Amazon Prime Day just passed and one of the most popular purchases of the day were robot vacuums. Some days we might feel like we live in the era of the Jetsons, especially when we learn there is such a thing as a robotic lawn mower. Wait, what? You might be asking yourself. Yes, a robotic lawn mower is actually a thing and you definitely need one.
The Husqvarna Automower is the best-selling robotic lawn mower on the market, and for military families, it offers a unique peace of mind. While many of us live on base and may have our front yards maintained, those of us with fences are required to maintain our backyards. And those that live off-base are often required to maintain all of it. But between TDYs, deployments, and all those “vacations” to visit family members over the holidays the last thing we want to deal with is taking care of our lawn. The Husqvarna Automower takes care of your lawn for you and you don’t even have to be there to turn it on.
Watch here to see the Husqvarna Automower in action!
The Husqvarna Automower: The Robotic Lawn Mower Every Military Family Needs
Military families live a unique lifestyle. Military spouses are often left with the bulk of the household duties, including yard work, because our service member spouses aren’t always home. Between field exercises, trainings, TDYs, TADs, deployments, and just regular workdays, our spouses are either gone or just plain old tired. The last thing they have to worry about is maintaining a yard, especially when it’s not their own.
And when we military spouses are left by ourselves to hold down the homefront, we don’t want to have to worry about the lawn either. During deployments and long trainings, military spouses are often left to take care of everything around the house. The Husqvarna Automower is something that can help take one thing off your plate—mowing your lawn. With just the push of a button (or even asking Alexa or Google Home), you can have your robotic lawn mower do some of the work around the house, giving you one less thing to worry about and reducing the stress that military life puts on us each and every day.
The Husqvarna Automower: How it Works
The Husqvarna Automower is a robotic lawn mower cuts just a little grass at a time to help maintain the look of your lawn. Once installed, either by a Husqvarna authorized representative or yourself, you will be well on your way to a beautiful looking lawn without having to get out that dreaded push mower.
The Husqvarna Automower Installation
Installation is simple with the Husqvarna Automower. The Automower has a power docking station that can be plugged into an outdoor outlet. You will need to make sure it’s in an open space so the mower is able to back out and turn around, usually about 4 to 6 feet of space.
In addition to the docking station and the Automower, you will also need to install boundary wire. Boundary wire helps to guide the robotic lawn mower to the edges of your yard so it is not bouncing up against fence lines. It can also be placed around obstacles like play structures, playhouses, or patios so it doesn’t run over them or constantly bounce off of them.
Boundary wire can be installed one of two ways: using a professional trencher or manually. By using a professional trencher, which can be rented from places like Lowe’s or Home Depot or can be done by a local Husqvarna representative, you will be able to dig the hole, lay the wire, and cover it back up in one fell swoop. With the manual method, you will place the boundary wire yourself using stakes to lay it into the ground. And no worries if you live on base housing—the wire will sink into the ground and won’t be visible or impair any existing structures like sprinklers, and it is not laid far enough into the ground to have issues with pipes.
Once the boundary wire is installed, you can set up your robotic lawn mower manually or using the Husqvarna Automower Connect App.
Setting Up Your Husqvarna Automower
Getting your robotic lawn mower ser up is simple. You can set it up manually, from the mower itself, or you can use the Automower Connect App. The Automower Connect App allows you to keep track of your mower at all times and do things like create a cutting schedule, adjust the cutting height, and even track where your mower is using the map. You can also check to see if your mower is having any issues (if it is “lifted” or stuck on a structure), its charge level, and when the next scheduled cut is going to happen.
When you are installing your Automower, you can set it up with specific details about how you want it to cut your lawn including cutting height, reverse distance (the distance you want it to back up before it starts mowing), and the drive past wire distance (how far past the boundary wire you want it to go).
The Automower Connect App also can also provide you with specifics about your lawn coverage and adjust the cutting amount according to the weather using the Weather Timer. You can also adjust the cutting style where the Automower can sense longer grass and will cut in a spiral motion in that area for longer.
