Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera evaluation

Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera: Introduction

Though Husqvarna launched the primary robotic garden mower 30 years in the past, it’s caught with boundary-wire till final 12 months, with the introduction of the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera. Technically, this robotic can nonetheless be a boundary-wire-only garden mower, however its EPOS Plug-in lets it go wire-free, utilizing GPS as an alternative.

And, with the Husqvarna Cloud, there’s no want for a separate reference stattion, making this one of many best garden mowers to arrange. 

Wonderful at slicing borders, the one minor irritation is the poor object detection and avoidance. Nonetheless, for simplicity and the flexibility to adapt to even very difficult gardens, there’s nothing higher than the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera.

Design and componentsSetup

• Works with or with out boundary wire
• Doesn’t want the reference station

There are two variations of this robotic on the market, the usual Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera, which has to make use of boundary wire, and for £399 extra, you may get the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera that I’ve on evaluation, which comes with the EPOS Plug-in for GPS navigation.

The EPOS Plug-in might be purchased at any level for £399, so there’s no saving by shopping for the bundle. I like to recommend going for the model that you just wish to use from the beginning: who needs to put a load of boundary wire solely to not use it after an improve?

It’s fairly an costly improve for the EPOS system, and Husqvarna’s 2026 line-up of garden mowers (designed for bigger gardens, and which price extra) have this know-how inbuilt.

And, there’s a distinction within the fashions all the way down to know-how: the boundary-wire model can do gardens as much as 600m² however the EPOS model with its smarter navigation can do gardens as much as 900m².

Earlier than I get into the setup particulars, I ought to level out that boundary wire might be mixed with the EPOS system. That may make sense for areas with poor protection, difficult layouts, or for serving to the robotic navigate by way of slim passageways. 

And, there’s a alternative to make use of a reference station or not. When you don’t use a reference station, it’s a must to use the Husqvarna Cloud. With this model, the GPS correction knowledge, which permits the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera to place itself precisely, is transmitted over the web, so the robotic wants full Wi-Fi protection within the backyard (a great excuse to purchase the Eero 7 Outside), as there’s no mobile choice. With the Husqvarna Cloud, positioning is often higher than 5cm.

Alternatively, you should purchase the reference station, which then offers extra correct correction knowledge, and improves accuracy to raised than 2cm. I’d say that the cloud model will swimsuit most individuals, nevertheless it’s good to have all the different choices.

I used the Husqvarna Cloud, which made arrange simple. I first needed to set up the bottom station, by screwing it to the bottom, and connecting up energy. As soon as the robotic was docked and paired with Wi-Fi and the Automower app, a wizard took me by way of drawing my first map.

To get a robust GPS sign, the robotic must drive to an preliminary reference level, so it wants a few meters of free clearance in a straight line from the docking station. As soon as the robotic hits its reference level it then sits there, locking on to satellites.

Then, I needed to drive the robotic round my backyard, locking within the format and plan. It’s fairly simple to do manually, however there’s no computerized mapping as you get with the Segway Navimow i105E.

Design and parts

• Primary show for safety
• 440 x 680 x 280mm, 12.2kg
• Twin slicing discs

You’ve obtained to like Husqvarna’s design, and the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera seems prefer it means enterprise: glossy, and gray it oozes fashion and sophistication. Perhaps this isn’t a very powerful side, however I’d moderately have a nice-looking garden mower within the backyard than a cheap-looking one.

There’s not a lot on prime, bar a Cease button that instantly turns the mower off if it will get into bother (it’s going to additionally cease if lifted or flipped over), and a management dial and display screen that allow me enter the PIN to restart the garden mower after it had been stopped. There’s fundamental management over the mower right here, and I might pause or restart mowing, too.

Beneath is the enterprise finish of the garden mower, with a fundamental disc offering the common 22cm slicing width. As with different robotic garden mowers, this one has three razer blades, which might be spun in both route. It’s worthwhile to keep watch over these and change them as they get boring.

There’s additionally a smaller secondary slicing deck the again of the mower. That is for the EdgeCut system: the robotic strikes in the direction of a boundary, backs of barely after which spins round, so it reduce proper to the border (or shut sufficient), slicing down how a lot handbook grass trimming it’s essential do.

It really works, too, in a style: as you’ll discover out within the Efficiency part under, the system wants a little bit of a tweak to get it working in all eventualities, nevertheless it’s value it.

Each the robotic and the docking station have vibrant lights on them, that gentle up the backyard. There’s no choice to disable the lights within the app, so I used electrical tape to cover them.

Options

• Reducing heights selectable by zone
• Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant help

For many interactions with the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera you’ll wish to use the AutoMower app, which is methods to all of Husqvarna’s merchandise, together with final 12 months’s Husqvarna Automower Aspire R4.

With the brand new EPOS system, the app is barely completely different. Slightly than having world settings for the way the mower cuts, there are alternatives per zone, accessed through the map. By zoning your backyard, you may select to have completely different reduce heights per zone, say leaving one space extra overgrown and one space extra like a tennis courtroom or bowling garden.

