Got my Robomower in yesterday from Woot and wanted to write an update. The box was pretty battered and looked like the packing tape that holds the top flaps open had separated from the box, though it didn’t look like it had been opened.
Everything was in good shape in the box. The cheerful yellow unit is fairly large (about 3 feet long by 2 feet wide) and 78 pounds… the battery alone is 28 lbs of that. The electronic unit on the mower states that the total operating time was 0 min and 00 seconds, so unless this thing had been somehow reset, it’s definitely not a return. Some folks had been concerned that the unit is a rev. 1 and doesn’t have the most up-to-date software, but I didn’t have any issues with it. The only thing is that the mower has been sitting on the shelf for 3 years so the battery might be getting old, but Woot buyers can get new batteries with 3 year lifespans for $65. I’ll get one if I need it, but I don’t think I will for awhile.
I spent about an hour spiking the “invisible fence” control wire around the perimeter of the back yard, carefully measuring the distance from the fence so the mower won’t bump into things or go places it’s not supposed to. Once this was done, I took the mower (which had only charged for about 90 minutes) into the backyard (you can drive it there with the blades off) and set it loose. I was a little worried about cutting the winter-brown grass too short, but I put it on its highest setting and it only cut the taller weeds that have sprung up. It was a good way to test it. During the growing season I’ll set it loose every other day or so and let it do its job. This way the bermuda in the back will get the kind of care bermuda is supposed to get.
It only ran for about 30 minutes on the short charge I gave it, and it bumped into the fence and house in a few spots. When it hits something, it makes a funny “boooooing” sound and pauses, tries again, and then switches to random mode, getting off the track but keeping within the boundary. I have to go out and reposition the boundary wiring so it’s a little farther from the edges. Oh, and I tried to run the wire so the mower would travel down the side of our house, avoiding the trash can, shed, and hose reel, but it proved too confusing for the mower. It got bogged down in the small space and had to be rescued. I’ll just unspike and remove that small, 10′x7′ section from the zone and do it with the regular mower. That’s okay, though, because I plan on mowing the front with the gas mower anyway.
Fortunately, though, the mower is able to handle 95% of our back yard with no hassles whatsoever. I ran out of light for the first test and ended up following it around the perimeter of the yard in the semi-dark. It’s even got a flashing yellow warning light. Looks for all the world like Mini-Me’s Yard Zamboni going back there. And it’s really quiet. I can imagine putting it out at night to cut the yard. There are several settings for cutting time. Since it circumnavigates the yard twice and then cuts the middle in a semirandom pattern, it’s best if you give it a few hours to do its work. But you can smash down your grass if you give it too much time, so there’s a timer of between 20 minutes and 4 hours depending on your yard/zone size. I figure I’ll get about 2.5 hours out of this older battery, but that should be about right.
All in all I’m extremely excited by this purchase. I can’t wait for the growing season so I can sit in the cool and watch my lawn get taken care of. Oh yeah, and you can’t beat the price…. It normally sells for $900, with some places selling it for $799, and a few places have it for $599. Our cost was $179 through Woot.com -cheaper than our power mower (which will still get used for the front yard). It was an easy sell since it will alleviate about a half-hour of sweaty work every week. All I can say is, if a fool and his money are soon parted, this fool will be watching a robot mow his lawn while he sits in the air conditioning. This thing is as cool as our Tivo, and that’s saying something.