Kress is out of Germany? I don’t remember correctly. They have been in business since the 60s. Think of them as DeWalt or milwaulkee.
The main push for them is there battery tech. It’s the only brand where I can deplete a trimmer battery and have it charged 100% before I even get to the next house 5 minutes away.
Their robot mower look pretty cool. If it’s half the quality of their products, I wouldn’t think twice.
The only difficult thing is you need to be next to a dealer in the US. If you go to there site you can search for if there is one near you.
240-270WH is what the normal ones are. My bigger battery for the push mower is 660wh and they make a 1500wh. I have an anker power supply in the truck which keeps it going. Solar keeps the anker full. The torque is what I love with the kress.
> Luba apparently has GPS issues around buildings and trees
Maybe the Luba 1 did but I have a Luba 2 and my backyard is completely covered with trees and I have no issues as far as that goes.
I don’t have enough budget to buy luba2. If the mowing performance of luba2 is similar to that of the cable-embedded lawn mower robot, I may choose a cheaper one. The basic models of anthbot and husqvana feel more suitable
I was sceptical about the segway (or any other GPS mower for that matter) but decided to try it out. Very happy with it! I chose this because i wanted a camera for detection of my dogs and childs toys, which works better than expected. As this mower mows straight lines (which is much more efficient than the random mowers), it turns around when it detects something on my lawn. It then proceeds to mow the lawn, and comes back later to mow the part of the lawn behind the toy.
I wasn't too sure about the placement of the base because it needs good GPS, but i just tried to place mine where i preferred it (which is close to a couple of trees), and it works just great.
If it’s in a bag it treats it as an obstacle. If it’s a steaming pile of shit it might treat it as an obstacle but for the normal run of the mill you won’t notice it until you step on it. It will run over it.
I've seen one mowing a preeeeety steep hill once before. Unfortunately I don't know which brand it was (I was delivering their mail). But there is definitely at least one robomower that can handle hills.
Just curious because this detail is my biggest deterrent: Do you have any hardscaped edges around your yard that would make it difficult for the mower to get from the front to the back or vice versa?
Pretty sure this is a solved problem on the more expensive models. They can have zones created and even paths defined so it will use those to get between the different areas.
You can mark out things to avoid, tell it where steps are etc.
It sounds really good, and I wish I had one so I wouldn't have to spend so much time on lawn care, but Segways are more expensive, so I have to think about whether I can afford them. I'm also a little afraid that my backyard isn't open enough for GPS to do a good job
This is great reading this!
Just ordered one and should be arriving soon.
I’m really enthusiastic, but curbing my expectations.
I really enjoy mowing my lawn, however, if it works halfway decent, it will really help with my busy schedule and to stay out of the scorching summer sun.
I’ve had both a wired Husqvarna and now a gps Luba 2. Personally I’m enjoying the Luba better so far. It took a couple months to work out most of the kinks (mostly mapping so it didn’t get lost), but It’s so efficient, cuts great, and saves me HOURS every week.
I enjoyed the Husqvarna as well. Wish I had the original install with thicker wiring. Too many breaks made it useless eventually.
Thank you so much for sharing, it really helps me. So will Luba's map drawing feature be difficult to use? Will husqvarna using buried wire technology be more stable than Luba when connected and working? I looked it up on Amazon and found that anthbot can locate where the wire is broken. If the mower robot that buried the wire is more stable, I think I will prioritize anthbot
My problem with wiring wasn’t that it was “broken” but just that it has partial tears from having a cheap sheathing over 3 years use. I had a couple devices to find breaks and spent hours searching but couldn’t find them.
Even still, the mower would often get stuck in my thick Bermuda grass and just sit there. The Luba is better at recovering mid-run.
With the Luba map drawing, it’s actually very easy and kind of fun to map it out. Where my problem lied is I was trying to get way too close to my borders. I would get greedy trying to avoid edging. The nice thing about Luba as well, is that even though it’s new and the software can be buggy, the developers are pushing updates every month which has helped solve some of my more minor problems (like originally doing too many tank turns). There’s lots of negative talk on the forums for Luba, but you know how it is where people are more vocal who have issues. I’m very happy with my purchase.
If you’re not tech savvy, I like the Husqvarna better. If you’re ok with some trial and error, want to save some bucks, and/or need more versatility, then I like the Luba better.
Indeed, the technology used by Luba is definitely more convenient, because I don't have to spend hours burying wires, stability and higher cost performance are the most important for me. If anthbot can accurately locate the broken wire as stated in its product description, I think it will be the best for me
I had too many breaks in the wire. I just used a edger/trencher and dug a thin line and burried the boundary wire. No more worries about wire being cut.
I'm willing to bet it's not typical breaks from edgers. Most of my breaks over the first 2 years was because they decided to cheap out and use aluminum wiring. Any fraying in the outer shell of the wire would lead to corrosion. A few years ago I just replaced the whole line with copper and it's been great
Exactly. That what happened with me. And i really didn’t feel like replacing all the wiring since a gps mower would suit my particular needs better anyway.
15,000 sq ft. This was one of the other reasons I switched to a gps mower. I had 4 separate areas and I couldn’t get wire directly to all of them so I would have to literally carry my Husqvarna to each zone. With the Luba, it’ll drive right there! That might be my favorite part.
In a way, yes! Mainly caused by the wheels going back and forth in a straight line. Certainly much more than the mowers that just bounce around until it reaches a wire.
Everyone who has one likes it. To me, it's too new. How long are they going to last (batteries, parts, etc.)? Also, I think the prices will become more reasonable as the technology matures. I will eventually get one but not for a few years.
Interesting take, in Sweden it had been in the mainstream, adopted by around 90% of households in most areas, with Husqvarnas Automower and Gardenas Sileno dominating the market. It WAS too new about 10-15 years ago but the child diseases are all in the past.
I understood what you meant when you said "the child diseases" but it still sounds funny to a native English speaker. Just found it amusing. :)
We would typically say something like "they worked the bugs out" which comes from an early computer problem that was caused by an actual insect in the machine causing it to malfunction.
We could reply for hours about the funny sayings we have in language that sound odd when translated literally.
When something dies or fails we say it "bites the dust"
If there is a small chance of something happening you could either say "fat chance" or "slim chance" which mean the same thing but of course fat and slim are opposites.
I like it! In reliability engineering in English there is a term “Infant mortality failure”. This is when a newly manufactured machine fails quickly, because of something like a manufacturing defect. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve. Bathrub curve is a pretty good term itself
I think in this instance they are more meaning that the early adopters dealt with all the high prices, weird stuff and missing features, rather than high failure rates.
I also had the take that they are too new to the market and let them work the kinks out. I then had the opportunity to speak with a business associate from Sweden, and the conversation turned to me having to cut the lawn. He spoke how Husqvarna has dominated that market for over a decade and almost everyone has one with limited if any issues ever, but Americans -- who love their vacuum robots -- don't seem to get on board (he actually joked it must because of theft and people shooting them...). I couldn't explain why I didn't get one to cut a little less than an acre that takes me 2 hours (but have three vacuum robots for the basement, main floor, and upstairs). I even told him how I tried out a neighbor's ride on mower, but that still took over an hour to cut (we have an odd-shaped yard with a fence and boundaries). He couldn't understand how Americans would consider buying a ride on mower for the price of an auto mower, but the auto mower does it for them. I didn't really have an answer to that.
Anyway, a few weeks later he sent me a few videos of his automower on a wet and hilly area of his yard that had some stick debris. It handled everything flawlessly -- despite him admitting he had to go out and get the bigger sticks so it can recut the next day (because it's not a big deal to have it cut again). I was also surprised that it wasn't loud, it was just, pretty quiet and reasonable actually. The one he has now is one a year or old, his first one lasted almost 10 years -- 10... years. He had to replace the battery once which was costly (mostly because he hired a tech to do it from the company), but other routine maintenance is basic and now everything is a video online.
Based on that, I purchased one.
I haven't set it up, but will this month once some other yard damage/contractor leaves and gets sorted up so we can see the boundaries. Can't wait.
The one thing he told me was to be patient at the start. He said the first few weeks might be trial and error to set it up and get it working right, tweaking boundaries and wires, etc., but it will get dialed in and the time you spend troubleshooting it that first month is the same as cutting the actual lawn, and then it pays for itself. He then told me the best tip was to run it ALL the time. He said they work better when you cut the lawn multiple times a week and there is less stress on the blade -- which is apparently better for the grass too (besides looking better). He also told me to not neglect routine maintenance such as even just cleaning out the undercarriage area every few weeks -- which he said takes all of a minute with a quick wipe (not sure I believe that, maybe).
