My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Water John

Ninman, not sure what you are doing on this thread TBH. To me you're just trolling.
Reminds me of a Thread started by somebody last year, who wanted to move from a push/ ground drive mower to a ride on and wanted recommendations. One of the first contributors rebuked him for thinking of using a ride on as the exercise he got walking would be good for him.
Best of luck with your €6/700 thingy cutting half an acre.

NIMAN

I can assure you I aint trolling, I am just trying to argue out the pros and cons of a robot mower. It is a discussion forum after all, and if you check I often contribute here.

I just think 3 grand on a robot mower that takes days to cut something you'd do in a couple of hours is madness. If you don't like that opinion, not much I can do about it.

And if you read back through the thread, I cut a half acre site with a €150 Honda Izy 16", and it takes me maybe 60-80 mins.....I even do the neighbours gardens afterwards too!

As for needing luck with a €700 mower to cut a half acre of grass, I'm sorry but its you that might be trolling, that is not a big job at all. You can get a fantastic mower for that sort of money which would make light work of a half acre, in a fraction of the time your robot will do it.

TomOnBoard

NIMAN wrote: »

I can assure you I aint trolling, I am just trying to argue out the pros and cons of a robot mower. It is a discussion forum after all, and if you check I often contribute here.

I just think 3 grand on a robot mower that takes days to cut something you'd do in a couple of hours is madness. If you don't like that opinion, not much I can do about it.

And if you read back through the thread, I cut a half acre site with a €150 Honda Izy 16", and it takes me maybe 60-80 mins.....I even do the neighbours gardens afterwards too!

As for needing luck with a €700 mower to cut a half acre of grass, I'm sorry but its you that might be trolling, that is not a big job at all. You can get a fantastic mower for that sort of money which would make light work of a half acre, in a fraction of the time your robot will do it.

This thread was set up by someone who has already taken the decision to use an autonomous mower. S/he set it up to share experiences of owning one so that other users might benefit from those experiences. The thread is NOT about whether one should make such a decision. For that reason, you're coming across as harping on with your view that such mowers are a waste of time, and I too am finding that annoying. You're entitled to your opinion, but this thread is only interested in opinions/experiences of ppl who have bought /used one to inform ppl who may be about to go down this road..

Can I suggest that you may well benefit from setting up another thread yourself, perhaps entitled "Should I dump my petrol mower for a robot?". I'm sure many would find that very interesting.

Shaunoc

Anyone know the real/any difference between Husqvarna 450X and the 520 ?
The 520 is selling at 2900 in Irish sites while 450X is 3,300 at Robot Center.
Seem the same spec bar the 520 more marketed towards professional use - am i missing anything or overlooked? (bar colouring!)

nevermind - typo on Atkins site for area coverage! they had 5000 instead of 2200.

NIMAN

The thread was set up 4yrs ago, they can often change tangent or subject over the space of 1 page let alone 4 years!

I'm sure if you read back throughout the thread it's not all about auto mowers, at least my discussion is.

But since it seems to be annoying people a lot, and I would hate to annoy my fellow boardsies, I'll drop out of it for now


All the best

Zzippy

NIMAN wrote: »

I can assure you I aint trolling, I am just trying to argue out the pros and cons of a robot mower. It is a discussion forum after all, and if you check I often contribute here.

I just think 3 grand on a robot mower that takes days to cut something you'd do in a couple of hours is madness. If you don't like that opinion, not much I can do about it.

And if you read back through the thread, I cut a half acre site with a €150 Honda Izy 16", and it takes me maybe 60-80 mins.....I even do the neighbours gardens afterwards too!

As for needing luck with a €700 mower to cut a half acre of grass, I'm sorry but its you that might be trolling, that is not a big job at all. You can get a fantastic mower for that sort of money which would make light work of a half acre, in a fraction of the time your robot will do it.

You're welcome to your opinion. You cut your grass once a week, grand. So in between it grows, sometimes unevenly, and you get to the end of the week and it doesn't look very neat. It's pissing rain the day you were going to mow the lawn, so you put it off til it's a dry day - maybe that's another week away. By this time the lawn looks pretty untidy.
Meanwhile, my 430X has been out 5 days a week for 6 hours a day cutting my half acre, while I'm at work and not spending my time cutting grass. Every evening when I come home my lawn is the same length. It looks immaculate. Every. Damn. Evening.
And because it's only cutting the very tip of the grass, and it's so light, it can mow in even heavy rain without grass cuttings clumping or digging a rut in the soil. And because it's only cutting the tips, and doing so regularly, the cut grass mulches in regularly, rather than all at once if you're using a mulching mower. Or if you're not, you have to find somewhere to put all those clippings. I don't.
I'm very happy with the 430X, and if you can't understand why anyone would get one, that's your loss. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my lawn, which I'm pretty sure is considerably nicer than yours.

