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While I love getting out and mowing my lawn as soon as the weather starts to warm up, after a few times it starts to become a burden. That’s because it takes about two and a half hours to mow my entire lawn, and with a busy family, I have other things to do with that time. My world changed almost two years ago when I tested my first robotic lawnmower, the Husqvarna Automower 430XH. I gained the power to control time.
Okay, I don’t really control the weather, but the robotic lawnmower takes over one of my biggest weekly chores and gives my family and I more time together. While Husqvarna Automower 430XH opened my eyes to what a robotic lawnmower can offer in terms of turning back time, I’ve since tested more advanced autonomous models.
The result? A beautifully maintained — not just mowed — lawn and even More ▼ time for summer fun. With important new features like GPS guidance.
If you’re curious about how to add a robotic lawnmower to your yard and outdoor arsenal, here’s my experience with two new robotic lawnmowers. Segway Navimow i110N ($1299) and Mammotion Luba 2 AWD ($4099) and why they’ve become my secret weapon for a perfect summer.
I started with a robotic lawnmower without GPS and it was disappointing
The Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H is a robust build and very capable of handling lawns of all types.
Husqvarna offers more advanced options of the Automower 430XH that I owned was my first experience with robotic lawn care. Now it looks like a more budget one robot vacuum cleaner.
Like less advanced robot vacuums that lack 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 mower to “bounce off” and help it find its charging base. While this eventually got the job done, the mower would often get stuck in objects, mow through items left by my kids in the yard, or get lost trying to find its way home.
While the Segway Navimow 110i is small, it is powerful and capable of cutting a nice lawn.
Not only did the randomness leave weird mowing paths in my yard, but it also left my yard uneven. While this may sound like a complaint, I’m still glad I wasn’t the one doing the mowing. It also means that I am much happier now because, as with robot vacuums, there are many advancements and new players in the robot lawnmower category.
But the best thing about modern robotic lawnmowers is the integration of GPS technology, which allows the lawnmowers to deftly handle an entire lawn with almost no effort from me, both during the initial setup and while mowing. In addition to the time I save by not mowing the yard myself, the time it takes to get the mowers up and running is significantly less than those that require a boundary wire.
GPS guidance makes robotic lawnmowers a joy to use
These improvements include pesky boundary wires being replaced 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 Segway Navimow i110N and on Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H. Both have strengths and weaknesses and are far from perfect, but they have become essential tools in my lawn care and lifestyle.
Segway’s Navimow is great for smaller lawns
1300 dollars Segway NavimowNavigation is limited to quarter-acre mowing thanks to some on-board storage limitations. It’s not much of my 5 acres of country property. But I found the perfect patch of my lawn for it and after driving it around as an oversized, very slow RC car using my OnePlus Open phone as a remote. I set up a mowing schedule and the Segway robotic lawnmower does the rest. This Navimow saves me about 30-45 minutes of mowing twice a week.
The Mammotion Luba 2 can process a 2.5 acre yard
The Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H has so many features that allow it to handle lawns of all kinds.
That means the rest of my recovered time comes from Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H. This particular model can till up to 2.5 acres. Again, no cables are needed, 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 lawnmower has all-wheel drive, which helps it handle more demanding lawns. The Mammotion mower has two mowing units, compared to Navimow’s single unit, can cut from 4 inches to 2.2, and has many more controls for customization. This upgraded model will set you back more than $4K.
Hands free, perfect lawn
My yard has never looked so professional.
Perfectly manicured lawns with mowing stripes and checkerboard patterns are not very common in rural Kansas homes, but I have them this spring. It’s not unusual for my friends to call me a “high-tech peasant” with all my smart devices, and they may be right, but I don’t bother mowing my lawn. I don’t have to work all day and then spend hours in the summer heat mowing my yard. I can dedicate my weekends to family camping, ball games and more.
Even high-end robotic lawnmowers have bad days
Segway Navimow i110N and Mammotion Luba 2 AWD 10000H have quirks and sometimes need human interaction to keep going. Sometimes a stick will get caught in the wheel or mower so the mower stops and I have to remove it. And sometimes mowers will forget how to return to the charger or center themselves high on a clump of grass and need to be physically moved. However, these problems are not mechanical and have never required more than a few minutes to clear.
Robot lawnmowers are becoming more and more common. As technology improves – namely advanced GPS tracking – and prices drop, the time is as good as ever to splurge on one. And they are a luxury, ranging from $600 to well over $5,000. Do I still like mowing the lawn? Of course, but only when I want to, not because I have to.
Watch this: How to prepare your lawnmower for the season
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