The Automower Connect App
One of the most useful parts of the Automower Connect App, especially for military families, is the ability to schedule your mow times right from your phone. You can easily schedule the robotic lawn mower to mow any time, day or night, for any length of time you wish. It is so quiet that you can run it at night without disturbing your family or your neighbors, meaning that mowing your lawn can be done without bothering your daily activities. However, you can always override your mow schedule by using the app or manually starting the mower by overriding it until the next scheduled cut, or for the next 24 hours. Your service member can even start the Automower when they are away from home (but be careful, they might use this to claim they “mowed the lawn”).
If you are away from home, you can see exactly where the Automower is in your yard using the map. You can start it, park it, and get any diagnostic issues sent directly to your phone no matter where you are located in the world.
Husqvarna Automower Review: Why We Love It
Military families live a unique lifestyle in which one spouse is often left to hold down the fort while the other spouse is away. That means that the normal divvying up of household chores is somewhat non-existent. The spouse that is at home is left to do it all, causing extreme stress and anxiety trying to accomplish that. (Hint: It isn’t possible!) Maintaining the yard is one of those chores that falls on many military spouses while our service members are gone but with the help of the Husqvarna Automower we have one less thing to worry about.
The Husqvarna Automower is the best-selling robotic lawn mower on the market for a reason. It is quiet and won’t disturb you or your neighbors while it is running, it works in rain or shine, and it will maintain your lawn for you. It might even help create a healthier lawn as the short clippings are put right back into the grass, helping to reseed and rejuvenate your lawn.
The Automower Connect App allows you to easily control your robotic lawn mower wherever you are located. Away on deployment? You can start your mower. “Vacationing” back home? Check to see where your robotic lawn mower is on your app. Service member is in the field for a week? Schedule your Husqvarna mower to mow at night so you don’t have to worry about it. A little extra rain last week resulting in longer grass this week? Adjust the height of your mower to cut appropriately.
The Husqvarna Automower is safe to use around kids and pets, too. The spinning plate underneath the mower is coupled with three small, but very sharp, rotating razors. These razors are placed approximately 10 inches from the sides of the mower so little hands can’t get underneath without the mower sensing an obstruction. The Automower will immediately stop if it is lifted, so you don’t have to worry about your kids picking it up while it is running. You can also set up your mower so that it will beep loudly and send a notification to your phone any time it is lifted. And if it senses a solid object like a pet’s or child’s leg, it bumps right off of it.
Important Things to Know about Your Husqvarna Automower
There are some things you will want to know about your robotic lawn mower to make sure that it works the best for you:
- Pick up the dog poop – Heard of the Poopcolypse made by robotic vacuums in homes? The same can happen with the wheels of your robotic lawn mower—but at least it’s in grass?
- Run it several times per week for several hours – This isn’t a once-a-week deal. You will want to schedule your Automower for 3 to 5 times per week at 4 to 6 hours at a time depending on the size of your yard. This is because it can only run for short periods before it needs to recharge.
- Don’t leave it out in the snow – The Husqvarna Automower can run in rain or shine, but if you live someplace where it snows quite a bit in the winter, don’t leave it outside as it can’t be completely submerged in moisture.
- Boundary wire can be purchased online so you can reinstall it when you move– Don’t worry – when you PCS you can take your Automower with you. Boundary wire can be easily purchased online and reinstalled at your next house.
- It can be connected to your Smart Home devices like Amazon Alexa or Google Home – Now if Alexa would just feed your kids, you’d be all set.
- Move any toys out of the yard when it is scheduled to mow – The Husqvarna Automower is smart, but it will run over (and chop up) any small toys in the yard like shovels or naked Barbies.
- It is safe to use with kids and pets – The Automower has several safety features that keep your kids and your pets safe like automatic shut-off and a safety barrier for the blades.
- Keep an eye out for holes made by small animals or by pets – The Husqvarna Automower is great on hills and slopes, but it can get stuck in small holes made by gophers or pets. Be sure to fill those in with dirt.
- You will still need to weed whack – It can do a lot of your yard work, but it can’t do all of it. You’ll still need to do the edging along your fence line, patios, and other solid areas that the Automower can’t reach.
Military families everywhere need a robotic lawn mower like the Husqvarna Automower because it allows you to focus on what is really important: spending time with your family. Having something that takes a weekend chore off your plate is such an amazing thing, especially when our service members are so busy during the week or when we are trying to maintain the home on our own. All you have to do is push a button on your phone or integrate it into your Smart Home device like Amazon Alexa or Google Home, and you are well on your way to a great looking lawn.
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