Many years ago I bought a Flymo robot lawnmower and it proved to be an absolute gem. Put the wire in place, rig up the power supply and press start. Simples.

Of course the inevitability is that over time companies have to add additional things to make them seem flasher and of course justify the cost. People like to think that the fancy controls on an app make a difference but in reality this is not the case. The basic fact is that the robot cuts grass and it takes ‘X’ amount of time to do it.

This mower is a case in point.

First the the guff. It comes with a WiFI access point which, for the life of me I fail to see what benefits it brings. Maybe if you like faffing around with apps that pretend to give you incredible user options then fine. The reality is that it’s a gimmick that you don’t need. Plus you have to get the WiFi gateway to a position where the robot can interface with it which, may not be easy.

The Good. Firstly, you don’t need the WiFi gateway thingy and in reality it has limited use. You do all the important stuff via the keypad on the top of the mower. For me this is quite simple. Set the PIN, set operation for each day and the hours which, I have kept the same as my previous mower 0700 to 0600 each day. That’s all you ever need and the rest is fluff.

If you want of course there are a million ways to change the settings for times when you might want the mower parked such as when your children use the lawn. You can also use the table to decide how long each day the mower runs to cut your grass. I didn’t bother because as long as it runs each day for a few hours unless you have something like Sandringham to deal with, it’s enough. A few hours here or there won’t make any difference.

Before you set off on your robotic garden trek you need to install the boundary wire and the charging base. This is easy unless you decide to bury the wire in which case you are in for a bit of hard work. I’ve had a few mowers – I do have a big complicated garden – and I’ve never buried my wire. After a very short while it disappears from sight and finding it again is actually quite hard. If you get a wire break then it’s almost impossible because after a few months the wire is a few inches below the surface. How that happens I don’t know but that’s how it goes.

You may ask how the wire can then break? The bloody mole. My garden was created post house renovation from the spoil I dug out from under my house – don’t ask – and for a long while I had a large lawn that was almost perfectly flat. Then the moles came in their avenging hordes, clearly hell bent on recreating the vison of misery that the Somme presented to the unfortunate souls fighting in that dreaded campaign. I’m quite convinced the serried ranks of moles that I have belong to some sort of battle re-enactment society. Anyway, this means two things. Firstly, they are quiet capable of biting through a boundary wire and if you get someone in to deal with the earth moving blighters he will dig through your wire dead centre regardless of how big your garden is.

So, my once perfect lawn now looks more like the aftermath of a large military battle.

It’s not all bad though because it highlighted an important thing about these robot lawnmowers. Get the one with the front mounted drive wheels.

Let me expand. I have four robots two of which have front mounted wheels and two rear drive. The third wheel on each brand is a small one that free rotates.

If you have a lawn that is perfectly flat and you want to get into every nook and cranny the lawn mower with the drive wheels at the back and the bogey wheel at the front does give better manoeuvrability. However, that small wheel at the front will drop down into every hole, divit, dip and dodgy bit of lawn and stymie the lawnmower.

Much better is this type of mower with the drive wheels at the front. Because they ‘pull’ the mower along they are far more resilient to getting stuck and can get through a surprising amount of poor quality lawn without getting bogged down. Okay, they won’t deal with a meadow but I’ve found that my mole wrecked lawn presents no problem to this mower.

Design. Well, here’s a thing. No matter what the brand name they are without a doubt versions of the same device and they fall into two types. Rear wheel drive and front wheel drive. The casings can be a bit different but the actual machine is the same. This one is a shared platform that goes back to the old Flymo/Husquevarna machine a few years ago. Basically, look for the type of drive you want and then unless you want a specific colour scheme and the add on bells and whistles go by the price. I like this machine a lot because it’s as good as my old Flymo and has a cool design.

Blades. All of these machines use the same type and you can buy generic Chinesium ones on line for pennies. That’s what I do and that means I change them without bursting into tears at the cost.

You will need some boundary wire joiners because at some point it will get damaged. Chances are it will happen a few times when you first install this and there is a slight loose bit which, the mower catches. It’s quite capable of cutting through the wire and until it disappears below the surface or you really have been super careful, then it will get hit in the first week or so.

Cleaning. Once a year I clean mine. They seem to last that long and I give them a good dig out before winter storage.

Storage. These are fitted with lithium-ion batteries and as such you should charge them up before winter storage so they don’t flatten beyond recovery.

Overall, this is a brilliant bit of kit and I only dropped a star because the extra WiFi thing is a bit of fluff that serves little purpose. Just buy the cheaper version without that and save some money. The lawn will be just as well cut.

 

This is an initial review as a still need to install the lawnmower in my garden – which requires installing a wire just inside the lawn boundary to stop the mower going rogue!

Initial inspection did not disappoint, first impressions of a well made product which seems robust. You get all the necessary installation equipment but will need an outdoor power supply – the unit is designed to be continuously plugged in – preferably nearby although you do get quite a long power lead.

The instructions are simple to understand and easy to follow. though it does help if when laying the boundary wire it is done after rain when the ground is soft. Making the connections and installing the charging station needs care but presents few problems with a little advanced thought – at least what the instructions suggest! I’ll update this when installation is complete.

Key factors which make this mower stand out a bit is Its very quiet operation, automatous operation, and associated app. I’ve played around with the app which is very basic but can, of course, be updated over time by Gardena.

So for the moment this looks like a promising product. More to follow and an interim four stars.

Update: I’ve now installed the mower in my garden. The lawn is relatively small and I decided to bury the wire under a centimetre of soil to avoid any risk of the mower cutting it – if that happens the mower simply stops until the wire is reconnected. This took a couple, of hours to do. You need to be careful to avoid.