Husqvarna Automower Review Part 2 –The First Cut is the Deepest

Last time we left the mower driving off its charging dock to calibrate itself then set about its first cut (if you haven’t already, then check out Part One).

Before the robot arrived our lawn was freshly mowed using our faithful Rider 15T, our second Husqvarna ride-on mower and one that’s been supremely capable, reliable and a pleasure to own and use.

This whippersnapper will have to perform well to impress us.

The Automower 430X has an RRP of £2,500 but the ride-on mower that it’s currently taking the place of has an RRP of £4,600, so there’s potential for savings in cash as well as time here. Automower prices range between £1,000 and £3,000 depending on the size of the lawn you need to cut.

All robots mowers are mulchers (as is our ride-on). They cut the grass into a fine mulch that falls to the soil, helping to retain moisture and feed the lawn. The Automower in particular aims to cut just a tiny piece off each blade of grass and from all angles.

With a cutting width of 24 cm the Husqvarna 430X is recommended for lawns of up to 3200m² , our 2700m² falls easily within this. It cuts with 3 pivoting stainless steel razor blades and the cutting height is adjustable from 60 mm down to 20 mm.

A Bot Named Elon

Oh, and our bot has a name, Elon, after a certain personal hero (Mr Musk). It also makes kinda sense when spelt as E-Lawn, as in our Electric Lawn mower, get it? Blade Runner was a close 2nd, Robots, Blades, Cutting, Blades of Grass, running round cutting it, never mind, Elon it is 🙂

Get Down

Our dealer recommended we start off by letting the bot work 24/7 in an effort to get the lawn into better shape whilst letting it discover the entire area too. The built-in GPS on this model maps the garden allowing the machine to determine whats been cut and what still needs to be done.

The advice was also that ideally we should get the machine cutting down to level 4. We had to start off at a 6 and set the machine to run constantly day and night. After only 44 hours on the display (into the third day) the family had already noticed a change in the look of the lawn.

After 6 days we used the electric height adjustment to drop to level 5 and ran for another 6 days before finally dropping to our target level 4, where the machine is working now.

Husqvarna say the typical mowing time is 135 minutes before the mower has to return automatically to the dock for a 65 minute charge. We’ve found those figures to be pretty spot on.

The maximum incline it can cope with is 24° (45%) and while we’ve nothing near that if you live on the side of an Alpine slope you should be good (430X dimensions are as follows: H 30.8 cm x L 72.1 cm x W 55.8 cm, 13.2 kg).

Good Progress Already

So after the first 2 weeks the Automower has put in over 170 hours and the lawn already looks noticeably better as we work towards that ‘carpet’ effect. Once everything is right down to level 4 we’ll be able to back it off from its current frenetic pace and set it to a more leisurely schedule with the timer function. In the meantime here’s the second part of our video review (please like, share and subscribe – thanks)…

No products found.

Make sure to check out all 8 parts in this video review series…

Part 1 – The Robots are Coming

Part 2 – The 1st Cut is the Deepest

Part 3 – Perfect Timing

Part 4 – Connect Control

Part 5 – Rain or Shine

Part 6 – Stolen?

Part 7 – I Messed Up

Part 8 – A Tesla for your Garden

www.automowerchallenge.co.uk  :  husqvarna.com

Want More? – Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, or subscribe to our RSS feed. You can even get these news stories delivered via email, straight to your inbox every day.

Last update on 2024-04-08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API