My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Officer Giggles · 24-02-2019 11:25pm

Is it always necessary to install a guide wire. I've attached a picture of my place. I'm making a presumption (which is obviously the dangerous part) that my garden is straight forward. I'm of the opinion I can just install the boundary wire and the mower will just go out and do its thing. Am I right or way off?

listermint · 24-02-2019 11:26pm

Officer Giggles wrote: »

Is it always necessary to install a guide wire. I've attached a picture of my place. I'm making a presumption (which is obviously the dangerous part) that my garden is straight forward. I'm of the opinion I can just install the boundary wire and the mower will just go out and do its thing. Am I right or way off?

How would it find its way back to the charging station...

Officer Giggles · 24-02-2019 11:29pm

listermint wrote: »

How would it find its way back to the charging station...

The boundary wire?

Roen · 25-02-2019 12:45am

They employ various strategies to find the base station. One of which is to just follow the boundary. The others are guide wire and just straightforward pick up of the charging station.

Personally I'd install the guide wire running to the skinny section at top of photo. If you're only using boundary then it'll be driving the same channel a good few times a day. You'll wear a rut eventually.

How many guide wires does your model have?

Officer Giggles · 25-02-2019 11:19am

I have yet to purchase so still at the planning stage

Moreilly · 25-02-2019 11:30am

Officer Giggles wrote: »

I have yet to purchase so still at the planning stage

Same here, got the large installation kit from Amazon allready and hopefully getting the 430x in the next 2 weeks, if anybody spots a bargain POST IT UP !!

Shaunoc · 25-02-2019 11:38am

Moreilly wrote: »

Same here, got the large installation kit from Amazon allready and hopefully getting the 430x in the next 2 weeks, if anybody spots a bargain POST IT UP !!

i'm still buying extra pegs as i go along. planting trees as i go, constant change. never can have enough

KCross · 25-02-2019 11:54am

Officer Giggles wrote: »

Is it always necessary to install a guide wire. I've attached a picture of my place. I'm making a presumption (which is obviously the dangerous part) that my garden is straight forward. I'm of the opinion I can just install the boundary wire and the mower will just go out and do its thing. Am I right or way off?

In my opinion you dont need a guide wire. There are no narrow passages or hard to reach areas.

However, its not a big deal to put down the guide wire when you are already going to the effort of putting in the boundary wire and it will make it easier for the mower to find its way home.

To get home the Husqvarna (dont know about others) will go through 3 stages to find the docking station...

- random movement for X mins to see if it can find it by chance (i.e. get within 8m of the docking station by chance).
- search for guide wire for Y mins.
- follow boundary wire if all else fails

The docking station sends out a wireless signal that the mower can detect. Once the mower gets within range (8m) of that signal it can find its way to the docking station without any other aids.

TL;DR... put in a guide wire. You could always leave the guide wire out and see how it goes and put it in later. Its no extra work to do it after.

Shaunoc · 25-02-2019 4:14pm

Officer Giggles wrote: »

Is it always necessary to install a guide wire. I've attached a picture of my place. I'm making a presumption (which is obviously the dangerous part) that my garden is straight forward. I'm of the opinion I can just install the boundary wire and the mower will just go out and do its thing. Am I right or way off?

I have 3 sections of lawns, 2 on left of house and one on right.

Currently I have one guide wire going through the 2 sections on left of house as there is a 2 narrow passages and the farthest away area seems quite a bit away from docking station with some large trees to navigate.
Guide wire enables the mower to get to where I need it to and come back without fustering about.

