What are the pros and cons of robotic lawnmowers in 2018?
October 7, 2018 2:14 PM Subscribe
Firsthand experience welcome.
I am interested in the possibility of getting a robotic lawnmower for my lawn, which is about a quarter acre, with some raised planting beds and some very large trees. I am wary of buying technology too early, however. What are the pros and cons versus, say, getting a lawn service? How does the cost difference, considering the cost of a robot now, maintenance, durability, and safety?
There was a question in 2014 recommending these, but it seems like the question was more geared to Europe. Snow removal is a consideration where I live, too.
I am interested in the possibility of getting a robotic lawnmower for my lawn, which is about a quarter acre, with some raised planting beds and some very large trees. I am wary of buying technology too early, however. What are the pros and cons versus, say, getting a lawn service? How does the cost difference, considering the cost of a robot now, maintenance, durability, and safety?
There was a question in 2014 recommending these, but it seems like the question was more geared to Europe. Snow removal is a consideration where I live, too.
Cos are damage to wildlife, please don’t run it at night.
posted by Iteki at 11:20 PM on October 7, 2018
posted by Iteki at 11:20 PM on October 7, 2018
Best answer: I had a Landworx Landroid that I bought from Home Depot for $800. It took about 4 hours to install the boundary wire around my property, of which I bought extra on Amazon ahead of time.
My lawn is about .75 acres, and is as convoluted as possible - trees, nooks and crannies, a weird shape. Image here: https://i.redd.it/5ut8tgoqf1x01.png
With this model, you can set "zones" which means that it will drive to that zone, then go randomly ala Roomba style.
The thing worked great: It was silent, it mowed great. It would go back to charge and then start mowing again.
Our first problem was that we installed the wire wrong. On one of our circles, we went the wrong direction, making them magnetic fields very confusing to the mower. After we fixed that, no hardware-based errors.
However, our lawn is extremely bumpy and we assumed it could unstick itself a bit better than it could. First, we had a large garden in the middle of our lawn "wired off" using a "lollipop" shape with the boundary wire. Unfortunately, when returning to charge, our mower would frequently attach to that shape, and circle for 20 minutes before giving up. (when returning to base it follows a wire). Also, if it hit a hole, it would commonly get a little stuck.
Because there wasn't an app or anything, it was a bit less reliable than your average roomba. You have to go check and find it / fix it. Eventually, we made the decision to return it and spend $2k on a mid-level riding lawnmower.
NOW: If I had a square lawn with fewer obstacles, I would DEFINITELY buy it again. The concept, technology, hardware and software are all there. I highly recommend them. For .25 acres, ideally square, or even with a front and back yard, it's really just great.
And, Last, I don't know what Iteki is talking about. It can't hit wildlife, it's too slow and has sensors. It's absolutely silent. I recommend running it at night, or during the day, or whatever.
posted by bbqturtle at 5:53 AM on October 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
My lawn is about .75 acres, and is as convoluted as possible - trees, nooks and crannies, a weird shape. Image here: https://i.redd.it/5ut8tgoqf1x01.png
With this model, you can set "zones" which means that it will drive to that zone, then go randomly ala Roomba style.
The thing worked great: It was silent, it mowed great. It would go back to charge and then start mowing again.
Our first problem was that we installed the wire wrong. On one of our circles, we went the wrong direction, making them magnetic fields very confusing to the mower. After we fixed that, no hardware-based errors.
However, our lawn is extremely bumpy and we assumed it could unstick itself a bit better than it could. First, we had a large garden in the middle of our lawn "wired off" using a "lollipop" shape with the boundary wire. Unfortunately, when returning to charge, our mower would frequently attach to that shape, and circle for 20 minutes before giving up. (when returning to base it follows a wire). Also, if it hit a hole, it would commonly get a little stuck.
Because there wasn't an app or anything, it was a bit less reliable than your average roomba. You have to go check and find it / fix it. Eventually, we made the decision to return it and spend $2k on a mid-level riding lawnmower.
NOW: If I had a square lawn with fewer obstacles, I would DEFINITELY buy it again. The concept, technology, hardware and software are all there. I highly recommend them. For .25 acres, ideally square, or even with a front and back yard, it's really just great.
And, Last, I don't know what Iteki is talking about. It can't hit wildlife, it's too slow and has sensors. It's absolutely silent. I recommend running it at night, or during the day, or whatever.
posted by bbqturtle at 5:53 AM on October 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Turns out America doesn’t have hedgehogs, who knew! It’s mainly a problem for hedgehogs whose main defense against attack is to roll into a ball, something lawn mowers care little about. They can still be problematic for baby rabbits and other small young animals, which is why silent isn’t necessarily better. The main brands here are trying to come up with methods to reduce the problem because it exists.
posted by Iteki at 11:03 AM on October 8, 2018
posted by Iteki at 11:03 AM on October 8, 2018
Response by poster: Thanks for the great answers everybody! Turns out my wife is against it because nobody else has one, and getting one might draw too much attention. Thanks for the great information!
posted by metasunday at 7:06 PM on October 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by metasunday at 7:06 PM on October 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
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One thing to keep in mind is that they only mow; you still have to edge and blow. Presumably a lawn service would do all those things for you. They of course do nothing for snow removal.
Shortly after my husband passed away in 2016, the robots stopped working. I sold them to a neighbor (they were the talk of the neighborhood and a source of envy for many) and hired a lawn service.
The tech on these may have improved since then, but I'd still expect some amount of needing to reset them and deal with occasional error codes.
posted by jeoc at 4:00 PM on October 7, 2018 [2 favorites]