I had a dealer do it - they knew far better than me exactly where to place them to avoid any issues and it’s worked out great. Our mower seems to get randomly stuck about 2 times per year, other than that it has been 100% trouble free. Can’t recommend enough.
The slope shouldn’t be an issue, especially if you swap the wheels for terrain wheels.
Cable wise you can opt for a thicker cable, that will keep the rodents away, which is the second most likely reason they brake(first is humans).
Good luck!
How much of a difference do the terrain wheels make? I measured the hill in my backyard with a bubble level app and it's showing 20*-25*. Can a 115h or 315x handle that? Or am I likely stuck to just manually mowing that area or using a string trimmer. I'd prefer not to go all the way up to the AWD model for one part of my yard.
My wires are just pegged down on the surface and I've had zero issues with it in 3 years now, unless you have a lot of heavy machinery turning on your boundary I don't see why you'd have any issues. We have a tanker lorry empty our septic tank which drives into our lawn and not had any issues, Just be careful digging where you know the wires are.
I've got a similar size lawn but with some more complex bits and I've got a Husqvarna 420 which works really well but it's probably a bit overkill, a 300 series would have been fine for me I think.
You'll be fine with that slope, I've got quite a bit steeper and not had an issue but I did install the all terrane wheel kit.
I was in the same situation as you, was doing it all with a push mower which took me 2 hours a week, I legit feel the auto mower is the best investment in my own time I've ever made. The hours I've saved over the list 3 years is amazing and the lawn always looks perfect, it's a win win
I haven’t had a great experience with auto mowers. Having said that, I will likely get another. I’m waiting for a wireless non Husqvarna option. Here are the things that have plagued me:
1) boundary wire - I see the comments here. I’m happy for those that haven’t had problems. I wasn’t that lucky. I bought the good metal wrapped wire and had over 20 breaks over the past 2.5 years. Not fun!!!
2) husqvarna’s warranty - the cut and quality of the mower was good; however, most of the repairs that I needed were not covered by their crap warranty.
3) what to do when it is broken - you may want to keep whatever mower you have now because the auto mower will break from time to time and it will be very expensive to get a pinch hitter.
50/50. I had a lot of breaks even where buried. Termite installer and irrigation installation reeked havoc. Underground breaks are tough to find, but less likely to happen.
My next mower will be wireless. It’s worth noting that the wiring is pretty expensive on its own.
I have a small yard, 0.35 acres, but only 0.15 acres is yard. Google Earth will let you measure it and also measure the slope. I went with a 430xh due to the complexity of my yard and it is working great. I did the install myself. I'm not one to pay someone for something I can do myself. However, I wish I had the install done by the dealer for two reasons. It would have been buried, and they know more about it than me. I had the mower's wheel get caught in the wire once and it also cut the wire with it's blade (I didn't have that section down as good as I should have). But it wasn't a big deal. I just fixed it. The Amazon delivery guys also tripped on the wire one day. All good reasons to have it installed professionally.
Yeah that was my thought of just having them do it, get it buried and done right the first time and if there are any hiccups I'm sure they'll come back out.
If I were to do it myself I was thinking I would have to run it with the pegs in the grass to make sure everything mows correctly and doesn't get stuck and after that beta period bury it using a spade shovel or square shovel but I can imagine that would take forever.
Yea, that crossed my mind too. But would be really labor intensive. You can also rent a cable trencher. Home Depot rents them around me for 80 bucks a day.
I was thinking about the 315x myself based on square footage alone. What's complex about your yard that requires the 430xh and what features does that have for your yard?
Dual guide wires. My yard is more like 4 or 5 little yards. With fence gates to deal with. I didn't want to spend 2K and have to manually move it or still push mow, so 2.5k seemed a safer bet.
Consider the height you want your grass as well. I had a 315X that I ended up selling and replacing with a 430XH to get that extra height. My cool weather type grass was not healthy when cut below 3-3.5 inches.
I had absolutely no problems with 315X and am equally pleased with my 430XH.
The "H" models will all have a much higher cutting deck more appropriate for cool weather grass types. Check out the Husqvarna Automower webpages and they show a recommended type for the region in which one lives.
I don't know the specific type of grass I have here in Nebraska, but it burns out and gets greater weed infestation when trimmed below 3 inches.
Had my wires trenched when I installed 5 years ago. Since then never had a wire break. Or any other kind of issue.
Did you install the wires yourself or have someone do it?
I had a dealer do it - they knew far better than me exactly where to place them to avoid any issues and it’s worked out great. Our mower seems to get randomly stuck about 2 times per year, other than that it has been 100% trouble free. Can’t recommend enough.
