What Is the Best Way to Install a Robotic Mower?
Buying a robot mower is a real gamechanger for anyone with a lawn. This applies whether you’re a homeowner with a modest patch of grass or business responsible for maintaining more extensive grounds. The reason is that robotic mowers operate completely autonomously to cut your lawn for you, allowing you to concentrate on more enjoyable or important tasks.
However, before these automowers can get on with their work, they need setting up. So, to give you an idea of what this involves, we’re going to talk you through the robot lawn mower installation process, from start to finish. We’ll begin by naming the best people to install your robot mower for you. We’ll then advise what you can do, in advance of installation, to ensure everything goes according to plan, before explaining exactly what a robomow setup involves. Finally, we’ll show you the best robotic lawn mowers for sale, to help you decide which is the right model for you.
Who Should Install My Robot Mower?
In theory, anybody can install a robot mower but, in practice, it can be a complicated job, so we strongly advise you to hire professional help. And we have no hesitation in saying the company that provides the best robotic mower installation service is us.
This is by no means an idle boast because, within our company, we have unrivalled robot mower knowhow, covering all of the leading manufacturers’ ranges of machines.
What’s more, our primary focus is centred around our customers’ needs, from the moment you contact us with your initial robot mower enquiry, right through to its successful installation and beyond. We believe in always being flexible, so will offer you our advice based on your own circumstances and goals, rather than pigeon-holing you based on a set of preconceived ideas.
What Happens First?
When you contact Garden Machinery Direct to buy a specific robot mower, or to seek advice about which one to choose, we will ask you the size and style of your lawn. From this information, we can then ascertain whether to conduct a pre-installation inspection or install the robot mower on our first visit to your home.
In the case of a pre-installation site visit, we will discuss where to locate the robot mower’s charging station and, if applicable, the most effective position for a GPS reference station, which will need a clear line of sight to a satellite signal. We’ll talk you through anything else that’s relevant to the robot mower’s future successful performance too, including whether or not it might benefit from any minor modifications to your garden. In these cases, you can either make the changes yourself or we can send out an engineer to do the work for you.
And if we think your requirements would be better served by choosing a different type of robotic mower to the one you originally had in mind, we’ll have no hesitation in recommending one to you.
At this point, we will also let you know how long the installation process should take. Generally speaking, if you have a small lawn, it will be roughly half a day. A larger, more complicated lawn takes a full day, and in very rare cases may extend to a day and a half.
Afterwards, in the runup to the robot mower installation day, there are a few simple things you can do to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible…
What Should I Do Before Robot Mower Installation?
Before installing a robot mower, the first thing you need to do is ensure you have an outdoor power supply. This should include a plug socket for the robomow’s charging station and (if you choose a GPS-enabled mower) the reference station. While we are more than happy to advise you about where to install your plug sockets, we do not offer an electrician service. Therefore, you will need to arrange this separately.
In the immediate runup to installation, you should also look to mow your lawn to a manageable height. Remember, 
robotic mowers are designed to keep a lawn well maintained on an ongoing basis, not to cut very long grass. Once done, if necessary, it would be useful for you to remove the grass cuttings from your lawn too. This will help us bury any wires with minimal fuss.
You should also remove minor obstacles, like the dog’s toys or goalposts – again to help us install any wires. And once your automower is up and running, don’t forget that although its sensors will help it avoid these types of obstacle, the areas underneath them will remain uncut.
The Day of Installation
On the day we install your robotic lawn mower, we take care of absolutely everything for you. This includes unboxing the product; setting up the charging and reference stations; marking the boundaries of the mowing area(s); mapping any ‘stay-out’ zones, like flowerbeds and ponds; and downloading the manufacturer’s app to your mobile device.
Throughout the day, our installers will treat your lawn with the utmost care – exactly as if it were their own.
Automower Wire Installation
Naturally, robot lawn mower boundary wire installation makes the process slightly more complicated than if the mower purely operates using GPS signalling. In these cases, we use a specialist cable-laying machine to insert both the perimeter and guide wires. This machine is designed with a hardwearing carbide metal drill bit, which makes a high-precision cut in your lawn. The wire is then inserted into the soil behind the drill bit, one and a half inches deep, using a knife.
And there’s no need to worry if you have an irregularly shaped lawn. Our automower installers and their cable laying machine can fit the necessary perimeter and guide wires in any shape or size of garden.
(We advise you to film the automower boundary wire installation, so that you know exactly where the wires are located should you choose to redesign your garden or move home. Plus, if you ever decide to place a marque (or other temporary structure) on your lawn, you’ll need to know the guide wires’ positions in order to avoid them.)
After-Installation Care
Once our experts have successfully installed your robotic mower, they’ll invite you onto the lawn for an official handover. This involves demonstrating how the robot mower works and showing you how to use the manufacturer’s app. Once you’re completely satisfied with everything, we’ll be on our way, but our door always remains open to you in the future, should you have any questions or require further advice.
What If I Choose to Install the Robot Mower Myself?
If you buy one of our robotic lawn mowers and decide to install it yourself, we’re still happy to offer you our expert advice. And once you’ve done the job, you’ll benefit from our full after-sales service too. So, if you encounter a problem, we’re still on hand to help.
The leading robot mower manufacturers also provide their own online advice tailored to DIY installations. For example:
Husqvarna Automower Installation
STIHL iMow® Robotic Lawn Mower Installation Guide
Which Robot Mowers Are Best?
We sell robotic lawn mowers suitable for any size and design of lawn, catering for both domestic and commercial users. This includes models that need perimeter wires and those that only use virtual boundaries.
The brands we stock are Honda, Husqvarna, Segway and STIHL, whom we consider to be the four best manufacturers of robot mowers. These four companies all produce their own specific ranges of automated lawnmowers, with models available to meet the needs of different areas of the domestic and commercial markets. As you might expect, the individual mowers’ capabilities and price tags reflect their respective target markets.
You can find out more about these robot mowers in Your Essential One-Stop Guide to Robotic Lawn Mowers.
And the Easiest Robot Mowers to Install?
We are huge fans of Honda Miimo, Husqvarna Automower®, Segway Navimow, and STIHL iMow®, and would have no hesitation in recommending any of these ranges to you. You can find them all within the Robotic Mowers category of our website.
However, if you’re a homeowner looking to set up the robomow yourself, Segway’s Navimow i Series robot mowers, which operate using GPS signals and virtual boundaries, are probably the easiest to install. The company’s brand-new X3 Series of robotic mowers, which are now available to pre order through us, promise a similar user-friendly setup.
Get in Touch with Us Now!
If the idea of hassle-free, fully automated lawn mowing appeals to you, why not get in touch with our Robot Mower Experts today? What these guys don’t know about robot mowing isn’t worth knowing, so they’re in the perfect position to answer your questions and help you take the initial steps on your robotic mowing journey.
And if you live within 100 miles of Hereford or Worcester, they’ll also be able to visit your home for a pre-installation inspection and to install your new robomow for you.
