Husqvarna has already turned heads for creating some of the worlds most innovative robotic lawnmowers. More than just “robovacs for the lawn,” these mowers are autonomous, tireless, emissions-free workhorses that continuously maintain your lawn morning, noon, and night.
But now, their mowers can do even more with the map that they automatically make of your lawn. Called “Rewilding,” your robot mower sets aside 10% of your lawn and just…doesn’t mow it.
Now I know what you’re saying—if you’ve spent a few thousand dollars on a robot to maintain your lawn, then it should be maintaining the whole lawn. Right? Well. Not exactly.
Husqvarna ascertains that, if every European household set aside just 10% of their lawn and let it be populated by local plant species, it would constitute an area larger than the largest European nature preserve. Pretty impressive. But rather than have all that land mass in one place, by having multiple, small rewilding zones everywhere, you improve biodiversity in your own backyard, literally and figuratively.
The Husquarvana app creates a virtual rewilding zone on its own, but you can shape it as you see fit (and as it works with your landscaping and HOA needs). Then you can sprinkle in some local flowers and give bees, butterflies, and other pollinators do what they do best.
So are you ready to stop mowing your lawn, maintain healthier grass, and make your yard more eco-friendly? Yeah, I thought so. These are the bots that are making the magic happen.
How to make a rewilding zone
First you need a compatible automower. In the US the 415 and 435X AWD have automatic rewilding mode…the catch being that these models also require you to lay boundary wire around your property to create a virtual fence. If you’re willing to make your own zone, you can grab a 450X EPOS and use Husqvarna’s latest technology: line-of-sight GPS (Husquarvana calls it EPOS for Exact Positioning Operating System).
EPOS is pretty impressive technology on its own, replacing the tedious and all-too-fallible ground wire boundary system that most robotic mowers use. They work well enough, but it can take a weekend to install a proper boundary and you have to consistently maintain it to make sure there are no accidental breaks in the line.
The Husqvarna 450XH EPOS is a chunky, two-wheeled automower that can handle up to 2.5 acres of lawn on a single charge (more than enough for my postage stamp lot), tackle slopes of up to 45 degrees, and navigates via a local GPS bundle that you install near the outdoor charging station.
Setting up the boundary for the 450XH EPOS that Husqvarna sent me to test was a simple affair. Once the satellite link is set up (you’ll need a nice open space on your property that has a good view of the sky) you connect to the automower and drive it around with the Automower app. It’s kind of like driving a big RC car with your phone. Then you just walk the robot around your property, making your rewilding zone as you go. Pick spots like under trees with exposed roots or by rough terrain that you’d likely have to rescue the mower from anyway.
A bonus feature of the 450XH is pattern mowing. You know those even stripes that the truly lawn obsessed have? That you always wanted but never had the patience for? Well the Husqvarna automower doesn’t mind spending the entire day meticulously pacing back and forth to get a perfect pattern on your lawn. You can even make checkerboard patterns if you want to get really fancy.
The catch is that this isn’t a self-installed device. If you want automowing EPOS goodness, you’ll have to have a professional Husqvarna installer come and do it for you. “But I’m perfectly capable of installing a pole for the satellite receiver and walking a robot around my yard” you say. Except only Husqvarna reps have access to the software that connects their EPOS, all-terrain, and commercial automowers to the Husqvarna servers.
If you prefer self-service, get the 415X listed above (the 435X AWD is also dealer-installed) and set aside some time for laying a boundary wire. The upside is that those automowers can calculate a rewilding zone for you automatically (you just have to add and adjust it in the Automower app). The boundary wire models also don’t rely solely on GPS, which can be finicky at times. One thing I noticed with the 450XH EPOS is that the mowing map looks like my runs used to with my Garmin watch from years ago, where the route would suddenly jag way off the map if the signal was lost.
Should I get an automower?
Having suffered through my fair share of mows this summer already, with the heat index well over 100°, the idea of having a robot take care of my mowing for me is a no-brainer. Paying someone to do my lawn has never been appealing, mostly because I’d feel bad about what they’d have to suffer through. But an automower? I have no problem leaning on a robot that will mow at any time of day in any conditions.
The 450XH EPOS does a good job as well. It’s better at maintaining short lawns than mowing tall grass so it has to run more often. But, again, I don’t have to be out there mowing, so if the bot needs to run every other day, so be it. It does have to be rescued occasionally if the EPOS signal fails (there are a few spots on my property with dense bushes that partially obscure the automower’s line of sight). But that’s not every run and it’s never more than a couple of minutes of coaxing to get the bot back on task. The result is a well-maintained lawn with practically no effort on my part. It even handles the slope that leads to the lake behind my house with ease.
It also has object detection and will avoid sudden obstacles in the yard. If you’re worried about someone walking away with it (which is fair since the 450XH EPOS will run you $5,899) you can set an alarm to go off if someone turns it off or picks it up. It will also lock itself if it’s taken out of a geofenced area around your home.
The biggest issue is figuring out what to do with those weekend hours you used to spend on your lawn.
Find out more about the 450XH EPOS on the Husqvarna website. If you’re looking for something a little less expensive, check out the all-wheel-drive 435X AWD for $2,999 or the 415X for $1,999.
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