Robot Lawn Mower Reviews

hy mow your lawn when it a robot will do it for you? The best robot lawn mowers cut your grass each day, trimming just a bit at a time. You can program your mower to operate for a certain amount of time each day, so that you don’t have to think about your lawn. One of the top-rated robot lawn mowers is the WORX Landroid. It’s fully programmable and features a 28v battery and a charging dock. Even better, you can use a PIN to program your Landroid, so that no one else can tamper with it.

What’s a Robot Lawn Mower?

If you’re familiar with the concept of a Roomba or robot vacuum, you are relatively familiar with the concept of a robot lawn mower. Instead of you pushing a mower or riding on a tractor, a robot mower is able to maneuver around your lawn itself, neatly trimming the grass.

You have some control over where the robot lawn mower goes and over how often mows. It’s common for people to schedule their robo-mowers to run daily, cutting tiny amounts of grass each time. Initially, it might not look like the robot mower is doing much. But after daily mowings for a week or two, you can start to see the results and a neater looking lawn.

How to Find a Good Robot Lawn Mower

The features you want in a robot lawn mower are pretty similar to the features you’d look for in a traditional mower. There are a few others features to look for in a robo-mower that you’d have no need of in a traditional mower, as well.

For example, you want to take a look at the mower’s blades and how they clip the grass. Most robot mowers are mulching mowers. That means they cut the grass clippings into tiny pieces. The small pieces are able to fall to the soil, where they easily break down and provide food and nutrition to the lawn.

One feature to look for in a robot mower that you wouldn’t need to think about with a regular mower is the ability to program it. A robo mower that goes out and trims the grass on a set schedule each day or every week is a lot more user-friendly than a mower you have to remember to turn on and run.

The power options of the mower are other important things to think about. Like robot vacuums, robot mowers need to charge up between uses. Some having solar-powered charging docks, meaning you don’t need to plug them into an outlet, while others are electric. The type of charging dock your machine has determines where you can store it, which might influence your purchase decision.

You can see a bit of that in this video:

You also want to look at how long a mower can run on a single charge and how long it needs to fully charge up. Usually, robot mowers are intended for smaller yards, less than an acre. If you have a larger yard, your robo mower might need to take charging breaks in the middle of the job.

Another thing to pay attention to is the cutting pattern the mower uses. Some mowers will cut in a seemingly random pattern. A random pattern means you don’t end up with obvious tracks across your lawn. It can also mean that your little mower misses a few spots as it operates.

Some mowers can only handle one area of the lawn at a time. If you have a larger lawn or multiple zones in your yard, you might need to physically move the mower to get it to cut the grass over the entire lawn.

Using a Robot Lawn Mower

While you don’t have to be around to operate a robot lawn mower, they do require some initial setup. Most models require you to run a wire along the perimeter of your lawn, creating an invisible boundary for the mower. You’ll also want to run the wire around any areas you don’t want the mower cutting, such as along the perimeter of your garden or by the edge of your swimming pool.

Even after you have the wire in place, you’ll want to keep a close eye on the mower the first few times you use it. If there’s any uneven terrain on your lawn or if one of your kids left a toy outside on the grass, that can create trouble for the mower.

Robot vs. Traditional Lawn Mower

A robot lawn mower can be a suitable replacement for a traditional mower. If you struggled to have time to mow your lawn yourself and find that the cost of a lawn care service is too expensive, a robot mower can be the next best thing.

Robot mowers offer two more benefits over traditional mowers. For one thing, many models can run in the rain. Mowing in the rain is usually not recommended for people, because there’s an increased risk of slipping and falling. Wet grass can also be difficult to cut.

Robo mowers can also operate at night and are usually quiet enough to do so without disturbing anyone in your home or disturbing your neighbors. If you are going to run your robot mower at night, it’s a good idea to make sure that no one will be outside. Although the machines have safety features that reduce the risk for injury, you don’t want to have child or pet accidentally come across a running mower in the dark.

Our Top Robot Lawn Mower Pick

One of the most highly rated robot lawn mowers is the WORX Landroid. WIth the ability to mow lawns up to 10,750-square-feet, the Landroid is a good pick if you have a smaller yard (less than 1/4 acre).

The Landroid runs off a 28v lithium battery and features a plug-in charging dock. That means you will need to be able to store the charger and the mower near an outlet. The good news is that you only need a standard household outlet to operate the mower.

One particularly nice feature of the Landroid is the ability to use a PIN to program it. The feature is not only a safety feature, as it keeps small children from accidentally turning the mower on. It’s also a security feature, as it keeps someone from running off with your mower.

You’re able to program the Landroid to operate daily. It will trim a small amount off of the grass each day, keeping your lawn looking neat with little effort on your part. The mower also has a rain sensor. If you don’t want it to operate when it rains, you can program the sensor to return the mower to its base when it detects a certain amount of moisture.

The Landroid is similar to another robot mower, the Robomow RC306, but is able to cut a larger lawn. The RC306 can handle yards up to 1/8 acre, compared to the Landroid’s 1/4 acre cutting area.

One bonus of the RC306 is that you can control it using a remote control. The remote feature lets you run the robot mower in areas of the yard that it would normally consider off-limits.

Although you do need a relatively small lawn for either the Robomow or the Landroid, the Husqvarna Automower 450x is designed for larger yards. If your yard is up to 1.25 acres, it might be the better pick for you.

Photo by niekverlaan licensed under CC0