NIMAN

Zzippy wrote: »

I'll enjoy my lawn, which I'm pretty sure is considerably nicer than yours.

Is that a challenge!

Roen

So looking at the 430x for approx 2900sqm. The max size quoted for that guy is 3200sqm. Would it be out almost always at peak growing season?
Any other gotchas with this model?

Lumen

Roen wrote: »

So looking at the 430x for approx 2900sqm. The max size quoted for that guy is 3200sqm. Would it be out almost always at peak growing season?

Cutting 22 hours per day according to this:

https://www.lawnmowersdirect.co.uk/automower-lawn-calculator

And that's with an "open" lawn ("It’s a regular lawn with few corners and turns.").

For "average" complexity ("There are some bushes, corners, and slopes.") it won't do it, and you're looking at the 450X instead.

Zzippy

NIMAN wrote: »

Is that a challenge!

No, it's an opinion based on the fact that a lawn that is lightly trimmed every day will look better than a lawn that is cut once a week and based on my neighbour's comments comparing their weekly-mown lawn to ours.

whippet

NIMAN wrote: »

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.

that is like comparing apples and oranges .. the speed of the automower has absolutely nothing to do with it's function.

If the automower only had a couple of hours a week to cut the lawn you might be on to something .. but the fact that that is now how it works or is intended to work shows either a total ignorance of the subject on your behalf or an insistence on trolling.

I have 3/4 of an acre and was cutting it with a push mower up to last year. Tried to get it cut at least twice a week during the growing season . took the guts of 3-4 hours each time to get it right. In reality with rain, family priorities etc .. getting it cut twice a week was a rarity and then I was basing my weekends around the weather forcast to make sure I got it cut.

Now .. I have 3/4 of an acre of 4cm of proper green grass that looks fantastic with zero maintenance. the cost of the automower was a little more than a decent petrol mower and in 12 months I spent €15 on blades for it.

Since I got mine 3 of my neighbours have purchased theirs … but if your happy with your lawn don't be worrying about the speed of other people's lawnmowers and maybe stay away from threads like these

wexfordman2

NIMAN wrote: »

I can assure you I aint trolling, I am just trying to argue out the pros and cons of a robot mower. It is a discussion forum after all, and if you check I often contribute here.

I just think 3 grand on a robot mower that takes days to cut something you'd do in a couple of hours is madness. If you don't like that opinion, not much I can do about it.

And if you read back through the thread, I cut a half acre site with a €150 Honda Izy 16", and it takes me maybe 60-80 mins.....I even do the neighbours gardens afterwards too!

As for needing luck with a €700 mower to cut a half acre of grass, I'm sorry but its you that might be trolling, that is not a big job at all. You can get a fantastic mower for that sort of money which would make light work of a half acre, in a fraction of the time your robot will do it.

I think you don't understand the concept of a robot mower tbh.

The robot mower maintains your lawn at a fixed length, a completely different concept than letting your lawn grow and then going out and cutting it with a traditional mower.

For me, I went for a robot lawnmower when my ride on was reaching end of life. I had a ride in because my lawn was too big and took too much time to cut with a traditional mower, and was often left too late to cut due to time constraints etc.

So when it came to changing my mower I looked at both options and from a cost perspective, the robot mower came in slightly cheaper to purchase that a ride on mower.

So, purchase cost, the robot mower was a better option.

From a maintenance cost perspective, the robot lawnmower needs little to no maintenance, just a new set of blades once a year, at 70 euro. A lot cheaper than the servicing of a ride on.

Also, the robot mower is cheaper to run with electricity costs for a light riderless automowwr much cheaper than a big heavy metal ride on mower carrying little old me on it as I drive around my garden.

From a practicality perspective, I had to build a shed to store my old ride on mower, now I just pick up my automowwr at the end of the season and place it on a shelf in the shed.

From an actual mowing and lawn care perspective, this is the bit I had most concerns about, would it at least keep my lawn looking as good as my ride on mower? The fact of the matter is, it keeps it in a far better condition than I ever did with my ride on, the lawn looks fabulous, all the time... Myself and my wife still keep commenting on how well it does the job, a far superior finish than I could ever manage.

So, thats my experience, on my second year with my robot mower, apart from some initial teething problems with the install, it has been trouble free, and absolutely no regrets, I would never go back to a traditional mower again, it seems so utterly pointless to be spending hours a week maintaining a sub standard lawn compared to time free robot mower keeping my lawn perfect.

I do think the margin on robot mower is very high, the price should and will come down over time I expect, there is certainly not the same level of cost with making a robot mower compared to a ride on for example,

nailer8

NIMAN wrote: »

Is that a challenge!

