Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41866 in Home Improvement
• Brand: Friendly Robotics
• Model: RL850
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 26.00" h x 13.00" w x 34.50" l,

Features

• Automatic lawnmower designed to mow entirely by itself
• Efficiently and safely mows lawn, while you relax
• Cuts up to 10,800 square feet on a single 24-hour charge
• Onboard sensor and bumper avoids obstacles; built-in child safety lock; powerful mulcher
• 5,800 rpm blade speed; 2-year warranty

Amazon.com Product Description
The Friendly Robotics RoboMower Automatic Lawn Mower is a fully automatic lawnmower designed to mow your lawn entirely by itself. The fully-automatic mower travels across the lawn in a crisscross pattern, covering up to 10,800 square feet on a single charge while you relax on the porch. The RoboMower works by mowing within a selected boundary outlined by a small wire (the unit includes 500-foot perimeter wire). Its navigation system can handle any lawn, regardless of shape, slope, or obstacles. It is capable of mowing 3/4 of an acre on one battery charge. Because the mower is rechargeable, it doesn't need gas or oil, and emits no pollution and little noise. However, it's still as powerful as conventional mowers, employing a battery-powered 3-blade, 21-inch powerful cutting system equivalent to a 5-1/2 HP gas mower, but with better mulching and a 5,800 rpm blade speed (double that of a typical gas unit).

The Triple Chamber Mulching system compacts grass into small clippings that decompose naturally on the lawn, improving your lawn's health while lightening your workload. The mower also comes with a host of safety features, such as a child lock and a detection system that automatically turns off the blade if the mower is lifted. It also includes a user-controlled theft protection and disabling system using a personal password. The mower comes with plenty of oomph, completing about three hours of mowing with a single 24-hour charge. The RL850 is also upgradeable to the RL1000, which comes with a programmable docking station. The RL1000 will automatically depart and return to the docking station at preset times to mow the lawn--even at night while you're sleeping--adding yet another level of convenient operation. A 2-year warranty is included and comes complete with 2007 generation software.

Amazon.com Buying Guide
Five Tips for Buying a Mower
Choosing a lawn mower is a matter of sifting through a bewildering array of types, power ratings, and fuel sources. Let’s break it down a little to make the process easier.

What types of walk-behind mowers are there?
There are four basic choices: push reel, electric, cordless, and gas. All have strengths and weaknesses.

• Push reel mowers are powered by you. They’re quiet, they don’t need cords or recharging, and they don’t pollute. But on large lawns, you might not want the workout you get when using a push reel mower. They also tend to be less effective on grass taller than two inches.
• Electric mowers need to be plugged into an outlet to power them, which means you’re constrained by the location of power outlets, the length of your power cord, and any obstacles that may snag the cord. If you have a small yard but don’t want the forced exercise of using a push reel mower, an electric mower may be for you.
• Cordless mowers are powered by a rechargeable battery. You don’t have to deal with the hassles of keeping a cord plugged in, but battery life becomes a constraint. Depending on the battery capacity, the size of your yard, and the height of your grass, you may not be able to complete your mowing job on one charge.
• Gas mowers offer the most power, which is best if you’ll be mowing tall, dense grass or if your yard is larger than 2,000 square feet. But you will have to keep gas and oil on hand as well as keep the engine serviced.

What do all the power measurements mean?
All that matters to you is whether the lawn mower’s blade will spin fast enough to cut your grass. Unfortunately, mowers are rated in far more technical terms.

For gas mowers, there are three power measurements you may see:

• horsepower (hp) refers to the amount of power the engine can produce;
• torque is the amount of horsepower that is transferred to the blade;
• cc (cubic centimeters) is another to measure an engine’s power based on the displacement volume of its cylinders.

There also are two types of engines: two-stroke (also referred to as two-cycle) and four-stroke (or four-cycle). Conventional wisdom is that two-stroke engines offer more power but also more pollution.
For electric and cordless mowers, power often is measured in volts, amps, or watts. To satisfy your inner techie, here’s how to calculate the horsepower:
47. Multiply the volts by the amps to get the wattage.
48. Divide the wattage by 746 to get the horsepower.

