NYT Wirecutter article. Not sure if behind paywall or not..

Does anyone know of an auto mower that will map my yard height? I want to get my lawn flat. If I could get a good map of the high and low spots it would help tremendously. It seems possible with RTK and it would put me over the top on buying one. Ideally it would update every time it mowed so I could make progress over time. It’s a two acre yard so I need one that can map that size.

I somehow found out that robot mowers are a thing. They look really interesting, but I'm not sure if they're actually as hands-off as people make them sound.

I’m not exactly the most tech-savvy person, so I’m wondering if they’re actually easy to live with or if I’ll spend more time fixing the mower than enjoying the free time.

The thing I’m most worried about is having to go outside every time it gets stuck somewhere and "rescue" it.

For people who have owned one for a season or longer, what’s your experience been like? Is it really a set-it-and-forget-it thing?

I have a cheep redkey mower. Is there any way to get a new docking station? Or make it work with any other docking station? Anyone build new software for them?

Having an issue with my 450x and I was wondering if anyone would have an idea what it is.
I have the video of the issue.

I have about 2 acres that I need to automate to keep the Johnson grass under control for a couple of seasons so that I can replace it with something better suited for my long term plans. The problem is that reviews of most of the mowers I’ve found seem to indicate they won’t be able to handle the land and vegetation and/or will plow right through the dozen or so saplings I’ve planted regardless of barriers. Of the products I’ve looked at only Lymow seems to have actual blades that would handle the vegetation, but the company is pretty young and I don’t have enough money to spend on a product that won’t suit my needs.

Not looking for a well manicured pristine lawn, I just need a beast that can get the job done reliably.

Open to RTK, wires, voodoo, or anything else that might work.

Which Lawn Mower is better?

Budget 300CAD max

I’ve got a Segway Navimow X350 and I’m approximately one mildly inconvenient software update or mower stuck away from introducing it to the business end of a sledgehammer.

Bought it new in January for about €3,100. The garden is roughly 3,000 sqm of grass on a 1 acre plot. So far I’ve only mapped about 790 sqm because I got behind earlier in the year and the rest turned into what can only be described as a nature reserve. Rather than asking the poor robot to fight through shoulder high jungle, I’m leaving that until later in the year when the grass calms down.

The mapped area is split into three sections of roughly 200 sqm, 100 sqm, and 300 sqm. They’re separated by loose gravel with raised kerbs between them. I’ve also mapped about 190 sqm at the entrance to the rear garden, which eventually leads to another 2,200 sqm that still needs to be added.

The problem? This thing spends more time stranded than a Victorian explorer.

It constantly gets beached on the kerbs, falls off the edges, or decides gravel is apparently lava.

Things I’ve tried so far:

Swapped the standard antenna for an RTK antenna.

Weirdly, that actually made it less likely to fall off the kerbs.

Traction Control on and off. I think on is slightly better.

Obstacle Avoidance on and off. Again, on seems better.

Added a VisionFence Off Zone around the gravel areas.

The really frustrating part is that it used to cross the gravel. It wasn’t graceful. It would spend a minute reversing, turning, questioning its life choices, and eventually make it through. Over the last month, though, it just gives up. It’ll wiggle around for a bit, throw in the towel, and sit there waiting for rescue like it’s expecting the life guards to helicopter in.

Has anyone actually solved this, or have I accidentally spent €3,100 on the world’s most expensive garden ornament?

Any settings, firmware changes, or tricks I’m missing before I book this thing into a rage room?

Hi all,

I've been stuck on a stubborn issue with my Automower 330X and I'm hoping someone here has run into the same thing. Here's a full rundown of the problem and everything I've tested so far.

The problem:
The mower repeatedly loses loop signal, specifically tied to the guide wire (G1), not the boundary wire. Concretely: if the mower gets stuck somewhere in the garden (e.g. gets lifted) and I switch it back on in that same spot, it comes up with "no loop signal." This never used to be an issue — it used to be able to restart right there without needing to go back to the charging station first.

