Robot mowers! Yes or no?

[wouldratgerbeunknown]

Just wondering if one of these would be good? I’m struggling to keep on top of the garden and was thinking one might help.
any thoughts and if a yes any recommendations?

Saw one at Knebworth driving up and down the same bit of short patchy grass, whilst ignoring or avoiding the long bits! My 5 year old thought it was hilarious!

Both my parents and my PIL have robot lawnmowers and they’re really great. We’re about to buy one too.

Oh that’s interesting any recommendations for a particular mower? I don’t want the wires ideally

Not good for wildlife. They can't detect and avoid small mammals, snails etc

I wanted one of these until I saw that they don’t always detect wildlife and can lead to a pretty violent end to a small animal such as a hedgehog. Could you get a local gardening service to do a mow once a month?

Love ours. We just got a cheap one as I wasn’t convinced but it’s in its fifth year now! I would definitely replace when its time is up, with a fancier model probably. Ours has the wires but DH buried them so they aren’t visible at all. I think you can get GPS ones now.

Only get one if you will run it in the daytime to avoid killing hedgehogs at night.

Following

Definitely only in the day time. It’s really hard to avoid frogs in my garden so the thought of damaging hedgehogs is a definite no

https://uk.mammotion.com/products/luba-mini-awd-robot-lawn-mower

We have one of these and love it! It has a camera and avoids objects. It is supposed to be able to detect avoid dog poo so would avoid a hedgehog. Not sure about frogs or snails though. Can't see DH having missed snails with the Flymo!

If you get one without the wires it would detect hedgehogs anyway. We've had one for 4 years and it has never killed any small mammals.

I have been thinking about getting one, as the grass grows so quick and we struggle to keep on top of it. Then when we have time to do it it's raining.
Any other recommendations for a reasonable priced one. Don't want to spend too much. I have no idea how they work. Need to look into it.

There are 3 main types
1 with one continuous wire that basically contains the section that you want the mower to stay within. These go randomly like a snooker ball, rebounding every time they hit the wire. They find their way back to their base to recharge by following the wire back to base.

1 with GPS which you set the outside edge, and then add in any areas you want to block off for flower beds etc. These tend to mow in straight lines up and down so takes less time to mow, and because they are GPS they just tootle back to the base to recharge.

1 with rechargeable batteries which I think bomb it round the garden until they meet something like a raised bed side or a tree and so have to be contained but they conk out when the battery dies and you just take the battery back to be recharged.

My dad got one from the middle aisle at Lidl and said it's great. It has GPS and works really well

No from me, not good for wildlife. See if you can find a local teen that will mow your grass for you instead.

No, they kill or maim wildlife, such as hedgehogs. I have a robot Vac, it's hopeless, can't find it's way out of paper bag and constantly needs to re-map the house. I don't imagine a robot mower would be much better, but with the added risk of harming wildlife.

We've had one for 7 years and it's great. Only runs in the day, on a timer, it's the type with a wire that does random motion. You don't get the neat stripes you do if you mow it yourself, but the lawn is healthier as the chopped tiny bits of grass lie on top of the lawn (which isn't noticeable at all) and it self mulches. The wire is completely covered though occasionally has been cut through when gardening which is a pain.

Never had any dead wildlife in 7 years from the robot mower. The cat on the other hand....