Staying on top of your lawn is undoubtedly one of the most tedious summer chores, especially if you have an expansive yard.
Robot mowers take away much of the pain, but as much as we loved the GPS-packed Husqvarna Automower 450XH EPOS, the $5,900 price tag put it beyond the reach of most budgets.
While the company sells cheaper models, such as the $2,000 Husqvarna Automower 415X, EPOS — “Exact Positioning Operating System” — is a killer feature, allowing the mower centimeter-level accuracy and boundaries via satellites without the compulsory use of guide wires to aid navigation.
Now Husqvarna has unveiled its Automower iQ series, all of which feature EPOS and start at $2,999.99 — not exactly impulse purchase territory, but a big improvement for those with untameable lawns.
What’s more, EPOS is improved to deal with problem spots where satellite reception may be weak — areas of dense tree cover, for example. Radar odometry has been introduced, but it also supports partial guidewire installation for especially troublesome spots. In other words, you no longer have to choose between wires and EPOS, and you can have the best of both worlds for an even cut across your garden.
Husqvarna also says that the mowers feature an “upgrade bumper design and larger wheels” to ensure better navigation over slopes, obstacles and other transitions between surfaces.
There are four members of the Automower iQ series at launch. The 410 ($2,999.99), 420 ($3,499.99) and 440 ($4,299.99) differ in terms of the coverage they offer, with garden sizes of 0.5 acres, one acre and two acres supported.
Otherwise, the specs appear to be the same, each capable of cutting between 1 to 4 inches in different patterns from stripes to checkerboards on slopes of up to 50% incline.
Finally, there’s the $4,999.99 Automower 435 iQ AWD, an all-wheel drive model for more flexible navigation on trickier spaces with steeper slopes of up to 70% incline. It also features ultrasonic object detection rather than radar, as included on the other models.
While it gains flexibility, it does lose a little in cutting length, with the all-wheel drive model only operating between 1.2 and 2.8 inches. Its water-resistance rating also drops from IPX5 on the regular models to IPX4.
An exact release date isn’t provided for the Automower iQ series, but the new mowers are coming “this season.” You can join the waitlist on the Husqvarna site.
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