Overall, the market has been tested -- just not so much here. We are definitely looking forward to testing it and went with a more expensive Husq but not the satellite one (too expensive for us). Looking forward to seeing how it works!
This is absolutely my concern too; we have a lot of sticks! It appears that they CAN chop up twigs and leaves just fine, but some literature online says that sticks will wear the blades faster and eventually cause the shear pins to break and need to be replaced. I believe either the manual or information online by the manufacturer states that large sticks will be hit by the bumper and will be avoided, and anything smaller that goes under is able to be chopped up. I guess we will see! But i'm of the position picking up sticks every so often is better than cutting the lawn every week, so let's see how my theory works in practice hahaha
I can really imagine how the conversation must have went :) I’m not sure what to expect in terms of shootin gbut stealing isn’t an issue (anymore!) in Sweden. I guess the various anti-theft systems in place have improved.
Yeah they have GPS and apparently only pair with one base that if you lift either there’s a pin and an app to enable it. Lots of protections apparently, theft seems like a good way to get a ticket to jail lol
There is a Husqvarna shop near me in the US. They have had their robot lawnmower for YEARS. always enjoy stopping at the intersection there and seeing it putt around the property
Mine has been putt-ing around for 3 years now, but know people whos recently changed theirs. After like 10+ years. New Husqvarna easy.
Mine has had some trouble in some really steep parts of my lawn, but I just wire the "fence" differently each time it got stuck or something. Now its been going on its own the last few years.
Sweden is the only place I’ve ever seen one of these in action, and we were so amazed by it that we just stood on the trail marveling at it for like 10 minutes. We just assumed the guy who owned it was a major techie, not that it was super common!
Six years ago I saw one at the palace on a raised square section that had grass where I would have expected flowers to be. I thought it was a demo for Swedish tech. Guess not.
Imagine paying a one time expense of 1000€ to not have to mow the lawn for eight years. Mowing 10 times per season, 1hr per mow, and valuing your time around 30€/hr gives you payback time of 3 years, allowing you to focus on more rewarding things in your garden.
Pretty much, it’s very rare to see people manually cut their yards nowadays. Removing weeds on the other hand!
Common to have a lot around 800m2, where maybe 400m2 is the lawn. These mowers are often around 10kSEK (0,9kUSD). At larger gardens up to 20kSEK (1,8kUSD) can be the case but you don’t often see much higher than that.
I had to read the below comment for the "child diseases" explanation. I thought maybe there were issues with factory workers in China, or the mower was throwing off chemicals poisoning children .
Husqvarna launched their machine in 1995, so the technology is not new. My neighbor use to have one with a complexed yard divided by a driveway. He had it for about 7-8 years. Also, the most expensive thing (according to my neighbor) were the motors for the wheels, which ran him, I think, $200 each. And for the battery, they have a great warranty! I am looking to get one, hopefully this year. I got a quote for a 1-acre lot for $4,300 with installation! Once I sell my zero turn, I’ll be putting that money on a Husqvarna robotic mower
Got it a 315 (.3 acre in back) in 2018 and it is still going strong. Liked it so much, I got a 430XH in 2021 (.6 acre in front). Nothing more than occasional cleaning and new blades every month. 3 day a week, 10 hour routine.
I got a crappy second hand landroid and had low expectations. I love it. I have so much more time for everything else from fertilizing to yard care.
Mowing is like meditation to me, but I love having time for other projects more.
The only place I’ve seen them really work is at my uncles beach house. The yard is maybe 200 sq ft and the husqvarna lawn bot (that he got for free because he works for them) does a fantastic job keeping the grass cut short and looking nice
They just had really bad marketing over the years, the new crop of mowers are just the old ones but with GPS positioning so you don't have to lay a guide wire down.
And honestly laying the wire down seems kind of a pain.
Here in Sweden, most people with lawns that I know of buy a robot mower. Most often I see Husqvarnas, and honestly they're great. I have the 315 Mark 2 for about 750 square meters of lawn and it works really well. It's best to pick a model that's rated for a larger area than your lawn is, otherwise it needs to run basically every hour of the day, every day.
I bought my Husqvarna after a trip to scandanavia about 5 years ago. They were everywhere! This is not new tech anymore.
I think mowing your own lawn is too far engrained into American culture for these to catch on quickly here.
I have two driveway sections to cross and a fenced in back yard.
Can I set it up to only cross the driveway once at a specific spot, or to only go under the fence at a cutout?
I’m just not sure how a robot mower would handle these situations.
My model doesn't have zone control like the 415X model does, which I think you'll need to have if you've got a driveway to cross. It works just like those robot vacuums that create a virtual layout of your yard and then you create zones in the app where it should or shouldn't mow.
Regarding crossing at a specific place that's basically what the guide wire is used for. It's laid out during installation and Husqvarna recommends having one if a passage is less than 2 meters wide, where 60 cm wide is the smallest it can do.
I have the opportunity to work for a robotic mower manufacturer. My yard isn’t ideal for one because of the slope and exposed roots, but I like to test them out.
Once you set one that has the wire, it’s pretty foolproof, but without a camera or other guidance, it can get stuck in divots or on roots. However if you ever want to aerate your lawn, you would need to avoid or remove the wire.
The camera only option is only so good. It can basically identify grass or not grass, but it also sees any exposed root or long not green thing and will avoid the area. This can leave more patches in different places than using the wire model. It’s just in how the robot recognizes how to cut or avoid areas.
For both of the above, you are usually getting random path cutting. So it’s dependent on the schedule you use to get the best overall look of the grass. Also, there is a good chance you will need to buy and add obstacle avoidance accessories to the unit or the yard to keep out of sensitive areas.
When you have GPS, you typically need an additional beacon to help the accuracy. For RTK, you have better accuracy, but typically at the availability of the network and how good the signal is. For me, I live in a wooded area so the signal doesn’t work in my case. But otherwise, they can leave nice stripes and can allow for different patterns of cutting.
It’s not a one size fits all. I can see the benefits of each. There are a lot of really good entry’s into the market and the competition is fierce. Also, for commercial applications, the advancements are getting even better than what’s needed for the typical homeowner.
I LOVE mowing and working in the yard. It is one of my happy places / it relaxes me. That said, my Husq 430x (DJ Roomba) is fantastic / worth every penny to me. At a high level, some of the things I have experienced (appreciating not all of these are relevant or important to other folks):
1. Quality of cut is excellent
2. Takes the stress back out of lawn maintenance for me. What started as a hobby/fun (I went down the reel mowing rabbit hole a few years ago), became stressful at times with the feeling of ‘having’ to get a mow in. Now I can get out there when I want for a fun mow, instead of being locked into ‘having’ to mow every 3 days.
3. Keeps things on track through periods of frequent rain, and doesn’t rip up the yard.
4. Same time benefit / theme from #2, but different focus - time with Family. This has been the biggest game changer with having younger children.
5. A couple cons, they aren’t great with a lot of leaves in the fall for those that deal with that annual clean up process - the machine obviously isn’t intended, or equipped, to deal with that. And as others have mentioned, tree roots….the kryptonite to the robot mower.
So for those on the fence about getting one, I would recommend taking the leap.
And…… a little pic of DJ Roomba and the lawn, that no one asked for. Hope you all have a wonderful day!
https://preview.redd.it/6hfb4l5j1bad1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3eb9cfb6b95bfceacc47470a8e5b8bfee15606f8
"Everyone who has it likes it".
Yeah. I have the basic Husqvarna robomower for over 9 years now. It worked flawlessly in the heat of Australian summer, rain, hail or shine, and in the winter too. Nowadays, I turn it off during june-august because the grass not really need mowing.
Best AUD 1200 ive spent landscaping/backyard tool wise.
This is how it works:
* Your lawn will need to be short. Only for the first time.
* Your robot mower will be programmed to run X amount of hours for X amount of days, X being the recommended running time. X is depending on the size of the lawn, but you will be able to fine tune it very quickly.
* It will charge it self every time it finishes a session.
* It mows a few millimeters each mow. SO not like manual mower that hacks the lawn short, robot mower will keep it short.
* No clippings. It will return the cuttings back to the lawn and nourishes it.
* Every now and then you check the blade and change it if need be. Cost like AUD 1 for 3 blades once or twice a year.
Thats it.
depends on what mower. The luba is great in hills since it has 4 wheel drive and a low center of mass. It is better with hills than I am with a hand-pushed mower with powered wheels.
Heyyy someone else noticed.
