If lawn mowing isn’t high on your list of favourite jobs, then it may be time to think about investing in a robotic mower. All you need to do is go out to the charging station, establish your boundaries in your yard and programme your lawn mower appropriately. Yes, it truly does do all the effort for you, with some making their own way back to the docking station once they’ve done their task or have run out of power.
You don’t need a nice rectangular yard to use one– with a lot of today’s robotic mowers able to handle unusually formed gardens, slopes and challenging landscape designs. The robotic mowers are self mulching, implying they cut up the yard into fine clippings and scatter them back on the yard to feed the soil with nutrients.
When buying a robotic mower, make certain it’s suitable for the shapes and size of your garden – keeping in mind that some of the more pricey ones are truly only worth it if you have a big yard. It’s also important to examine how long it lasts on a complete charge and how long it needs charging up. While some take under an hour to charge, others can take up to 16 hours.
Beyond that, it’s merely a case of inspecting what functions are a concern to you and ensuring you can afford them. For example, do you mind having to set up a boundary wire? Do you want it to manage damp lawn? Does it need to be quiet? We put them to the test to discover which ones are worth investing in.
- The John Deere Tango E5 Series II
It’s quite a thing to enjoy this device’s wise navigation powers in action. In particular, when it detects and evades obstacles and pre-set limits, eventually developing a wise lawn approximately the size of around half an acre. Its blade and shell are constructed to last and it works well even in the rain and on slopes, with one charge normally lasting around 90 minutes (longer than many). It’s intuitive and informative (telling you what it will do next) and peaceful. But it is heavy.
- The Robomow RX12U Automatic Robotic Mower
New for this year, this is the smallest and most economical robotic lawn mower on the market and it’s well worth the money if you have an average-sized yard (approximately 200sqm) that you hate keeping tidy. Awesome features include a forward mounted blade, which cuts up to and over the yard edge and a full charge that lasts for around an hour-and-a-half. But it does take a tremendous 16 hours to charge up again, so if you need to use your backyard to entertain, make sure you’re prepared early.
- The Honda Miimo HRM3000
This lawn mower is good for big yards of up to 4000sqm even when the yard is wet, plus you can interact with it wirelessly using your smart phone. Other convenient functions consist of the flexible docking station (which can go anywhere you choose), fast charging (simply 45 minutes) and it is ability to work the slopes too.
- The Flymo 1200R Robotic Lawnmower
This lawn mower is definitely not the cheapest on the market, however, this is still a great rate and we’re impressed with how simple it was to program and adjust according to the cutting height you desire. It works for about an hour on a full charge, simply heading back to the docking station by itself if it needs recharging, and it manages gardens of up to 400 square metres. It’s quiet and safe, however overall it has less features than other designs.
- The Bosch Indego 400 Link
New for this year, this is the updated variation of a previous design, which Bosch altered based upon consumer feedback. Great for yards of as much as 500 square metres, it’s user-friendly, quick and you can use it with your smart phone or tablet. Unlike many other robotic lawn mowers that operate in random patterns, this one does its job in successive rows so that no spot is missed out on, though it will not leave stripes.
That wraps up our review of the five best automatic lawn mowers for 2017. So if you are looking for a mower that will handle a big yard or a mower that can navigate around your pool surrounds, you are sure to find what you are looking for in one of these clever and powerful lawn mowers.