My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Sean250

Shane732 wrote: »

Where did you get them from? First post - touting some business?

Not routing for business I have enough on my plate besides selling lawnmower too, I bought them from Macroom Tool hire in Cork, great company to deal with and very helpful etc. I done a bit of research into these before my purchase as I was sceptical of results so thought I would help other putting up my experience, which has been great to date
Thanks
Sean

kittytwister

Curious to know what cutting height most of you set a 450x, for a reasonably level lawn? Have mine since last year. Anyone ever have one blade stuck in that it does not swing out to cut? Grass from strimming might have caused it to happen.

WhichWay

Mine is in level 3. Maybe it's a bit too tight. What is yours?
After two months I changed blades and their screws. I've had no issue with sticking blades.

bauney

hi all,
I will be setting up a husky 430x in coming weeks. 
I need to get an electrician to my house to wire to my garage and to the docking station.
What do i need for the docking station? is it enough to have a standard outdoor switch socket? Do i buy a weather proof box kit?

whippet

bauney wrote: »

hi all,
I will be setting up a husky 430x in coming weeks. 
I need to get an electrician to my house to wire to my garage and to the docking station.
What do i need for the docking station? is it enough to have a standard outdoor switch socket? Do i buy a weather proof box kit?

mine is just plugged in to a normal outdoor socket.

The upgraded all-terrain wheels and brush kit has been a really game changer since I installed them last month ..there was a few areas close to edges which were on a slope and the link between the back and front gardens was a narrow sloping passage. In the wet or if there was much moisture the mower would slip and come off at some of these spots .. due to the gradiant and the matting of the cut grass on the wheels.

Since I put them on the mower hasn't gotten stuck or slipped once

jod1983

Hi all,
My automower has been working beautifully since March now and the lawn quality is super.
One thing i have noticed of recent is the blades were pulling the grass!! When i turned it upside to check i noticed that the blades were stiff to swivel. I removed the screw and found alot of crap underneath which i cleaned with the blade. I changed all three and no problems since.
Anyone else with some thing similar? The blades are not original type but are loose when fitted.

wexfordman2

jod1983 wrote: »

Hi all,
My automower has been working beautifully since March now and the lawn quality is super.
One thing i have noticed of recent is the blades were pulling the grass!! When i turned it upside to check i noticed that the blades were stiff to swivel. I removed the screw and found alot of crap underneath which i cleaned with the blade. I changed all three and no problems since.
Anyone else with some thing similar? The blades are not original type but are loose when fitted.

What make ?

jod1983

wexfordman2 wrote: »

What make ?

Sorry, automower 315

dec2000

Have a Husqvarna 430x with a blue flashing light. Just had a look earlier with a multimeter and basic continuity test, it beeps when I touch the end of the left and right wires, which I assume means there is no break? When I touched the receiver it sits on, there was nothing, so cleaned them, changed the connector and played around with them until the left and right receivers beeped, assuming full signal going around?

But still flashing blue....started to rain and match was coming on so abandoned it, anything I can check for tomorrow?

nailer8

Hours of operation?
I was wondering roughly how many hours a week do people have their mowers out?
I know there’s loads of variables but just on average?
I have a John Deere tango cutting 1000 m² (fairly simple shape) running C20 hours of cutting time (excluding charging) per week.
Is doing great job but I would say it is only barely getting enough time.

Moreilly

Lawnmower from the 70's on tomorrows world......

https://www.facebook.com/BBCArchive/?hc_ref=ARQNl1sdKAqDr9SLNub9X_KnEpy9KbiSlaviy_iQqvWbNQ7is9zMZL4hQBS-sGtswzs&fref=nf

nailer8

Moreilly wrote: »

Lawnmower from the 70's on tomorrows world......

https://www.facebook.com/BBCArchive/?hc_ref=ARQNl1sdKAqDr9SLNub9X_KnEpy9KbiSlaviy_iQqvWbNQ7is9zMZL4hQBS-sGtswzs&fref=nf

Thats fantastic. Basically the same technology as today's robot machines 48 years ago. And we think we are high tech :rolleyes:

christy c

There's a Flymo on Amazon for under €600 (£510). Anyone know of much about them? It would be for someone with a small lawn that doesn't like cutting it

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flymo-1200R-Lithium-Ion-Robotic-Mower/dp/B00C70LUQ4

Water John

£556 incl 100m line and 12 connectors. You also need 100 pegs.
Say £600 or €690.
Just for full comparison.

christy c

Water John wrote: »

£556 incl 100m line and 12 connectors. You also need 100 pegs.
Say £600 or €690.
Just for full comparison.

