The automatic lawn mower saves you time and effort. Unlike other lawn mowers, mows the lawn for you. No hassle as with electric lawn mowers or push lawn mowers. These Automatic lawn movers requires a one time simple set-up, which can be easily done by anyone. A wire is laid around the outer edges of the lawn, and attached to the surface of the lawn with pegs every few meters.

The wire and pegs are supplied with the lawn mover. The wire is connected to a small battery powered current source called Perimeter Switch (also supplied in the box). Typically the wire will be covered by grass and become unnoticeable in a matter of 2-3 weeks. The automatic lawn mower recognizes the wire using a special sensor, and makes sure it always stays inside the designated area. If the lawn mower is equipped with a Charging Station, it’s even easier! After completing the one-time set-up of wire around the lawn including the Charging Station, set the weekly program and forget about mowing for the entire season! The automatic lawn mower will automatically depart at the day and time scheduled and automatically return to the Charging Station to recharge and get ready for the next scheduled operation.

The weekly program can be re-set at any time, if and when required. Almost all the automatic lawn mower use the mulching system: the grass is cut into very small clippings that are buried in the roots of the lawn, where they decompose and act like a natural fertilizer. This results in a healthier and better-looking lawn, and eliminates the need to collect and remove the clippings.

Use this lawn mower is the most convenient way to maintain your lawn. You can cut the lawn anytime without disturbing your neighbors, you don’t need to collect the clippings, with this automatic lawn mower you have a lot of free time: no more spending your weekends mowing the lawn, spend your free time with the family and do the things you really like to do.

If you have a large lawn that is getting too much to handle with a walk-behind mower you may be considering buying a lawn tractor or a riding mower. A lawn tractor may have various attachments available and can be used for hauling materials about your yard in addition to mowing your lawn. More expensive than riding mowers they have multiple uses. You should also be looking for mowing decks that are easily adjustable and have mulching capabilities.

Choosing the Type of Mower

Zero Turn Mowers

For a lawn that is more than 1/2 acre with multiple objects a zero turn mower would be a good choice. The time taken to mow your lawn can be cut in half with a zero turn mower as these mowers are more efficient. The excellent maneuverability allows you to easily mow around all size objects without having to back up and turn repeatedly. The rear wheels are used for both power and steering and operate independently so one wheel can reverse while the other wheel rotates forward allowing zero to 360 degree turns. In addition these mowers are fast, up to 6.5 mph so you can quickly cover a large lawn.

Riding Mowers

For a lawn of between 1/2 to 1 acre a riding mower will be ideal. They have few attachments as they are primarily built to do one thin wheel and that is to cut the lawn!

Lawn Tractors

With higher horsepower engines lawn tractors are better for larger lawns and rougher terrain. They also have a good range of optional attachments so if you want to use your mower as a snowblower, an aerator, a machine to move material around your yard you should choose a lawn tractor.

Garden Tractors

The toughest of these machines with the highest horsepower, garden tractors usually have two-cylinder engines and sturdy transmissions. For a very large garden or yard with rough terrain choose a garden tractor.

Factors to consider before you purchase a lawn tractor or riding mower

Size of Lawn

The first thing to take into account is the power of the engine and the cutting width and to ensure that these are suitable for the size of your lawn. Here are some general guidelines to help you choose. Be aware of the width between any obstacles as a larger deck may cut down the time to mow a large area but be unable to mow between obstacles.

1/2 to 1 acre lawn: You will need a mower with at least a 14 hp engine and a 42″ cutting width

1 to 2 acres lawn: A cutting width of between 42″ and 46″ with a 14 to 16hp engine should be adequate

3 Acres and above: For this size lawn area an engine size of between 18 and 24 hp and a 46″ to 54″ cutting deck would be the best buy

Attachments

A wide range of attachments are available for lawn tractors including snowblowers, front blades, tractor shovel, electric spreaders, baggers etc. Check that attachments that you might need now or in the future are available for the model you are considering. Riding mowers generally have very few attachments but are cheaper to buy so if all you want to do is mow your lawn a riding mower would be the best buy.

