My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

SchrodingersCat · 08-01-2019 5:13pm

jod1983 wrote: »

Hi all,
Have had my 315 out now for a week and today it has come up with an alarm that wont clear, 'collision alert'. The mower had run up against the charger base but wouldnt work after. If i press start i get notified of the collision alert but if i put it back in the base and let it run from there it will reverse, turn around quite roughly and then stop with the same alert.

Any ideas?

If its like my Flymo, the whole shell of the mower is used like a bumper. The mower has sensors that detect when the shell presses against the main chassis. If the shell is staying continously pressed against the main chassis, it will think that there is a collision with an object, even with no object being there there.

So it could be some foreign object stuck between the shell and the chassis, or a dodgy sensor, or that the shell has dislodged itself from the main chassis.

I would flip it over and have a look for anything stuck, and check that the shell is symmetrically aligned with the main chassis.

Moreilly · 08-01-2019 6:16pm

deccydohc wrote: »

There are cheaper options than that in Ireland.

I got a quote cheaper here -- https://robertkee.ie/product/husqvarna-automower-430x - They offer free delivery too.

Aghhh ! the price went up!, the newer version of the 430x from sweden was showing up as around 2200 before

deccydohc · 08-01-2019 6:20pm

Moreilly wrote: »

Aghhh ! the price went up!, the newer version of the 430x from sweden was showing up as around 2200 before

Ouch!

Still beats the price of myrobotcenter.eu are charging though!

Moreilly · 08-01-2019 6:33pm

deccydohc wrote: »

Ouch!

Still beats the price of myrobotcenter.eu are charging though!

Thats one of the websites i was looking at last year as well, it was around 2200 euro there, all out of stock at the moment though, now about 1k extra..., i wonder will the drop the price back when the get stock?...
I have a feeling the are charging a serious premium for these things, there's very little to them and most of the tech in them is fairly cheap and not that new

staples7 · 09-01-2019 12:13pm

I chatted with the Gplshop in sweden and they said the price has gone up as they have sold their stocks of 430X. They gave the impression that come spring time they may have the offers back up (I think it was -19% on that model). Fingers crossed as I need to pick one up by then and don't fancy paying an irish dealer an extra 700 quid for same model!

deccydohc · 09-01-2019 12:25pm

staples7 wrote: »

I chatted with the Gplshop in sweden and they said the price has gone up as they have sold their stocks of 430X. They gave the impression that come spring time they may have the offers back up (I think it was -19% on that model). Fingers crossed as I need to pick one up by then and don't fancy paying an irish dealer an extra 700 quid for same model!

I would say that price was a sale price to clear their 2017 stock. Robertkee are still offering it cheaper than their price atm!

staples7 · 09-01-2019 12:27pm

deccydohc wrote: »

I would say that price was a sale price to clear their 2017 stock. Robertkee are still offering it cheaper than their price atm!

I don't think so as it was the 430x (2018 model). I think its just their 'off-season' so stocks are low in general

Do you know how much rob ertkee are offering the same model? Cannot see prices on their site?

deccydohc · 09-01-2019 12:43pm

staples7 wrote: »

I don't think so as it was the 430x (2018 model). I think its just their 'off-season' so stocks are low in general

Do you know how much rob ertkee are offering the same model? Cannot see prices on their site?

I got quoted €2,750, cheapest I can find in Ireland

Moreilly · 09-01-2019 5:00pm

staples7 wrote: »

I chatted with the Gplshop in sweden and they said the price has gone up as they have sold their stocks of 430X. They gave the impression that come spring time they may have the offers back up (I think it was -19% on that model). Fingers crossed as I need to pick one up by then and don't fancy paying an irish dealer an extra 700 quid for same model!

i emailed some shops which still have the 430x model for around 2300 euro, but nobody ships to ireland so far

i.e. https://www.hylte-lantman.com/tradgard-grasklippare/grasklippare/robotgrasklippare/husqvarna-automower-430x

searay · 09-01-2019 9:05pm

My experience of owning a 450X

I bought because my ride-on was on it's last legs. Probably spent an extra €1,000 v buying another ride-on.

I shopped around in Ireland and bought from a Husquvarna dealer on the basis of the best price for supply and installing it. The dealers installed the machine using a wire burying machine which took much less time than it would have taken me. I also think I'd have ran into problems doing it myself.

From that day I had 3 issues with the machine:

1 They made a mistake in the wiring around a tree - they came back and fixed it foc.
2. There was a loose wire in the machine - He picked it up and fixed it, foc.
3. After 12 months in use, a rabbit damaged a guide wire and having spent about 8 hours trying to find the break, I called the dealer. 2 of them came out isolated the fault to a section, pulled up wires, found the break which they fixed and relaid the wires. Cost €150.

I reckon in the 18 months I've owned it, the machine

has saved me 90 hours of cutting time when the weather is at it's best to go and do what I want and about €400 between petrol, servicing and replacing belts
made the lawn looks far better all year round.
The garden itself looks much better because I can do jobs on it rather than spend time mowing it.

