My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Hi guys, reading through a lot of these posts so much to go through though, sorry if this has been asked already.

I have a 2 zone garden, 340 + 560 square meters so 900 total, my budget is ~€1000 (is that realistic?)

I see most people saying to go a size up, but I was thinking with 2 zones could I not just schedule each zone to be mowed at different times, allowing a charge in between?

So far I've been looking at:

Husqvarna Automower 310
Worx Landroid M1000
Rob 1000 (doesn't have multiple zones, maybe it can be hacked /tricked though?)


Control through an app or Alex would be I nice to have, but not essential, I guess once it's setup I won't need to interact with it very often.

Any advice would be great.

murfler

2 guide wires...the front lawn is actually the furthest away from charging station so I have stopped sending it to the front via the guide wire..i leave it start mowing at the charge station but it seems to always find its way around to the front lawn and spend the majority of its time mowing there?

KCross

murfler wrote: »

2 guide wires...the front lawn is actually the furthest away from charging station so I have stopped sending it to the front via the guide wire..i leave it start mowing at the charge station but it seems to always find its way around to the front lawn and spend the majority of its time mowing there?

Sounds like you have it configured to spend X% in each guide wire and not using GPS?

Turn on GPS and it will build up a map of the lawn and ensure it covers it all and it will decide when to use the guide wire.

murfler

Hi, no I have GPS enabled, I'm wondering is it because the strip of grass between back and front goes from around 20 mtrs down to 10 mtrs into the front...its easier for it to find itd way out to the front then to get back

KCross

murfler wrote: »

Hi, no I have GPS enabled, I'm wondering is it because the strip of grass between back and front goes from around 20 mtrs down to 10 mtrs into the front...its easier for it to find itd way out to the front then to get back

If GPS is working properly it shouldn’t matter. It should realise that one zone is getting more attention and switch it’s focus to the other zone when it’s leaving the dock.

You said above that you have stopped it using the guide wire. How did you do that?

murfler

Yes initially I set it up to follow the guide wire around to front of lawn 30% of the time because I thought it might find it hard to find its way out there but its quiet the opposite...its spending prob 70% of its time on that lawn, even tho the back lawn is bigger?

septicsac

murfler wrote: »

Hi I bought and installed a 430x 4 weeks ago..it seems to be spending the majority of its cutting time on my front lawn, it has it looking like a golfcourse but its not giving enough time on my back lawn which is quiet patchy..both lawns are joined together by a strip at side of house? Any suggestions on how to make it spend more time on the back?

It could still be potentially mapping your area, though after 4 weeks and out for multiple hours each day you would think it would have it sorted.
Deep in settings menu on the mower there is a part where you decide where it spends its time, but again I think this is when GpS is off, but might be worth checking. I know mine has 3 lawns of various sizes and these settings are adjusted accordingly, but I have GPS on the whole time.
You say you have it out from 11-9.30, seems long enough for it to get around the whole place and more.
I know on my own lawn I will look at it some days thinking you could do with cutting that part soon, thinking there might be an issue and within a day it has gone there and cut it. I also have strip ajoining the lawns, it will be cutting the one in need of cutting and go too close to strip and inadvertantly find its way to other lawn, but always makes its way back quick enough.

murfler

OK thanks for the replies, I will give it another few weeks and hopefully it will build up a map and a better cutting schedule..grass is growing like crazy this weather but I think I have it out more than enough for a garden my size..on another note what kind of searching times are acceptable? Mine currently is around 6% but I did have it set up wrong for the first couple of weeks and it was randomly searching for charging station for far too long

zetor 4911

I have 2 lawns (70:30 split) but unfortunately the 2 are not linked and there is no possibility to link them. The only option is for the mower to cross the tarmac drive way but is this an option as there will be traffic coming in and out as I run a business from home. Do I just settle for the mower to cut the larger area and cut the smaller area manually with my ride on?

Lurching

murfler wrote: »

on another note what kind of searching times are acceptable? Mine currently is around 6% but I did have it set up wrong for the first couple of weeks and it was randomly searching for charging station for far too long

Good question.
Mine is at 14.7% searching time.
It's slowly been reducing as it learns the lawn, but I wonder is this still very high?

KCross

murfler wrote: »

Yes initially I set it up to follow the guide wire around to front of lawn 30% of the time because I thought it might find it hard to find its way out there but its quiet the opposite...its spending prob 70% of its time on that lawn, even tho the back lawn is bigger?

^ I think thats your probelm.

Unless yours is different, my understanding is that if you set %'s for the guide wires you are effectively disabling GPS mapping.