More horsepower doesn’t always mean more cutting power. That’s why, starting in 2007, most lawnmower manufacturers began rating walk-behind lawn mowers in torque power or cc’s--not horsepower. If torque isn’t available for a gas mower, higher cc figures usually mean higher torque (and more fuel used per stroke, incidentally).

However, you don’t want to buy a mower based on the power measurement alone. Make sure it has the features, warranty, and quality of reviews you’re seeking.

What features should I look for?

• Cutting Deck
  This refers to the blade housing. The wider the cutting deck, the fewer passes it will take to mow a given area. However, consider how many obstacles there are in your yard. The wider the deck, the tougher it may be to fit the mower into tight spaces.
  

• Mulching and Bagging
  Want to collect your clippings? Choose a mower with a rear- or side-bag option. Want to leave clippings on the lawn as fertilizer? Get a mower that mulches. A "3-in-1" mower will mulch, bag, or side-discharge.
  

• Wheels
  Larger wheels mean easier handling, especially over rough terrain. If you can, go with at least 7-inch-diameter wheels in the rear--larger if your yard is hilly or uneven. Some higher-end mowers have front wheels on casters, which gives you an extremely tight turning radius.
  

• Height Adjustment
  Most mowers allow you to adjust the distance between the blade and the ground. Think about how much range you really need.
  

• Safety
  Many newer rotary machines are available with a lever or bar that must be depressed to keep the mower running (some models include a handy blade-brake that lets you release the lever without killing the engine).
  Also, look for models with a rubber flap at the back to block objects thrown from the blades. You should always wear safety goggles when mowing and follow all the manufacturer’s safety instructions regardless of the mower you’re using.
  

• Batteries
  If you’re buying a cordless mower, think about how long it will run on a single charge. Most batteries take several hours to recharge, so you want to make sure it’s going to get the job done before it runs out of juice. As a rule of thumb, a typical 24-volt mower will run up to one-and-a-half hours and cut up to a third of an acre; a 36-volt mower will go for three hours and cut up to a half an acre.
  

• Cord holder
  A cord holder is useful for keeping the cord of your electric mower out of the way when you make turns.
  

• Starters
  Gas mowers are available either with recoil (pull-cord) or electric starters. Newer recoil motors start much quicker than those you remember from summers past. However, go with electric if you can afford it: your mower will start with the push of a button or the turn of a key.
  

• Self-propelled or push?
  A self-propelled mower moves forward without you having to push it. All you have to do is steer. If you have a relatively flat lawn, save a few bucks by skipping this feature. However, if your landscape has a slope or an irregular contour, a self-propelled model may be the best choice. Rear-wheel drive tends to offer better traction.
  

• Variable Speed
  If you want a self-propelled mower, look for models with variable speed. This feature allows you to make adjustments within a continuous range so you can find the exact speed that’s comfortable for you.

What servicing and maintenance is necessary?
Always buy a mower that comes with a manufacturer’s warranty and follow the manufacturer’s routine maintenance instructions for

• Cleaning the mower after usage;
• Keeping the blade sharp;
• Keeping the engine tuned up (gas mowers); and
• Keeping the battery charged (cordless mowers).

While Amazon.com does not accept returns on gas-powered mowers, the manufacturer’s Website or product manual will list the nearest service center.

What does CARB-compliant mean?
CARB is an acronym for California Air Resource Board, whose stringent air-quality standards have been adopted by many states. If your state requires compliance for gas mowers, confirm that your model is CARB-certified before you buy. While CARB-compliant mowers run cleaner than noncompliant models, they still emit pollutants. If you want to go green, an electric or push reel mower is the way to go.

Customer Reviews

An honest view...
First off let me say I've seen a mix of reviews. Most of them have been positive, but a few negative ones as well.

I will discuss the negative points fully since they should be mentioned, but they are far outweighed by all of the positive things I can say about this mower, which is why I have given it four stars. I would, and should give it five stars, but I want people to know how I honestly feel and I want them to read the negative points so they can decide if this is best for them.