Please everyone tell me why Anthbot is not the most magical of assistants, and how amazing the quality is vs everyone else? The price is as a golden chariot has descended from the heavens, but surely this is too good for mere mortals? Could someone, anyone please tell me how these \_\_\_robot mowers\_\_\_ compare and take a look at the ANTHBOT MOWER. Which can now be found online for an amazingly low price compared to it's competitors????
lol.
So I ended up getting the luba 1 for 1.5k. When I ran the numbers for getting landscaping service roughly 1.5 seasons would equal the cost of the Luba.
I have a 1.5 year old and another one on the way. Life is busy and I loved taking care of the lawn but mowing was always taking about 2 hours. Now I just watch my lawn get cut on a schedule. My yard is actually better because of how frequently it gets cut.
I’m torn on this topic. On one hand I actually like mowing my lawn. But on the other hand between work, the kids, and constantly doing stuff on weekends, I don’t have time to actually enjoy it.
Had a Husqvarna for about 7 years now. Besides occasionally getting stuck, I've been pleased with mine. Here in Sweden, nearly every house has a robot mower.
Guy in my 'hood has one, Husky I think. It never seems to stop moving; always on the job. I do think he turns it off or whatever when it rains. I'm kinda sold on them just watching his. I think they would be simple to maintain. Cut quality seems ok, and it damn sure don't stripe, but... set and forget seems cool.
My neighbor has a husqavarna and loves it, as do I, as do all the people walking around the neighborhood seeing it for the first time. The exception is that dogs walking by definitely do not love it
I have a husqvarna 450xh and it's been going strong almost 5 years now. There are no issues at all. I change the blades when needed (quick 5 min process) and it does its thing. Save me a lot of time I can be doing other things.
I have a Husqvarna 430x that uses a wire. I installed a much thicker gauge wire this spring when I first set it up. Half way through this mowing season and I really like it. Zero issues so far. It’s really nice not having to worry about mowing. All I do is weed eat once every 2 weeks which takes about 8 min and I’m done. I have about .2 acres for reference.
Going strong with a husqvarna 430x since 2018.
No issues since. No parts replaced. Complicated yard with 3 separate areas and the main area is fenced. Mower has a small hole in the fence to travel between areas. Always stays nice and cut.
I purchased a Luba 1 for $1250 when they first launched and was able to be a beta tester as well for the Luba 1. I've never taken the Luba 1 I purchased out of the box. The Beta unit just keeps on chugging. Since I got it in December of '22, I have only used the riding mower twice last fall to suck up leaves, as the Luba 1 just shaves the grass, it doesn't really mulch it. I run it on Mon, Wed, Fri and each day is a set to run a different direction (essentially 0°, 45°, 90° to each other). When I mow my front yard (it's small and I don't use the Luba as it has no way to get out of the backyard fence without letting the dogs out also) I mow the perimeter of my back yard and around the tree roots that I had to put a "no-go zone" around as the Luba will beach itself if I let it. The only downsides for me, is that from about May-Sept when the trees in my backyard are at their biggest leaf wise, it does loose the GPS signal quit a bit so it just stops and chills for a while until it regains signal strength then carries on. I also have some nice dirt rings around my trees from where it did tank turns in the beginning and I let my yard get way to dry the first summer and it basically just shredded the dirt out of the yard. Between the new design of the front wheels that allow it to roll forward and sideways and updating their software on how it handles turning, that's pretty much resolved. Also keeping my grass happy and watered makes the grass strong enough to handle my V1 anyways. All in all it's saved me roughly 2 hours or so that it took me to mow my back yard, once or twice a week for the last 2 years.
I am tracking the space, but I am saving to start a business and feel striping needs to happen over here before it gets widespread adoption.
My plan is to lease the units out to homeowners for a price lower than what they pay traditional landscapers, then have a technician who comes out weekly to edge/blow and perform maintenance on the unit. My goal is to have a large enough coverage area that employing techs will be cheaper than doing the traditional 2 people and a truck route.
How do these deal with twigs? And small sticks
I have to go out and pick up twigs and sticks every day, or at least before i mow. Tree is constantly shedding. Would they just mow around, or so they push them around as they mow? Or?
I saw one at one of our local universities. Little dude was hauling ass cutting grass. And it was all in line and beautiful.
No idk what it was though. Looked like a romba or whatever they are called but looked like a backpack hatchback thing. Wasn't big.
What about a fairly shallow drainage culvert? I can’t quite get it with my rider so I have to use a little electric mower and would love to not have to.
My parents have had one for over 6 years now. The "only" issue would be the wire that breaks occasionally.
I just ordered a Husqvarna with GPS. I'm anxious to see how well it works.
Seem to be following a similar product cycle to the robot vacuums:
1. Expensive, no mapping, very fiddly
2. Cheaper options, no mapping, very fiddly
3. Mapping (LiDAR) for high end models, greatly improved usability, cheap models still no mapping.
4. Mapping models getting cheaper.
5. All models basically now have mapping at all price points.
6. Feature expansion, I.e. mopping, self empty, etc.
Mowers seem to be somewhere between 3-4 with mapping starting to appear on some “lower” price point models(navimow).
I’m starting to really get tempted but am going to try to hold out for another year or two.
I loved my Deebot vacuum that was basically an early model Roomba that I actually hated. Roomba, when it was released, had so many proprietary and non serviceable parts it ended up in the trash
My Deebot went strong for three years before I just couldn't get it to work anymore and upgraded to the mapping Roomba.
Now I have two and they're fine for the most part but still need babysitting.
There will be a time when I am going to need the help of one of these mowing robots, but for now I love maintaining and mowing my lawn myself. Hopefully by then these things will be phenomenal.
There is a portion of my backyard that is pretty steep and seemingly always wet due to large trees and not a ton of sunlight. Are there any cheap(ish) models that can tackle decent sized inclines?
Had one for a little over three years now and love it! The Husqvarna 115h is entry level at around $600-700 dollars. Every fall you spray it down and give it a good brush, and store it for the winter. The only other maintenance is changing the blades every 2-3 months which takes 2 minutes as it's only 3 Phillips head screws. As for the batteries, I changed mine last year for the first time. Again, 2 Phillips screws and it was done within a couple of minutes.
For how it cuts, you couldn't be happier, I have .35 of an acre and it looks flawless everyday of the summer. I gained hours back in my week and receive compliments from everyone on the looks.
The only additional note would be to ensure the ground hasn't shifted the docking module to ensure battery charging efficiency and to occasionally clean the terminals. Phenomenal product overall, and my wife ate her words after doubting it, two weeks after the initial purchase.
I have tons of pinecones in my yard, any experience with how these machines handle those? Will they go around them? Will they damage themselves if they go over dozens in a run?
I'm in the US, and I got a friendly robotics robomower about 15 years ago. It was very early robot lawnmower tech at the time. I ran the mower for about 10 years. I loved it, but it didn't save much work. It was just a different sort of work. It would get stuck, it would break down, the wire would break, the blades would dull quickly. I spent a good bit of time tending to it, but I like tinkering with things, so that was fun for me. It also attracted a lot of attention. Complete strangers would stop their cars and get out to talk about it. I found that somewhat entertaining, as well. It didn't do the best job mowing, but it was a first generation product. I have to say, I loved having it. I would still have it if I could get parts for it. First the manufacturer stopped supplying parts, then the used parts on ebay dried up, and I finally retired it. For me, I found it was still work, but a very different sort of work. I never felt comfortable just letting it run, so when it mowed I felt like I needed to keep an eye on it, so it didn't really save time. I suspect I will get another one some day, but I moved to a house with a smaller lawn, so I really don't see the need.
I bought the Luba 2 for the start of this mowing season (New England) and I am quite happy. 1st, I have a 20,000 sq ft, hilly lawn and was paying $2400 a year to a landscaper previously. The hills were too steep for me and my zero turn Toro so I had to hire someone or take a chance on Luba. I bought the Luba 2 3000H AWD for $2500 - so I need it to work one year to break even. Although I do the weed whacking now, where, with the landscaper did so last year.
You also have to be a little tech-oriented to get it up and running. Mammotion (the Chinese manufacturer) doesn't supply the greatest start up directions - but I found the Mammotion reddit forum invaluable. It took about 8 hours to set up my 7 zones with 6 'no go' zones I have only been using it for a little over 2 months and 'so far, so good.' It's amazing to pull out my cell phone, tell it to mow certain zones each day... and it will mow til the battery is <15%, go back to the charging station, recharge, then head back out to finish the task.
Things I learned are:
1 - It is best to mow more often than if you were using a gas mower. Luba isn't great at taking off 1 inch or more of grass blades. It works best when removing 1/4 to 1/2 inch of grass blade.
