I
had an at home demo of the Husqvarna automower a few
years back.
They work by filling in the space between wires that are placed
around
the edge of the lawn. They have what looks like a stanley knife
blade
under them which "nibbles" away at the lawn constantly - so for a
demo
when the lawn has not had this constant cutting, all you get is lots
of
5-6 inch random cuts in all directions.
The reasons I did not get one were:
1)
They need to be going every day on any decent sized lawn,
you
can restrict the time to only work at night but
it's still not always
ideal. Large lawns will need constant
mowing.
2)
These mowers will not cut up to the edge of the lawn. They have
wheels
which will fall over the edge, meaning
that wires need to be laid a little
distance in. They recommend you lay
edging blocks all around the grass
so the wheels can travel over a hard
surface, or you will have to hand cut
the edge area at least weekly,
often more in the high growing season if
you
don't want to see this edge.
3)
You don't get any nice stripes - it looks like a goat has eaten
your
grass (but unlike a goat it does not give you
milk
and fertilize the lawn).
4)
After winter they recommend a manual mow first, so you will need
a
separate lawn mower as well - this will not
replace your mower 100%.
I didn't have enough cash for 2
mowers.
5)
Some lawn shapes will not work - I have 2 areas of lawn with a
gate
between them - the chance of the device
navigating
the gap on a
regular basis were not high - thus I would
need 2 of them to do it
correctly.
There are good bits though, if you can afford to edge the lawn,
have a second
mower and don't have any odd shaped grass areas with openings to
navigate.
They do keep the grass under control meaning less effort for you, it
reduces
grass clippings and mulches for you as well as keeping the pets
amused for
hours.
You should be able to get a demo before you buy, many lawnmower
places
should be able to do this for you and I would strongly recommend
doing
so. Actually, even if you don't want one - it's good fun to get the
demo :-)
Bov!