The seemingly easier lawn on right of house, no guide wire yet, but it will take it sometimes 20 minutes to come home when called and it at times spends longer than it should in one section farthest away. I have a few more trees to plant there this week and will definitely run a guide wire to this area as the newly planted trees need islanding off. The cost is negligible as I have the wire bar spending 17 pounds on Amazon for 200 pegs and the time is my own.

jwhat · 26-02-2019 12:37pm

I've been reading this thread for the past few days trying to convince myself that it would suit me. I had the local Husqvarna Dealer over to the hours last week and he suggested i needed the 450X (as I thought i would) but it's gone up €500 quid since last year!
Installation cost is €500, he's going to put islands around the 25 or so trees that we have in the garden, I did say sure it'll be grand bumping off them but it said the islands would be better. Gives me a total cost of €4,600.

What do ye think cost wise? Garden is approx 3,600m2. in a U shape around the house, all connected.

Shaunoc · 26-02-2019 1:47pm

jwhat wrote: »

I've been reading this thread for the past few days trying to convince myself that it would suit me. I had the local Husqvarna Dealer over to the hours last week and he suggested i needed the 450X (as I thought i would) but it's gone up €500 quid since last year!
Installation cost is €500, he's going to put islands around the 25 or so trees that we have in the garden, I did say sure it'll be grand bumping off them but it said the islands would be better. Gives me a total cost of €4,600.

What do ye think cost wise? Garden is approx 3,600m2. in a U shape around the house, all connected.

last summer for the then 450x model, i pad approx 3,300 for the unit, charger and large install kit (not from Ireland). I needed an additional install kit and other accessories bringing purchase price to approx 3700.
since them i have spent another 150 ish in more guide wire, pegs, connectors i would say.

where i saved is on doing the install myself, but that comes with cost to my time.
if i was wealthy man i would have gotten a local dealer to look after it all

One year in, no issues so i have not crossed any warranty hurdles. Install was simple but took 1 day overall to get up and running.
i do strim edges/borders regularly as i do not want to spray off. So i did pick up a light elec battery de walt strimmer as another cost.

4600 to have someone do all with a local dealer, if i did not have the time and had a few bob, then I would go for it.

eyeball kid · 26-02-2019 2:31pm

Getting a quote of €3950 from a local dealer for the 430X including install. Garden size is approx 2000m2 with a perimeter of 370m.

Is that decent value or would i be better buying online and installing it myself?
If so, where is good to buy online at the moment?

Thanks.

Zzippy · 26-02-2019 9:30pm

You really don't need boundary wire islands around trees. The automower just bumps gently into them, reverses and heads off again. Zero damage to tree or mower.

Moreilly · 28-02-2019 9:56am

eyeball kid wrote: »

Getting a quote of €3950 from a local dealer for the 430X including install. Garden size is approx 2000m2 with a perimeter of 370m.

Is that decent value or would i be better buying online and installing it myself?
If so, where is good to buy online at the moment?

Thanks.

You should be able to get the 430x for under 2400 and the large installation kit for around 200, better off installing it yourself- probably take the guts of a day, very easy to do but just time consuming. And pay yourself 1350 euro for your day's work

staples7 · 28-02-2019 11:40am

Moreilly wrote: »

You should be able to get the 430x for under 2400 and the large installation kit for around 200, better off installing it yourself- probably take the guts of a day, very easy to do but just time consuming. And pay yourself 1350 euro for your day's work

That is easy money for the dealer! After looking at this entire thread (And others) the thing that puts me most at ease with doing a DIY install is the lack of warranty issues people seem to be having.

eyeball kid · 28-02-2019 12:31pm

Moreilly wrote: »

You should be able to get the 430x for under 2400 and the large installation kit for around 200, better off installing it yourself- probably take the guts of a day, very easy to do but just time consuming. And pay yourself 1350 euro for your day's work

I like your thinking!

just need to keep an eye on prices for the next while. Thanks.

KCross · 28-02-2019 6:28pm

No doubt it wont be cheap!
http://www.husqvarnagroup.com/en/automower-435x-awd

It can mange much steeper slopes and it has ultrasonic sensors to detect objects.

staples7 · 28-02-2019 7:40pm

KCross wrote: »

No doubt it wont be cheap!
http://www.husqvarnagroup.com/en/automower-435x-awd

It can mange much steeper slopes and it has ultrasonic sensors to detect objects.

