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The Robomow RM200 and RM400
In-depth Guide and Review
Features and Zones |
Contents:
RM200 RM400- Overview, Body
and Mechanicals
Safety Features
Features and Zones
RM200 RM400 Robomower Manual |
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| New Control Panel |
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The cleanly designed
control panel features a backlit display, obvious start
and stop buttons and an on-off power button (lower left).
The rain sensor is built in (the two brass dots at the
lower right). Navigation of the menu is accomplished
by scrolling up an down using the two gray buttons to
the right. The operating lamp uses LED lamps that should
remain working for the life of the mower. |
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| New Menu and Program Options |
| The menu retains many of the
earlier scheduling options while adding a few very useful
features. In addition to the earlier proven systematic cutting
pattern, you can also set it up to run a random pattern. This
is most useful on a lawn that has a lot of obstacles, varied
shapes or narrow areas. |
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| Rain Sensor |
| The Robomow RM400 comes standard
with a rain sensor where you can set the sensitivity. This
is not a new feature and is standard on the RL-1000. What
is different is that the mower no longer skips the days mowing.
It delays it for a time after the rain ends. While testing
the mower, a light rain began and the mower obediently stayed
in its dock with a message displayed noting the rain and that
is was delaying its run. As per our setting, it went to work
an hour after the rain ended. You can adjust the delay time
to your liking. If it was to start raining while the mower
is at work, it will return to the dock. |
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| Off Lawn Docking |
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One thing that a lot of folks have been asking for
over the years is to be able to setup a dock off of
the grass to keep it out of sight when parked. This
is now supported (not required) and you can place
it under a deck, in a bed, or on a patio. You simply
wire a peninsula of perimeter wire off of the lawn
area with the wire spaced about 10" apart. You
then put the dock on the right side, offset from center
about 4".
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| The mower will leave the dock
and latch onto the left side of the peninsula. It will then
follow the wire for a distance before turning into the main
lawn area. A zigzag in the wire will allow the mower to follow
the wire to the dock while preventing the mower from getting
into the docking pathway while mowing. This seems to work
well. A few words of caution: Be sure that any areas traveled
"off lawn" are solid enough to avoid wheel slippage.
The mower will use its wheel rotation count to decide when
to leave the wire and start mowing. Spinning/slipping wheels
may cause it to leave the wire earlier than the set distance.
If you have the room, we recommend setting the travel to the
highest reasonable distance setting. |
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| "Zone Jumping" is
now Supported |
| Over the years, we have provided
some "unofficial" tactics to our customers for automating
a number of zones. These tactics are now officially supported
with the RM series. Zone Jumping refers to wiring your yard
in such a way that the mower will travel the perimeter to
an area while passing through a bottle neck in the perimeter
wire. Once past the bottle neck the mower would leave the
wire to mow the inside grass area but not be able to escape
the area. An easy way to visualize this is an hourglass with
the top and bottom each representing a zone and a bottle neck
in between. The wiring can be set as close as 10" but
be aware that the mower will track to the outside a bit instead
of running centered on the wire. |
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| Why do this? |
| In some cases, you may need
to have the mower travel over non-mown areas to reach another
mowing area or a passage between areas may be too narrow to
have the mower shoot the gap by chance. This can also allow
you to have the mower concentrate on a certain area for the
entire session. Many existing RL-1000 owners have been doing
this for years. |
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| New Escape Logic |
| If the mower figures that
it has gotten trapped in a narrow area, it will latch onto
the perimeter wire and travel some before turning back into
the lawn. We will be adding to this as we learn more about
just how smart this little mower is about using this. |
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| 18 Degree Hill Capability |
| Up from the 15 degree rating
of the earlier RL models, this increase, although not substantial,
will allow a higher percentage of lawns to be maintained.
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| Manual Controller is Now Optional |
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The new manual controller is now an accessory for
those who cannot carry the mower or have small areas
to be maintained by manually directing the mower.
It connects in seconds and stores under the lift handle
access cover on top of the mower. Since programming
is done through the mower itself, it now has directional
and blade activation buttons only.
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| Warranty |
| Just like all of the offerings
from Friendly Robotics, the mower is covered for two years.
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| Our Overall Impression |
| This is a well designed mower
that should provide years of trouble free use. It is pretty
quiet and energy efficient. Having torn it down, we think
that more folks will be able to do their own out of warranty
repairs than can do so with the RL models. We were a initially
bit surprised that the mower is limited to 3000 sqft (RM200)
and 4500 sqft (RM400) but there apparently is a method to
this madness. US lawns have been shrinking while the actual
square footage of homes have been growing. This simply means
less grass and narrower areas, making the new RM series a
perfect fit. |
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| Ready to take the plunge? |
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| Click Below to Buy One
Now! |
| Buy
the Robomow RM 200 |
| Buy
the Robomow RM 400 |
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| Questions? |
The call is on us Toll Free:
866-392-3766
You
can also use our contact form - Click Here |