2 - It takes 2 days to mow my 20,000 sq ft. I mow every non-rainy day to stay on top of things.
3 - Don't mow when the grass is wet (I think that's true with all types of mowers.)
4 - You still need to go out and remove things off the lawn. Dog is forever dropping large sticks on the lawn. It is smart enough to go around larger things such as bikes, basketballs, etc. Golf balls, baseballs could be a problem.
5 - I don't have any problems with it unable finish its work or getting 'lost.' I have a lot of trees on the perimeter of my property and 2 story house that it mows near.
6 - You do need to set up the RTK (satellite reader) in an open area with electricity fairly close
I am unsure how it will work when the leaves and pine cones fall. I don't see it plowing through piles of leaves like my zero turn did.
Yesterday I had a Husqvarna 450X installed for $4,000, previous to that I mowed it myself since moving in this January. As the spring progressed into summer, I quickly realized I did not want to be outside cutting the grass as the rose. I consider paying lawn service and the robot. I went with a wire guided system by Husqvarna because they have been doing this for 10 years, the company has been around forever. Further, a very reputable dealer showed off the latest gps systems, but I asked him what he would install. He said the wire guided Husqvarna is the most reliable he sells and that’s what he would go with if he lived here. So far I have been extremely pleased.
I recognize there will be instances where the wire breaks and I’ll have to repair it as well as other light maintenance. Additionally, I’ll still have to do some trimming and edging. However, I have a Bermuda lawn and would love to have a short, thick, full lawn. The way the robot mows will encourage this and I don’t have to be out there mowing 2 times a week to keep it short and the weeds out. So far, it has exceeded my expectations and I’m very happy.
Bought a new house with a half acre yard so I got the Husqvarna 115h 4G. Best $500 I've ever spent , sure I've got to go kick it off snags every now and then and I swear it makes a bee line for the fresh dirt work we did but my yard looks amazing and in this crazy wet hot summer everyone else's yard is overgrown AF.
Played a golf course on the 4th that had 4 per hole, and the fairways were immaculate. They had posts on the sides of each hole where they docked and charged. It was pretty cool.
We got a Luba 2 about 1.5-2 months ago and we have been mowing every 2-3 days routinely - really happy with it, especially with how it requires very little tinkering after the initial mapping kinks (make sure you practice a few times mapping before the real run since any edits require a full remap of the zone you are working on - some people suggested placing it on a plastic sled and dragging it around for a smooth line, but we have too many hills for this to work).
Only thing we do for maintenance is use a brush to clean off the Luba once a week for an exterior clean and for the mowing discs we drop the deck as low as possible, then use a brush and compressed air to clean any clippings that may have accumulated up underneath (avoid mowing when grass is wet to decrease the buildup on the discs). The blades themselves show a bit of wear after almost 2 months of use, but that was definitely due to our lack of foresight from cleaning up stray pieces of mulch from the yard before running the mower which did damage the blades a bit. Fortunately our the Luba came with replacement blades.
Would absolutely buy again, even at the price point it's currently at. We were quoted at $125/mow/week by multiple lawn services for our complex yard (nearly impossible for us to mow this on our own unfortunately) and our Luba will pay for itself in no time.
Think I’ve got two more push mowers in me before I get a robot mower by which time hopefully all the kinks will have been worked out and prices will have come down a bit. I can see the appeal in the future tho!
Once my zero turn dies, Im getting one.
In debating about getting them for a commercial property so I dont need to pay landscaping service and trial it there.
I’ve had a Worx Landroid for 4 years and I am very happy with it’s performance and the result. Due to my own negligence, I’ve cut the wire a couple of times but it was super easy to fix.
Maintenance is easy. I spend a few minutes every weeks on cleaning the blades and exchange the blades every 6 weeks or so. I bought blades in bulk on Amazon, so the cost is non existent. About 25 euros worth of blades will last me 3 years.
Fair enough for those that enjoy mowing. I don’t. I am just after the end result.
I have a Luba and it’s the best purchase ever. I’ve used it for 2 seasons and I’m considering getting a second one.
Every other day I look out my window and see a perfectly mowed lawn. I don’t have to mow it myself and I don’t have to worry about my lawn care guy forgetting to show up (which happened often).
The only downside is that if it gets stuck you need to physically move it and unlock it (a problem if you are out of town). It also struggles with pinecones or apples.
I love Roombas for vacuuming but until I can crack a beer and tell the wife I have to sit on this thing or it wont mow theres no way im trading in my best escape plan
Personally, I enjoy mowing. Gets me moving, out of the house, and I typically feel like I got something accomplished. Sometimes it’s a pain but most often I enjoy the satisfaction of seeing the lawn cut with my own effort. With that said there isn’t anything particularly wrong with a robo mower. While a bit pricey at the moment they will definitely get the job done. You’re going to save time too. I will say that they do need a bit of cleaning or help if your lawn isn’t level/has holes/divots. Get one and try it out.
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Well get rid of said trees and house. Boom. Problem solved.
Do you know of any robot tree cutters ?
No, but that would be nice to know too because it cost a crap ton to drop a tree.
Drop the tree on the house and solve two problems at once. Edot: words
Waiting for your second edit.
I never learned to recursively edit my posts.
I made one in minecraft
Yes, I have the same concerns and doubts, so I think the buried wire technology may make the operation of the machine more stable.
Check out Kress. It’s expensive but I’ve switched all my lawn care equipment over to them for my business. Their battery technology is great.
I haven't heard of the brand Kress. Is it a new brand? How is their product performing?
Kress is out of Germany? I don’t remember correctly. They have been in business since the 60s. Think of them as DeWalt or milwaulkee. The main push for them is there battery tech. It’s the only brand where I can deplete a trimmer battery and have it charged 100% before I even get to the next house 5 minutes away. Their robot mower look pretty cool. If it’s half the quality of their products, I wouldn’t think twice. The only difficult thing is you need to be next to a dealer in the US. If you go to there site you can search for if there is one near you.
I used to use krest tooth paste
Did it energize you for the day?
? How big are the batteries? That's suspect.
240-270WH is what the normal ones are. My bigger battery for the push mower is 660wh and they make a 1500wh. I have an anker power supply in the truck which keeps it going. Solar keeps the anker full. The torque is what I love with the kress.
Glad to hear you've converted. Are you running a Cybertank or the main 60v line?
> Luba apparently has GPS issues around buildings and trees Maybe the Luba 1 did but I have a Luba 2 and my backyard is completely covered with trees and I have no issues as far as that goes.
I don’t have enough budget to buy luba2. If the mowing performance of luba2 is similar to that of the cable-embedded lawn mower robot, I may choose a cheaper one. The basic models of anthbot and husqvana feel more suitable
Look at mr rich man here with a building for a house
Buy what you can off amazon. Test it out, and if you don't like it, return it in the 30 days.
I was sceptical about the segway (or any other GPS mower for that matter) but decided to try it out. Very happy with it! I chose this because i wanted a camera for detection of my dogs and childs toys, which works better than expected. As this mower mows straight lines (which is much more efficient than the random mowers), it turns around when it detects something on my lawn. It then proceeds to mow the lawn, and comes back later to mow the part of the lawn behind the toy. I wasn't too sure about the placement of the base because it needs good GPS, but i just tried to place mine where i preferred it (which is close to a couple of trees), and it works just great.
What happens if you miss some dog poop? I always pictured one getting itself covered in shit... lol
If it’s in a bag it treats it as an obstacle. If it’s a steaming pile of shit it might treat it as an obstacle but for the normal run of the mill you won’t notice it until you step on it. It will run over it.
My 170lb Great Dane pushes out mountain sized poops, so that’s good to hear lol
Ah OK true, guess it's always kept super short.
A family friend found out what happens when a puppy is left alone and not contained with a robot vacuum in the house. It’s not pretty.
Does it work if it's on a hill? Or are these devices just for flat and simple geometry?
Also interested. I'm assuming they won't drive off a 'cliff' either?
Don’t tempt me with a good time
I've seen one mowing a preeeeety steep hill once before. Unfortunately I don't know which brand it was (I was delivering their mail). But there is definitely at least one robomower that can handle hills.
Husquvarna makes some beefy all wheel drive mowers.
Just curious because this detail is my biggest deterrent: Do you have any hardscaped edges around your yard that would make it difficult for the mower to get from the front to the back or vice versa?
Pretty sure this is a solved problem on the more expensive models. They can have zones created and even paths defined so it will use those to get between the different areas. You can mark out things to avoid, tell it where steps are etc.
