Two years, no regrets: my robot lawn mower experiment
Almost two years ago, when I tested my first robotic lawn mower, the Husqvarna Automower 430XH, I got the opportunity to control the time and still get a beautiful lawn.
Okay, I don’t really have control over time, but the robot lawn mower takes care of one of my biggest weekly chores and gives my family and me more time together. While the Husqvarna Automower 430XH opened my eyes to the possibilities a robotic lawnmower offers in terms of saving time. Since then I have tested more advanced autonomous models with important new features such as GPS guidance.
Your lawn serves many purposes: it provides a cooling effect, a place to gather, and more, including serving as a welcome mat for your home. Even when temperatures rise and the summer heat starts to cook the grass, there are good ways to mow your lawn to ensure it continues to thrive. But it all takes time, which I don’t have. Between running around with two kids, a job, and now moving, I’ve had to outsource my lawn care.
The result? A beautifully maintained – not just mowed – lawn and even more time for summer fun.
If you’re curious about adding a robotic lawn mower to your yard and outdoor arsenal, here’s my experience with two new robotic lawn mowers, the Segway Navimow i110N ($1,299) and Mammotion Luba 2 AWD ($4,099) and why they’ve become my secret weapon for a perfect summer.
I started with a robotic lawnmower without GPS and it was frustrating
The Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H is robustly built and is ideal for all types of lawns.
Husqvarna offers more advanced options than the Automower 430XH, which was my first foray into robotic lawn care. Now it looks like a more budget-friendly robot vacuum cleaner.
Like less advanced robot vacuums that don’t have modern lidar (a type of laser mapping), the Automower 430XH lacked GPS guidance and mapping, and required the installation of a physical boundary wire. This wire acts as a virtual wall for the lawn mower to “bounce” off of, helping it find its charging base. While this ultimately gets the job done, the mower often gets snagged on obstacles, mows over stuff my kids left in the yard, or gets lost trying to find its way home.
The Segway Navimow 110i is small but powerful and can mow a nice lawn.
Not only did the randomness create strange mowing paths in my garden, it also made my garden uneven. While this may sound like complaining, I’m still glad I wasn’t the one doing the mowing. It also means I’m much happier now, because, just like with robot vacuums, there have been many advances and new players in the robot lawn mower category.
The best thing about modern robotic lawnmowers is the integration of GPS technology, which allows the mowers to nimbly mow an entire lawn without me having to put in any effort, both during initial setup and during mowing. Apart from the time I save by not mowing the lawn myself, the time it takes to get started with the mowers is significantly shorter than with mowers that require a boundary wire.
GPS guidance makes robotic lawnmowers a pleasure to use
These improvements include replacing annoying boundary wires with GPS-guided mowing, as well as advanced object recognition, improved efficiency and ultimately a better looking lawn for less work. Two robotic lawnmowers I am currently testing are the Segway Navimow i110N and the Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000HBoth have their strengths and weaknesses and are far from perfect, but they have become essential tools in my lawn care and lifestyle.
The Dreame A1 Robot Moweryes, the same company that made part of the best vacuum cleaners on the market, released its first robotic lawn mower with features that no other option has. Both the Mammotion and Segway mowers require an RTK antenna to help with GPS positioning. The A1 skips that and uses Dreame’s experience in robotic vacuums with the OmniSense 3D LiDAR Ultra-Sensing system.
The Dreame A1 Robotic Mower’s OmniSense 3D LiDAR Ultra-Sensing system creates a 3D map of your lawn, allowing the system to mow the area precisely.
As the robot mower walks through the garden to establish the boundaries, the Dreame A1 Robotic Mower scans the surroundings to create its map. When it is ready, you can view the 3D map in the Dreame app. The results are a bit disturbing, but impressive, how much detail and information the robot mower picks up in a short time. But that detail leads to very efficient and precise mowing of my lawn.
The Segway Navimow is ideal for smaller lawns
The $1,300 Segway Navimow‘s navigation is limited to a quarter acre of mowing, thanks to some limitations of the onboard storage. That’s not a lot of my 5 acres of rural land. I found the perfect portion of my lawn for it after driving it around like an oversized, very slow RC car with my OnePlus Open phone as a remote control. I set a mowing schedule and the Segway robot mower does the rest. This Navimow saves me about 30-45 minutes of mowing twice a week.
Mammotion Luba 2 can handle 2.5 hectares of garden
The Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H has so many features that it is suitable for all types of lawns.
This means that the rest of my regained time comes from the Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H. This particular model can handle up to 2.5 acres. Again, no cables are required, and while it’s slower than an RC car, the Luba 2 AWD can travel up to a surprisingly fast 4 feet per second. The AWD part of the name means that this robotic lawn mower has all-wheel drive, allowing it to tackle demanding lawns. Mammotion’s mower has dual decks, compared to Navimow’s single deck, can mow from 4 inches to 2.2 inches, and has far more customization options. This souped-up model will set you back over $4K.
Hands-free, perfect lawn
My garden has never looked so professional.
Perfectly manicured lawns with mowed stripes and checkerboard patterns are not very common for homes in rural Kansas, but I have them this spring. It is not uncommon for friends of mine to call me a “high-tech redneck” with all my smart devicesand they may be right but I don’t stress about mowing my lawn. I don’t have to work all day and then spend hours in the summer heat mowing my yard. I can use my weekends to take the family camping, play ball games and more.
Even advanced robotic lawnmowers have bad days
The Segway Navimow i110N and Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H both have quirks and sometimes require human interaction to keep going. Sometimes a stick gets caught in the wheel or mower deck, causing the mower to stop and I have to remove it. Sometimes the mowers forget how to get back to the charger or get caught high in the middle of a clump of grass and have to be physically moved. These issues are not mechanical and have never taken more than a few minutes to resolve.
Whether you’re looking for a smaller, entry-level robotic lawnmower to maintain your garden or a more advanced model, there are a few factors to consider before making a purchase to ensure you get the best possible experience.
Robotic lawn mowers are becoming more common. As technology improves — especially advanced GPS guidance — and prices drop, now is a good time to get one. They’re a splurge, ranging from $600 to well over $5,000. Do I still enjoy mowing the lawn? Sure, but only when I feel like it, not because I have to.
Check this out: How to Prepare Your Lawn Mower for the Season
