Smart lawn mower – everything you need to know
For the last 100 years mowing a lawn always required a man to operate the machine as it was not possible to mow with a smart lawn mower who do not need any human assistance until now.
The Honda and Husqvarna are 2 brand names that have a good reputation for manufacturing high-quality robotic smart lawn mowers. I must say they are the best compared to other manufacturers.
With this blog post, I hope to give you a clear idea about Smart lawn mowers.
Content 1.How does the smart lawn mower work in general? 2.How does the smart Lawn mower identify its mowing boundary? 3.How do the blades work in a smart lawn mower? 4.Key specifications you need to consider when buying a smart lawn mower a.Battery Voltage-Power b.Maximum Mowing-area c.Cutting width d.Cutting incline - cutting angle e.Cutiing height f.Noise level g.Price 5.Main features to look out in your smart lawn mower a.Gps tracking b.All-wheel drive c.Wifi connectivity d.Virtual assistant compatibility e.Security Pin 6.Important facts that come in handy when using a smart lawn mower 7.Problems you may face while using a Smart Lawn Mover 1.Electric lawn mower smoking 2.Are automatic lawn mowers any good 3.FAQ - Frequently asked Questions
How does the smart lawn mower work in general?
Here I will discuss the basic function of a smart lawn mower. If you need to know about the specifications, then please click here,
This smart lawn mower is powered by a rechargeable high-power battery by default. Usually, all its functions are monitored and commanded by a digital panel with the help of an app running on your mobile phone.
How does the smart Lawn mower identify its mowing boundary?
Smart lawn mowers are operated in open areas. Not just like robotic vacuum cleaners that operate in closed areas covered with walls in homes.
Robotic vacuums and smart lawn mowers both are equipped with Collison sensors that help to identify any kind of barrier like walls, or flower vases, by bumping on them and turning back. But for smart lawn mowers, it’s not enough as it might keep moving until it finds a barrier to bump and turn back. If it was not able to identify any barrier will cause the mower to move all the way to the main road and get crushed by a vehicle. Or getting stolen by a thief is the worst-case scenario that can happen.
Therefore to avoid this problem a boundary wire is provided. Now what you have to do is use that boundary wire around the perimeter of the lawn area you need to mow. The robotic mower is equipped with a sensory unit that can identify the electric signal that goes through the wire. So it can stay within its border and keep moving without any trouble.
How do the blades work in a smart lawn mower?
The blades in this robotic mover are small and razor-sharp. And also due to the size of the blade, they can only cut grasses. Also, As a safety precaution, it is programmed to stop the blades of the mower gets lifted or tilted.
Small blades tend to lower energy consumption and longer battery life. Which helps mow the ground for a longer period of time.
In general, we used to spend our own time or hire a service to mow the lawn with a lawn machine at least once a week. Otherwise, it’s hard to mow hard grass. But now with this robotic smart mower, you just need to maintain the machine from time to time. And let the robot do its job by turning the power button on.
What it will do is that it keeps trimming the lawn for many cycles regularly every day until it is turned off. In this way, the amount of grass that mow away at a single time every day is lesser compared to mowing the lawn once a week. In this way, it’s easy to maintain the height of the grass as this mower keeps trimming the grown parts frequently
This way there will be no mulch to remove and all those trimmed small grass parts will decompose with time(as they are small, no one will notice). And they will provide fertilizer to your lawn.
We all know how hard it is to mow a lawn after 2 weeks. As this robotic machine does not need any manpower unless to repair or maintenance, you can just relax and do something else in this new free time while the robot mower does its job.
Key specifications you need to consider when buying a smart lawn mower.
Battery Voltage
Smart lawn mowers are not powered by gas engines. They are powered by high-power, rechargeable batteries instead.
Therefore if you wish to buy a robotic lawn mower, you need to be aware of the battery’s voltage. It’s because the more the battery’s voltage is high the more mowing power output and duration it has.
Here I meant, if your mower has more power then it’s easy to mow thicker and longer grass. Usually, robotic smart lawn mower variations have a battery range from 28-Volt to 18-Volt. Thus mowers with 28-volt are our best pic for a hard grass lawn.
Maximum Mowing area
In your smart lawn mower under specification, it clearly states the total mowing area in which the mower will operate. This means it’s the maximum lawn size that it can mow.
The maximum mowing area range differs from 0.25acres to 1.25acres according to the robotic lawn mower manufacturer.
Let’s say, you buy a robotic lawn mower with the capability of mowing a 1-acre size yard. But your home lawn yard area is only 1/4th of an acre. Then it means you have spent more cash unnecessarily for a specification that is more than your expectation.
Also, if you bought a robotic mower that mows only half an acre but your lawn yard consists of an acre then only a part of your yard will be mowed.
Cutting width
Here the cutting width means the area that the blade can cover on a single pass. If the mowing blade is larger then the mowing can finish faster.
The cutting width of smart lawn mowers in the market ranges from 8.7inches to 22 inches.
