Customers ask us: what is the best robotic lawn mower for a small garden? They see a huge range of robotic products on the market and the choice is vast, so how do they narrow it down?

Researching the market

Here at mrobot the team now have many years of experience with all types of installation. We’ve seen many robots working in different situations and we have seen those that work well, and those that don’t. It’s fair to say, that if your lawn is a simple rectangle of level lawn, most robot mowers will do the job. The difference comes with the ability to cope with a few obstacles.  Maybe children’s play equipment, a few individual scheduling requirements, garden ornaments.  Perhaps you want the machine to operate only at certain times, or particular days of the week. You may want to control the grass cutting whilst on your hols.

Some cheap robot mowers aren’t worth it

If you spend a large part of your hard earned income on a robotic mower you expect the product to work successfully for many years.  Unfortunately, the consumer goods market is now awash with poor quality products, made to a price and sold cheaply all over the internet and other mass market channels.  Fine if it’s a cheap kitchen appliance, but terrible if it’s a high tech product you’ve spent hundreds of pounds on.  The product is typically sold without a repair network, without any spare parts available, and has a so called customer service department that never answers the phone.  If you push hard enough, and have a warranty, you’ll probably get your money back, but it will be hard work all the way.

You need to buy a quality brand for reliability

We only install brands that have the product quality, and the after sales backup to ensure reliability for years after purchase.  Often, our customers have already purchased one of the cheaper machines and discovered just how poor the life expectancy is.  Then they discover that there are no parts available. Our replacement installations are definitely not the cheapest option, but they work.  And longevity is built in.  The top manufacturers continuously update software for their customers.

So, product quality is everything when you require a machine to operate every day, in all weather, without fail.

The market leaders are Automower and iMow

After much research, we homed in on two brands. The Husqvarna Automower; they are the pioneers of robotic mowing; and the Stihl iMow.  Both prestigious garden machinery manufacturers who make high quality products, built to last. Automowers are manufactured in the UK, and the iMow in Germany and Austria. We’ve witnessed the production facilities for both and they are not just assembly plants. We’re talking about German and UK manufacturing at it’s best, because they both design, manufacture and assemble.
So, if you want a perfectly trimmed lawn, always, then the best robotic lawn mower for a small garden is undoubtedly going to come from one of these two brands. Because there simply aren’t any close competitors. We have the proof of this, based on years of installation work for both.

The two smaller models in the Husqvarna range are the 105 Automower and the 310 Automower.