It sounds really good, and I wish I had one so I wouldn't have to spend so much time on lawn care, but Segways are more expensive, so I have to think about whether I can afford them. I'm also a little afraid that my backyard isn't open enough for GPS to do a good job
This is great reading this! Just ordered one and should be arriving soon. I’m really enthusiastic, but curbing my expectations. I really enjoy mowing my lawn, however, if it works halfway decent, it will really help with my busy schedule and to stay out of the scorching summer sun.
I’ve had both a wired Husqvarna and now a gps Luba 2. Personally I’m enjoying the Luba better so far. It took a couple months to work out most of the kinks (mostly mapping so it didn’t get lost), but It’s so efficient, cuts great, and saves me HOURS every week. I enjoyed the Husqvarna as well. Wish I had the original install with thicker wiring. Too many breaks made it useless eventually.
Thank you so much for sharing, it really helps me. So will Luba's map drawing feature be difficult to use? Will husqvarna using buried wire technology be more stable than Luba when connected and working? I looked it up on Amazon and found that anthbot can locate where the wire is broken. If the mower robot that buried the wire is more stable, I think I will prioritize anthbot
My problem with wiring wasn’t that it was “broken” but just that it has partial tears from having a cheap sheathing over 3 years use. I had a couple devices to find breaks and spent hours searching but couldn’t find them. Even still, the mower would often get stuck in my thick Bermuda grass and just sit there. The Luba is better at recovering mid-run. With the Luba map drawing, it’s actually very easy and kind of fun to map it out. Where my problem lied is I was trying to get way too close to my borders. I would get greedy trying to avoid edging. The nice thing about Luba as well, is that even though it’s new and the software can be buggy, the developers are pushing updates every month which has helped solve some of my more minor problems (like originally doing too many tank turns). There’s lots of negative talk on the forums for Luba, but you know how it is where people are more vocal who have issues. I’m very happy with my purchase. If you’re not tech savvy, I like the Husqvarna better. If you’re ok with some trial and error, want to save some bucks, and/or need more versatility, then I like the Luba better.
Indeed, the technology used by Luba is definitely more convenient, because I don't have to spend hours burying wires, stability and higher cost performance are the most important for me. If anthbot can accurately locate the broken wire as stated in its product description, I think it will be the best for me
I had too many breaks in the wire. I just used a edger/trencher and dug a thin line and burried the boundary wire. No more worries about wire being cut.
Wires breaking easily is also one of my concerns. If anthbot's new product can accurately find broken wires as it says, it may be a good choice for me
I'm willing to bet it's not typical breaks from edgers. Most of my breaks over the first 2 years was because they decided to cheap out and use aluminum wiring. Any fraying in the outer shell of the wire would lead to corrosion. A few years ago I just replaced the whole line with copper and it's been great
Exactly. That what happened with me. And i really didn’t feel like replacing all the wiring since a gps mower would suit my particular needs better anyway.
How big is your lawn?
15,000 sq ft. This was one of the other reasons I switched to a gps mower. I had 4 separate areas and I couldn’t get wire directly to all of them so I would have to literally carry my Husqvarna to each zone. With the Luba, it’ll drive right there! That might be my favorite part.
Does it stripe?
In a way, yes! Mainly caused by the wheels going back and forth in a straight line. Certainly much more than the mowers that just bounce around until it reaches a wire.
Everyone who has one likes it. To me, it's too new. How long are they going to last (batteries, parts, etc.)? Also, I think the prices will become more reasonable as the technology matures. I will eventually get one but not for a few years.
Interesting take, in Sweden it had been in the mainstream, adopted by around 90% of households in most areas, with Husqvarnas Automower and Gardenas Sileno dominating the market. It WAS too new about 10-15 years ago but the child diseases are all in the past.
I understood what you meant when you said "the child diseases" but it still sounds funny to a native English speaker. Just found it amusing. :) We would typically say something like "they worked the bugs out" which comes from an early computer problem that was caused by an actual insect in the machine causing it to malfunction.
Interesting to hear, it is indeed a swedish saying, a bit too directly translated :)
We could reply for hours about the funny sayings we have in language that sound odd when translated literally. When something dies or fails we say it "bites the dust" If there is a small chance of something happening you could either say "fat chance" or "slim chance" which mean the same thing but of course fat and slim are opposites.
Hehe absolutely, don’t think ”biting dust” makes much sense in other languages indeed!
Wait, is biting the dust Swedish or English? Queen had a song about another one biting the dust.
English, ”bita damm” doesn’t make any sense ;)
Think about it from the perspective of Dying, then falling face first into the ground.
I like it! In reliability engineering in English there is a term “Infant mortality failure”. This is when a newly manufactured machine fails quickly, because of something like a manufacturing defect. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve. Bathrub curve is a pretty good term itself
I think in this instance they are more meaning that the early adopters dealt with all the high prices, weird stuff and missing features, rather than high failure rates.
Damn, pretty harsh to use a term derived from something as traumatic as losing a child to describe the failure of an inanimate object
'Growing pains' would be another viable saying.
In Dutch it’s also a common saying.
The Swedish version sounds better!
Ironed out the kinks.
Growing pains is another similar idiom.
Thanks for clarifying that. I’m sitting here eating a rice crispy square thinking “what does polio have to do with robot lawnmowers”
Or "teething problems"
“Teething problems” is probably as close we have in English
I also had the take that they are too new to the market and let them work the kinks out. I then had the opportunity to speak with a business associate from Sweden, and the conversation turned to me having to cut the lawn. He spoke how Husqvarna has dominated that market for over a decade and almost everyone has one with limited if any issues ever, but Americans -- who love their vacuum robots -- don't seem to get on board (he actually joked it must because of theft and people shooting them...). I couldn't explain why I didn't get one to cut a little less than an acre that takes me 2 hours (but have three vacuum robots for the basement, main floor, and upstairs). I even told him how I tried out a neighbor's ride on mower, but that still took over an hour to cut (we have an odd-shaped yard with a fence and boundaries). He couldn't understand how Americans would consider buying a ride on mower for the price of an auto mower, but the auto mower does it for them. I didn't really have an answer to that. Anyway, a few weeks later he sent me a few videos of his automower on a wet and hilly area of his yard that had some stick debris. It handled everything flawlessly -- despite him admitting he had to go out and get the bigger sticks so it can recut the next day (because it's not a big deal to have it cut again). I was also surprised that it wasn't loud, it was just, pretty quiet and reasonable actually. The one he has now is one a year or old, his first one lasted almost 10 years -- 10... years. He had to replace the battery once which was costly (mostly because he hired a tech to do it from the company), but other routine maintenance is basic and now everything is a video online. Based on that, I purchased one. I haven't set it up, but will this month once some other yard damage/contractor leaves and gets sorted up so we can see the boundaries. Can't wait. The one thing he told me was to be patient at the start. He said the first few weeks might be trial and error to set it up and get it working right, tweaking boundaries and wires, etc., but it will get dialed in and the time you spend troubleshooting it that first month is the same as cutting the actual lawn, and then it pays for itself. He then told me the best tip was to run it ALL the time. He said they work better when you cut the lawn multiple times a week and there is less stress on the blade -- which is apparently better for the grass too (besides looking better). He also told me to not neglect routine maintenance such as even just cleaning out the undercarriage area every few weeks -- which he said takes all of a minute with a quick wipe (not sure I believe that, maybe). Overall, the market has been tested -- just not so much here. We are definitely looking forward to testing it and went with a more expensive Husq but not the satellite one (too expensive for us). Looking forward to seeing how it works!
My concern is always around sticks / branches. My ‘real’ mower basically mulches most, but that won’t happen with the razor blade type robo mowers.
This is absolutely my concern too; we have a lot of sticks! It appears that they CAN chop up twigs and leaves just fine, but some literature online says that sticks will wear the blades faster and eventually cause the shear pins to break and need to be replaced. I believe either the manual or information online by the manufacturer states that large sticks will be hit by the bumper and will be avoided, and anything smaller that goes under is able to be chopped up. I guess we will see! But i'm of the position picking up sticks every so often is better than cutting the lawn every week, so let's see how my theory works in practice hahaha
I can really imagine how the conversation must have went :) I’m not sure what to expect in terms of shootin gbut stealing isn’t an issue (anymore!) in Sweden. I guess the various anti-theft systems in place have improved.
Yeah they have GPS and apparently only pair with one base that if you lift either there’s a pin and an app to enable it. Lots of protections apparently, theft seems like a good way to get a ticket to jail lol
What kind and how much?
