Robot Lawnmowers: The Future of Lawn Care

Considering investing in a robot lawnmower but don’t know your boundary wire from your base station? Don’t panic. We’ve taken a closer look at the newest models to help you determine which is the best fit for your lawn, whether you’re an urbanite with a square-shaped garden or the proud owner of a Downton Abbey-worthy pasture that desperately needs whipping into shape.

The Price Tag

First things first. Robot lawnmowers aren’t the kind of thing you’ll casually drop into your trolley during a visit to your local garden centre. You’ll struggle to find one for under £500 and many cost over £2,000. But there’s a reason for the high price tags.

These lean, mean grass-slashing machines, most of which work in conjunction with apps, won’t just keep your lawn in check by trimming the grass but by relying on Bluetooth and GPS, detecting weather conditions to work out optimal mowing times, and knowing when to return to their charging bases for quick battery boosts.

Setting Up Your Robot Lawnmower

Typically, you’ll need to use pegs to lay down a boundary wire, which acts as a perimeter outline for the mower. The two ends of this line will plug into the mower’s base (the “home” to which it returns when it needs to charge). When mowers map the area – the first thing they will do – they rely on this boundary wire. However, some mowers come with a second wire, known as a guide wire. This will extend, in a straight line, from the mower’s charging base across the centre of the area to be mowed. When the mower has finished its mapping or mowing, it will find this wire and use it to return to its base.

Don’t be intimidated by the set-up process. We set up every one of the mowers below ourselves in under 20 minutes (after they’d been charged). The beauty of robot mowing is that once this has been done, it’s done, and making any necessary tweaks, such as changes to the perimeter, or to mowing schedules, is a breeze.

Key Factors to Consider

After rigorous testing, we can determine that these are the factors worth paying attention to:

• Traction – if your garden’s got more inclines than a Welsh valley, you’ll need a mower to match
• Layout – if your lawn has an irregular shape, a more intuitive mower might well do the best job
• Ease in which you can tweak parameters like blade height and programme mowing schedules

Best Robot Lawn Mowers at a Glance

See our pick of the best here

Overall, investing in a robot lawnmower can save you time and effort in maintaining your lawn. With advanced features and technology, these machines are revolutionizing the way we care for our outdoor spaces. So, whether you have a small urban garden or a sprawling estate, there’s a robot lawnmower out there to suit your needs.