Husqvarna Automower Long Term Review

by Michael Satterfield

We installed the Husqvarna Automower just over six months ago, the process was simple and eliminated the need to have a gardener come by each week. The system is sold at Home Depot, Tractor Supply, and of course on Amazon and can be installed by a Do-It-Yourselfer. Husqvarna offers ten models of Automower ranging in price from $1,600 to $3,500 depending on the size of your lawn and features. Installation only took a day and if you are having professionals do the install (like we did) it will cost you between $400-$600 and take them a few hours. Depending on your yard size and the cost of your lawn service an Automower might save you money in the first year of service. You can check out all the different Automower specifications on Husqvarna.com.

The cost of having a lawn service come to the house each week was around $2,000 annually, but that didn't include the damage to the house which seemed to happen regularly, from smashed siding to damaged downspouts repairing the damage the lawn service did was adding up. The lawn service, of course, denied they were the ones crashing lawn equipment into things, leaving us to foot the bill for repairs. Plus Jennifer didn't like the idea of having strangers on the property as she would sometimes work from home and be there alone. You also have the added benefit of eliminating the noise and pollution associated with traditional lawn maintenance.

Like most people I didn't know how well the "new" Automower would perform, I expected a lot of issues with the robot driving out in the street, someone stealing it, or problems with the app not working. While it wasn't 100% flawless, I was surprised by how few issues we did have. So what were the problems?

Firstly a minor one is that the app uses Google Maps for the satellite view of where your mower is and if Google hasn't updated your street it can be off, or in the case of a new house, not there at all. It is unclear when Google will update the view and if that update will be instant on the Husqvarna App. Outside of that minor issue, which is honestly outside of Husqvarna's control the app has worked very well and since anyone with the app and the correct login information can control the mower it makes it easy to give access to members of the family or roommates. During the summer months, the mower was on a regular schedule, but now that the grass is dormant I will manually send it out to mow as needed.

The only issue that has been more regular is the mower has gotten stuck several times if the grass is too thick or it somehow drives itself on top of something it will shut down and requires being rescued. This means picking it up, moving it to a better location, and punching in your PIN code to restart it. The grass being too thick can be controlled by adjusting your mowing schedule and blade height (both done in-app), but the obstacle issue requires either new geo-fencing installation or making sure that the obstacle is high enough that it will hit the robots physical bumpers. We do have to also go out and open the side yard gate for the mower to do both the front and back yards.

We only had one additional visit from the service tech, who just came to check up and adjust the charging station since they sometimes need to be re-leveled for proper docking. Outside of those fairly minor issues, the Automower has been a great tool and has become a bit of a celebrity in the neighborhood as people love to stop and watch it work. As far as security concerns, no one has bothered it, plus with the built-in GPS tracking, even if it is stolen we can see where it is within 20 feet and without the PIN the machine will not work.

If you are considering adding an Automower to your home automation collection, I would suggest having an authorized installer come out and look at your property so they can suggest which machine would be best for your lawn. Ours was installed by the Ace Service Center in Hearne, Texas, but you can find a dealer new you on Husqvarna.com.