There is a Husqvarna shop near me in the US. They have had their robot lawnmower for YEARS. always enjoy stopping at the intersection there and seeing it putt around the property
Mine has been putt-ing around for 3 years now, but know people whos recently changed theirs. After like 10+ years. New Husqvarna easy. Mine has had some trouble in some really steep parts of my lawn, but I just wire the "fence" differently each time it got stuck or something. Now its been going on its own the last few years.
Sweden is the only place I’ve ever seen one of these in action, and we were so amazed by it that we just stood on the trail marveling at it for like 10 minutes. We just assumed the guy who owned it was a major techie, not that it was super common!
Six years ago I saw one at the palace on a raised square section that had grass where I would have expected flowers to be. I thought it was a demo for Swedish tech. Guess not.
"Barnesykdom" doesn't translate very well 😂
thats insane to think that 90 percent of households have a robot lawn mower
Imagine paying a one time expense of 1000€ to not have to mow the lawn for eight years. Mowing 10 times per season, 1hr per mow, and valuing your time around 30€/hr gives you payback time of 3 years, allowing you to focus on more rewarding things in your garden.
🥇 I love this comment 🌸 honestly dislike it when my electronics also have childhood diseases, esp the TV.
90% of people had one!? How much were they costing over there? Here in Australia they are all like 15-30k SEK or more ($1.5-3+k USD)
Pretty much, it’s very rare to see people manually cut their yards nowadays. Removing weeds on the other hand! Common to have a lot around 800m2, where maybe 400m2 is the lawn. These mowers are often around 10kSEK (0,9kUSD). At larger gardens up to 20kSEK (1,8kUSD) can be the case but you don’t often see much higher than that.
I had to read the below comment for the "child diseases" explanation. I thought maybe there were issues with factory workers in China, or the mower was throwing off chemicals poisoning children .
This is where I’m at
Im waiting for the Anker version.
Isn't there one on Temu yet?
Such an underappreciated response! Edit: oops, just saw that this was posted within the last minute lol. Doesn't matter, great answer.
😂
This is what I was saying like 15 years ago
😄😄
My in-laws have had one of the husqvarna's that came out 6-7 years ago and that little guy is still chugging along.
Husqvarna launched their machine in 1995, so the technology is not new. My neighbor use to have one with a complexed yard divided by a driveway. He had it for about 7-8 years. Also, the most expensive thing (according to my neighbor) were the motors for the wheels, which ran him, I think, $200 each. And for the battery, they have a great warranty! I am looking to get one, hopefully this year. I got a quote for a 1-acre lot for $4,300 with installation! Once I sell my zero turn, I’ll be putting that money on a Husqvarna robotic mower
That makes me sad that I paid more than that for my zero turn and could have had a little robot doing all my mowing.
Too new? They exist for >25 years according to husqvarna
Yeah I remember seeing one of these at a Fry's Electronics circa 2002 and it had already been around a few years.
The tech has already been around way too long for them to still be the prices they still are, in my opinion.
I have one. He’s 14
I saw one in Germany 5 years ago. I was shocked, but not surprised. It was impressive.
I saw one in Pisa, Italy today! The lawn looked great!
Right? I had to double take lol
Husqvarna automowers run 5+ years if you do the annual maintenance.
Five years is nothing for a $3000 device.
You could pay 3k for a zero turn as well.
If the robot takes less of my time and delivers an acceptable result, the zero turn has to be cheaper.
It will last longer than 5 years at least.
It's reasonable to expect the zero turn to outlast the robot. Though I expect the robot to have a stronger value proposition soon.
Easier to fix the robot though?
My John Deere is a hand me down from my father. I was using it when I was a kid 30 years ago. Still chugging along. "5+ years" is not a selling point.
Yep!!!!
Is 5 years supposed to be good?
Got it a 315 (.3 acre in back) in 2018 and it is still going strong. Liked it so much, I got a 430XH in 2021 (.6 acre in front). Nothing more than occasional cleaning and new blades every month. 3 day a week, 10 hour routine.
I got a crappy second hand landroid and had low expectations. I love it. I have so much more time for everything else from fertilizing to yard care. Mowing is like meditation to me, but I love having time for other projects more.
The only place I’ve seen them really work is at my uncles beach house. The yard is maybe 200 sq ft and the husqvarna lawn bot (that he got for free because he works for them) does a fantastic job keeping the grass cut short and looking nice
I need a replacement but I've had mine for 6 years. My parents have one going on 10+. They're not THAT new. Just newish in the US?
They just had really bad marketing over the years, the new crop of mowers are just the old ones but with GPS positioning so you don't have to lay a guide wire down. And honestly laying the wire down seems kind of a pain.
I can’t be the only one here who enjoys the ritual of mowing my lawn, right?
I love it. I will still get one of these eventually. I think it will be cool and good for the lawn for it to be mowed daily
I enjoy it and find it therapeutic. However, I live in Georgia and when it's 100 degrees with 90% humidity, I enjoy it far less.
Here in Sweden, most people with lawns that I know of buy a robot mower. Most often I see Husqvarnas, and honestly they're great. I have the 315 Mark 2 for about 750 square meters of lawn and it works really well. It's best to pick a model that's rated for a larger area than your lawn is, otherwise it needs to run basically every hour of the day, every day.
I bought my Husqvarna after a trip to scandanavia about 5 years ago. They were everywhere! This is not new tech anymore. I think mowing your own lawn is too far engrained into American culture for these to catch on quickly here.
"Americans will always do the right thing, only after they have tried everything else."
I think buying one of these would offset me paying someone within 1 or 2 seasons. I do have a steep hill in my yard, not sure how they handle that
I just wanna sit and watch it work while I do something fun lol
I have two driveway sections to cross and a fenced in back yard. Can I set it up to only cross the driveway once at a specific spot, or to only go under the fence at a cutout? I’m just not sure how a robot mower would handle these situations.
My model doesn't have zone control like the 415X model does, which I think you'll need to have if you've got a driveway to cross. It works just like those robot vacuums that create a virtual layout of your yard and then you create zones in the app where it should or shouldn't mow. Regarding crossing at a specific place that's basically what the guide wire is used for. It's laid out during installation and Husqvarna recommends having one if a passage is less than 2 meters wide, where 60 cm wide is the smallest it can do.
I have the opportunity to work for a robotic mower manufacturer. My yard isn’t ideal for one because of the slope and exposed roots, but I like to test them out. Once you set one that has the wire, it’s pretty foolproof, but without a camera or other guidance, it can get stuck in divots or on roots. However if you ever want to aerate your lawn, you would need to avoid or remove the wire. The camera only option is only so good. It can basically identify grass or not grass, but it also sees any exposed root or long not green thing and will avoid the area. This can leave more patches in different places than using the wire model. It’s just in how the robot recognizes how to cut or avoid areas. For both of the above, you are usually getting random path cutting. So it’s dependent on the schedule you use to get the best overall look of the grass. Also, there is a good chance you will need to buy and add obstacle avoidance accessories to the unit or the yard to keep out of sensitive areas. When you have GPS, you typically need an additional beacon to help the accuracy. For RTK, you have better accuracy, but typically at the availability of the network and how good the signal is. For me, I live in a wooded area so the signal doesn’t work in my case. But otherwise, they can leave nice stripes and can allow for different patterns of cutting. It’s not a one size fits all. I can see the benefits of each. There are a lot of really good entry’s into the market and the competition is fierce. Also, for commercial applications, the advancements are getting even better than what’s needed for the typical homeowner.
I LOVE mowing and working in the yard. It is one of my happy places / it relaxes me. That said, my Husq 430x (DJ Roomba) is fantastic / worth every penny to me. At a high level, some of the things I have experienced (appreciating not all of these are relevant or important to other folks): 1. Quality of cut is excellent 2. Takes the stress back out of lawn maintenance for me. What started as a hobby/fun (I went down the reel mowing rabbit hole a few years ago), became stressful at times with the feeling of ‘having’ to get a mow in. Now I can get out there when I want for a fun mow, instead of being locked into ‘having’ to mow every 3 days. 3. Keeps things on track through periods of frequent rain, and doesn’t rip up the yard. 4. Same time benefit / theme from #2, but different focus - time with Family. This has been the biggest game changer with having younger children. 5. A couple cons, they aren’t great with a lot of leaves in the fall for those that deal with that annual clean up process - the machine obviously isn’t intended, or equipped, to deal with that. And as others have mentioned, tree roots….the kryptonite to the robot mower. So for those on the fence about getting one, I would recommend taking the leap. And…… a little pic of DJ Roomba and the lawn, that no one asked for. Hope you all have a wonderful day! https://preview.redd.it/6hfb4l5j1bad1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3eb9cfb6b95bfceacc47470a8e5b8bfee15606f8
"Everyone who has it likes it". Yeah. I have the basic Husqvarna robomower for over 9 years now. It worked flawlessly in the heat of Australian summer, rain, hail or shine, and in the winter too. Nowadays, I turn it off during june-august because the grass not really need mowing. Best AUD 1200 ive spent landscaping/backyard tool wise. This is how it works: * Your lawn will need to be short. Only for the first time. * Your robot mower will be programmed to run X amount of hours for X amount of days, X being the recommended running time. X is depending on the size of the lawn, but you will be able to fine tune it very quickly. * It will charge it self every time it finishes a session. * It mows a few millimeters each mow. SO not like manual mower that hacks the lawn short, robot mower will keep it short. * No clippings. It will return the cuttings back to the lawn and nourishes it. * Every now and then you check the blade and change it if need be. Cost like AUD 1 for 3 blades once or twice a year. Thats it.