Was only looking at that yesterday, you’d nearly buy it because the looks alone ðŸ‘Œ. €4730 on GPL.

recedite · 28-02-2019 8:47pm

LED headlights and sporty wheeltrims. Very cool.
But not terribly useful when the driver has no eyes.

I've always said that a man's lawnmower is a reflection of his car, and his ego, more than the size of his lawn.

staples7 · 28-02-2019 8:50pm

recedite wrote: »

LED headlights and sporty wheeltrims. Very cool.
But not terribly useful when the driver has no eyes.

I've always said that a man's lawnmower is a reflection of his car, and his ego, more than the size of his lawn.

For god sake get a life. Whinging about the size of someone’s lawnmower or what it does or doesn’t have.

listermint · 01-03-2019 7:02am

I know some in here bought the McCullough Rob R1000

Just checking to see if it's still matching expectations or any issues you've had with it

xl500 · 01-03-2019 9:23am

xl500 wrote: »

anyone please no clue which one to buy

Well I bought the McCulloch ROB 600 Installed it myself just one island to wire and boundary

Tested everything worked fine went off and left it when returned it was in its charging station and next morning when I got up it was out mowing

SO far so good hopefully it keeps going well I am now looking at installing charging station under Garden Deck and have an opening for mower to enter and leave anyone done anything like this

Ginger83 · 01-03-2019 2:54pm

Dealer just installed wire for my Stihl Imow, very neat job.

Moreilly · 03-03-2019 3:30pm

Feck'it, planned to start installation of the boundary and guide wires today......., er...emm... not going outside in that weather !

listermint · 03-03-2019 10:10pm

Pulled the trigger on the Rob1000 tired of wasting valuable time mowing. Couple of hours I can get back

Alfie1 · 04-03-2019 1:34pm

Anyone manage to insure their robot mower ? House insurance here won't cover it unless it's locked in a garage which kind of defeats the purpose of a robot mower !

Someone mentioned insuring them using gadget insurance, has anyone done that & if so with what company & what was the price & was there an excess.

Any feedback appreciated.

KCross · 04-03-2019 1:47pm

I think most of us have hit the same issue. Insurance companies wont insure something that is freely roaming your lawn at night. It needs to be locked up.

I dont think there is a way around it.

The new ones do have a PIN that makes it unusable if stolen (not much consolation I know), they also have an alarm once they are lifted and they also have remote GPS location tracking.

Havent heard of any being stolen yet but Im sure it will happen someday.

I suppose it depends on how exposed your site is and decide for yourself whether the risk is too high.

Zzippy · 04-03-2019 6:19pm

On the location tracking, I packed mine up and dropped it into the dealer on Saturday for a service. I got a text message to say it was outside the geofence, an alert from the app, and an email. When I looked at the map, it showed the mower at the dealer's workshop to within a few metres. Spread the word - if potential thieves think they can be tracked they are less likely to chance it...

staples7 · 05-03-2019 12:49pm

GPL shop have applied discounts. Not as much as I had hoped but 10% off 430x .

Husqvarna Automower® 430X
Was 2,728.16 EUR
Now 2,453.93 EUR

Still better than 3K at a dealer.

Shaunoc · 05-03-2019 1:12pm

Zzippy wrote: »

On the location tracking, I packed mine up and dropped it into the dealer on Saturday for a service. I got a text message to say it was outside the geofence, an alert from the app, and an email. When I looked at the map, it showed the mower at the dealer's workshop to within a few metres. Spread the word - if potential thieves think they can be tracked they are less likely to chance it...

there is peace of mind to the location tracking alright.
i still only leave mine working during the day when we are about - 90% of time.
and still bring it indoors at night, just in case. that is not everyones cuppa but its just like one of the dogs at this stage

My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

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