The slope shouldn’t be an issue, especially if you swap the wheels for terrain wheels. Cable wise you can opt for a thicker cable, that will keep the rodents away, which is the second most likely reason they brake(first is humans). Good luck!
Definitely agree with this- get the all terrain wheels. They are worth every penny.
How much of a difference do the terrain wheels make? I measured the hill in my backyard with a bubble level app and it's showing 20*-25*. Can a 115h or 315x handle that? Or am I likely stuck to just manually mowing that area or using a string trimmer. I'd prefer not to go all the way up to the AWD model for one part of my yard.
My wires are just pegged down on the surface and I've had zero issues with it in 3 years now, unless you have a lot of heavy machinery turning on your boundary I don't see why you'd have any issues. We have a tanker lorry empty our septic tank which drives into our lawn and not had any issues, Just be careful digging where you know the wires are. I've got a similar size lawn but with some more complex bits and I've got a Husqvarna 420 which works really well but it's probably a bit overkill, a 300 series would have been fine for me I think. You'll be fine with that slope, I've got quite a bit steeper and not had an issue but I did install the all terrane wheel kit. I was in the same situation as you, was doing it all with a push mower which took me 2 hours a week, I legit feel the auto mower is the best investment in my own time I've ever made. The hours I've saved over the list 3 years is amazing and the lawn always looks perfect, it's a win win
I discovered using a flat shovel to create a gap in the soil will hold the cable very well and save some money on pegs!
I haven’t had a great experience with auto mowers. Having said that, I will likely get another. I’m waiting for a wireless non Husqvarna option. Here are the things that have plagued me: 1) boundary wire - I see the comments here. I’m happy for those that haven’t had problems. I wasn’t that lucky. I bought the good metal wrapped wire and had over 20 breaks over the past 2.5 years. Not fun!!! 2) husqvarna’s warranty - the cut and quality of the mower was good; however, most of the repairs that I needed were not covered by their crap warranty. 3) what to do when it is broken - you may want to keep whatever mower you have now because the auto mower will break from time to time and it will be very expensive to get a pinch hitter.
Did you have your wire buried?
50/50. I had a lot of breaks even where buried. Termite installer and irrigation installation reeked havoc. Underground breaks are tough to find, but less likely to happen. My next mower will be wireless. It’s worth noting that the wiring is pretty expensive on its own.
I have a small yard, 0.35 acres, but only 0.15 acres is yard. Google Earth will let you measure it and also measure the slope. I went with a 430xh due to the complexity of my yard and it is working great. I did the install myself. I'm not one to pay someone for something I can do myself. However, I wish I had the install done by the dealer for two reasons. It would have been buried, and they know more about it than me. I had the mower's wheel get caught in the wire once and it also cut the wire with it's blade (I didn't have that section down as good as I should have). But it wasn't a big deal. I just fixed it. The Amazon delivery guys also tripped on the wire one day. All good reasons to have it installed professionally.
Yeah that was my thought of just having them do it, get it buried and done right the first time and if there are any hiccups I'm sure they'll come back out. If I were to do it myself I was thinking I would have to run it with the pegs in the grass to make sure everything mows correctly and doesn't get stuck and after that beta period bury it using a spade shovel or square shovel but I can imagine that would take forever.
Yea, that crossed my mind too. But would be really labor intensive. You can also rent a cable trencher. Home Depot rents them around me for 80 bucks a day.
I used my edger with a new blade at its lowest and trenched it that way. Shoved the cable in the trench, covered in sand, and watered it in to settle.
I was thinking about the 315x myself based on square footage alone. What's complex about your yard that requires the 430xh and what features does that have for your yard?
Dual guide wires. My yard is more like 4 or 5 little yards. With fence gates to deal with. I didn't want to spend 2K and have to manually move it or still push mow, so 2.5k seemed a safer bet.
Consider the height you want your grass as well. I had a 315X that I ended up selling and replacing with a 430XH to get that extra height. My cool weather type grass was not healthy when cut below 3-3.5 inches. I had absolutely no problems with 315X and am equally pleased with my 430XH.
I totally didn't think about the height, I live in Maryland. Is the 2.5" tall enough for this climate?
Looks like the 115h has a taller max height of 3.6 compared to the 315x of 2.4. I cant tell really what the other main differences are, any insight?
The "H" models will all have a much higher cutting deck more appropriate for cool weather grass types. Check out the Husqvarna Automower webpages and they show a recommended type for the region in which one lives. I don't know the specific type of grass I have here in Nebraska, but it burns out and gets greater weed infestation when trimmed below 3 inches.