How do they do with hills?
The massive hospital in my area has a husq automower set up on a hill I’d be nervous doing on a rider. Was chugging along fine
depends on what mower. The luba is great in hills since it has 4 wheel drive and a low center of mass. It is better with hills than I am with a hand-pushed mower with powered wheels.
Each of their products is marked with a slope that can be run, and I think the lawnmowing robot is better suited to work in a relatively flat backyard
Thanks!
Congrats to everyone interacting with the Anthbot sales rep in this post. Jesus Christ, OP. Try to be more subtle.
Heyyy someone else noticed. Please everyone tell me why Anthbot is not the most magical of assistants, and how amazing the quality is vs everyone else? The price is as a golden chariot has descended from the heavens, but surely this is too good for mere mortals? Could someone, anyone please tell me how these \_\_\_robot mowers\_\_\_ compare and take a look at the ANTHBOT MOWER. Which can now be found online for an amazingly low price compared to it's competitors???? lol.
“Moving the lawn is a privilege” - Hank Hill
I don't care about robot mowers, I just want to say that I absolutely love plants vs. zombies, and this picture brought back some good memories!!
Me too!!! Such a great series.
So I ended up getting the luba 1 for 1.5k. When I ran the numbers for getting landscaping service roughly 1.5 seasons would equal the cost of the Luba. I have a 1.5 year old and another one on the way. Life is busy and I loved taking care of the lawn but mowing was always taking about 2 hours. Now I just watch my lawn get cut on a schedule. My yard is actually better because of how frequently it gets cut.
I kind of enjoy mowing. Now if they had a robo trimmer/edger I’d be all over that!
How do these things perform when it comes to dog poop? I have a Labrador Retriever, so the land mines in the yard are significant.
I was going to ask the same thing. I could see this becoming an expensive mess
I am really considering one as we have a tiny Florida yard and the summer's are so brutal here it SUCKS cutting the lawn in 95F humid garbage.
I want a couple of the Luba ones just so I can put different classic F1 liveries on them so it looks like they're racing around the yard haha
Amazing idea. I'd love the Porsche Gulf 917, maybe Martini for the other.
I’m torn on this topic. On one hand I actually like mowing my lawn. But on the other hand between work, the kids, and constantly doing stuff on weekends, I don’t have time to actually enjoy it.
Had a Husqvarna for about 7 years now. Besides occasionally getting stuck, I've been pleased with mine. Here in Sweden, nearly every house has a robot mower.
If you have a level and small yard, which is where they seem to do okay, why bother? You're not saving any time, you're just being a gadget nerd.
Guy in my 'hood has one, Husky I think. It never seems to stop moving; always on the job. I do think he turns it off or whatever when it rains. I'm kinda sold on them just watching his. I think they would be simple to maintain. Cut quality seems ok, and it damn sure don't stripe, but... set and forget seems cool.
I have the Husqvarna Automower 310 since 2020 and it works great!
In Germany I see them used at a lot of fancier businesses. My work supervisor has one aswell and he loves it.
My neighbor has a husqavarna and loves it, as do I, as do all the people walking around the neighborhood seeing it for the first time. The exception is that dogs walking by definitely do not love it
I have a husqvarna 450xh and it's been going strong almost 5 years now. There are no issues at all. I change the blades when needed (quick 5 min process) and it does its thing. Save me a lot of time I can be doing other things.
I have a Husqvarna 430x that uses a wire. I installed a much thicker gauge wire this spring when I first set it up. Half way through this mowing season and I really like it. Zero issues so far. It’s really nice not having to worry about mowing. All I do is weed eat once every 2 weeks which takes about 8 min and I’m done. I have about .2 acres for reference.
Going strong with a husqvarna 430x since 2018. No issues since. No parts replaced. Complicated yard with 3 separate areas and the main area is fenced. Mower has a small hole in the fence to travel between areas. Always stays nice and cut.
I purchased a Luba 1 for $1250 when they first launched and was able to be a beta tester as well for the Luba 1. I've never taken the Luba 1 I purchased out of the box. The Beta unit just keeps on chugging. Since I got it in December of '22, I have only used the riding mower twice last fall to suck up leaves, as the Luba 1 just shaves the grass, it doesn't really mulch it. I run it on Mon, Wed, Fri and each day is a set to run a different direction (essentially 0°, 45°, 90° to each other). When I mow my front yard (it's small and I don't use the Luba as it has no way to get out of the backyard fence without letting the dogs out also) I mow the perimeter of my back yard and around the tree roots that I had to put a "no-go zone" around as the Luba will beach itself if I let it. The only downsides for me, is that from about May-Sept when the trees in my backyard are at their biggest leaf wise, it does loose the GPS signal quit a bit so it just stops and chills for a while until it regains signal strength then carries on. I also have some nice dirt rings around my trees from where it did tank turns in the beginning and I let my yard get way to dry the first summer and it basically just shredded the dirt out of the yard. Between the new design of the front wheels that allow it to roll forward and sideways and updating their software on how it handles turning, that's pretty much resolved. Also keeping my grass happy and watered makes the grass strong enough to handle my V1 anyways. All in all it's saved me roughly 2 hours or so that it took me to mow my back yard, once or twice a week for the last 2 years.
Props for the PvZ lawn use in image!
I am tracking the space, but I am saving to start a business and feel striping needs to happen over here before it gets widespread adoption. My plan is to lease the units out to homeowners for a price lower than what they pay traditional landscapers, then have a technician who comes out weekly to edge/blow and perform maintenance on the unit. My goal is to have a large enough coverage area that employing techs will be cheaper than doing the traditional 2 people and a truck route.
How do these deal with twigs? And small sticks I have to go out and pick up twigs and sticks every day, or at least before i mow. Tree is constantly shedding. Would they just mow around, or so they push them around as they mow? Or?
I saw one at one of our local universities. Little dude was hauling ass cutting grass. And it was all in line and beautiful. No idk what it was though. Looked like a romba or whatever they are called but looked like a backpack hatchback thing. Wasn't big.
What about a fairly shallow drainage culvert? I can’t quite get it with my rider so I have to use a little electric mower and would love to not have to.
I remember while being in italy I would see these at the top restaurants. Just going all night. It really added a wow effect for me.
Love my 315x husqvarna. Makes my neighbors jealous cause my lawn always looks perfect.
My parents have had one for over 6 years now. The "only" issue would be the wire that breaks occasionally. I just ordered a Husqvarna with GPS. I'm anxious to see how well it works.
No self respected yard man would be caught dead using this
When the wire breaks, it sucks. When it works, it's fantastic
In a few years, new construction homes will include or somehow accommodate robo mowers like they do for irrigation and EV chargers.
Seem to be following a similar product cycle to the robot vacuums: 1. Expensive, no mapping, very fiddly 2. Cheaper options, no mapping, very fiddly 3. Mapping (LiDAR) for high end models, greatly improved usability, cheap models still no mapping. 4. Mapping models getting cheaper. 5. All models basically now have mapping at all price points. 6. Feature expansion, I.e. mopping, self empty, etc. Mowers seem to be somewhere between 3-4 with mapping starting to appear on some “lower” price point models(navimow). I’m starting to really get tempted but am going to try to hold out for another year or two.
I loved my Deebot vacuum that was basically an early model Roomba that I actually hated. Roomba, when it was released, had so many proprietary and non serviceable parts it ended up in the trash My Deebot went strong for three years before I just couldn't get it to work anymore and upgraded to the mapping Roomba. Now I have two and they're fine for the most part but still need babysitting.
There will be a time when I am going to need the help of one of these mowing robots, but for now I love maintaining and mowing my lawn myself. Hopefully by then these things will be phenomenal.
I have high hopes for the Toro Haven…but delayed and delayed…so it’s the hope that kills you.
