Selfbuild Live
My site is large, on a slope and uneven; can a robot lawnmower be installed and if so what can I expect from installation and maintenance?
A decade ago, robot lawnmowers weren’t as advanced as they are now and we would have shied away from installing them on rugged sites. But now with slope control technology and four wheel drive, they can pretty much deal with any lawn that’s up to 5,000sqm or an acre and a quarter.
The main thing we’d look out for is for the garden layout – the more areas you have that are separate from one another the more difficult/costly it is to set up. Depending on the site you can have multiple lawnmowers to cover all the ground; we advise on the best solution for each case after a site visit.
The installation consists of laying a cable approximately 3mm in diameter under the surface of the lawn; that’s the robot’s perimeter. Then it’s a question of setting up the base; all you need there is an electrical point close to the edge of the lawn. There is a range of models
which can cover up to 210 sqm per hour.
The higher spec models have a SIM card with a tracker and geofence.
Bear in mind the robots are designed to work pretty much all the time during the grass growing season, so you will get the best performance from a robot that’s slightly overspecified.
You will need to get the robot serviced every year, to keep the warranty valid, and this includes getting software updates. The battery will usually last you a few seasons, and it’s cost effective to replace.
Reggie Moore of Moore Horticulture Equipment, mooresmowers.co.uk
English