Robot Lawn Mower Reviews - Grass and Gears

Best Overall: WORX Landroid

The people who designed the Landroid almost certainly also have a mind-reading device, because this is exactly what I imagine a robo-mower would look like. I love the orange and black color scheme most of all, but the interesting and futuristic shell makes it all come together. It’s ten out of ten for looks in the case of the Landroid.

The Landroid can handle lawns of up to a quarter acre and is quite capable, actually. It can handle narrow passages and slopes of 20 degrees or less. You can set daily mowing schedules, the size of the yard, and even the height the grass should be cut.

It will auto-return for a recharge and will also run back home if it detects rain. Clever girl.

The Landroid has an algorithm that helps it learn the most efficient way to cut your lawn, only giving it a minimal cut. This is good because it means there are no bags to empty and the cuttings are just a fine mulch which re-fertilizes your lawn. You still need perimeter wire to keep it on the lawn and out of your roses though. Luckily WORX has included 590 feet of the stuff.

This electric mower is apparently quiet enough to run at night, which to me is a huge selling point. Also it will freak my neighbours out, since they’ll never figure out how my lawn stays mowed.
Just like most robot vacuums the Landroid has no WiFi or any other sort of integration with other home automation systems. It’s a real pity, since remote control and programming would have been great. Instead you have to program it directly on the unit.

Customer feedback is mixed though. Lots of people have had minor issues, but the problem comes when tech support is just silent. For a thousand dollar piece of equipment you’d expect better service. It also occasionally stops, gets stuck, and has other foibles that require your intervention.

Here’s my recommendation. If you have a mostly square, mostly flat and relatively small yard the Landroid should give you no trouble. If, however, you have a tricky, large-ish yard with relatively steep grades, maybe look elsewhere.

The Scrooge McDuck Option: LawnBott LB3550

Are you literally swimming in money? Too busy doing that to mow your lawn? Have I got the extravagant robotic mower for you. Just a few hundred dollars short of a cool five grand, the LawnBott LB3550 is a dangerously cool-looking robot.

What do you get for such an extravagant amount of money? Well, this is the only system I have seen that can handle lots of two acres in one go. You also get two additional batteries in the box. That is a lot of mowing.

The LB3550 has a few optional extras that let you customize its capabilities. One of these options is a set of spiked wheels, which will help with traction if your lawn surface is slippery. However, for most people the standard notched wheels will do just fine.

There’s also an optional 3D Direction control package that lets the mower maintain a straight line on a slope, for example. It gives it a better idea of where it is in 3D space and so it can do a better job of navigating your yard.

Like most LawnBotts the LB3550 can handle slopes of up to 25-degrees. Nothing special about that. It can traverse multiple terrains as well such as sidewalks and driveways. Like the other more expensive LawnBott products this one can handle four independent zones where you can specify entry points.

The feature that most justifies the expense of this machine is surely the use of brushless motors. These motors have a far longer lifespans than their brushed siblings. Motor manufacturers say that brushless motors last as much as eight times as long and this is significant because the main wear-and-tear item on a lawnmower is indeed the motor. On top of this they are a bit quieter and use a bit less power. Really, if cost is not the issue brushless is the way to go.

This is also a connected machine, featuring iOS and Android apps, Bluetooth connectivity, and even a GSM module that can send SMSes if you install a SIM card.

If you buy one of these units you’ll certainly be in rarified air and its capabilities are certainly a big step above the other cheaper units here. If you can afford it this is the closest to a “proper” robotic mower that I have seen so far.

Robomow RC306 Robot Lawn Mower

The RC306 is pretty hard to judge based on the info that Robomow provides, because they say very little about it. Standard stuff such as the need for a perimeter wire, or the presence of a rain-sensor and auto-charging. So far, so good. One thing I do like is the fact that you can divide your lawn into zones and have the Robomow tackle them individually, which suggest that you can mow quite a large lawn with charges in between.

Unfortunately, despite saying it can handle grades of 35%, it seems this mower does not perform well with obstructions and such. I see mention of a mobile app from customers, but Robomow itself doesn’t mention it in the product description!

Apparently there is a better replacement model (the RC312) on the way, so if you have your heart set on a Robomow, rather wait for that one.

RoboMow RL 2000 Cordless Electric

This is such an interesting-looking little mower. It looks like other robotic mowers, but then has this big spoiler thing on the front. I don’t know why exactly, but it just makes it look a bit cooler than usual.

The RL 2000 comes with a dock and 750-feet of guide wire. You may see it stated as 1000-feet, but apparently this is an error.

This unit is recommended for yards up to half an acre in size. It can cut grass really low, as low as one inch. The blades are a bit more heavy duty than usual, which is why it can cut so heavily rather than just a daily bit off the top like the Landroid.

There is no WiFi or a remote as far as I can tell, but apparently this guy is pretty easy to program and set up mowing schedules.

There are some issues though. The fact that this mower uses lead acid batteries rather than lithium ion ones is a bit of a problem for me. It has two of them and they have all sorts of issues that lithiums don’t have. The lithiums are lighter, more powerful and generally just a superior battery technology. Apparently the RL2000 also runs the lead acid batteries a bit too low.

In actual performance though it seems the RL 2000 is OK, but as soon as people have any sort of technical difficulty they find it almost impossible to get support. Honestly, poor after-sales support is just unconscionable in a product that costs nearly two thousand dollars. So this is another I can’t really recommend.

LV-Robot Intelligent Lawn Mower

The LV-Robot comes in a variety of colors: black, green, orange, and blue. None of these colors prevent it from looking like an automatic pool cleaner. Yeah, you can probably tell that I am not super impressed with the looks of this mower. For almost fifteen hundred bucks I would expect something that looked a little more expensive and not like it was made from recycled plastic trash can lids.

Nasty looks aside, let’s see why this mechanical trilobyte should cost so much. Auto-charging and rain sensors are standard; everybody has them. So check and check. For the first time I have seen a manufacturer state that the blades will stop if the mover is lifted off the ground. I had sort of assumed that they all had such as safety feature, but the LV-Robot is the first to make mention of it, which now fuels my paranoia.

It can do 0.15 acres on a single charge and 0.37 acres in total, converting from the square meter figures quoted by the company. That’s either very wrong or just abysmal.

It will run for two to three hours and has a cutting width of eleven inches, which also makes me wonder of those coverage figures are right. To be honest, all the material for this mower is written in some pretty broken English, which also doesn’t fill me with a lot of confidence. If a company can charge me fifteen hundred bucks for a complex machine like this they can certainly hire an unemployed English graduate to correctly format and clarify the sales copy.

I have to say that I can see no compelling reason to spend this much money on a robotic mower that doesn’t seem to justify it in any way. It’s lack of ability may simply be an error in translation, but when we’re talking these sorts of prices it isn’t worth the gamble.