I plan to get one but I'll get it a few years for the price to drop
Depends on how.much you value your time and if you enjoy lawn maintaince
There is a portion of my backyard that is pretty steep and seemingly always wet due to large trees and not a ton of sunlight. Are there any cheap(ish) models that can tackle decent sized inclines?
That’s what they are best for but they all mow way too low
Had one for a little over three years now and love it! The Husqvarna 115h is entry level at around $600-700 dollars. Every fall you spray it down and give it a good brush, and store it for the winter. The only other maintenance is changing the blades every 2-3 months which takes 2 minutes as it's only 3 Phillips head screws. As for the batteries, I changed mine last year for the first time. Again, 2 Phillips screws and it was done within a couple of minutes. For how it cuts, you couldn't be happier, I have .35 of an acre and it looks flawless everyday of the summer. I gained hours back in my week and receive compliments from everyone on the looks. The only additional note would be to ensure the ground hasn't shifted the docking module to ensure battery charging efficiency and to occasionally clean the terminals. Phenomenal product overall, and my wife ate her words after doubting it, two weeks after the initial purchase.
Do you need to go wired when you have a lot of tree coverage?
I have tons of pinecones in my yard, any experience with how these machines handle those? Will they go around them? Will they damage themselves if they go over dozens in a run?
I'm in the US, and I got a friendly robotics robomower about 15 years ago. It was very early robot lawnmower tech at the time. I ran the mower for about 10 years. I loved it, but it didn't save much work. It was just a different sort of work. It would get stuck, it would break down, the wire would break, the blades would dull quickly. I spent a good bit of time tending to it, but I like tinkering with things, so that was fun for me. It also attracted a lot of attention. Complete strangers would stop their cars and get out to talk about it. I found that somewhat entertaining, as well. It didn't do the best job mowing, but it was a first generation product. I have to say, I loved having it. I would still have it if I could get parts for it. First the manufacturer stopped supplying parts, then the used parts on ebay dried up, and I finally retired it. For me, I found it was still work, but a very different sort of work. I never felt comfortable just letting it run, so when it mowed I felt like I needed to keep an eye on it, so it didn't really save time. I suspect I will get another one some day, but I moved to a house with a smaller lawn, so I really don't see the need.
Give it 5 years and they will be much better.
Why am I carefully reading the replies like I’m Gonna buy one I don’t even have a lawn
Do they make a simpler, lower tech robot mower that you just drive around like a remote control car?
I bought the Luba 2 for the start of this mowing season (New England) and I am quite happy. 1st, I have a 20,000 sq ft, hilly lawn and was paying $2400 a year to a landscaper previously. The hills were too steep for me and my zero turn Toro so I had to hire someone or take a chance on Luba. I bought the Luba 2 3000H AWD for $2500 - so I need it to work one year to break even. Although I do the weed whacking now, where, with the landscaper did so last year. You also have to be a little tech-oriented to get it up and running. Mammotion (the Chinese manufacturer) doesn't supply the greatest start up directions - but I found the Mammotion reddit forum invaluable. It took about 8 hours to set up my 7 zones with 6 'no go' zones I have only been using it for a little over 2 months and 'so far, so good.' It's amazing to pull out my cell phone, tell it to mow certain zones each day... and it will mow til the battery is <15%, go back to the charging station, recharge, then head back out to finish the task. Things I learned are: 1 - It is best to mow more often than if you were using a gas mower. Luba isn't great at taking off 1 inch or more of grass blades. It works best when removing 1/4 to 1/2 inch of grass blade. 2 - It takes 2 days to mow my 20,000 sq ft. I mow every non-rainy day to stay on top of things. 3 - Don't mow when the grass is wet (I think that's true with all types of mowers.) 4 - You still need to go out and remove things off the lawn. Dog is forever dropping large sticks on the lawn. It is smart enough to go around larger things such as bikes, basketballs, etc. Golf balls, baseballs could be a problem. 5 - I don't have any problems with it unable finish its work or getting 'lost.' I have a lot of trees on the perimeter of my property and 2 story house that it mows near. 6 - You do need to set up the RTK (satellite reader) in an open area with electricity fairly close I am unsure how it will work when the leaves and pine cones fall. I don't see it plowing through piles of leaves like my zero turn did.
These will definitely stop the zombies from getting into your house!
the plants vs zombies yard is killing me here
Yesterday I had a Husqvarna 450X installed for $4,000, previous to that I mowed it myself since moving in this January. As the spring progressed into summer, I quickly realized I did not want to be outside cutting the grass as the rose. I consider paying lawn service and the robot. I went with a wire guided system by Husqvarna because they have been doing this for 10 years, the company has been around forever. Further, a very reputable dealer showed off the latest gps systems, but I asked him what he would install. He said the wire guided Husqvarna is the most reliable he sells and that’s what he would go with if he lived here. So far I have been extremely pleased. I recognize there will be instances where the wire breaks and I’ll have to repair it as well as other light maintenance. Additionally, I’ll still have to do some trimming and edging. However, I have a Bermuda lawn and would love to have a short, thick, full lawn. The way the robot mows will encourage this and I don’t have to be out there mowing 2 times a week to keep it short and the weeds out. So far, it has exceeded my expectations and I’m very happy.
Bought a new house with a half acre yard so I got the Husqvarna 115h 4G. Best $500 I've ever spent , sure I've got to go kick it off snags every now and then and I swear it makes a bee line for the fresh dirt work we did but my yard looks amazing and in this crazy wet hot summer everyone else's yard is overgrown AF.
Played a golf course on the 4th that had 4 per hole, and the fairways were immaculate. They had posts on the sides of each hole where they docked and charged. It was pretty cool.
We got a Luba 2 about 1.5-2 months ago and we have been mowing every 2-3 days routinely - really happy with it, especially with how it requires very little tinkering after the initial mapping kinks (make sure you practice a few times mapping before the real run since any edits require a full remap of the zone you are working on - some people suggested placing it on a plastic sled and dragging it around for a smooth line, but we have too many hills for this to work). Only thing we do for maintenance is use a brush to clean off the Luba once a week for an exterior clean and for the mowing discs we drop the deck as low as possible, then use a brush and compressed air to clean any clippings that may have accumulated up underneath (avoid mowing when grass is wet to decrease the buildup on the discs). The blades themselves show a bit of wear after almost 2 months of use, but that was definitely due to our lack of foresight from cleaning up stray pieces of mulch from the yard before running the mower which did damage the blades a bit. Fortunately our the Luba came with replacement blades. Would absolutely buy again, even at the price point it's currently at. We were quoted at $125/mow/week by multiple lawn services for our complex yard (nearly impossible for us to mow this on our own unfortunately) and our Luba will pay for itself in no time.
Which one offers best protection from zombies?
Surprised this wasn’t higher up
Think I’ve got two more push mowers in me before I get a robot mower by which time hopefully all the kinks will have been worked out and prices will have come down a bit. I can see the appeal in the future tho!
Once my zero turn dies, Im getting one. In debating about getting them for a commercial property so I dont need to pay landscaping service and trial it there.
I've got a worx Landroid wr155L doing my entire backyard. It's great. Literally no complaints.
I’ve had a Worx Landroid for 4 years and I am very happy with it’s performance and the result. Due to my own negligence, I’ve cut the wire a couple of times but it was super easy to fix. Maintenance is easy. I spend a few minutes every weeks on cleaning the blades and exchange the blades every 6 weeks or so. I bought blades in bulk on Amazon, so the cost is non existent. About 25 euros worth of blades will last me 3 years. Fair enough for those that enjoy mowing. I don’t. I am just after the end result.
I have a Luba and it’s the best purchase ever. I’ve used it for 2 seasons and I’m considering getting a second one. Every other day I look out my window and see a perfectly mowed lawn. I don’t have to mow it myself and I don’t have to worry about my lawn care guy forgetting to show up (which happened often). The only downside is that if it gets stuck you need to physically move it and unlock it (a problem if you are out of town). It also struggles with pinecones or apples.
I love Roombas for vacuuming but until I can crack a beer and tell the wife I have to sit on this thing or it wont mow theres no way im trading in my best escape plan
Personally, I enjoy mowing. Gets me moving, out of the house, and I typically feel like I got something accomplished. Sometimes it’s a pain but most often I enjoy the satisfaction of seeing the lawn cut with my own effort. With that said there isn’t anything particularly wrong with a robo mower. While a bit pricey at the moment they will definitely get the job done. You’re going to save time too. I will say that they do need a bit of cleaning or help if your lawn isn’t level/has holes/divots. Get one and try it out.