Reducing heights are managed by the motorised system, so there’s no must bodily contact the robotic. There’s a slider to regulate slicing peak between 0.75 inches and a pair of.25 inches. As I write this, there’s no choice to set the peak in metric, as you would with the older mowers; it’s a bug that Husvarna is aware of about. Simply so you understand, the slicing heights work out to round 20mm to 60mm.

With the EPOS system, there’s no choice for Goal Peak, both. This is among the highlights of Husqvarna’s different merchandise. Firstly of a season, you set the goal peak, and the robotic begins on the very best stage and slowly reduces over a few weeks to keep away from lopping an excessive amount of off recent grass. Once more, it must be a function that comes again with an app replace.

New to the EPOS mannequin are slicing patterns. The default is random reduce, however you should use the map to angle Parallel, Checkboard and Triangle slicing paterns. With Parallel, the robotic can use its wheels to flatten the grass and create stripes.

In any other case, there are some world choices. Spiral Reducing lets the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera spin when it detects thicker grass. Climate Timer lets the mower regulate its timers primarily based on how briskly the grass is rising. And EdgeCut lets the robotic mow as near the sting as is feasible.

Do be careful for the schedule, as this comes pre-programmed to have the robotic transfer out and hold mowing 24 hours a day, seven days every week, popping again to the charger to recharge.

It’s greatest to tweak this schedule to fit your backyard, permitting every scheduled block sufficient time for the robotic to cowl all the backyard with any needed cost cycles within the center: the mower can go for round 50 minutes after which it takes 40 minutes to recharge.

New to the app is the Schedule Software, which is able to suggest a schedule primarily based on the dimensions of your garden. It makes it simpler to automate the lawnmower, however I’d nonetheless prefer it to be a bit smarter: the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera is aware of how large an space it has to cowl, so a schedule ought to embody a begin time, with the robotic ending when it calculates it has coated all over the place.

When you don’t wish to use the schedule, the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera might be set to go to a goal space and mow for a alternative of 30 or 90 minutes, or three, six or 12 hours, returning to the dock and parking when its completed.

Efficiency

• Wonderful grass slicing
• Might have map changes for EdgeCut

Huge, chunky wheels and highly effective motors let the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera cope with bumpy and uneven floor and slopes as much as 30%. It even handled the divots in my garden brought on by my cats digging holes. Different robots will get caught and spin their wheels digging a gap, however the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera detects it’s caught after which gently strikes and turns till it frees itself, by no means getting caught.

Reducing efficiency is excellent, with the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera in a position to transfer throughout my backyard, snipping small bits of grass on every cross. I discovered common protection good, with no apparent clumps of missed grass across the garden.

I did wrestle with the EdgeCut function at first. Each time the garden mower obtained near a border it will cease a couple of centimetres away, and spin spherical, leaving fairly a border behind. I assumed that this was all the way down to the GPS system not fairly being correct sufficient, so I edited the map and prolonged the border to account for this: going additional on onerous borders, akin to decking and the patio, and never fairly as far on plant borders.

It took a couple of goes to get this proper, however as soon as the map was good, the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera would transfer as much as border, spin and reduce just about to the sting. That’s sensible and actually did save me time with a grass trimmer.

Impediment avoidance isn’t so spectacular, as this garden mower doesn’t have a digicam or an ultrasonic sensor. Actually, it ran into my leg a few occasions and would crash into the backyard chairs’ legs every time. Positive, the bumping is mild and received’t trigger injury, however in the event you’ve obtained a garden filled with furnishings or youngsters that depart issues out, the Segway Navimow i105E is smarter at recognizing and avoiding points.

Ultimate ideas

The best robotic garden mower that I’ve ever arrange, the Husqvarna AutoMower 305E Nera can work with out the reference station. Nonetheless, the choice so as to add a reference station and/or boundary wire signifies that that is probably the most versatile robotic garden mower, in a position to work in gardens with very difficult layouts.

Its slicing efficiency is phenomenal, and it really works proper to the sting of the backyard, which no different garden mower can do. And, it may possibly cope with tough terrain simply. It’s a bit costly and its impediment avoidance behind the competitors, however for flexibility and energy there’s nothing higher.

How we check

Once we publish our critiques, you may relaxation assured that they’re the results of “residing with” long run checks.

Robotic lawnmowers normally reside inside an ecosystem, or a spread of merchandise that – supposedly – all work in concord. And they’re designed to supply a spread of various cleansing choices. Due to this fact, it’s inconceivable to make use of a robo mower for every week and ship a verdict.

As a result of we’re testing sensible dwelling package all day, on a regular basis, we all know what issues and the way a selected sensible cleansing machine compares to options that you may also be contemplating.

Our critiques are complete, goal and truthful and, after all, we’re by no means paid on to evaluation a tool.