the wheel brush kit do NOT buy p/n 5819031-02 which says it's for the 320. I think that must be for an old 320 model, not the Nera.

What you need is p/n 5977046-01 (which does not mention being for the 320 Nera anywhere).

[dhutch]

Feels like you have direct experience of this...!

[WrekinCrew]

dhutch said:

Feels like you have direct experience of this...!

Oh yes! But as I discovered yesterday when trying to install the wrong kit, my 320 Nera comes with the right brush clips already fitted, so by hacksawing off a few mm from the "wrong" brushes I've been able to use them. And after a few hours mowing wet grass, they do seem to help

[Lagom]

Amazon has Worx robot mowers on offer today, cheapest the M500 (WR141E) has been, it's usually £200 more. Likewise with the M500+ (WR165E) cheapest it's ever been.

Edited by Lagom on Saturday 23 March 14:57

[mikef]

Sorry if this has been covered before, but this is a long thread!

I’m considering a robotic mower, however I have a largish pool in the garden with a paved surround and then lawn, no fencing etc (it was cheaper to pay for kiddie swimming lessons). I would be sh!t-scared of a robotic mower going for a swim. Also a number of garden buildings, trees, a ditch on one boundary; fencing, hedging and/or beds on the others

With advances in technology (AI, GPS, etc), are there mowers that would cover up to 2,000 m2 and be guaranteed not to end up in the pool? I noticed the Worx Landroid Vision earlier up this page, but I really don’t know the market. I have a bunch of Husqvarna electric garden tools, but assume that robotic mowers use a different battery system

Ideally recommendations would be for kit that you are already using successfully

[Somebody]

Flymo EasiLife 350 with free wall hanger - £319 until 25th March. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186043800779

Is this a good price?

Personally I can't be doing with a guide wire.

[dhutch]

Somebody said:

Flymo EasiLife 350 with free wall hanger - £319 until 25th March. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186043800779

Is this a good price?

Personally I can't be doing with a guide wire.

Showing as £399 currently? But seems reasonable I think.

I paid £400 for a very lightly used Easilife in 500sqm guise last year and have been happy with it.

Don't know if I would pay a premium over the reduced-button EasilifeGO version as I basically only talk to it via the apps anyway.

[Somebody]

dhutch said:

Showing as £399 currently? But seems reasonable I think.

I paid £400 for a very lightly used Easilife in 500sqm guise last year and have been happy with it.

Don't know if I would pay a premium over the reduced-button EasilifeGO version as I basically only talk to it via the apps anyway.

There's a 20% code. Looks like they're sold out anyway.

[gregch]

When I came to set up my Flymo Easilife for the season, I got a flashing orange/red light on the base station. It was still (just) inside warranty, so I called Flymo/Gardena/Husq support and they said the charging tower of the base station was dead and they'd send a replacement charging tower, which they did.

I've now swapped out the old part for the new one, reconnected everything and got a solid green light. Great, problem solved, I thought - until I put the mower on it and tried to set it going and it tells me there's "No loop signal" and won't do anything.

I wondered if it might be to do with having swapped part of the base so I followed the instructions in the manual (that's how bad things have got) to generate a new loop signal. Sadly that process failed, telling me the likely cause was either no power to the base, or loop/guide wires not connected. Obviously either of those would contradict the solid green light still happily showing on the base (plus, so far as I can tell, there's no issue at all with the power or loop/guide connections).

I've sent a message to the Flymo support people again so we'll see what they say, but in the meantime I had a feeling someone else on here had already had this same issue (couldn't find the post though) ?

Any ideas?

[h0b0]

gregch said:

When I came to set up my Flymo Easilife for the season, I got a flashing orange/red light on the base station. It was still (just) inside warranty, so I called Flymo/Gardena/Husq support and they said the charging tower of the base station was dead and they'd send a replacement charging tower, which they did.

I've now swapped out the old part for the new one, reconnected everything and got a solid green light. Great, problem solved, I thought - until I put the mower on it and tried to set it going and it tells me there's "No loop signal" and won't do anything.

I wondered if it might be to do with having swapped part of the base so I followed the instructions in the manual (that's how bad things have got) to generate a new loop signal. Sadly that process failed, telling me the likely cause was either no power to the base, or loop/guide wires not connected. Obviously either of those would contradict the solid green light still happily showing on the base (plus, so far as I can tell, there's no issue at all with the power or loop/guide connections).