Transmission

Gear Driven or Automatic?

Consider the layout of the lawn area to be cut with your lawn tractor or riding mower. A gear driven mower will be better on open areas with few obstacles such as flower beds or bird baths. Choose an automatic transmission for areas that have obstacles so that you can easily vary the speed around the objects. Most of the lawn tractors with automatic transmission also have cruise control so you can set this in areas that are clearer.

Bagging, Mulching or Side Discharging

Many lawn mowers have the options to easily switch between mulching or side discharging. Most have optional bagging attachments.

Safety Concerns

The higher speed of lawn tractors and riding mowers leads to some concern for safety and operators should be aware of these factors before they use the machines.

Obstacles: Care must be taken with obstacles on the lawn as hitting a solid object will do severe damage to the machine at these speeds.

Scattering objects: Any small objects, for instance stones, twigs, household objects left on the lawn will be picked up by the mower and projected at high speed. Always ensure there are no people or pets in the area when operating the machines.

Noise: Some of these mowers can be very noisy. Wear ear protection if this applies to your model

Advantages and Disadvantages

Lawn Tractors

Advantages: Durable, built to last, attachments to do many other tasks

Disadvantages: Expensive, leaves uncut areas at the end of turns, needs a large storage area, difficult to take in for repairs

Zero Turn Mowers

Advantages: Fast, best for a lawn with many obstacles, no uncut areas at the end of turns, few attachments

Disadvantages: Expensive, needs a large storage area, difficult to take in for repairs, few attachments, some safety concerns due to the high speed.

Riding Mowers

Advantages: Cheaper than lawn tractors, reasonably fast, leaves uncut areas at the end of turns,few attachments

Disadvantages: Awkward to steer around obstacles and leaves uncut grass close to obstacles.

Gasoline-powered lawn mowers are loud, and emit a great deal of pollution. The solution is the electrical or battery-powered lawn mower. Battery-powered lawn mowers are good for small lawns.

Most lawn mowers are powered by gasoline. Up until recently they have been the easiest mowers to use. It was necessary only to pull the starter cord a few times, or use the electric starter, and then mow to your heart’s content. But gasoline-powered mowers are noisy and they do rather pollute the air with their emissions.

One of the knocks against the electric-powered lawnmower was that it was awkward to use. The mower must be plugged in via a long power cord, and care must be taken not to snarl or run over the power cord.

Now, you’ve got another choice – the battery-operated lawnmower. A battery-operated lawnmower will generally have enough power to allow the operator to mow both the front and back yards on one charge, unless they are extremely large.

It all depends on the battery, though. Some batteries last for thirty minutes between charges, others last up to an hour. The key thing is that they are rechargeable, so that there’s no need to bury them in a garbage dump. Although…even these batteries only last about five years or so – and then must be recycled.

There are several types of batteries: alkaline – which are not used in lawn mowers, lead acid – which are gradually being replaced by nickel cadmium, and lithium batteries – which are not only expensive but also have low storage capacity.

Nickel cadmium batteries
If you are buying a new battery operated lawn mower, make sure you get one powered by a nickel cadmium (Ni-cad) battery. They are simply better than the lead acid – they can be recycled and are environmentally friendly.

Extending battery life
As with any other type of mower, there are times when you should mow your lawn and times when you shouldn’t. You should never try to mow wet grass – it produces a tremendous strain on the battery – or engine – and doesn’t do your grass much good, either. Don’t let your grass grow such that you’re cutting off more than three inches at a time – again, bad for the engine or battery, and bad for the grass itself.

Ni-Cad batteries
Ni-Cad batteries are maintenance free. All you need to do is make sure you do not re-charge the batteries until they are completely discharged. The batteries have a ‘memory’ – if you recharge them when they don’t need to be, they will remember the energy state they were at when they were recharged, and will believe themselves to be run down the next time they reach that state – even though they have plenty of power left. (Okay, there’s a bit of anthropomorphism there, but you get the idea.)

If you’re concerned about the environment – and we all should be – the battery-operated or electrical lawn mowers should be our choice.