The subjects I will cover are setup, use, upkeep, quality, and price.

Setup (Three stars): First off, this is by far the worst section. I can see a lot of potential for someone to set their mower up in an improper fashion resulting in limited performance, but if you keep in mind that this mower is supposed to help you overcome the bulk of your yard work keep in mind it doesn't do everything.

It works as has been noted by many people by placing a wire around the perimeter of your yard. Let me say that this is best achieved by breaking your yard up into sections, especially if you have a medium to large sized yard (half to full acre).

Getting the wire just right is the hardest part, and the wire is supposed to be held in place by special plastic stakes that nail it down. The package comes with 200 of these pegs and for any good sized yard it's not nearly enough since they really need to be close together to keep the wire from becoming loose enough for the mower to snag itself on. Alternatively, you can bury the wire up to six inches into the ground which I highly recommend if you have that patience and tools. Otherwise either buy extra stakes when you purchase your mower, or do as I did and visit your local department start and aquire some relatively cheap plastic tent-stakes since this can work out cheaper for you in the end.

Next is the issue of the wire itself. 500 feet is included and the officially available 16 gauge solid copper wire they make available for purchase is severely overpriced (nearly $50). Since 500 feet was barely large enough to do cover my front yard I had to buy 1000 extra feet. After some research I discovered that 14 gauge THHN solid copper wire which is available at most hardware stores works equally well (if not a little better due to it's stiffness) and is much cheaper (around $16 for 500 feet).

Setting the wire up is tedious and will require some adjustments and I feel that the process is a little more involved than they make it out to be. It took me the greater part of three days to get the wire setup in such a way that I was fully satisfied with it, and even still I can find areas that require an extra stake because the mower has worked them a little loose. Luckily I haven't manage to get one snagged yet, but this is because I've been supervising it closely to make sure it doesn't mow over a stretch that is too loose.

I also can't stress nearly enough how important it is to get the direction of your wire correctly (as illustrated in the manual) lest you be faced with a robot that gets easily confused with flower garden/tree islands that are wired in the wrong direction of flow.

After the setup though things are all downhill. So in closing the topic of setup, expect some hair pulling and annoyances because it isn't painless unless you do bury the wire which I would highly recommend after my experience with staking the wire down.

Use (Five Stars): This is where it starts to get good. The mower does it job as expected, and rather cleverly. It's ability to handle obstacles, zone-islands, corners, and even edges is much better than I expected. Keep an eye on the mower when you first get it to watch for problems, but most of them can be handled well with clever wire placement. The robot handles ruts, holes, and other such things better than the negative reviews I've seen. If it gets stuck in small pits or other such irregularities, it can work itself free. Most of the negative reviews I've seen have blamed the issues on the design, but the owners clearly owned the RL500 or 800. The RL850 is what I own and what this review is centered around. It has improved tires and navigation software and does a great job dealing with the issues some people have complained about in the past. Therefore any negative reviews you have seen regarding these issues are aimed at the RL 500 and 800 exclusively and not the 850. Those reviews are highly inappropriate for this model and should be taken with a grain of salt. (NOTE: The 500 and 800 are no longer available from Amazon.Com or any other site that I've visited.)

As for the quality of cut I can vouch for every positive review I've seen. It's a little slow but it is persistent. The battery lasts much longer than advertised and a full day's charge is enough to mow all three of my zones. I suspect the length of a charge for me will shorted as the battery ages, so I will almost certainly purchase a spare battery and rapid charger. That is something else I highly recommend. One battery may be enough while it is new, but it won't stay new forever. The rapid charger also will help a whole lot since the robot takes almost a full 24 hours to charge the battery on it's own.

Upkeep (Four Stars): This is one area where it doesn't fare as well as it's performance. The blades should not be sharpened in other to avoid getting them out of balance. This isn't by itself a bad thing but their price may turn some people off (see price section below). Since you can hose under the deck you will be picking grass-sludge out by hand or with a tool, and it does tend to get bits of grass all over itself. The wheels can also cake up with dirt and grass so I recommend not using this mower on wet grass or in mud. Since the wheels don't easily come off (if they come off at all) cleaning them is a chore. Though the mower claims to be able to handle moist grass and slight rain, I recommend avoiding it. It will make cleanup easier in the end if you restrict the use of your robot to dry and sunny days.