I've sent a message to the Flymo support people again so we'll see what they say, but in the meantime I had a feeling someone else on here had already had this same issue (couldn't find the post though) ?

Any ideas?

The Husqvarna base stations are linked to the mower. In theory it’s to stop people lifting the mower and stealing it.

In practice, it didn’t work for mine as I have swapped parts and the base station without issue. But, it sounds like it may be “working” for you. There’s a procedure to pair base and mower.

[h0b0]

mikef said:

Sorry if this has been covered before, but this is a long thread!

I’m considering a robotic mower, however I have a largish pool in the garden with a paved surround and then lawn, no fencing etc (it was cheaper to pay for kiddie swimming lessons). I would be sh!t-scared of a robotic mower going for a swim. Also a number of garden buildings, trees, a ditch on one boundary; fencing, hedging and/or beds on the others

With advances in technology (AI, GPS, etc), are there mowers that would cover up to 2,000 m2 and be guaranteed not to end up in the pool? I noticed the Worx Landroid Vision earlier up this page, but I really don’t know the market. I have a bunch of Husqvarna electric garden tools, but assume that robotic mowers use a different battery system

Ideally recommendations would be for kit that you are already using successfully

I’m using the Husqvarana 450x. It will do 5000sqm so your area isn’t an issue. The version I have relies on a cable to define the boundaries. If it goes over the line it instantly shuts down. By design, it run up to the cable and stops. It doesn’t go over. Well, you can set it to go over if you want during installation.

Installation of the cable is easy. You peg it down around the perimeter and any obstacles like out buildings or trees. The cable gets absorbed by the grass quickly. I only have issues under trees where grass can’t grow.

I’m in the middle of having work done on my front yard. The digger cut the cable which allowed us to see how far down it was. I’d guess a couple of inches having been surface mounted.

Automowers run on battery which are charged once they return to home. You don’t have to remove them to charge.

[Frimley111R]

mikef said:

Sorry if this has been covered before, but this is a long thread!

I’m considering a robotic mower, however I have a largish pool in the garden with a paved surround and then lawn, no fencing etc (it was cheaper to pay for kiddie swimming lessons). I would be sh!t-scared of a robotic mower going for a swim. Also a number of garden buildings, trees, a ditch on one boundary; fencing, hedging and/or beds on the others

With advances in technology (AI, GPS, etc), are there mowers that would cover up to 2,000 m2 and be guaranteed not to end up in the pool? I noticed the Worx Landroid Vision earlier up this page, but I really don’t know the market. I have a bunch of Husqvarna electric garden tools, but assume that robotic mowers use a different battery system

Ideally recommendations would be for kit that you are already using successfully

Robomowers have perimeter cables you lay down and they won't cross these, you just put one around your pool and it'll be fine, same for everything else.

Plenty will do 2000m2, just check the specs of them and they will tell you the max area they will cover.

[mikef]

Frimley111R said:

Robomowers have perimeter cables you lay down and they won't cross these, you just put one around your pool and it'll be fine, same for everything else.

Plenty will do 2000m2, just check the specs of them and they will tell you the max area they will cover.

Yes, that's what I don't want, and I was hoping that technology had moved on, with AI, GPS and sensors

I will so do major mows with a ride-on, and cables are not really practical

Mike

[fiatpower]

mikef said:

Yes, that's what I don't want, and I was hoping that technology had moved on, with AI, GPS and sensors

I will so do major mows with a ride-on, and cables are not really practical

Mike

There are mowers out there which are GPS guided but they are quite pricey. I can't remember the name of one of them but go back a few pages and some people on here had got one.

[mikef]

Thanks, I will read the thread in reverse order. I'd love to hear from someone who has it working. Hopefully pricey is under, say, a couple a grand

[durbster]

I can't help but think GPS is something they've only added because it feels like a good solution and people kept asking for it. In reality, it's nowhere near accurate enough for this kind of thing.

Maybe something like LIDAR and ultra-sonic sensors would work but I would guess that'd burn through a huge amount of energy.

[mikef]

I was going to ask how well GPS works with oak and silver beech trees in part of the garden

[Frimley111R]

durbster said:

I can't help but think GPS is something they've only added because it feels like a good solution and people kept asking for it. In reality, it's nowhere near accurate enough for this kind of thing.

Maybe something like LIDAR and ultra-sonic sensors would work but I would guess that'd burn through a huge amount of energy.

The Mammotion ones do this, one even has front facing cameras to avoid things