It seems like a strange thing to ask on a site that exclusively talks about robot mowers, but believe it or not, it’s a question that comes up time and time again – do robotic lawn mowers work?
Undoubtedly, the literal answer to the question is yes, of course they work. However, it’s probably not really answering the question that people are really asking. There’s a few variations that tend to come up – so let’s start by looking at those in a little more detail.
Contents
Is A Robot Mower Good For My Lawn?
As with many things, how good a product is depends on whether it’s used correctly. Robot mowers can take a bit of setting up, so that they can learn to mow your lawn in the best way possible. In a sense that’s about mapping out the best way to navigate your lawn (especially the more most recent types of robot lawn mower without perimeter wire) – so depending on the model you opt for, you might find it slowly gets better and better with each cut. What’s more, a robot mower tends to be left alone to do its thing, and importantly you can schedule it to get out and cut the grass more often than you’re likely to find the motivation to do yourself. That means you can actually end up with a healthier lawn – shorter clippings can break down much faster and return nutrients to the soil, and maintaining a healthy blade length will also help your grass to thrive.
I’ve Got A Bumpy Lawn – Will A Robotic Lawnmower Work?
This tends to be the big question – maybe it’s actually a slope rather than an uneven surface, but the principle is the same. A moderate slope will be fine – so if you’ve got a normal lawn that’s simply not level, you should be OK. Robot mowers are capable of handling small inclines (and vice versa), but they have their limits. If you have more challenging terrain to deal with, have a look at our reviews section. You’ll find lots of information there, and then click over to the Amazon page for the mower you like the look of – you’ll typically find Q&A sections on Amazon, so there’s a good chance that someone else will have asked the same question and got an answer from someone in the know (ideally a previous customer who has tried it out in their own mountainside garden!).
My Lawn Is Full Of Obstacles – Can Automatic Mowers Cope?
This final variation is actually the easiest to answer – yes! Whether it’s flowerbeds or gnomes, robotic lawnmowers have to have automatic sensors built in to work out where they’re going – or more accurately where they’re not going! These are the built in features that stop them creeping up on you and mowing your foot – they’ll immediately reroute if they find obstacles, or even activate their emergency cut out if they don’t know how to proceed safely.
The level of sophistication in robot lawn mowers has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, and the manufacturers know that we don’t all have perfectly square and level lawns free from obstacles. While there’s always going to be the odd lawn where they struggle, they’re designed to adapt and learn about their surroundings. It’s actually quite remarkable to watch, especially in the more advanced models, as they slowly learn mow by mow how best to tackle your lawn most efficiently and effectively. Once the novelty of automatic mowers wears off, most people tend to hardly notice as it goes about it’s business on its own in the garden!