Do you have a robot mower?

[AramintaArrowsmith]

We've bitten the bullet and ordered one. My husband has allergies which are not conducive with lawn mowing

Anyway, if you have one, any tips? We are having an outdoor power source put in tomorrow as I stupidly didn't realise you needed one. Doh!

Ooh following. I'd love one. I assume it needs to dock like a robot hoover? How much was it if I may ask?

@Winkywonkydonkey got a reasonably good deal on amazon. The Flymo easilfe 500 is down to £560 and then there's an extra 10% off it so seemed like a good time to get one

Anyone?!

My husband bought this one from B&Q:

www.diy.com/departments/mac-allister-mrm250-cordless-robotic-lawnmower/5036581062903_BQ.prd.

It does the job, but it can’t cut our whole lawn on one charge, and it cuts its own boundary wires occasionally.

@Tangled123 yes I've heard that the boundary wires can be an issue. We've gone for one which can do our entire garden on one charge though so hopefully won't have an issue of it not doing it all

We have! It is my favourite thing ever now that I've recovered from installing the boundary wire. So my only tip is, allow plenty of time to a) read the set up instructions and b) install the wire. Also, I hate to break it to you, but you'll have to mow by hand one more time before you set up the robot one. Enjoy not mowing from then on!

I’m interested to read the replies. We are thinking of getting one for the house we are building. In fact, I am pretty much designing the garden around it.

Yes we have one and I love it. It comes out a few times a week and is so quiet plus it doesn’t fill our green bins with grass as it just takes the top off and stays on lawn.

@MutteringDarkly why do you have to mow one last time by hand out of interest? I feel I should know!

We have a Flymo one. The instructions were complicated (dh tells me).
If we were to move he would be able to do it much quicker with the lessons learned.
You basically put the guide wire around the perimeter but set in the required distance in and then a guide wire from the furthest point back to the charging base.
I would recommend burying not pegging the wire as ours has cut through it a few times.
Ours also has a kennel to live in and is programmed to come out once a day.

I think it's so things are even, because its first run round is a calibration exercise so it can learn all the boundaries and obstacles? I could be wrong about the reason - as PP said, it's a hefty instruction guide (best read sitting down in the shade before you start).

What happens if you have raised beds all around. Do you still need this mystical boundary wire?

Ultimately we would like one and have put in an external power socket in preparation for having one eventually but at the moment for our sized lawn they are almost £3k which is a lot of money as we wouldn't be able to trade in the ride on as we'd still need it as well.

@Winkywonkydonkey

What happens if you have raised beds all around. Do you still need this mystical boundary wire?

I've asked our in-house expert (dh). He says that you should put the guide wires around things like raised beds. If you didn't, the mower would bump into them and turn itself around but the wear and tear wouldn't be good for it.