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Automatic Lawn Mowers


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OK chaps.  Did a handover of the shed property the other day and gawd there is a lot of grass on the place.  Apparently takes up to 6 hours on a ride-on to sort it out.  Of course that's weekly in the growing season and not much at all in the winter.  At $50/hr for a man and a mower (I'm assuming my time is worth more than that so I'm outsourcing) that's $300 per mow and I'm guessing anywhere between $5k to $10k / annum depending on how frequently it will need mowing.  The Ambrogio unit in the vid is $20k and mows the grass for ya.  Parks up at night on the charging station and goes again the next day with no involvement from you once it's all set up.  If it all works properly, your grass is cut while you earn money or indulge in the pleasures of life.  Over a 10 year period it's $2k / annum so is quite cheap by comparison.  Yes that's a quick and dirty comparison but it'll do for now.

IF IT ALL WORKS PROPERLY.

So, has anyone got experience and views on this technology?  The property ain't no flat domestic lawn but at the same time there are several sections (the bits near the house) where it's not that challenging.

@Redracn you know you know about this stuff.

This thing rocks but is only radio controlled.  3.20 onward for the action.

 

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Or... buy a good ride on and I will come and mow it for you for $200 but it depends where you are located.  I am getting a bit bored with retirement so a weekly mow outing would be nice break up of the week.  Odd how the robot is working where planes land (very odd). I cannot see how the robot could do a property with all its up and downs and trees paths etc to negotiate

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14 minutes ago, tazzieman said:

What does it do if a baby crawls in front?

Cancel your gym membership and listen to Adam ;<)
A brushcutter/line trimmer takes 10% of the time of a mower btw.

Lols and I resent the fact you think I go to the gym. Well played with the thinly veiled insult. I guess if your baby is called Baz it’s bad news.

1 hour ago, Dalai said:

Get a few goats or sheep?

Sheep and Alpacas but only in a few places and certainly not around the house and immediate surrounds.

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Mowing using batteries is a bit of a joke if you need more than a minimal trim over a small area. If you have a real job then you need at least 10Kw so to do it in 6 hours you would use 60Kwh or a battery bigger than most EV’s weighing a few hundred kg. From the area you seem to have I would expect the grass to grow quicker than this jigger could keep up with. Get them to bring it out for a demo or ask where you can see one in operation.

I would get a small tractor (20kw+ With lots of other uses) and a couple of mower attachements. One for the stuff around the house and a big slasher for the rest. I would be looking at getting the mowing time under two hours or fencing some off and returning it to narural bush or slashing less frequently or use grazing animals which can also earn money (but you have to be able to part with them) but also require maintenance both time and money. Not to mention the obligatory boot checks.

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You're missing half the point of ownership of acreage or hobby farm my man. Fun solace and enthusiasm for part of your lifestyle . On my 23 acres I had to choose the lowest cost and quickest method for my time and end result was grab 6 or 7  beers and climb onboard my restored 1960 Massey Ferguson and slasher (purchased $10k and sold for 12k a few years later)  and do 10 acres = 2 hours of hillbilly fun! I let the other 10 acres grow and it stops at about 60cm and could have  had someone come and bail it and sell it if I wanted. The other few acres of grass/ garden had a 10yo Kubota front mow about 6ft deck and that took about an hour - or 3 beers:Beer:. Sold that with the property for what it cost me

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Shibaura SX23 ... did 7 years on 7 acres of grass ,  mowing meditations as my intro to my greener and more spiritual life in Byron  .. if flat ground 34kmh an hour.. how bigs this land ??

Since then bought 3 more Porsches.. taken up more fossil fuels , but happy to give you advice... House sold .. grass .. a distant dream 

Rural grass aint getting cut by no ElectrIc mower...... Just like no E car aint coming to my garage for as long as I can hold out 

First bit of damp grass and length its cactus , first bit of wood dropped from a tree , nada mowing getting down.

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It’s actually quite therapeutic plonking myself on the ride on mower at our friends vineyard, that’s 100 acres of which 10 acres are vines so they take a little longer. Don’t discount just buying a mower and doing it yourself. I could leave it 3-4 weeks between mows, it’s not that onerous....

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@Pork Chops Dude you’ve missed the entire point of ride on lawnmowers! 

1.Let the grass grow long

2. Mow a track in it

3. PFA lawnmower racing at the chops residence. 

My brothers and I did this when we were kids and it was the best!

Eventually  you’ll have no grass to mow, just dirt tracks.

 

 

Ps. I’ve seen the shed thread and now the grass thread, where is the one on the private rally stage, autocross track, hill climb course ?

C’mon, I’ve been watching your insta...you know you want to!

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We had a 96 acre property that had a ~3 acre house block with orchard and vineyard. I used to mow it with the ride on every 3 or 4 weeks. It generally took around 3 hours and a six pack. Put the earbuds in and mow to your heart's content.  The corridors along the 2 rivers were el natural, and the rest, around 65 acres, was sheep and cattle grazing. We had cows, and our neighbor agisted 200 sheep on there.  Pancho & Cisco, the alpacas, had a 5 acre paddock of their own that they kept under control.  Sheep are good. Cattle will wreck your fences. Alpacas are funny critters, but just plain stupid 

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Thanks for all the ridiculous and helpful replies.  All very welcome.

I think it depends a lot on the actual land it's self so I'll get up there and talk to some people and get my head around it.  There are sections to the property and they will all need handling differently.  Some will be let go and slashed and bailed (some years it goes to land fill as no demand), some with agisted sheep (we've got 2 Alpacas needing names so suggestions are welcome), and some near the home that will need mowing.  I'll be up there weekends only for the most part and with 3 young kids I'm not sure many hours on the ride on is what's needed for me, but I could be wrong.  They will be leaving behind a small ride on (unsure of size) and a hand mower so short term I'll try the ride on and more than likely get the bloke who mows to come around and have a chat.  I'm not necessarily convinced the grass around the house can't be handled by an auto mower but like Redracn says seeing is believing, so I'll carefully explore that option before declaring it dead or alive.

22 hours ago, Lucky Phil said:

Or... buy a good ride on and I will come and mow it for you for $200 but it depends where you are located.  I am getting a bit bored with retirement so a weekly mow outing would be nice break up of the week.  Odd how the robot is working where planes land (very odd). I cannot see how the robot could do a property with all its up and downs and trees paths etc to negotiate

If you're in Mt Eliza I'm a 2 hour drive form you, but I like your proposed fee!

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