I've been considering buying one recently, and want to see if anyone here has experience with them. It's about time to get a new mower (Want to leave my 8 year old gas mower at the 'ranch' and get one for the house). My yard is too small to justify a rider or zero turn, but I'd love something wider than the 22" I currently have. That doesn't leave much I'm the way of options, and they're pricier than the standard ones. So, I figured why not check these out. Mowing in this heat kind of reinforces the thought!

Found this thread from 2019:
https://texags.com/forums/30/topics/3041481

I assume that they've come a ways since then?

I can say in advance that, no, I really don't want to just hire someone else to do it (I prefer to mow more than once a week, because it grows so damn fast now that I actually have a yard with decent soil). I don't mind weed-eating (I like that I catch problems earlier when I mow myself, and this will keep me aware I think). And, finally, I don't have to edge, due to the way my yard is laid out. I do have dogs, and assume I'll have to pick up their toys more frequently. No kids at home. I have one steep section that might give it problems, and the yard is pretty bumpy from sod laid last fall (I plan to bring in some sand +/- loam to help with that at some point). What am I missing?

Hodor said:

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I've been considering buying one recently, and want to see if anyone here has experience with them. It's about time to get a new mower (Want to leave my 8 year old gas mower at the 'ranch' and get one for the house). My yard is too small to justify a rider or zero turn, but I'd love something wider than the 22" I currently have. That doesn't leave much I'm the way of options, and they're pricier than the standard ones. So, I figured why not check these out. Mowing in this heat kind of reinforces the thought!

Found this thread from 2019:
https://texags.com/forums/30/topics/3041481

I assume that they've come a ways since then?

I can say in advance that, no, I really don't want to just hire someone else to do it (I prefer to mow more than once a week, because it grows so damn fast now that I actually have a yard with decent soil). I don't mind weed-eating (I like that I catch problems earlier when I mow myself, and this will keep me aware I think). And, finally, I don't have to edge, due to the way my yard is laid out. I do have dogs, and assume I'll have to pick up their toys more frequently. No kids at home. I have one steep section that might give it problems, and the yard is pretty bumpy from sod laid last fall (I plan to bring in some sand +/- loam to help with that at some point). What am I missing?

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I randomly saw a few of these in action when in Ireland of all places. 2 where at a hotel we were staying at and were Husqvarnas. One was this bad boy: https://www.husqvarna.com/us/robotic-lawn-mowers/automower-535awd/

This was for about 1-acre plus and decently steep terrain. Looked like they were doing a good job.

Trying to recall what the other one was, also at another hotel. I keep toying with the idea of these as we have an acre of bermuda, gently rolling and only edging would be around pool and fence.

My hunch is these are finally getting to the point of battery power plus reliability is getting to the point of affordability, but they still pricey.

The Husqvarna line is probably the top of the industry today but I would hold off for a couple more years if possible because there are several new entrants in the market and they need some time to iron out the kinks in their hardware/software.

Here are two examples of new mowers:

EcoFlow Blade: https://www.ecoflow.com/us/blade-robotic-lawn-mower

Mammotion Luba: https://us.mammotion.com/products/luba-awd-3000-perimeter-wire-free-robot-lawn-mower

It seems everyone is trying to figure out this market. Here is a pretty complete list of companies with robotic mowers:

Husqvarna
Robomow
WORX
McCulloch
Redback
Ambrogio/Wiper
Honda
Gardena
John Deere
Bosch
Stiga
STIHL
Yard Force
Toadi
IRobot
Volta
Kowoll
Mammotion
Ecoflow
Hookii

Thank you for the information!
I had a husqvarna crew out to look at the yard, but haven't gotten a quote back yet. I definitely will look into some of these others before pulling the trigger. Quick glances at your links on my phone were very interesting!

I don't own one so I can't give any recs.

Bumping this thread. I bought a Luba during their labor sale for $2,500. I have 1.5 acres to mow, weird shaped lawn, and on on a hill (a few steep parts that make it tricky for my riding mower).

