The newer versions of the Worx mowers cut right up to the edge so no need to cut the edges (although I do strim vertically occasionally).
It does a random walk and mine doesn't miss any areas. I believe you can programme it to start in different zones each time if you have a large area but I don't need to do this as my area is relatively small (but see admission below).
You don't have to bury the boundary wire - we just pegged ours on the surface and it gradually disappeared. Ours was up and running within an hour of taking it out of the box.
One potential problem is placing the recharging station somewhere where you have mains power. We were ok with that because we have mains power running down the garden to a sewage treatment plant.
Oh, and as a maths teacher, I'm ashamed to admit that I calculated that my 10m x 30m lawn was 30 square metres! It is actually about 300 sq m. How stupid am I!! For this area I have mine programmed to mow from 1pm to 4pm every day and he goes home once to recharge during this time. We reckon he costs about £30 per year to run.
I think they're probably not suitable if you want a perfect lawn. Definitely no stripes and it does leave tracks around the edge, but it's fine for my purpose. I wanted rid of the lawn but apparently I have to keep it for my grandchildren to play on so OH got me the robot mower as a birthday present compromise. (I dig compost to keep fit instead, which bizarrely I quite enjoy).
Oh and another disadvantage. No grass clippings to put in the compost.
Thanks for the info SG. Clearly things have moved on since the review I read. Is the sensor wire simply pegged down all round the area to be cut? How much sensor cable is provided with the mower. Although it seems we have roughly similar areas to cut, my borders shape in and out quite a lot. Do you know if it can cope with island beds in the middle of a lawn?
Yes, the wire is pegged down all around the area to be cut. 130m of boundary wire is provided for the model we have. It's the smallest one so the higher models probably come with more.
I have an island bed which is also surrounded by boundary wire. This doesn't automatically get included when the mower does a boundary cut so I have to manually get him to do it when I remember. If he hits the island bed when he's going home then he'll go round and round until he realises that he's gone so far he should be home by now at which stage he heads off to find another boundary.
I also have a tree which he just hits and bounces off and doesn't have boundary wire round it.
These photos show parts of the lawn and the mower on his charging station.
The idea certainly becomes more appealing when you know that many of the early teething problems have been ironed out. I currently use a powered petrol mower and I'll carry on with that until it gives up. It's certainly an option to consider when the time comes. My nephew is an electrician so getting power to the docking station shouldn't be an issue.
my mover blew over the weekend, and was looking for a new but then saw about the robot ones are they worth it? or are they just a fad that only works half of the time??
Depends on what you mean by works half the time, I suppose. Mine is generally pretty good but has some problems. In particular it sometimes falls off the edge and needs rescuing (maybe once every 2-3 weeks). And it can rub bare patches on sharp corners or where the grass is ridiculously bumpy due to past ant nests.
Depends on what you mean by works half the time, I suppose. Mine is generally pretty good but has some problems. In particular it sometimes falls off the edge and needs rescuing (maybe once every 2-3 weeks). And it can rub bare patches on sharp corners or where the grass is ridiculously bumpy due to past ant nests.
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It does a random walk and mine doesn't miss any areas. I believe you can programme it to start in different zones each time if you have a large area but I don't need to do this as my area is relatively small (but see admission below).
You don't have to bury the boundary wire - we just pegged ours on the surface and it gradually disappeared. Ours was up and running within an hour of taking it out of the box.
One potential problem is placing the recharging station somewhere where you have mains power. We were ok with that because we have mains power running down the garden to a sewage treatment plant.
Oh, and as a maths teacher, I'm ashamed to admit that I calculated that my 10m x 30m lawn was 30 square metres! It is actually about 300 sq m. How stupid am I!! For this area I have mine programmed to mow from 1pm to 4pm every day and he goes home once to recharge during this time. We reckon he costs about £30 per year to run.
I think they're probably not suitable if you want a perfect lawn. Definitely no stripes and it does leave tracks around the edge, but it's fine for my purpose. I wanted rid of the lawn but apparently I have to keep it for my grandchildren to play on so OH got me the robot mower as a birthday present compromise. (I dig compost to keep fit instead, which bizarrely I quite enjoy).
Oh and another disadvantage. No grass clippings to put in the compost.
I have an island bed which is also surrounded by boundary wire. This doesn't automatically get included when the mower does a boundary cut so I have to manually get him to do it when I remember. If he hits the island bed when he's going home then he'll go round and round until he realises that he's gone so far he should be home by now at which stage he heads off to find another boundary.
I also have a tree which he just hits and bounces off and doesn't have boundary wire round it.
These photos show parts of the lawn and the mower on his charging station.
my mover blew over the weekend, and was looking for a new but then saw about the robot ones are they worth it? or are they just a fad that only works half of the time??
See my earlier posts for more info.