HusqvarnaAutomower® 430XH Robotic Lawn Mower, Medium – Large Yards (0.8 Acres)

TLDR: If you're even thinking about robotic lawn mowing, get a Husqvarna Automower - they are stunning and will change your outdoor life. Longer version: I've been using robot mowers for about 6 years now. As a professor of computer science & engineering and a roboticist, I'm always applying technology in automation and quality of life improvements. In 2016, I was deciding between a Husqvarna Automower and a Robomow RS622. At the time, I chose the Robomow, primarily because of the powerful dual 400W mowing motors (old school thinking). And while the RS622 did its job fairly well, its Achilles heel was its unbelievable weight, at over 51 lbs. Inevitably, it'd start tearing up our grass (we have clay soil, and so the heft of the machine in wet areas would cause it to become stuck and rip up the grass, exposing unusable clay), make deep ruts around the perimeter wire, and eventually become stuck at least once per week. In short, it was not quite set and forget. It also chewed through drive motors and gearboxes like a 2-year-old through cake.This spring, our Robomow finally bit the dust with a motherboard failure. I had been hoping to look at a Segway Navimow (RTK GPS tech), but so far, the technology looks a bit immature, and there's something to be said for a company that has spent 27 years refining their robot mowing technology. So, I ordered the Husqvarna Automower 430XH. And oh boy, what a brilliant, incredible difference it has been. If you're on the fence (or have a fence), let me tell you why you need to get this unit.Firstly, the weight of the device is perfectly calibrated. It has enough weight to get good traction from the wheels, but is light enough not to leave tracks or tear up freshly-sown grass. That's right, you can plant new grass seeds without fear of the mower tearing it up. Secondly, I was worried that the pivoting razor blade system wouldn't have enough power to make clean cuts, but I was totally wrong about this; the cut quality far exceeds the old Robomow's, and the overall appearance of the lawn is unbelievable after just two weeks of operation.Most importantly, the device's learning capabilities and operation are absolutely stellar. It's manifestly evident that the company has spent decades refining their positioning and mowing algorithms. The GPS is used to its full potential (I've used GPS navigation from the get-go rather than the manual area setup), and my lawn was completely learned in just a few days. After the first two weeks, the GPS *really* picks up steam, focusing on key areas (you'll see the mower turn around in its tracks to go back to a particular area of interest), and its ability to combine the locations of the guide wire with areas requiring more attention is simply spectacular. I didn't bother to use the manual guidewire distance/areas method (I have two guide wires that I put in), as the GPS-based navigation algorithm is *so good*! The app also does a great job, and is reliable. The old Robomow had a terrible Bluetooth stack which crashed completely every few weeks, requiring a reboot of the mower. In contrast, the Husqvarna Automower uses cell data, which is updated quickly and always accessible from anywhere.We have a complicated setup in our yard - a back yard fence, in which I have cut two "flaps" from the original fence wood, and a couple of strips of grass separated by sidewalks or walkways. I've created an automated motor and microcontroller-driven setup with long-range radios to automatically open up the fence gate flaps when the mower goes out to mow. (With 3 young kids, this is an essential innovation.) This necessitates two 24" narrow passages through which the mower must go, and unlike the Robomow, it handles these perfectly, every single time. Yes, on occasion it'll escape from one area to the next, but don't worry; the GPS knows this, and will either try to get the mower back, or will direct the mower back to the escaped area in the next mowing session by going along the guide wire.Then there's the amazing attention to detail; for instance, the mower will periodically stop the mowing motor and change its direction, ensuring that the grass is cut from both possible rotational directions; the ability of the mower to not have to follow the entire guide wire to its entire length better utilize GPS data is another example of meticulous engineering. It's far quieter than I could have imagined. The Robomow, when cutting wet grass, would compact said grass under the blades, you could hear it even through a second-story window at night. The Automower has no such issues, at all. It's quiet in the wet and dry, and the grass seems to love it either way.IFTTT integration is great. I've written a few rules to expand Google Home interactions, and the sky is the limit as far as weather-based integration, if you want to add it. I have yet to try the "Weather Timer" feature, which has nothing to do with weather, and isn't really a timer - it just changes focus areas based on resistance detected by the cutting motor. Yet, it does such a great job, I haven't turned it on at this point during peak growing season.Installation was easy; just plan out the perimeter wire an the guide wire locations. I was actually able to keep the perimeter wire from the Robomow around our fence without modification; the offsets are exactly the same. However, anything around a path or at the edges that didn't sit next to an obstacle had to be re-wired, which wasn't a big deal. Proper planning will mean a reliable experience. We're even able to mow the thin strip of grass between our sidewalk and the street, which wasn't really possible with the older system we had. Thus, I don't have to pull out a push mower for any main area of grass, ever. Of course, one thing the Automower won't do is edge next to walls or fences; you'll still have to do that, but even a regular mower won't do that either.So, if you've been considering a robotic mower (and I can't figure out why they don't catch on in the United States, everyone should be running one of these!), look no further. Husqvarna's 27-year experience in the field, extraordinary engineering, and simple set-and-forget, intelligent system, will make your grass look amazing, with a constant, perfect cut, and you can stop worrying about failures or issues. While there are other contenders out there, and there certainly are cheaper units, the quality, engineering, and performance of the Husqvarna Automower line is the best you can get.

Wow do I love my automower. It cuts grass that was almost a foot high even though the docs said it wouldn't. Sure, it took a couple of weeks, but it still did it.It's so quiet that you can hear the grass being cut. I never would have known what that sounded like without this mower. It goes all the time, keeping the grass uniform all across my acre and a third yard. Even if it took a couple of weeks to get it looking okay, it cost 1/3rd what it cost to have a professional do it for 1 year. I'll take that trade-off any day.That said, boy howdy do I wish I'd had it professionally installed. I feel like I did an okay job, but it took me several weekends to finish, and I had to rent a powered cable burier to finish in that time. The pros would have started with that day one, and gotten it done in a single day no doubt.The only issues I have are that it can't quite deal with the swampy parts of my lawn: the parts where grass is sparse and the mud is just 10 inches of slick clay. That's not the mowers fault though. Even when I had the yard mowed by a pro those parts he "mowed" with a string trimmer.My only regret is not getting one sooner.Also, my cats find it interesting to watch and follow around the yard.

I rarely review but I order almost everything off of Amazon except for groceries. Our yard care person was supposed to set this up for us but was unable to. Turns out Amazon did NOT ship us the second box. We've made several calls to Amazon and Husqvarna and no one will help. Everyone keeps passing the buck. Amazon says the only way to get the box is to return this one and buy another. But now that mower shows as "Currently Unavailable." We asked for an extension to our return period but they won't give it to us. Husqvarna won't send us the box either. So for now, it remains an expensive piece of junk to us. Very disappointing.