So, GPS is on (for security) but its not being used for navigation.

Have a look at the manual around "Lawn coverage". You should not set %'s and turn on "GPS assisted navigation" and then it will take a few days for it to build the map and get to every part.

KCross

zetor 4911 wrote: »

I have 2 lawns (70:30 split) but unfortunately the 2 are not linked and there is no possibility to link them. The only option is for the mower to cross the tarmac drive way but is this an option as there will be traffic coming in and out as I run a business from home. Do I just settle for the mower to cut the larger area and cut the smaller area manually with my ride on?

Well, it wont fly over there!

If you are not willing to have it cross the driveway you are stuck, particularly since you say its also a business so more traffic.. matter of time before some muppet would drive over it crossing the driveway.

You could also look at buying a second docking station and having a separate boundary loop on the second lawn and just move the mower between them every few days. Not ideal but might be an option if you can get power to that second lawn.

murfler

No I said initially I had it set up to follow guide wires but I have that disabled and GPS enabled with over 2 weeks now

glog

murfler wrote: »

2 guide wires...the front lawn is actually the furthest away from charging station so I have stopped sending it to the front via the guide wire..i leave it start mowing at the charge station but it seems to always find its way around to the front lawn and spend the majority of its time mowing there?

Your posts are a bit confusing.
I don't understand how you have stopped sending it to the front via the guide wire if you have GPS enabled.
KCross is correct in what (s)he has said. If you have GPS enabled then the machine decides when and where to go, not you.
If GPS is enabled then all functions regarding which guide wire, % cutting time and which area to cut are not selectable.

FWIW, after about 2 weeks of mapping, my machine knew exactly where needed to be cut and has a very balanced cutting plan.
My area isn't particularly simple, involving 4 areas including crossing the drive.

You could always reset the machine, do a calibration on your guide wires, enable GPS and let it off again to re-map.

Alfie1

zetor 4911 wrote: »

I have 2 lawns (70:30 split) but unfortunately the 2 are not linked and there is no possibility to link them. The only option is for the mower to cross the tarmac drive way but is this an option as there will be traffic coming in and out as I run a business from home. Do I just settle for the mower to cut the larger area and cut the smaller area manually with my ride on?

KCross wrote: »

Well, it wont fly over there!

If you are not willing to have it cross the driveway you are stuck, particularly since you say its also a business so more traffic.. matter of time before some muppet would drive over it crossing the driveway.

You could also look at buying a second docking station and having a separate boundary loop on the second lawn and just move the mower between them every few days. Not ideal but might be an option if you can get power to that second lawn.

Or if the area isn't too big you wouldn't need a charging station, you could run the boundary cable across the drive & have the smaller lawn setup as a "secondary area" which is what we did here.

balcan

Krazzzzy Kay wrote: »

Hi guys, reading through a lot of these posts so much to go through though, sorry if this has been asked already.

I have a 2 zone garden, 340 + 560 square meters so 900 total, my budget is ~€1000 (is that realistic?)

I see most people saying to go a size up, but I was thinking with 2 zones could I not just schedule each zone to be mowed at different times, allowing a charge in between?

So far I've been looking at:

Husqvarna Automower 310
Worx Landroid M1000
Rob 1000 (doesn't have multiple zones, maybe it can be hacked /tricked though?)


Control through an app or Alex would be I nice to have, but not essential, I guess once it's setup I won't need to interact with it very often.

Any advice would be great.

The co-op are doing the Gardena 1000 lci half price from €1600 to €800, I've posted a link a couple of pages back, got mine last week and have to say it's the best €800 I've every spent, lawn is just over 900 sq meters and has never looked so good, comes with an out door sensor and a hub, down load the app and you can control it from your phone. Gardena are a sub brand of Husqvarna and I think the mower is equivalent of the Husqvarna 315.

KCross

Alfie1 wrote: »

Or if the area isn't too big you wouldn't need a charging station, you could run the boundary cable across the drive & have the smaller lawn setup as a "secondary area" which is what we did here.

I guess that means manually lifting the mower back to the docking station several times a day to recharge while it is working on the secondary area?

Thats alot of bother on a continuous basis, is it not?

glog

Alfie1 wrote: »

Or if the area isn't too big you wouldn't need a charging station, you could run the boundary cable across the drive & have the smaller lawn setup as a "secondary area" which is what we did here.

Depending on the areas involved, this sounds like the best compromise solution.

Alfie1

KCross wrote: »

I guess that means manually lifting the mower back to the docking station several times a day to recharge while it is working on the secondary area?

