My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

searay

I have 2 separate lawns and planned a path across the driveway for the mower where it is out of the way for cars. The driveway was cut with a consaw for the guide wires. In my case I had ramps for the ride-on, but you could also like kerbs flat to accommodate the mower.

YouTube has lots of demo videos to get an understanding of how they work.

KCross

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Has anyone multiple lawn with these, i've two at the front and one at the back, one of them has a kerb it would need to drive up on to start cutting, the other two are linked but it would need to drive through a gate.
There's a good bit of grass between the 3 of them, also wondering what way it's going to dump it all.
Thinking of ditching the ride on..

None of the robot mowers have the ability to negotiate steps. You have to give it a smooth path to every location. Hills are fine, but not steps. If you can't connect all 3 lawns then you are out of luck really.

You can pick & drop the mower between the lawns but thats not worth the effort.

searay wrote: »

On the insurance, I just called my insurer to put t on cover as a high value item in place of the old ride-on.

Did they accept it on your policy or are you waiting for a call back?

If they accepted it, did you explain it would be loose on the lawn and not secured?

You need to tell them that its not secured otherwise they wont cover it when the day comes to claim.

Usually listing high value items (mainly jewellery) are allowed because they are either on you or inside the house which is secure, as is a ride-on in a shed/garage.

Listing something that is effectively sitting "loose on your lawn" isn't secure so I suspect they will balk as soon as you explain the situation.

If they don't balk please let us know which insurer that was!?

jod1983

Hi all,
Anyone thinking of putting their mower out yet? My lawn is soaking wet but has grown tall in the last week or so.

Shefwedfan

jod1983 wrote: »

Hi all,
Anyone thinking of putting their mower out yet? My lawn is soaking wet but has grown tall in the last week or so.

I noticed mine is growing alright but far too wet yet.....

Supposed to get cold later this week is it not so that will slow it down

muckyba

Hi all,

Sorry I'm so late to the game here.

I am going to buy a husky automower, however, I'm in 2 minds as to which one to get, its between the 420 and the 315x. My lawn is about 500sq metres, flat and is shaped like a U around my house, with the charging station to be placed at the bottom of the U, with each side channel of the U being about 4 to 5 metres wide and 22 metres long.
The reason I am considering the 420 is that it has the option of 2 guide wires, whereas the 315x only offers 1 guide wire as far as I know.
The features on the 315x seem more advanced, however, I am worried about the lack of an extra guide wire. Will the GPS on the 315x help it find the 1 guide wire and take it back to the charging station?

Does anyone have any insights or recommendations etc? Thanks

RocoH

muckyba wrote: »

Hi all,

Sorry I'm so late to the game here.

I am going to buy a husky automower, however, I'm in 2 minds as to which one to get, its between the 420 and the 315x. My lawn is about 500sq metres, flat and is shaped like a U around my house, with the charging station to be placed at the bottom of the U, with each side channel of the U being about 4 to 5 metres wide and 22 metres long.
The reason I am considering the 420 is that it has the option of 2 guide wires, whereas the 315x only offers 1 guide wire as far as I know.
The features on the 315x seem more advanced, however, I am worried about the lack of an extra guide wire. Will the GPS on the 315x help it find the 1 guide wire and take it back to the charging station?

Does anyone have any insights or recommendations etc? Thanks

I was in same boat as you. Same shape garden, went up to higher spec to get two guidewires when smaller machine would have done for my size lawn. Really though you can tell it to follow perimeter wire back so this prob would have worked fine. Bought 430x, still have to lay the two guidewires, all done bar this. They should all be min two guide wire models imo.

muckyba

RocoH wrote: »

I was in same boat as you. Same shape garden, went up to higher spec to get two guidewires when smaller machine would have done for my size lawn. Really though you can tell it to follow perimeter wire back so this prob would have worked fine. Bought 430x, still have to lay the two guidewires, all done bar this. They should all be min two guide wire models imo.

Thanks RocoH.
Are you currently using the perimeter wire as the means of guiding the mower back to the base? Finding it hard to justify getting the 420 when the 315x may do the job and has better features as standard.

Also, does the GPS navigation in anyway help it to find it's way back to charging station?

mayoman1973

Shefwedfan wrote: »

jod1983 wrote: »

Hi all,
Anyone thinking of putting their mower out yet? My lawn is soaking wet but has grown tall in the last week or so.

I noticed mine is growing alright but far too wet yet.....

Supposed to get cold later this week is it not so that will slow it down

Put mine out?  lol,  havn't brought it in.  I just switched off the scheduler and around once or twice a week when I'm at home and the weather is suitable I send him out at max cutting height.  You can really tell the lawn is better for it as the parts which dont get cut are gone all scraggy and rough looking.  Paid enough for it so it can earn its corn.  Its just old school habits that people stop cutting their lawn in winter time.  Golf courses dont put their mowers away at the start of winter so why should we?  If your lawn is too wet ( As mine was 2 years ago, had reeds in it and the odd frog hopping about )  then get yourself 20 or 30 tonne of "grit" ( Similar to builders sand just more coarse, each granule maybe 2 or 3mm each. It is mainly used as a bedding for paving bricks )  So each week for about 3 mths I would spread nice thin layer of the grit over entire lawn so as to allow it to get worked into the topsoil.  Helps with drainage firstly but if you have kids then it means their shoes dont get mucky and thirdly it is great for keeping moss away as it allows air get into the grass roots.  A run with a hollow core aerator is a also good to help get the grit down into the soil.

