Editorial
Robot mower guides
How slope ratings, GNSS obstruction, boundary systems and zone handling actually behave — written so you can judge a spec sheet yourself.
- Compatibility
Robot mowers for a sloped boundary: which models still qualify
You measured the slope where your lawn ends and it is steeper than you hoped. Here is which models publish a boundary rating that clears it, which never publish one at all, and why the headline slope figure does not answer this question.
- Compatibility
Robot mowers for yards with heavy tree cover
If your lawn sits under mature trees, the question is not which mower has the best satellite reception — it is which installations do not depend on the sky at all. Here is what each model we track actually requires.
- Compatibility
Do you need an antenna or reference station, and where does it go?
Many wire-free robot mowers ship with a separate piece of positioning hardware that has to be installed somewhere sensible. Here is what it is for, and which models we track say they require one.
- Compatibility
Front yard, back yard: mowing separate areas
If your lawn comes in more than one piece, multi-zone support decides whether a robot mower handles the whole property on its own or only the part you put it in.
- How it works
How robot mowers find their way: RTK, vision, LiDAR and wire
Robot mowers use several different positioning technologies, often in combination. Here is what each one does, and what the manufacturers of the models we track say they use.
- Buying guide
Measure your yard before you shop: a practical checklist
A handful of facts about your own yard will narrow the field of robot mowers considerably. Collect them before you start comparing models.
- How it works
Robot mower slope ratings: what the numbers really mean
Slope is one of the most misread numbers on a robot mower spec sheet — partly because of the units, and partly because some manufacturers publish two separate ratings for the same machine.
- How it works
Runtime and charge time: reading the numbers without over-reading them
Runtime and charging figures are published for most robot mowers. Turning them into "how much gets mown per day" is where things go wrong.
- How it works
Trees, roofs and satellite signal: what tree cover means for a robot mower
Heavy tree cover is a genuine consideration for robot mowers that depend on satellite positioning. Here is why, what manufacturers say about it, and why we will not rank models on it.
- Buying guide
What "up to one acre" actually means on a spec sheet
Coverage ratings look like the simplest number on a robot mower spec sheet. They are not all measuring the same thing, and manufacturers attach qualifiers that are easy to miss.
- Comparison
When manufacturers disagree with themselves
The same robot mower is sometimes given different specifications on different pages of the same manufacturer's website. Here is how often we have found it, and how to read a spec sheet with that in mind.
- Compatibility
Wire-free or buried wire: what you're really choosing
"Wire-free" does not mean "nothing to install". Here is what each boundary system asks of you, and what the manufacturers of the models we track actually publish about their requirements.