![]() ![]() Once you narrow your choices based on lawn complexity and working capacity, it's time to consider features. Dealers that require professional installation may add hundreds of dollars to the total cost. Expect to pay anywhere from $600 or more for a bare-bones model, to more than $5,000 for a mower with all the bells and whistles. Most vendors have online calculators to help you choose the right model for your needs, and many of them can send a representative out to your house to do a site check. ![]() Whatever you do, make sure you buy a mower that can handle your lawn. Robotic lawn mowers aren't cheap, but, in most cases, light-duty mowers are significantly more affordable than their heavy-duty counterparts. Equally important, there's no bagging involved. All robotic mowers cut the grass into a fine, almost sawdust-like state that works its way into the soil as mulch that fertilizes your lawn. Models for smaller lawns may only have a 7-inch cutting width, while mowers for big lawns offer cutting widths of around two feet. The mower's cutting width determines how wide a swath it cuts on a single pass. For example, some mowers use a single spinning blade configuration while others use multiple spinning blades or a spinning disc lined with multiple razor blades. Different mowers use different types of cutting blades. Most robotic mowers use a floating deck design that allows you to quickly adjust the cutting height, which is helpful for preventing it from scalping the grass in higher spots. The cutting deck refers to the area underneath the mower where the blades spin. The shape of your lawn also comes into play: If you have things like flower beds, trees, or fencing, the mower has to use more battery power to navigate these obstructions than if it were just cutting a rectangular or square plot. A mower for large lawns has a high-capacity battery pack that allows it to work longer and travel farther between charges. ![]() Residential models typically have a working capacity of 0.20 acres up to 1.25 acres. Consider Your Lawn Size and Cutting Deckīefore purchasing a robotic lawn mower, you first need to figure out the size of your lawn. You can run the quieter mowers at night (some even have headlights), but you should probably run the louder models only in the daytime. Gas-powered mowers typically run between 85dB and 95dB. Nearly all robotic mowers are very quiet and operate within the 55dB to 60dB range, but a few models put out up to 75dB of sound. You typically handle programming via an onboard control panel with a power button and menus for setting seasonal timers, scheduling cutting times, creating zones, configuring edge-cutting settings, running diagnostics, and viewing the cutting history. Depending on the size of the mower and the battery capacity, expect charging times of anywhere between 30 minutes and two hours or more. Speaking of the battery, robotic mowers use a rechargeable battery pack (usually lithium-ion) that can last anywhere from 30 minutes for an entry-level model up to four-plus hours for a high-end mower. The base not only charges the mower but provides the wire with an electrical charge. Sensors on the mower use the charged wire to guide it along the boundaries and to return to the base when the lawn is cut or when the battery needs to recharge. Then, you connect the wire to the second terminal on the base station. With one end of the perimeter wire connected to a terminal on the base station, you lay the wire along the border of your lawn and hold it in place with stakes. When it comes to what's inside, however, things couldn't be more different.Īll mowers use a battery-operated motor with cutting blades, an AC-powered base station, perimeter wire, and sensors that prevent them from wandering off your property or into the street. In action, it's almost like watching a Roomba darting around your lawn, tidying things up. Robot lawn mowers look similar to robot vacuums. Read on to see our top picks and find out which robotic lawn mower is best for you based on your lawn size and budget. ![]()
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