Oh right thanks. I thought I read somewhere that the wire and pegs were included or is it just that there are not enough?

Peppa Cig

christy c wrote: »

There's a Flymo on Amazon for under €600 (£510). Anyone know of much about them? It would be for someone with a small lawn that doesn't like cutting it

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flymo-1200R-Lithium-Ion-Robotic-Mower/dp/B00C70LUQ4

It’s has very good reviews on Amazon. Limited to 400m2, but at that price you could buy 2 or 3 of them for larger lawns 😯

christy c

Peppa Cig wrote: »

It’s has very good reviews on Amazon. Limited to 400m2, but at that price you could buy 2 or 3 of them for larger lawns 😯

Yeah that's what I was thinking, as I said it's a small lawn. Might be worth a punt

Peppa Cig

christy c wrote: »

Peppa Cig wrote: »

It’s has very good reviews on Amazon. Limited to 400m2, but at that price you could buy 2 or 3 of them for larger lawns 😯

Yeah that's what I was thinking, as I said it's a small lawn. Might be worth a punt

Like McCulloch Robots, Flymo are also a Husqvarna company (Huskys being best in class imo).

Roen

So is there a consensus as to which make is best or are they much of a muchness?

NIMAN

I don't know why anyone would want to buy one of these robotic mowers.
Perhaps someone on here who owns one or is considering buying one might give their opinion?

So that Flymo can cut 400m2 (although specs say +/-20%, so potentially can only do 320m2).

Now 400m2 is a less than 1/10th of an acre. Not a massive garden by any stretch of the imagination. I would say with a decent petrol mower, maybe at half the cost, it would be a fairly easy job.

And I notice in the specs, the robot mower cuts 30m2/hr. So its going to take over 13hrs to cut that same area. 13hrs!! Why would you even consider a robot unless you are the laziest gardener ever?

Moreilly

NIMAN wrote: »

I don't know why anyone would want to buy one of these robotic mowers.
Perhaps someone on here who owns one or is considering buying one might give their opinion?

So that Flymo can cut 400m2 (although specs say +/-20%, so potentially can only do 320m2).

Now 400m2 is a less than 1/10th of an acre. Not a massive garden by any stretch of the imagination. I would say with a decent petrol mower, maybe at half the cost, it would be a fairly easy job.

And I notice in the specs, the robot mower cuts 30m2/hr. So its going to take over 13hrs to cut that same area. 13hrs!! Why would you even consider a robot unless you are the laziest gardener ever?

i've two small kids and work shiftwork all the time, last thing i want to do is mow the lawn when knackered coming off a shift of nights, and the couple of hours i have before going back in to work would be better spent with them than mowing the lawn. i have 2000sqm of grass and currently have a ride-on mower which is on its last legs, will be lucky to get this year out of it !, so my choice is buy another ride-on or get a automower, for me its a no brainer

listermint

NIMAN wrote: »

I don't know why anyone would want to buy one of these robotic mowers.
Perhaps someone on here who owns one or is considering buying one might give their opinion?

So that Flymo can cut 400m2 (although specs say +/-20%, so potentially can only do 320m2).

Now 400m2 is a less than 1/10th of an acre. Not a massive garden by any stretch of the imagination. I would say with a decent petrol mower, maybe at half the cost, it would be a fairly easy job.

And I notice in the specs, the robot mower cuts 30m2/hr. So its going to take over 13hrs to cut that same area. 13hrs!! Why would you even consider a robot unless you are the laziest gardener ever?

Frees up your time to do other things.

It's not like the robots on a pay per hour it could take 2 days for all it likes , it gets done and you get the time back

Water John

Really if anyone has a lawnmower on its last legs and will be buying a new one, a robot, is a no brainer. Maintenance costs, petrol and put a price/hr on your time or its opportunity cost, which in personal terms can be quite high.
Don't be a luddite.

Roen

I don't think anyone gets a robot to save on labour. It's time and money that you save.

The ride on will need to be replaced this year. I'm looking at approx 3-4k to replace. It'll require ongoing maintenance and takes me approx 2hrs per week to cut the garden in summer. Less frequently in spring and autumn admittedly.
There's a multitude of other things my time would be better spent on.

