Segway brings a sub-$1,000 smart robot mower to the US
https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/19/24105936/segway-navimow-i-robot-mower-price-release-date-specs
>AI-powered Segway Navimow
>>AI Cheese Grater
hhh
Now we're getting somewhere!
<+>
>navigate autonomously without a boundary wire
>app
These are red flags. So far, the models that tout this are dependent on the manufacturer's cloud and cannot function local-only. Sooo, if the mfg goes belly-up or withdraws from the mower market, you have a $2-3k lawn ornament.
>red flags
This is really good to know. Thanks for the translation RC.
The underlying, fundamental issue is whether the mower mows in straight lines (uses less battery to cover more ground BUT needs more sensors, software, gps, & cpu) or uses an algorithmic pattern to criss-cross the yard until everything is mowed (needs lots of battery, weighs more, sloooow completion of task).
>flags
Do not take those as absolutes. I think it is possible to have an autonomous mower capable of local-only BUT Debbie says that the manufacturers are eyeing that $weet, $weet user data.
Here is another:
https://www.kress.com/en-gb/
does work in shaded areas by dead reckoning.
Kress mower page, near the bottom:
Each antenna of our exclusive network covers any number of lawns within an up to 60 km radius area.
I am not gonna lie. I'm looking HARD at a robot mower. I hate mowing. Hate it. And paying a ton for it to get it done right now.
The one that would work the best for me is the $11K one. I suppose though, I could just get the little one and just have the mower running all the time and get a certain section of the lawn done every day.
Iains Kress is more efficient than the old Husq, as it goes in straight lines, so has a smaller battery. The old one had the battery replaced, as it did so many hours. He has about 0.75 acres to mow. The battery was quite expensive when it was replaced..
I think I would have paid out the same in the last 6 years getting someone else to do it. (£3k every 6 years, no more than 10 times a year, £50 per time (Max) once every 2 weeks over less than half the year so 10 times.)
He borrows my mower at the start of every season too :)
Any way I figure it, a bot mower is more expensive than a mowing service. On top of that, I'm afraid that I'd have to be continuously fiddling with maintenance, clean the blades, checking why it failed to dock, etc.
>>more expensive than a mowing service.
Heretic.
>mowing service
If you can find one. Around here the mowing companies all got hit hard with manpower shortages post-covid pandemic and have only partially recovered. Plus many of the individual, Hispanic yard guys working alone or in pairs that you paid in cash have disappeared.
>more expensive
My gut tells me you are right. Robot mowers are still expensive compared to a gas mower, the technology is not yet proven for American lawns and I think one would be constantly fiddling with the bot. I'd also worry about theft or vandalism.