Personally, I value my time and I think they are a great buy. If you go down the road of buying one for an easier life and a time saving, it's worth buying locally to get it installed right and have somebody to fix any problems that arise.

septicsac · 09-01-2019 10:12pm

searay wrote: »

My experience of owning a 450X

I bought because my ride-on was on it's last legs. Probably spent an extra €1,000 v buying another ride-on.

I shopped around in Ireland and bought from a Husquvarna dealer on the basis of the best price for supply and installing it. The dealers installed the machine using a wire burying machine which took much less time than it would have taken me. I also think I'd have ran into problems doing it myself.

From that day I had 3 issues with the machine:

1 They made a mistake in the wiring around a tree - they came back and fixed it foc.
2. There was a loose wire in the machine - He picked it up and fixed it, foc.
3. After 12 months in use, a rabbit damaged a guide wire and having spent about 8 hours trying to find the break, I called the dealer. 2 of them came out isolated the fault to a section, pulled up wires, found the break which they fixed and relaid the wires. Cost €150.

I reckon in the 18 months I've owned it, the machine

has saved me 90 hours of cutting time when the weather is at it's best to go and do what I want and about €400 between petrol, servicing and replacing belts
made the lawn looks far better all year round.
The garden itself looks much better because I can do jobs on it rather than spend time mowing it.

Personally, I value my time and I think they are a great buy. If you go down the road of buying one for an easier life and a time saving, it's worth buying locally to get it installed right and have somebody to fix any problems that arise.

Exact same reasons I bought locally and not abroad, you may pay a little extra but you generally get it back in terms of service.

PS next time there is a break in the wire, grab yourself portable am radio, tune to no station, just white noise, it will buzz on wires with pulse and when it stops you have your break, better than tool Husqvarna supply the dealers with.

searay · 10-01-2019 7:45am

septicsac wrote: »

Exact same reasons I bought locally and not abroad, you may pay a little extra but you generally get it back in terms of service.

PS next time there is a break in the wire, grab yourself portable am radio, tune to no station, just white noise, it will buzz on wires with pulse and when it stops you have your break, better than tool Husqvarna supply the dealers with.

The radio approach didn’t work for me. Spent a lot of time crawling around the perimeter of the garden on my knees, listening to the white noise and digging up the wire when the sound varied. Nearly Drove me mad!

It transpired the break was in a loop around a tree which wasn’t visible or easily accessible due to low hanging branches. I was looking in the wrong area entirely.

From the experience, I know the wire is about six inches down around most of the perimeter and therefore unlikely to be damaged. It was very close to the surface where the break happened as a tree root was stopping them from burying it with the machine.

staples7 · 10-01-2019 9:24am

searay wrote: »

The radio approach didn’t work for me. Spent a lot of time crawling around the perimeter of the garden on my knees, listening to the white noise and digging up the wire when the sound varied. Nearly Drove me mad!

It transpired the break was in a loop around a tree which wasn’t visible or easily accessible due to low hanging branches. I was looking in the wrong area entirely.

From the experience, I know the wire is about six inches down around most of the perimeter and therefore unlikely to be damaged. It was very close to the surface where the break happened as a tree root was stopping them from burying it with the machine.

Completely understand the logic of buying locally for the after care. However when the difference of purchasing abroad and self installing is about 1k I'm more than willing to go with that. You still get your 2 year warranty & from what I see and hear the installation and setup is relatively straight forward if you like getting your hands dirty so to speak. Everyone is different

Zzippy · 10-01-2019 10:39am

I was very lucky in that we won our automower in the free trial a couple of years ago, and they set it up through the local dealer. Having seen the installation with the cable burying machine, I would definitely recommend going the local dealer route. We've had a couple of problems since (broken cable - my fault and a shorted out transformer) and having the local dealer available was a godsend. And having been skeptical at the outset, we wouldn't be without ours now.

Moreilly · 10-01-2019 7:57pm

Found quite a few websites in sweden and some in france which have the 430x around €2300, but nobody i found so far seems to deliver to Ireland. Anybody who ordered online, where did ye order from?

bauney · 10-01-2019 9:03pm

I bought a 2018 430x from gplshop last summer. Delivered to Ireland within week.no hassle. Installed it myself and running without hitch since.
Indoors for past couple months but the grass is still growing so it might have to resurrect again soon before it's too long.

Moreilly · 10-01-2019 9:53pm

bauney wrote: »

I bought a 2018 430x from gplshop last summer. Delivered to Ireland within week.no hassle. Installed it myself and running without hitch since.
Indoors for past couple months but the grass is still growing so it might have to resurrect again soon before it's too long.

€2820 euro there now though

, hate the thoughts of throwing away 5/600 euro when other countrys are selling them for a lot less eg .. https://www.roboexpert.fr/husqvarna/husqvarna-automower-430x-mod-le-2018.html?utm_source=psm&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=idealo

staples7 · 10-01-2019 10:12pm

Moreilly wrote: »

€2820 euro there now though , hate the thoughts of throwing away 5/600 euro when other countrys are selling them for a lot less eg .. https://www.roboexpert.fr/husqvarna/husqvarna-automower-430x-mod-le-2018.html?utm_source=psm&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=idealo

Hang on until spring, GPL will have their discounts again. I’ve asked twice (they just couldn’t give me a date)

Roen · 12-01-2019 2:10pm

430X and requisite bits on the way.
Couple of dependencies before I install, like getting power to the shed, cable is laid half way, just need to dig it in the rest.

staples7 · 14-01-2019 8:47am

Roen wrote: »

430X and requisite bits on the way.
Couple of dependencies before I install, like getting power to the shed, cable is laid half way, just need to dig it in the rest.