I must say I've been entertained reading this thread recently.

For what it is worth i only got a Robot Mower about 4 weeks ago (John Deer Tango). I couldnt be happier with it and the lawn looks fantastic. I have no idea how long the mower takes to cut it because i am not involved one bit, it cuts and charges as it pleases and isn't taken in at night.

Before i got it i was using my Dads massive John Deer ride on which cut it i c20 min and cost me noting other than giving him a gallon of petrol every now and then. Still wouldn't go back to that for anything.

Just cos you can do a job yourself doesnt mean it shouldnt be automated, would you disagree with washing machines & dishwashers? I can certainly do the dishes quicker than the 2h it takes my dishwasher.

I hope in the very near future ill be on a tread like this discussing my auto driving car (and i enjoy driving).

islander222

I got the autoconnect fitted to my huski 310... very happy with the mower (apart from small reservations about how is dealing with daisies and buttercups on the lawn), but it's only been 6 weeks so ill give it time.
The autoconnect app though is constantly (Well pretty regularly) showing as disconnected for long periods. Anyone else experience that? I will go back to my supplier but wondering what other people's experience with it?

cosdec

I have the same issue with my Husqy 315 - the app gets disconnected at times. I have had to re-pair it over bluetooth twice to get it talking to the app again. (the mower was still happily working away anyway)

Cyrus

Folks at the small garden end of the spectrum what’s the best value robot mower ? Our garden is circa 13m x 13m but there’s probably only half laid to grass

TomOnBoard

Rechargeable beard trimmer with a no. 4 head? ;-)

Moreilly

Cyrus wrote: »

Folks at the small garden end of the spectrum what’s the best value robot mower ? Our garden is circa 13m x 13m but there’s probably only half laid to grass

this might be worth a look for ya' https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flymo-1200R-Lithium-Ion-Robotic-Mower/dp/B00C70LUQ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529081864&sr=8-1&keywords=flymo+1200r

low_carbon

I need to get replacement blades for Husqvarna Automower 430X. There seems to be many options online which mainly relate to thickness of blade (0.35, 0.6, 0.75mm) and material used (steel, carbon steel, stainless steel). I'm thinking it may be a false economy to buy cheaper blades (e.g. 0.35 steel). Does anyone have any experience to share on replacement blades?

WhichWay

I haven't bought blades yet.
Main dealer blades are 3 euro each. So 9euro per replacement.
How often do you change them in a season?
Im on my second set since after 3 months.

The blades are two sided. Does the mower alternate cutting direction or should we flip the blades over?

I assume sharpening the old blades is not ideal.

nailer8

How do you know if you need new blades ?

Water John

I'd say, sharpening blades isn't ideal for the retailer.

agentblue

nailer8 wrote: »

How do you know if you need new blades ?

I find that after a few months of cutting the tips of the blades of grass get frayed from cutting. it looks like the lawn has gone slightly white. it's a sure sign that the mower blades need replacing. I find with my lawn I can get away with 2 sets of blades for 12 months. last year, i put new blades on in spring and they lasted the whole summer.

RocoH

agentblue wrote: »

I find that after a few months of cutting the tips of the blades of grass get frayed from cutting. it looks like the lawn has gone slightly white. it's a sure sign that the mower blades need replacing. I find with my lawn I can get away with 2 sets of blades for 12 months. last year, i put new blades on in spring and they lasted the whole summer.

Sweedish supplier of my automower said to replace 4/5 times a season.

Shaunoc

why the different blade thicknesses and comes as standard for the Husky 430 / 450 ?

agentblue

RocoH wrote: »

Sweedish supplier of my automower said to replace 4/5 times a season.

And does this Sweedish supplier sell blades too???

FirstinLastout

Few rubs up & down a wetstone will sort them out, 'least enough to keep a few sets of blades sharp enough for the cutting season.

whippet

I’m considering parking up the automower for a couple of days to let the grass recover ... getting very yellow and with no rain for the foreseeable ... or should I just keep cutting ?

Shaunoc

whippet wrote: »

I’m considering parking up the automower for a couple of days to let the grass recover ... getting very yellow and with no rain for the foreseeable ... or should I just keep cutting ?

there is very little growth in this weather. no real rain unless thundershowers early next week.
what harm is there in parking her up for a week

edit: might be best to set mower up a notch higher if running it, to keep the grass healthier ?

Jbb18

I bought a Husqvrna 420 Automower 10 days ago. It was working for almost a week before the Automower Connect SIM was installed and paired with my phone.
The past day the mower has been stuttering causing a knocking noise. Tonight it stopped moving altogether (after jittering for a moment).
Has anyone had any trouble like this by any chance?