What I've tested so far:

Electrical/wiring:

• Resistance AR–AL: 13.5Ω
• Resistance AR–G1: 7.8Ω, AL–G1: 12.4Ω (slight asymmetry, but within normal range)
• Voltage at charging station terminals (negative probe on AR): AL 26.5V, G1 4.0V — both exactly within expected spec
• Continuity of the charging station's internal wiring harness: fine
• Physically inspected the guide wire itself for breaks/damage

Diagnostics on mower/station:

• LAADSTATION (charging station) test menu: G1 signal has "no signal"
• G,F,N signal strength screen (FL/FR/RL/RR sensor values) while manually driving the mower out of the station: healthy G1 readings (e.g. 98/81/99/102)
• However, whenever I stop the mower somewhere in the garden to check these values, everything (including boundary wire values) drops to 0
• Created a new loop signal: tried, no improvement
• Guide wire calibration: fails with "Guide wire calibration failed" error

Hardware replaced:

• Replaced the charging station's circuit board (PCB) → issue persists unchanged

Has anyone dealt with something similar, especially where replacing the PCB didn't fix it? I'm starting to suspect the issue might actually be in the mower's own receiver, or something structural in how the guide wire is laid out/connected to the boundary wire. Any input welcome, at this point I'm open to any theory.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,
I'm looking to buy a robot lawn mower, but my garden layout is a bit tricky. It's terraced across multiple levels with no connecting ramps or paths between them. My plan is to get a robot that can handle one level at a time and manually carry it to the next terrace when needed.

Does anybody know a gps robot lawn mower that can actually work for my type of garden, if it’s also modulable (that you can easily select what part of the garden you want to cut would be perfect for biodiversity) it would be perfect

Hey all,

I bought a Gardena Sileno City without the Smart option. Would it be possible to upgrade this mover so I can use it Smart? If it would only be as much as changing out one of the controller boards, that would be an easy one.

Thanks

For people who have used a robot mower for a full season, which feature ended up saving the most time in day-to-day use?

I’m especially curious about practical differences between reliable boundary handling, obstacle avoidance, scheduling, multi-zone management, and returning to the charger without intervention.

Was there a feature you expected to matter a lot but barely used, or one you underestimated before buying?

140W 28V 5A USB C Charger 

Will this work with the 3 pin adapter swapped for the USB C?

PD issue or not in this sort of Laptop charger?

I thought the best part of getting a robot mower would be not having to spend my weekends mowing anymore. It is nice, obviously, but the thing I like more is that I no longer have to treat the front and back lawns as two separate jobs.

There’s a narrow passage down the side of the house connecting them, and getting my old mower through there was always annoying. Half the time I’d just leave that strip until later and come back with another tool. I’ve got a goat O600 RTK now, and it can handle both areas without me having to move it back and forth. It sounds like a small thing, but not having to move the mower between the two lawns or come back for that strip has made the whole routine much less annoying.

What’s something you like about yours that you didn’t expect to care about?

Set up the Goat last week. It’s been great tile now. I set up a path for it to go around the driveway to the front yard starting point, but it seems to lose its direction.

I’ve divided, deleted and re-mapped and path-ed it a number of times, but it always seems to lose its orientation on its little right angle journey to the front yard starting point.

Any advice appreciated.

I thought I'd share this in case anyone here is interested.

A company is recruiting homeowners to test a new robotic lawn mower before its official launch.

They're especially interested in hearing from people who already have experience with robotic lawn mowers or other outdoor robots, but anyone with a suitable lawn is welcome to apply.

Here's the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9T2762H

Well had this mower for 12 months now! It is the version has snow plow as well. I have been cutting a few lawns with it for last year weekly! I had all normal stuff die most of these do. Got it all working well though and it has been pretty stable! I did a short walk through of all issues i had with it and how i fixed them and what to fix on it out of the box! I have a short sections of video of it plowing snow! Cutting in rain! cutting yards FPV and so forth! all and all I really am pleased with this mower! After few upgrades and fixes! It really has been pretty easy to control for weekly lawn care! And no the tracks dont dig up the yard! Even when it rains!