It's been amazing for what I need it to do and saves me probably 2.5 hours a week, but I wouldn't buy it if I had <0.75 acre or had significant tree coverage (that probably goes for all RTK mowers).

Most important thing is ensuring the RTK station and Luba have good visibility with the sky to pick up satellite signals. I have probably moderate tree coverage and it will occasionally tell me it lost signal for 1-2 minutes then figure it out again. It takes about 9 hours of mow time to do the entire property on a fairly imprecise setting. I still need to edge the lawn (if I want to). I've had to intervene a couple of times when it a small stick jammed the blade disk and when it got gucked up after I had it mow some wet, taller than advised grass (first day, was trying out it's capabilities).

How do you think the Luba would do on this lot?

We're under contract to buy it and the existing owner uses a zero turn. It's 1 ac exactly so it's probably at the end of what I would consider viable for my walk behind mower.

Luckily all the grass died in the drought so I'll only have weeds to deal with until next spring.

I think it would do great provided the RTK signal has clear sight to the sky (either on the roof or a good distance from the house/garage). I would guess you would have issues if you set it up between the house and the garage. You might be okay if you put it out by the light on the porch. Once you get it set up you can see how many satellites both the Luba and the RTK station are picking up. 30+ is good, 25-29 is okay, 20-25 is fair, and <20 is poor. It does vary a bit based on time of day and weather. When I first set it up, it was a cloudy, evening and the RTK station was getting 25-29 satellites. On a clear day it will get ~35.

My Luba will dip into the 20-25 category within 3-5 feet of my house and certain denser trees, but it hasn't gotten stuck due to poor signal quality.

The trees shouldn't be an issue. I have quite a bit more and have not had significant issue with them.

I ordered mine on Amazon so I'd have 30 days to test it out and return it if there was an issue.

I think the light pole in the back yard might be a good location for the RTK station, but my biggest concern is whether the RTK signal will reach around the metal garage or directly in front of the house.

I would be surprised if the house caused an issue. Our lot is 200 ft along the street X 450 ft with the house and backyard in the back 1/3 of the lot. I put the RTK in the backyard for now probably 35 ft behind the house. It doesn't have issues connecting with the Luba when it's in the front lawn 350-400 ft from the RTK station.

I can't speak to how it would do going through the metal garage.

Need an update on your Luba.

Still happy with it and saving me lots of time.

I've run it every sunny day the last month. My lawn went from being a bit of an eyesore to looking reasonably well maintained. My yard looks great with nice stripes. I still need to edge the around the house, but would have to do that anyways. It takes Luba 2 days to do my the entire 1.25 mowing area once because I only mow between 10am-7pm and wet grass clogs the rotary cutter. It mows for 2 hours, charges for an hour, then goes back out.

I haven't had many reception issues with Luba, the RTK station, or between RTK & Luba other than one small patch of my back/side yard where there is a home on one side and a row of mature trees 30 feet from the home. I had to intervene in this area a couple of times when it (1) stopped due to poor signal at the Luba and (2) it got stuck trying to go around some rocks and into a flower bed (I guess I set the map too close to the flower bed in an area of mediocre satellite coverage). On (1), I probably intervened a little too quickly because I've gotten other notifications that Luba stopped due to poor signal and figured it out & continued 5 minutes later. You can tell it has a less precision in this area and if I set the space to have minimal overlap, it may miss a small sliver of grass. I haven't had any problems since I adjusted the map and now set it to run with a 6 inches of overlap. I'd be very careful to give it a good 6 inch buffer next to a curb or street.

I had one other time I needed to intervene where I have a narrow (4-5 feet) passageway between my back and side yards and Luba couldn't figure out how to get past a fence post (similar issue where I mapped the mowing area too close to the fence).

I've read some reviews on reddit about Luba not being as waterproof as previously thought. If there is a chance of rain, I bring it in the garage and have a shower cap over the RTK station. I only set it to run if there is no rain in the forecast. I'll probably build a small garage over the charging station.

Overall very good so far once I fixed the map to give it more space around sensitive areas.

Thanks for the update.