Thats alot of bother on a continuous basis, is it not?

If the area isn't too big & model dependent one charge might do, the 450x here does a lot of work on a charge.

I usually just lift it across the drive when it's in the area of the secondary lawn, it's not a big issue.

murfler

Initially I set it up to follow the guide wire out to the front lawn 30/40% of the time, I have now stopped doing that by deactivating that function and selecting the GPS???

KCross

Alfie1 wrote: »

If the area isn't too big & model dependent one charge might do, the 450x here does a lot of work on a charge.

I guess if it can do it in one session that would be OK. It would just mean lifting it once or twice a week.

How long does the 450x cut for on one charge?

I've the model down from that and it did 2hrs when it had a new battery. Its down to about 80mins now.

Alfie1

I haven't checked recently but probably around 5 hours.

KCross

Alfie1 wrote: »

I haven't checked recently but probably around 5 hours.

ok, thats decent. I can see how it would work for you on a small secondary lawn then and I think the 450x also travels faster so not only is it out longer but its covering more ground every minute so thats probably the equivalent of 3 or 4 of charge sessions on a 430x

KCross

murfler wrote: »

Initially I set it up to follow the guide wire out to the front lawn 30/40% of the time, I have now stopped doing that by deactivating that function and selecting the GPS???

Since you are sure you already have GPS properly enabled for the last 2 weeks and its still not right, I'd be inclined to go with a map reset. Its in the GPS menu.

That will cause it to regenerate the map.

Also do a test on the guide wires to ensure they are both allowing follow out and follow in.

After that, I've no idea. The GPS should (and does for others) manage this without issue.

murfler

KCross wrote: »

Since you are sure you already have GPS properly enabled for the last 2 weeks and its still not right, I'd be inclined to go with a map reset. Its in the GPS menu.

That will cause it to regenerate the map.

Also do a test on the guide wires to ensure they are both allowing follow out and follow in.

After that, I've no idea. The GPS should (and does for others) manage this without issue.

OK thank you, I will try this. Just wondering what is an acceptable searching time? Mine is currently 6/7% but I had it searching for far too long at the start randomly for charge station so I hope to bring this down

Water John

balcan wrote: »

The co-op are doing the Gardena 1000 lci half price from €1600 to €800, I've posted a link a couple of pages back, got mine last week and have to say it's the best €800 I've every spent, lawn is just over 900 sq meters and has never looked so good, comes with an out door sensor and a hub, down load the app and you can control it from your phone. Gardena are a sub brand of Husqvarna and I think the mower is equivalent of the Husqvarna 315.

Looks good, Normal price is about €1,300 but €800 is still very good value. Did the wiring and pegs kit come with it?
Wondering as it's €1,150 on this site. If the wiring kit was with it at €800 it would be the best price I can see.
https://www.myrobotcenter.eu/en/gardena-smart-sileno-life-1000-2020

balcan

balcan wrote: »

The co-op are doing the Gardena 1000 lci half price from €1600 to €800, I've posted a link a couple of pages back, got mine last week and have to say it's the best €800 I've every spent, lawn is just over 900 sq meters and has never looked so good, comes with an out door sensor and a hub, down load the app and you can control it from your phone. Gardena are a sub brand of Husqvarna and I think the mower is equivalent of the Husqvarna 315.

Looks like that deal is over, the link is dead, and the site is listing it at 1799 now

balcan

Krazzzzy Kay wrote: »

Looks like that deal is over, the link is dead, and the site is listing it at 1799 now

Just tried their web site and the deals still there, the kit came with the mower, charge station, hub, out door sensor, water valve control (to automatically control a sprinkler), 200 meter of cable and 400 pegs. The neighbor got 2 for separate lawns and we're both delighted with them.

balcan

balcan wrote: »

Just tried their web site and the deals still there, the kit came with the mower, charge station, hub, out door sensor, water valve control (to automatically control a sprinkler), 200 meter of cable and 400 pegs. The neighbor got 2 for separate lawns and we're both delighted with them.

Can you link me to it please, I must be looking at the wrong mower...

Edit, think I found it: https://www.coopsuperstores.ie/Gardena-Smart-Sileno-1000m2-Robotic-Lawnmower--Set-1776770

balcan

Krazzzzy Kay wrote: »

Can you link me to it please, I must be looking at the wrong mower...

Edit, think I found it: https://www.coopsuperstores.ie/Gardena-Smart-Sileno-1000m2-Robotic-Lawnmower--Set-1776770

That's the one