Quality (Four Stars): Many have complained about the quality of the unit. Don't listen to the most negative things you've heard. Some have complained about the battery not working (Did you check the replaceable automotive fuse, people?) and others have complained about the 2 year warranty not being long enough. Most complaints are centered around the plastic it's constructed out of (as opposed to what? Metal?) or the lifespan of the battery. These are items you can hardly complain about so that leaves just the motors and the controls, both of which are obviously very adequate for the job.

Yes, the robot mower is made of plastic. And yes the perimeter switch does feel kind of cheap. But overall the qualities that matter most are outstanding, and I've never heard of a motor being burned out. In fact the mower has the ability to stop and cool itself down if it feels the motors are being worked too hard. So if you have to knock the quality of this unit let's make some real complaints. The perimeter switch is my biggest complaint, and isn't designed for a more permanent installation in a yard. This could be improved upon but it is by no means a show-stopper. The robot itself feels quite solid. The controller feels at least as solid as any video game console controller. And the other major parts seem very rugged. It's hard to knock anything important about the quality of this unit. So once again, take the negative talk with a grain of salt.

Price (Three stars): Just over $1000 for the mower itself is a great price. I have no problems with that. However, the connectors for the perimeter switch, the switches themselves (should you need extras) and the cost of the wire, blades, and batteries (which you will also need to replace once every few years) is outrageous. Avoid the cost of the wire and the stakes by using alternatives that are cheaper. They work just as well and it will save you lots of money.

That leaves the blades and the batteries, which you can only get in official form from FriendlyRobotis (and their resellers). At around $50 and $200 respectively the price is very steep and it's a cost any potential buyer must feel comfortable with. I personally think it's worth that much to spend about $350 over the course of three years to keep my robot mowing and to keep my yard looking good, but this may be a bit much for most people to swallow.

Granted, this solution won't be best for everyone. However for some people it is clearly the best solution to keeping a yard well groomed. Don't let the the naysayers dissuade you. The worst points are the obvious ones that anyone could have guessed, and the best points are the reasons people buy these things. I couldn't be happier.

Very good, but not perfect.
I purchased an 850 about three months ago. My thumbnail review: good labor saving device, if you do not set your expectations too high.

This tool saves me a LOT of work. Not necessarily time, but work. I don't feel comfortable leaving Raoul (our name for our "gardener") running when I go out. It takes him about two hours to cut one of our two zones. (It takes me about an hour to cut the whole thing by hand.) So for those two hours, someone has to be home. At first, we just sat and watched him cut. Now I usually work on something else, or eat dinner, or read a book. But I have to stay home. And he does not cut in an orderly fashion. Raoul just wanders around the yard in a long, cris-crossing fashion. What he does not cut in one pass, he might get in the next. Or maybe the one after that. So if you stop him early, you will have to look for the places he has missed. But I have gotten into the habit of just turning him loose whenever I happen to be at home for the evening, which is usually at least once a week. Not a problem.

You will end up with a nice lawn. It does not get closer than a couple of inches from any vertical wall, so you will have to edge, but it cuts well and mulches much better than anything else I have used. When the lawn is done, it looks good.

It appears to be pretty safe. In my opinion, you will have to work to lose fingers, or a pet. The bottom of my Robomower is relatively flat, with three bowl shaped indents. The indents are arranged in a triangle, two in front, one in the middle behind. At the bottom (top?) of each indent, about an inch above the bottom of the mower, is a blade. In order to get your finger in the blade, you must reach under the mower about two inches from the side (a good trick while the mower is moving), or about six inches from the front, then stick your finger up inside the indent, without lifting the mower (if the front wheel comes clear of the ground, the blades appear to stop), or bumping a sensor. Pretty hard to hurt yourself. Of course, you will have to make your own evaluation, and I accept no liability, and am just stating a personal opinion...

