Robot Mowers - Frequently Asked Questions & Key Features

No, stripes are created by the rollers on the back on mowers and robot mowers don’t have rollers and don’t cut ‘up and down’. Nearly all robot mowers mow in a random pattern i.e. they set off in a straight line and when they turn ( due to the edge of the lawn or an obstacle), they turn in a random direction and set off again.  Some use technology (mainly GPS) to try and ensure that they don’t cut the same area twice, some cut in spirals when they sense particularly long grass.

Grass grows at different rates during the year but we are used to mowing the grass once a week (or sometimes less frequently) and when we cut it, we tend be be cutting quite a lot off – it can grow up to 3-5 cms per week. The trick is to cut little and often, the guidance is to never cut more than a third of the blade of grass off in one go.  Using traditional mowers, most people don’t have time to ‘cut little and often’  but most robot mowers (excluding the Ambrogio L60 Elite) mow based on a user specified schedule (my mower goes out everyday) so they take the ‘little and often’ to the extreme.

As the mowers are cutting little and often, you don’t need to collect the clippings (mulch), in fact mulching is a great way to return nutrients to the soil. You’ll need around 25% less fertilizer by mulching with lawn clippings.

1. The manufacturer will state the area the robot will cover.  You can’t say that you have two 600 sq. m. lawns but you’ll use a 600 sq. m. mower and move it between the lawns every other day.  You have 1200 sq. m. so you need to buy a mower that handles that…..sorry! Use our measure my lawn page to find out.
2. Each mower will say how many areas it can cover, our mowers cover between 2 and 8 areas (e.g. the L35 Deluxe)
3. The perimeter wire needs to enclose all the areas in a complete loop.  Where the mower goes from one area to another, it needs a corridor to follow (all the Ambrogios need a 1m corridor).  You need to be able to lay the perimeter wire along the corridor (i.e. not solid concrete) and the robot needs to be able to grip (i.e. not shingle).

Robot lawn mowers can mow in the rain so long as they are cutting the grass every day i.e. it is not too long.  Some makes have rain sensors which allow you to send them back to the base when it rains, but this feature is usually configurable.

We advise putting your mower into storage for the winter as the grass is not growing and the ground usually gets very soft. We put ours away in October/ November and get it out again in March/ April…it depends on the weather and lawn conditions.  You can use a robot mower when a conventional mower would be too heavy and damage the ground.

A lot of conventional mowers create an updraft when working so not only do they cut the lawn but they suck up leaves etc. into the path of the blades.  Robot mowers do not do this so, although they will cut leaves which are grass height, they will not clear your lawn of leaves.  On the plus side, your robot mower will keep the grass short all the time so the leaves should not get caught up in the grass and will hopefully blow away.

Most mowers cope with quite steep slopes (20 – 45%) however read the literature carefully! Normally a mwoer will cope with a much steeper slope in the middle of the garden that at the edge (around the perimeter). Also we aware of sudden changes that would cause the mower to get caught e.g. the front of the mower hits the slope as the wheels haven’t got there yet.

If your garden has trees then it’s not a problem.  If the trees do not have any protruding roots then you can just let the mower bump into them as they would do any other obstacle.
If the roots are protruding then it could cause the robot to ‘ground out’ i.e. lift the wheels off the ground.  This can be solved quite easily by either creating islands with the perimeter wire so the mower keeps away from the tree or by putting  a raised barrier around the tree so it bumps off it.

1. The area I need to mow – you can use our Measure My Lawn page to measure or have a site survey (see Services)
2. How many areas I need to mow – Areas are connected lawns which the mower can move between (see Areas)
3. How much time do I want to be ‘robot free’ – e.g. if you only want your robot to mow overnight, you need to ensure that it will cover the area within the hours of darkness (see Robot Free Time)

If the perimeter wire is buried, the likelihood of the wire being broken is low however it does happen.  Whilst you may have expected rabbits in the garden to cause a problem, it’s the deer and weasels that tend to break the wire…or someone putting a spade through it!

There are a number of ways to find a break.  The most likely places for a break are joints in the wire…always use a good quality connector  (we supply them with our kits –  never join and tape them) – look at the joints first.
Walk the perimeter and look for obvious disturbances…after an installation, I normally walk the perimeter and take a video so that I know where the wire is.
With older mowers, you can use an AM radio to find a break, newer models work on a different frequency so you need another method – see YouTube “How to find a wire break in a underground dog or pet fence using an AM radio for FREE!” 
Call in the professional…we use a special tool to locate breaks.

Although a number of manufacturers and third parties sell covers, the mowers are built to be outside with no cover during the season.  

You may want to buy a robot mower garage/ kennel for security reasons or so that you can paint it the same colours as the surrounding buildings…that’s fine, just make sure that ti buy one which suits your mower i.e. big enough and won’t get in the way of the mower.  I would suggest installing the mower first and then thinking about the garage after you have seen it working.

There are a number of factors to consider when looking at the cost:

The initial purchase and installation cost

Robot mowers are generally more expensive that traditional electric or petrol powered mowers although for large gardens can be cheaper than a ride on mower that covers a similar area.

The cost of your time (or maybe your gardener’s time)

This is where the big saving is found. If you have a gardener, how much do they cost (£20-£30 an hour in our area).  If you mow the lawn yourself, how much do you value your time and if you had that extra time, what would you do with it…probably other household jobs but that’s another story. Apparently we spend on average 2 months of our lives mowing.

The cost of fuel

 Robot mowers cost approx £20 – £40 per year to run, that wouldn’t run your petrol mower for long!

Cost to the environment

In the US, it was reported that petrol mowers represent Petrol mowers 5% of U.S. air pollution. Hopefully it has decreased since that report but it is still significant.