Robomower!

[vijil]

Finally got one after years of thinking about it, a Mammotion Yuka mini

So far, I'm impressed. Everything worked first pop, makes a perfect lined pattern on the lawn, and handles balls and obstacle without issue. It's so quiet I could probably run it at 2am, but as it goes right past the bedroom window you hear it at that point.

The idea with these is that they don't have the grunt or speed of a full size mower, but as it's going 3 times a week and you don't actually have to do anything, it doesn't actually matter. Set and forget - if it runs out of charge during a mow it just returns to base, charges enough, and then carries on.

I got the lawn down short using my regular mower since the Yuka isn't so great in the long stuff, but now that it's started I shouldn't need to touch it.

Oh and you can remote FPV drive it around the yard.

[Chuck E Ducky]

What’s the warranty on it? It’s not likely it’s fixable I assume

[vijil]

In NZ, where I live, consumer protection laws are very strong. Warranties aren't really needed. Anything which is not directly the fault of the user, I'm covered, and the way the law is phrased companies can't even get out of it with fine print. I can't even sign those rights away.

They have a 3 year warranty, technically, and a 30 day no questions asked right of return if it doesn't work well. Not sure what it would be in other countries.

[Blackmagic71]

[SignOfZeta]

This really seems like a toy that won’t last. By that I mean I bought my lawnmower in 2010 and it still does everything as well now as it did new. Will this thing also be perfectly fine after 15 years? 15 years of apparently hard work and three times a week even? It has a kind of iPad/3D printer vibe to it…like it only exists to sell you the next version which they swear won’t have the problems of the last one.

[vijil]

I get it.

Like most things I do it by what my time is worth. Let's say I spend 30+ hours per year mowing, that's a couple grand.

So if it died in a year and they refused the warranty, I could probably still justify buying another.

Like most electronics, if well maintained I expect at most ten years out of it. I'm fine with that, I'm a tech geek so I'll have moved on by then.

[SignOfZeta]

“I’ll be bored with this by then so who cares how long it lasts?”

You have found a way to solve problems of your own creation, I don’t doubt that. It’s the pointless consumer waste that being a self proclaimed tech geek entails that seems problematic.

[vijil]

I don't chuck things out just because I'm bored, ever. They either go to someone in need, or get traded in or sold. I'm fortunate to be able to take the first option most of the time. All in good working order with many years of life left.

So please don't assume I'm wasteful. Most likely I'll give this one away in five years, hopefully still in good order. I'll get spare parts etc. as needed, and I'm careful with maintenance.

In my case when it's electronics that have actually died, I give them to an electronics recycling company.

[autococker04]

My friend has had a robot mower for a year now, not as nice as the one you’ve listed, but he hasn’t cut the grass by hand in a year and I’m always jealous of him.

I’m sure that I’ll be getting something similar when my mower finally kicks the dust. These are something that I can see getting much more anffordable and robust over the next few years, so I’ve got high hopes for them.

[vijil]

Update:

It's slooow

Because it has to stop and charge half mow. I have about 1600 square so far that it mows, and that's a 3 hour job including a recharge halfway. To be fair, that doesn't really matter - it's so quiet and can operate in the dark, so it's practically a non-issue. Even so, I've ordered a bigger battery, which should shave an hour off.

[SignOfZeta]

It will help to drag the job out like that but you’re still doing the same amount of work in the end. If the mower is to only going at half output thats great but if it’s basically mowing constantly to make up for it you’re nearly back where you started. Three times a week at three hours…thats nine hours a week. I don’t even spend nine hours a month on my mower. I’m pretty sure I haven’t spend nine hours all year on my yard…the things probably going to need bearings before it needs a battery…

If you buy a new Tesla and put 100,000 miles on it in a year you’re headed towards premature battery replacement. It will help if you never supercharged it or drove it over 60mph but it’s still 100,000 miles.

[vijil]

It's specifically designed for it. It's designed to handle all weather. So what's the issue? It's moving slow = low impact on bearings etc.

The battery will last just fine - there's a warranty. I can stomach 40% capacity loss before it even effects me anyway.

The lawn looks significantly better, all the time, than it did when I was mowing 2-4 times a month manually.

The warranty covers all the basic spares for 3 years, and a bunch of spares came in the box.

You seem pretty intent on hating this thing.

[SignOfZeta]

Better buy a spare. Min/maxing batteries back to back like that invariably shreds them ahead of schedule.

[Chuck E Ducky]

We use M18 in the fabrication shop on all of our mobile vehicles (Site work). We are going on 7+ years with the same battery’s and we beat the hell out of them. They are often still hot going on the charger. Battery technology has come a long way. The battery’s that do die are often Clips and locking mech issues before anything. They just get so worn they don’t make good contact with the grinders and such.

[SignOfZeta]

But does your shop have the Milwaukee leaf blower? Thats the only thing I’ve ever killed an M18 with. It’s so the only way I can imagine draining a 8.0 M18 in 20 minutes.

[vijil]

The mower isn't operating at a high output.

It does everything... sedately. It takes two hours to do a job that takes me 30 minutes manually.

Battery push mowers operate at max output all the time because they need to be fast, and cut well at walking speed.

OTOH robomowers take their sweet time. I have it on a medium setting - there are options to increase both the blade speed and driving speed, but I see no need to crank it up. The battery is rated at 25.5v, 6.1ah but it must be operating way under output potential. It mows 3 times a week, so the grass is never creating much load.

The battery will need to degrade by about 40% before it stops being able to complete my lawn on a single charge, and even then it's really no big deal - it just extends the time to cut. This doesn't matter because it's silent and can operate at night.