ᐅ Lawn mowing robot is here – which one do you use and what are your thoughts on it?
Created on: 8 Feb 2021 23:57
T
Tarnari
Hello everyone,
As mentioned above, we want to get a robotic lawn mower to start the spring season.
Which ones do you use, recommend, or avoid, and why?
Does it have to be a Husqvarna, or is a Worx also good enough? Why one and not the other?
I’m very interested in hearing about your experiences.
Best regards
Tarnari
As mentioned above, we want to get a robotic lawn mower to start the spring season.
Which ones do you use, recommend, or avoid, and why?
Does it have to be a Husqvarna, or is a Worx also good enough? Why one and not the other?
I’m very interested in hearing about your experiences.
Best regards
Tarnari
I’m joining the conversation here since this topic will be relevant for me later this year as well... Lawn area is about 350m² (3,767 sq ft).
I think the Gardena Sileno life is pretty good. Would the 1000m² (10,764 sq ft) model be sufficient if you don’t want to run the mower at night (because of hedgehogs, etc.)?
How “smart” is the Sileno? I haven’t looked into it much, but maybe someone here knows... Does the mower have an open API or anything similar? I would like to be able to turn off the mower when opening the patio doors (Reed switch connected to KXN binary actuator), preferably via an HTTP command, and turn it back on when the door closes. The background is that I have a dog, and they shouldn’t both be active in the garden at the same time ;-)
/Edit: I just noticed there is a Home Assistant integration for the Smart System. Does the Smart System require Wi-Fi coverage throughout the entire garden, or how does the communication with the mower work?
I think the Gardena Sileno life is pretty good. Would the 1000m² (10,764 sq ft) model be sufficient if you don’t want to run the mower at night (because of hedgehogs, etc.)?
How “smart” is the Sileno? I haven’t looked into it much, but maybe someone here knows... Does the mower have an open API or anything similar? I would like to be able to turn off the mower when opening the patio doors (Reed switch connected to KXN binary actuator), preferably via an HTTP command, and turn it back on when the door closes. The background is that I have a dog, and they shouldn’t both be active in the garden at the same time ;-)
/Edit: I just noticed there is a Home Assistant integration for the Smart System. Does the Smart System require Wi-Fi coverage throughout the entire garden, or how does the communication with the mower work?
So, here’s an update.
The Gardena Sileno life Smart for 1000 sqm (10,764 sq ft) arrived today. The actual area is about 250 sqm (2,691 sq ft), so there should be enough margin.
Yesterday, I mowed our lawn for the first time using an electric mower borrowed from our neighbor and it took about 1.5 hours. At least it was free since everything was powered by our solar panels. Still, I’m glad that we will have a helper to take care of this in the future.
@rick2018
I’d like to ask for your expertise again.
As mentioned, the area is about 250 sqm (2,691 sq ft), U-shaped. The legs are roughly 2–2.3 m (6.5–7.5 ft) wide and 8/5 m (26/16 ft) long. We have an edging strip and a terrace at lawn level. No slope, everything is flat. The mower should be parked along the 8 m (26 ft) leg.
How would you recommend laying the cables?
Do you need photos to better assess the situation?
The Gardena Sileno life Smart for 1000 sqm (10,764 sq ft) arrived today. The actual area is about 250 sqm (2,691 sq ft), so there should be enough margin.
Yesterday, I mowed our lawn for the first time using an electric mower borrowed from our neighbor and it took about 1.5 hours. At least it was free since everything was powered by our solar panels. Still, I’m glad that we will have a helper to take care of this in the future.
@rick2018
I’d like to ask for your expertise again.
As mentioned, the area is about 250 sqm (2,691 sq ft), U-shaped. The legs are roughly 2–2.3 m (6.5–7.5 ft) wide and 8/5 m (26/16 ft) long. We have an edging strip and a terrace at lawn level. No slope, everything is flat. The mower should be parked along the 8 m (26 ft) leg.
How would you recommend laying the cables?
Do you need photos to better assess the situation?
We installed the same mower as follows:
in front of vertical obstacles, maintain a 35cm (14 inch) boundary wire distance, leaving 10-12cm (4-5 inches) uncut
in front of low mowing edges and terraces, maintain a 10cm (4 inch) boundary wire distance, which is cut cleanly right up to the edge.
Place the station as needed. The guide wire must run straight out of the station for 2m (6.5 ft) and then cross the garden once. At the farthest point, connect it to the boundary wire with a grease clamp.
in front of vertical obstacles, maintain a 35cm (14 inch) boundary wire distance, leaving 10-12cm (4-5 inches) uncut
in front of low mowing edges and terraces, maintain a 10cm (4 inch) boundary wire distance, which is cut cleanly right up to the edge.
Place the station as needed. The guide wire must run straight out of the station for 2m (6.5 ft) and then cross the garden once. At the farthest point, connect it to the boundary wire with a grease clamp.
@Tarnari
You can place the station as described, on one of the arms.
I would position it outside the lawn area so that no grass grows near the station.
Lay the three cables under the paving slabs.
The guide wire should run straight out from the station along the entire arm, then curve once around your main area, and continue straight to the end of the other arm. When laying the boundary wire at this point, leave a small loop. You will need some spare cable to connect it with the guide wire.
Depending on how wide your mowing edges are and whether it bothers you how far the robot mower goes onto your patio, you can lay the boundary wire right along the edge.
When laying the cable, the grass should be short. Press the cable flat with your finger and secure it with stakes. It’s better to use too many stakes or buy extra cheaply. There’s nothing worse than catching on the wire or having it stand up somewhere and be cut by the mower itself.
In the past few days, I installed the cables for our large robotic mower (435x AWD). In the end, it was 640 meters (2100 feet)...
At least the station shows no errors. Tomorrow I will run a test with the mower.
You can place the station as described, on one of the arms.
I would position it outside the lawn area so that no grass grows near the station.
Lay the three cables under the paving slabs.
The guide wire should run straight out from the station along the entire arm, then curve once around your main area, and continue straight to the end of the other arm. When laying the boundary wire at this point, leave a small loop. You will need some spare cable to connect it with the guide wire.
Depending on how wide your mowing edges are and whether it bothers you how far the robot mower goes onto your patio, you can lay the boundary wire right along the edge.
When laying the cable, the grass should be short. Press the cable flat with your finger and secure it with stakes. It’s better to use too many stakes or buy extra cheaply. There’s nothing worse than catching on the wire or having it stand up somewhere and be cut by the mower itself.
In the past few days, I installed the cables for our large robotic mower (435x AWD). In the end, it was 640 meters (2100 feet)...
At least the station shows no errors. Tomorrow I will run a test with the mower.
@hippjoha if you want something “smart,” take a look at Roboconnect. It comes with the downside of losing the warranty. Otherwise, some robots work with Alexa and with ifttt. Gardena requires the gateway for coverage. Husqvarna has an integrated SIM card with lifetime service, which is very convenient. I have built a smart home myself. So far, I haven’t connected my robotic mowers, though. But I also don’t have a use case like yours.
Similar topics