KCross

muckyba wrote: »

Hi all,

Sorry I'm so late to the game here.

I am going to buy a husky automower, however, I'm in 2 minds as to which one to get, its between the 420 and the 315x. My lawn is about 500sq metres, flat and is shaped like a U around my house, with the charging station to be placed at the bottom of the U, with each side channel of the U being about 4 to 5 metres wide and 22 metres long.
The reason I am considering the 420 is that it has the option of 2 guide wires, whereas the 315x only offers 1 guide wire as far as I know.
The features on the 315x seem more advanced, however, I am worried about the lack of an extra guide wire. Will the GPS on the 315x help it find the 1 guide wire and take it back to the charging station?

Does anyone have any insights or recommendations etc? Thanks

I think you are confusing what the guide wires and the GPS are for.

The guide wires are to get to places that the mower would not be able to find on its own. It seems to me that you dont need any guide wires as you say its an all in one lawn with two sides that are 5mtrs wide. 5mtrs wide is not "hard to find". The mower will find those sides on its own.

You can put in the guide wires and tell the mower to go down there but once it gets there it will start cutting in a random pattern and you'll notice that it could/will at times come out of the sides into the main area quite quickly.

Really the guide wires are to take the mower to somewhere that it would find almost impossible to get to itself.... down a narrow long passage, across a driveway, under a fence etc.


The GPS is NOT used for finding its way home. The GPS is used to ensure it covers all the lawn over a period of time... stops patching.

It goes through a few stages in order to find its way home and they are configurable

1) Move around randomly for a few mins to see if it can sense the base station signal. If it find the signal it just follows it home but it needs to be relatively close to the base station to pick that signal up.
2) Find a guide wire and follow that
3) Follow the perimeter wire until it gets to the base station

The guide wire will allow it find the base station quicker but its not an absolute necessity.

Once it gets within so many metres of the base station it then uses the base station signal to dock.

muckyba

Thanks KCross, much appreciated for that explanation, it was very helpful. The information provided by Husqvarna is confusing regarding the GPS as they outlined that "An onboard GPS system creates a map of the garden, including where the boundary and guide wires are installed". This is why I thought the GPS may be able to track down where the guide wire is to lead it home.

If all else fails it will follow the boundary wire back anyway so I think it should be ok with the 315x?

KCross

muckyba wrote: »

Thanks KCross, much appreciated for that explanation, it was very helpful. The information provided by Husqvarna is confusing regarding the GPS as they outlined that "An onboard GPS system creates a map of the garden, including where the boundary and guide wires are installed". This is why I thought the GPS may be able to track down where the guide wire is to lead it home.

If all else fails it will follow the boundary wire back anyway so I think it should be ok with the 315x?

Thats interesting.

Its possible they have updated the software to now use the GPS to find the guide wires. It wasn't like that when I bought mine but they do provide software updates every year so maybe it is now added.

In any case mine finds the guide wires within 2-3 mins so the GPS isnt required for it. Its main function is to ensure all the lawn is cut.

KCross

muckyba wrote: »

...so I think it should be ok with the 315x?

Whats the price difference?

Zzippy

They do update the software - I've just got mine back from a service and the dealer said they had upgraded the software. Hasn't been out yet so I can't tell if it's quicker to find the guide wire or get home.

The dealer also told me Husky have a prototype drone automower they're working on for owners with separate lawns - it will take off and fly to the other lawn so no need for a path or wires across a driveway etc!

muckyba

KCross wrote: »

muckyba wrote: »

...so I think it should be ok with the 315x?

Whats the price difference?

Theres €100 in the difference, I think its worth it considering the additional features you get and the GPS tracking aspect also if stolen.

KCross

muckyba wrote: »

Theres €100 in the difference, I think its worth it considering the additional features you get and the GPS tracking aspect also if stolen.

Yea, I'd go with the 315 in your case. Its only €100 extra and it has the GPS theft feature so for that alone its €100 well spent. The remote connect thing should be useful too.

The main advantage of the 420 is the extra cutting capacity (2200m2 vs 1600m2). That doesnt matter to you when you only have 500m2.

Water John

Zzippy, that sounds like a storyboard for a bad horror film. Being attacked by flying lawnmowers.
I have the project that awaits it.

Zzippy

Water John wrote: »

Zzippy, that sounds like a storyboard for a bad horror film. Being attacked by flying lawnmowers.
I have the project that awaits it.