If I'm spending 3k anyway why not do it on something that will have low ongoing cost, no real maintenance and saves me time.

In addition the less petrol I have to have lying about the place the better. It's not really a choice that requires thinking for me.

The only question is which one to get.

Oh and quick edit. I'm replacing my larger shed too. Without a ride on about the place I can go for the next size down and save approx €500.

NIMAN

Moreilly wrote: »

i've two small kids and work shiftwork all the time, last thing i want to do is mow the lawn when knackered coming off a shift of nights, and the couple of hours i have before going back in to work would be better spent with them than mowing the lawn. i have 2000sqm of grass and currently have a ride-on mower which is on its last legs, will be lucky to get this year out of it !, so my choice is buy another ride-on or get a automower, for me its a no brainer

Yeah that's fair enough and all good points, but looking at that flymo for example, it will take over 66 hrs of running constantly to cut your grass by my calculations. Unless there are much faster ones out there, I wouldn't even entertain those specs.

We have very similar conditions, I too have approx 2000m2, which is approximately 1/2 acre. My ride-on has been out of action for a season and I had to use a little 16" Honda Izy and was able to cut my grass in maybe an hour or 90mins max. And this is a tiny mower, buying a 22" one would made big improvements over that time.

I just couldn't imagine a robot mower plodding away for 66hrs to do the same area, in God knows what weather. It might start of nice and dry but if you knew it was going to rain even tomorrow, sure it could hamper your plans.
Taking 90mins to do it yourself is a no brainer for me.

And I work shifts and have 3 young kids too. They can do without me for an hour or two a week.

Water John

Does it matter what amount of time the robot takes? What are you measuring it against? Lets say a max of 10hrs /day. Do you know how long your fridge, freezer, water well pump etc run for everyday. No and it doesn't matter to you.

NIMAN

Water John wrote: »

Does it matter what amount of time the robot takes? What are you measuring it against? Lets say a max of 10hrs /day. Do you know how long your fridge, freezer, water well pump etc run for everyday. No and it doesn't matter to you.

I think it would matter a lot to me, maybe you'd be happy to have a mower running for 66hrs, I wouldn't. Each to their own I suppose.

Silly comparison to my fridge etc. I can't keep my food cold myself, but I can cut my grass myself, and infinitely quicker than a robot it would seem.

Look I'm sure these robot mowers are labour saving and all, but I just couldn't get the logic of setting it out running in the morning, have it cut for say 12hrs (I'd assume you'd take it in at night?), then start it off again the next day and repeat this for a full week. Sure by the time it would be finished, you'd be nearly ready to start back at it all again.

As a caveat, perhaps that 30m2/hr was a misprint, and they cut a lot faster?

Water John

They are totally programmed. You don't go near it. It starts, at a preset time, wanders back to base to recharge when it needs and travels home to base in the evening at the time you set. Same as your central heating. Do you got out to the boiler house and fire it up every morning?

Moreilly

NIMAN wrote: »

Yeah that's fair enough and all good points, but looking at that flymo for example, it will take over 66 hrs of running constantly to cut your grass by my calculations. Unless there are much faster ones out there, I wouldn't even entertain those specs.

We have very similar conditions, I too have approx 2000m2, which is approximately 1/2 acre. My ride-on has been out of action for a season and I had to use a little 16" Honda Izy and was able to cut my grass in maybe an hour or 90mins max. And this is a tiny mower, buying a 22" one would made big improvements over that time.

I just couldn't imagine a robot mower plodding away for 66hrs to do the same area, in God knows what weather. It might start of nice and dry but if you knew it was going to rain even tomorrow, sure it could hamper your plans.
Taking 90mins to do it yourself is a no brainer for me.

And I work shifts and have 3 young kids too. They can do without me for an hour or two a week.

When looking into it i seen the flymo on amazon as well,but tbh if you have 2000m2 of grass the flymo would be a poor choice as it's not really designed for that large a area it was the Husqvarna 430x i found that suited the lawn best

NIMAN

Just checked that Husq one out. It is so slow in action, I thought it would be a lot quicker for the price, €2900!

Sorry, but I'll stick with petrol based mowers for now. You'd make short work of a half acre with a good quality petrol mower at €600-€700.