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Friendly Robotics RL1000 RoboMower Mower and Docking Station

Description: Designed to tackle lawns as big as 16,000 square feet, this RoboMower automated lawn mower can cut the grass while you catch some rays on the deck.

Reviews (6):

I love to mow when I am not home
Reviewer: Daniel C. Slagle Chester, VA USA 09-20-2004
I bought a new house and saw that everyone else in the neighborhood had a riding lawnmower. Having a small yard with not much to mow, in the past, I was not looking forward to spending at least 2 hours a week sitting on my [back] driving around in circles. I started looking for "high speed" riding movers but the cost was astronomical.

(...)
The mower and docking station arrived, from Amazon, in 2 large boxes. Installation and set-up was easily enough and I was "mowing" the front yard the next day. I had the mower set to MAX time but the lawn looked pretty well mowed after about 2 ½ hours. Now in the back yard (much larger area) the grass was long, wet, and has a long slope in it so the mower ran less than 3 hours before it returned to its dock. The lawn looked about 90% done. I was fairly satisfied with that being it is going out again today at 4:00 PM to finish up. "It mows, you don't". Love that!

The only thing I did that took a bit more time for the initial set-up was bury the perimeter wire, in high visibility areas. I did not like looking at the green line. I found this to be quite easy once I taped the "robo ruler" to a lawn edger I already own. I could then easily look down at the ruler and use it as a guide for the 1 inch deep little trench I dug with the edger.

Things that impressed me: There are no "clumps" of grass even when it was mowing during the rain storm. It mows in the rain. :-) It even pulled itself out of a little mud puddle that had formed once it realized it had no more traction in that direction. The speed at which the blades come to a complete stop (< 1 second) if it runs into something while you are manually mowing or you pick up the front.

Negative comments: If you like pretty "lines" in your lawn, this mower is not for you. All your friends and neighbors will ask you questions and/or make fun of you. I suggest you tell them what I tell them, "You do not manually was your clothes. You probably do not hand wash all of your dishes. Why would you WANT to mow your lawn?"

Absolutely no problems
Reviewer: Michael J. Thomas East Amherst, NY USA 09-19-2005
I actually have the RL800 model. As do all the above reviewers. I know this because this model, the RL1000 was only released in 2004 and the above reviews are all complaining about it being out of warrenty. That means they bought there mowers in 2003 or earlier. So please give this review as much weight as theirs. I also have an RL500 and that has been more difficult to maintain. If I guessed I'd bet most of the above problems were with that model.

As for the RL800, this is my second full year using it and its been no problem at all. I've played around with the barrier wires a little this year, but other than that and replacing the blades before the season started its preformed perfectly.

One note of common sense. Sure the mower will mow in the rain. Just like you could walk down the street with a sack of potatoes. But why would you strain yourself like that? Wet grass = heavy motor wear.

And just to be clear my RL500 is also 2 years old and running strong.

Not a very good mower
Reviewer: Gus Loman "Gus Loman" Lubbock, TX 08-26-2005
I spent way too much money on this Robomower to have it break down after two and a half years. The techs at Robomower told me either some circuit board was bad or a motor was. Now they want me to spend my hard-earned money to pay for shipping back and forth to a repair center and also pay for parts and labor. I think I could have hired a lawn service for two and a half years and it would have been less money than this mower.

Other issues with the mower include it getting stuck. It would be going along merrily on the grass than all of a sudden the wheels would start spinning. I would then need to give it a push. When I purchased the mower I thought I would be able to walk away and have it cut. Obviously I cannot do this. Now I have become a Robomower baby sitter. I was hoping for Jetsons-age device but it turned out to be more of a hassle and financial drain than a convenience.

Stay away! Run away! from this product.

BROKE SHORTLY AFTER WARRANTY
Reviewer: Sammy Lewis Pittsburgh, PA 08-24-2005
How cliché for a product to break shortly after the warranty period. Well that is what you have here with the Robomower. Of course the cost to ship and fix the mower is quite expensive. When I purchased this product the Friendly Robotics went on and on about how good it was. Well let me tell you that this is not the case. The product is not even close to worth what it costs. I am going to stick with conventional gas mowers from now on. We all need to protect ourselves from products that are costly with short warranty periods.

Love/Hate Relationship - Mostly Hate
Reviewer: Jeffrey D. Gavern 08-23-2005
We purchased a Robomower less than 3 years ago while living in Upstate NY. We have had several problems with the mower in the 3 year period. While under warranty Friendly Robotics fixed issues but we had to pay for shipping, which is quite costly. We were not able to use the mower for several months because of problems.

Since our mower purchase we moved to Florida and just had grass put in our yard. Just recently the drive motor went out on our Robomower. The mower only has 107 hours of total use (this is since our purchase). We have a small to medium size yard. It takes Robomower three hours to cut the back and the front yard. When you put the numbers together Robomower only cut the grass 35.6 times in our yard before having a major breakdown. Think about that!!! Even the technicians at RoboDirect (Friendly Robotics' repair company) said the mower has very little use. Friendly Robotics refuses to fix the mower at no cost because it is out of the 2 year warranty.

For the money we paid for Robomower we could have purchased a very good push mower that would last us up to 10 years without any problems. This is what we are going to do now.

When Robomower works it is wonderful. I like the convenience of being able to do other things while my grass is being cut. However the cost and poor durability of Robomower are powerful negatives.

We highly suggest you stay away from this product until they are built better, have closer repair centers and a longer, better warranty.

Nice convenience if it works.
Poor durability. Too costly. Need better warranty. Not built well.

DO NOT PURCHASE THIS ITEM. The durability is a real issue. It becomes much too costly to maintain this poorly built mower.

What an inconvenience!
Reviewer: Jimmy Torrence Greensboro, NC 08-22-2005
Unfortunately for me this mower has been a major pain. I bought it to save time and energy. It does neither for me. As some other people have stated the wheels will got stuck in small ruts in the grass and just spun. I had to constantly watch the mower as it cut. When it got stuck I needed to go give it a shove. It took over 2 hours for this mower to cut my lawn. This meant I was stuck watching the mower from hell. My intent in purchasing the mower was that I could push the button and walk away and do other things. This was not so.

You may have noticed that I used the past tense in the above paragraph. The Robomower finally broke down. As stated by others, the warranty period has expired. It is too costly to ship and fix, also it is not worth it for me to even use this mower. Purchasing this mower was like plopping down a lot of money on a Vegas craps table. You role the dice and, snake eyes, your money is gone. It was not worth the risk.

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