Comparison of Robotic Mowers

[jzawacki]

Well, I'm waiting for additional information, but I did get a response from that museum that had an automower on display.  They say the same things I've been saying.. "It works great, when it works".. they have had theirs for over 5 years but are on their second mower.  Only issues they have mentioned has been with sensors.  And they mentioned that it takes a "tech" to be able to work on the bot.  I responded with some more questions, and mentioned that I am a "tech" and it doesn't help with motor failures.  I also asked why they are already on their second bot, but I don't know if the first one was replaced under warranty, or if they had to purchase a new one.  If they had to buy it, it would make me think the automower is even worse.. At least I am still on my first one.   

[Jerry]

I just got a chance to get back on the forum and I guess I could only think of a few other benefits for the Automowers that I haven’t already listed.
You can set a different weekend schedule from the regular week schedule.
The Automower does not come with a charging base cover but they do offer one that completely encloses the mower inside of it and when the mower comes out to mow it stays open until the mower goes back in to charge.
The blades are supposed to be changed out more often then the Lawnbott but when you buy a large quantity of them it comes out only costing $3.50 for a set of three blades and screws. 
I think it would be very easy to find cheap aftermarket batteries because there are a lot of rechargeable NIMH battery packs available(If there is enough room you could use higher capacity batteries so that mower would have even longer run times with it’s already very short charge times).

It’s good to hear some information from a place that owns a Automower. Sounds like the Automower might have a common problem with bump sensors like the Lawnbott.

[jzawacki]

The blades are supposed to be changed out more often then the Lawnbott but when you buy a large quantity of them it comes out only costing $3.50 for a set of three blades and screws.

Are the Automower blades not able to be sharpened?

[Jerry]

The Automower blades look like they are basically razor blades with a hole drilled through them. I don't see a problem with sharpening them but by the time they need to be sharpened there is a pretty good chance they would be nicked up from hitting branches.