Would be great to know how you get on...

Roen · 14-01-2019 9:40am

staples7 wrote: »

Would be great to know how you get on...

Cool. Will do. Could be a while yet but aim to have it up and running up end March latest.

KCross · 14-01-2019 12:11pm

Roen wrote: »

430X and requisite bits on the way.

Does it now come as standard with the mobile app communication?
Or is that still an optional paid extra?

I presume you have to buy a SIM card and keep it topped up then as well?

Anyone using that feature?

Frankirish · 14-01-2019 1:08pm

KCross wrote: »

Does it now come as standard with the mobile app communication?
Or is that still an optional paid extra?

I presume you have to buy a SIM card and keep it topped up then as well?

Anyone using that feature?

430X from 2018 on comes with the feature included, No need for sim card. The APP can be downloaded onto your android phone etc.

KCross · 14-01-2019 1:21pm

Frankirish wrote: »

430X from 2018 on comes with the feature included, No need for sim card. The APP can be downloaded onto your android phone etc.

ok, so its presumably connecting via bluetooth or Wifi. Which is it?

If its bluetooth I presume that means you need to be within a few feet of the unit?

I thought there was an optional accessory that allowed you to control it from basically anywhere in the world... i.e. tell it to cut or tell it to come in, change timers, track its location in case it got robbed.

Zzippy · 14-01-2019 2:41pm

Frankirish wrote: »

430X from 2018 on comes with the feature included, No need for sim card. The APP can be downloaded onto your android phone etc.

The SIM card goes in the module fitted in the automower. It needs this to use the phone network to communicate with the app on your phone.

KCross wrote: »

ok, so its presumably connecting via bluetooth or Wifi. Which is it?

If its bluetooth I presume that means you need to be within a few feet of the unit?

I thought there was an optional accessory that allowed you to control it from basically anywhere in the world... i.e. tell it to cut or tell it to come in, change timers, track its location in case it got robbed.

Yes. I got it installed last year. Can park/send out from anywhere once I have phone coverage. Get alerts when it's been stopped etc.

Frankirish · 14-01-2019 2:56pm

Frankirish wrote: »

430X from 2018 on comes with the feature included, No need for sim card. The APP can be downloaded onto your android phone etc.

It is already built in/supplied with the machine. You pair your phone and then you can control from anywhere in the world.

KCross · 14-01-2019 3:02pm

Zzippy wrote: »

The SIM card goes in the module fitted in the automower. It needs this to use the phone network to communicate with the app on your phone.

Yes. I got it installed last year. Can park/send out from anywhere once I have phone coverage. Get alerts when it's been stopped etc.

Frankirish wrote: »

It is already built in/supplied with the machine. You pair your phone and then you can control from anywhere in the world.

ok, I'm a bit confuused now.

Am I right in saying that it does have a SIM?
Is this standard now?
Is the mower supplied with a SIM or do you have to get it yourself?

Whats the story with keeping the SIM topped up or do Husqvarna take care of that?

Any charges for using the feature?

Zzippy · 14-01-2019 3:48pm

KCross wrote: »

ok, I'm a bit confuused now.

Am I right in saying that it does have a SIM?
Is this standard now?
Is the mower supplied with a SIM or do you have to get it yourself?

Whats the story with keeping the SIM topped up or do Husqvarna take care of that?

Any charges for using the feature?

AFAIK the SIM is valid for 3 years and included in the cost of the add-on, or presumably now included in the initial purchase price. There are no ongoing charges. I must ask the dealer what the story is after 3 years, I'm due to drop mine in for a service in the next month or so and will ask him then.

Roen · 14-01-2019 4:21pm

KCross wrote: »

Does it now come as standard with the mobile app communication?
Or is that still an optional paid extra?

I presume you have to buy a SIM card and keep it topped up then as well?

Anyone using that feature?

I bought the 2017 version, which has no app connectivity and bought the automow connect module separately. Still worked out cheaper than the '18 version.

Frankirish · 14-01-2019 4:23pm

Frankirish wrote: »

It is already built in/supplied with the machine. You pair your phone and then you can control from anywhere in the world.

I bought my 430X and had it installed this year - April. The dealer/installer spent 40 mins ploughing in my cable (3/4 acre site). He set up the docking station and the automower on charge. He then regisetered the automower to my site, set up my 4 digit password (needed when you stop or lift the mower). Set up the App on my phone, paried my phone and automower. Had a cup a tea and away within the hour. There was no mention of SIM cards or 3 years etc. I can control my Automower from anywhere in the world once I have a signal. This was handy when I was on holidays in France and I could check into see that my lawn was been cut:). That is as much as I know. Hopw it helps.

My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

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