All of my problems have had to do with the state of my lawn. We just moved into a new house. We have five trees and a lamp post on the property. There are numerous low spots. Two of the trees have a significant surface root system. To be honest, I was impressed with how well Raoul copes with the roots. Usually, he rolls up, the front wheel bounces over the root (stopping the blade for a moment), he mutters to himself for a moment (something about removing the battery before lifting), then he proceeds on. Sometimes, though, he will try to go along the tree root, lifting his rear driving wheels, without lifing his front wheel. In this case, he really does not realize that he is not going anywhere. Sometimes he seems to figure out that he has gone further than is possible, and he reverses out, but sometimes that doesn't work either. I have stopped this for the moment by placing a rock partway up the problem roots. He bumps them and reverses. But I will have to come up with a permanent solution as we landscape.

The other environmental problem is the low spots. In some cases the front wheel will get in a low spot, the blades stop for a moment, and Raoul will drive out of it, but sometimes it seems to stymie him. I am filling in the low spots with a topsoil/grass seed mixture and I think this problem will go away.

Bottom line - Would I do it again? I think so. It took me a while to set him up and learn his foibles, but he is a neat toy and at this point, I just don't worry about cutting the lawn!
---
OK, it is two and a half years later and a couple of more comments... I need to buy batteries about every two years. The roots continue to be a problem. I have wired around one set, so that tree is no longer a problem. Of the four remaining trees, Raoul seems to cope with three of them all right, but I need to wire around the last and biggest tree (a huge old weeping willow). I have used three bags of stakes, and will probably need to buy a fourth.
The biggest pain in the neck has been wire breaks. Maybe I have stretched the perimeter wire too tight, but I have had three wire breaks. Not major breaks, but enough to break the circuit. Finding and fixing these breaks takes just about a whole afternoon. After reading some other reviews, I think I will try some 14 gauge wire, rather than the 16 that came with the unit.
Had one unit breakdown in three years. The folks from Friendly referred me to RoboDirect. These guys are VERY good. Diagnosed the problem over the phone, talked me through verifying it, and sold me the $25 control cradle that I needed, all in one day. Took a week to receive it, I installed it easily, and had Raoul back at work. Only had to mow once with the old push mower. I am sure that Friendly is trying hard, but the biggest source of negative reviews on this site seems to me to be tech support. Now I just deal with RoboDirect. No problems. The symptoms of a minor line break are not obvious (a 5 second delay, followed by the weak battery signal) and Friendly tech support did not seem to recognize it. I mentioned it to RoboDirect and they diagnosed it and told me how to fix it right away.
Don't know if everyone will have it this easy, but that has been my experience.

By Golly, It Works
My paid lawn care service bailed out on me and left me high and dry with no mower and a lawn that was beginning to look like a hayfield. I added up the money I paid others to mow my lawn last year, and decided that if the Robomower worked, and lasted 1-1/2 years, I'd be even, and wouldn't have to give up my evenings after work and brave the mosquitoes and black flies.

I love it. I'm stretching its capabilities in terms of lawn size and inclines, but the little thing just keeps chugging along. I have it set to high clearance and a high cut, and it is handling my very uneven lawn with no problems. It took two mows per zone to transform my badly overgrown lot into a groomed lawn. The cut is good, just like my riding-mower or push-mower neighbors' except without the lines. The Robomower mulches beautifully, leaving no evidence of clippings on top of the grass.

I start the mower when I get home from work. While it mows, I'm inside doing all the other evening chores, and then relaxing. It keeps on mowing after the sun goes down, and it's so quiet that you won't disturb the neighbors if it finishes up at 10 PM. (Just remember to bring a flashlight to find where it has stopped when it is time to bring it in!)

While you can just set it up and go, to get the best cut be prepared to spend a little time optimizing things after you've seen it run a couple times: adjusting the perimeter wire, and changing zone configurations if you need to. I started out with two zones, but changed to three, given the size(10,000 sq ft+) and irregular shape of my lawn. I may get the optional fast charger so I can mow more than one zone per day.

Side effect: You will get passers-by stopping to stare and chat. It is a definite conversation starter.

Added over two years later: Still working, and I'm still happy with it.