Yeah, we were laughing at that possibility alright, but apparently the blades would automatically switch off in flight - at least I'd hope so!

muckyba

KCross wrote: »

Yea, I'd go with the 315 in your case. Its only €100 extra and it has the GPS theft feature so for that alone its €100 well spent. The remote connect thing should be useful too.

The main advantage of the 420 is the extra cutting capacity (2200m2 vs 1600m2). That doesnt matter to you when you only have 500m2.

So, I have 2 neighbours now interested in automowers as well also. What level of discount would be reasonable to expect on 3 automowers that retail at 2350 a piece? Its would really be an all on deal, 3 mower clean deal.

Thoughts?

Water John

Any chance of free, subsidised installation, would be my focus. Means they don't have to drop the product price.

jod1983

Well, put my mower out today for a little trimming (badly needed). Was a little surprised by a few things.
The mower didnt even try to tackle high grass, have seen youtube clips of them doing higher than mine.
But an unexpectant thing was getting a message from the automower connect telling me that i had a 'cutting system blocked' alarm!!
I checked the mower and found the blades spinning as normal. I put the mower working again and it reversed, turned and reversed again and gave me the same error.
Anyone else experience this??

Zzippy

jod1983 wrote: »

Well, put my mower out today for a little trimming (badly needed). Was a little surprised by a few things.
The mower didnt even try to tackle high grass, have seen youtube clips of them doing higher than mine.
But an unexpectant thing was getting a message from the automower connect telling me that i had a 'cutting system blocked' alarm!!
I checked the mower and found the blades spinning as normal. I put the mower working again and it reversed, turned and reversed again and gave me the same error.
Anyone else experience this??

Can't say I have. Try turning it off and on again with the switch underneath? Have you taken the panel covering the blades off to see if anything is stuck in there? Mine has tackled fairly high grass without problem. When you say it didn't even try to tackle it, do you mean it hit the high grass and stopped, or just didn't cut it well. Sometimes if grass is high the front of the automower can flatten it down so the blades don't cut it.

septicsac

Ride-in mower on its last legs and thinking of investing in one of the husky robotic mowers, probably 450X, as three lawns coming to near 1 acre of grass. They tick all the boxes, as far as I am concerned, except 1, the insurance box.
Contacted my insurance company and they say they cannot insure one, as they are not locked in at night!
Has anyone found cover for these under their home insurance and if so what companies are providing cover?
Any info much appreciated.

kittytwister

I have the 450 and it’s excellent. The lawnmower is useless to a theif as once they take it off your property you will know and be able to locate where it is via app.

septicsac

kittytwister wrote: »

I have the 450 and it’s excellent. The lawnmower is useless to a theif as once they take it off your property you will know and be able to locate where it is via app.

I know it has a tracker, but if anyone thinks criminals cannot disable these then they are mistaken. I know they will also be useless without the base, but if stolen and not found, destroyed or taken out of the country then owner is out a lot if money.
Much as I want one, it will have to be insured.

KCross

Insurance has been discussed a few pages back. Can’t be insured, AFAIK, if it’s not secured... which is what I was told, the same as yourself.

jod1983

Zzippy wrote: »

Can't say I have. Try turning it off and on again with the switch underneath? Have you taken the panel covering the blades off to see if anything is stuck in there? Mine has tackled fairly high grass without problem. When you say it didn't even try to tackle it, do you mean it hit the high grass and stopped, or just didn't cut it well. Sometimes if grass is high the front of the automower can flatten it down so the blades don't cut it.

When i powered it down and back up again it did clear the fault. But what it did next was strange, it reversed about a metre (like it was coming back out of the base), turned, went forward, then reversed again and then gave the same alarm!! This was it second run, the first was ok.
When it met high grass, it would drive into it a little, then reverse away from it.

KCross

jod1983 wrote: »

When it met high grass, it would drive into it a little, then reverse away from it.

This is normal if the grass is very high and beyond its abilities. Presumably on the lower sections it is cutting fine?

When the blades hit the high grass it slows the blades down too much and so it reverses away.

The grass must be quite high or you dont have it set to the highest height. How high is the grass?

Mad Benny

I'm interested in buying the 450. Can anyone recommend a seller and any similar models or brands?

jod1983

KCross wrote: »

This is normal if the grass is very high and beyond its abilities. Presumably on the lower sections it is cutting fine?

When the blades hit the high grass it slows the blades down too much and so it reverses away.

The grass must be quite high or you dont have it set to the highest height. How high is the grass?

Grass is quite high in place, think i might get the strimmers to those areas!!!

KCross

Mad Benny wrote: »

I'm interested in buying the 450. Can anyone recommend a seller and any similar models or brands?

Depends on what size area you are cutting. There are plenty other robotic mowers but some dont cut large lawns so you need to research based on your requirements.

Also watch out for the number of guide wires it has. Depending on your lawn you probably need a guide wire, if not 2, based on the fact you are looking at a 450.


These seem quite good but not as big a dealer network if you have issues:
https://www.robomow.com/en-IR/


If you're buying a Husqvarna there are plenty dealers, just look at their website to find the one nearest you.