This specification values you very much as if your lawn space has narrow paths where the mower can’t operate. Since the mower is larger.
Cutting incline
The smart lawn mowers in the market have the ability to climb, descend, or be inclined in the yard up to a 30-degree angle. But this angle can vary according to the brand.
So please be aware of the angles in places where your lawn has slopes and high grounds.
Cutting height
The cutting height of smart lawn mowers can be adjusted according to your wish. In some designs, you can adjust the height of the operating display while some have an adjustment knob on the side, under the cover, or on the bottom of the device.
In many smart lawn mower designs, you can adjust the height from 0.8 inches to 2.4 inches. But there are some designs that can adjust up to 3.7 in height.
Noise level
Since the smart lawn mower is powered by a battery the noise it creates is always lower than gas mowers. Normally a gas mower will generate a sound of more than 90 dB(decibel) while this robotic mower’s sound strength varies from 59 decibels to 65 decibels. But there are some designs where the sound strength exceeds 75 decibels as well.
By staying aware of the noise level of the robotic mower you wish to buy, you can decide whether it’s suitable or not to use on your lawn. This is because if the neighborhood is a close one then buying a smart mower is good as its sound strength lower than the gas mower. Also if you are programming to mow the lawn at night the mower sound can disturb your sleep if it’s louder.
Price
Smart Lawn mower prices are higher compared to normal gas mowers. They can be costly around $1000 or even higher than $5000.
Having high-tech parts and features, No manpower (automatic) needed to operate it, and able to cover a large area of your lawn with a single charge compared to gas mowers have made these robotic lawn mowers to be expensive this much.
Main key features to look out for in your smart lawn mower
Since technology evolves rapidly, the manufacturers of smart lawn mowers also provide extra features/functions to increase the attraction of potential customers.
Among them,
1. Gps tracking
This security feature is enabled in most smart lawn mower designs for safety. It helps you to be aware of the location of your mower at all times. Therefore it is very hard to get stolen as you can easily catch the thief by tracking the mower’s location.
2. All-wheel drive
Only in a few smart lawn mower designs, this feature is available. This feature is very useful if your lawn yard has muddy areas, blocks that can make your mower stuck, rugged terrains, deep sloppy likewise complicated areas.
These models are expensive compared to other normal robotic mower designs as it need more power to wheel all wheels.
3. Wifi connectivity
Many smart lawn mower designs tend to connect to their mobile apps via Bluetooth. This is fine if you are always staying near the machine. We all know that the Bluetooth signals are weaker when the connecting devices are far from each other.
As a remedy to outcome this issue, the wifi connectivity feature was introduced. With this, you can monitor your mower from anywhere on the globe by just connecting to the internet.
Some robotic mowers do not come with this wifi connectivity feature built-in. For them, there are wifi connectors that can be attached to your mower. You have to buy it separately. It’s not hard to find as both local and online stores sell this device for a considerable price.
4. Virtual assistant compatibility
This feature is also not a common one. But some premium-quality smart lawn mower designs do have this feature built-in.
If this feature is available on your device, then what you have to do is connect the robotic lawn mower to your smart home virtual assistant systems like Alexa or Google Home. And just give a voice command like “Alexa, Mow the lawn”.
5. Security Pin
This feature gives you the facility to lock your smart lawn mower with a pin code just like on your mobile phone. If it is locked, nobody can use it without your authorization.
Important facts that come in handy when using a smart lawn mower
- Try to make the boundary wire perimeter smaller compared to the maximum mowing area. This way the mower battery will not pass out while doing the job. If not you may have to carry back the mower to the charger to get charged and start mowing again. And this will make less of a time-saver for you.
- If you wish to mow the lawn at night then be aware about the noise that comes from the machine is tolerable for you, as well as your neighborhood.
- The smart lawn mower does not know the difference between flower beds, drainage lines, and grass. So please make sure to make a boundary using boundary wire to protect them.
Problems you may face while using a Smart Lawn Mover
Electric lawn mower smoking
This happens mainly because of 4 reasons.
- Worn out engine
- Faulty wiring
- Overheating
- A jammed blade
Each of the above reasons may be the cause to overheat your robotic mower and cause smoking due to heat. What you have to do is to turn off the power of the mower and take it to a repair shop or to the seller who sold it to you.
Are automatic lawn mowers any good
Yes. But it depends upon your requirement. Like lawn size, nature of the soil whether its too wet, dry, rocky, etc…
FAQ – Frequently asked Questions
These robotic mowers operate automatically without any human assistance
Yes. But it is best for a Lawn with grass with new grass. As it is easy to mow compared to very old hard grass.
Yes. If you are a person who feels bored with mowing the lawn every week or like to spend the weekend freely, Then it is worth buying a robotic smart lawn mower.
The price range starts at $1000 and can find premium models up to $5000.
It depends upon the battery power (battery voltage). The higher the battery voltage higher it gives the battery power.
Yes. It can be. But the in-built security features like pin code, and Gps locator comes in handy when tracking back its location.
