At this year’s Equip Exposition (the Super Bowl for landscaping nerds), we met up with SENIX to check out their new battery-powered robotic lawn mower: the GrassKeeper.
The GrassKeeper wears SENIX’s iconic bluish grey and bright orange colors. The mower looks like it has a monkey’s face at the front with orange teeth. No, we’re not kidding.
But is SENIX monkeying around or are they serious about their latest robotic mower? Here are the details.
Background on SENIX
SENIX has been around for over twenty years, and they offer gas powered, AC corded, and cordless outdoor power equipment. They have almost every outdoor power tool you could think of—leaf blowers, pressure washers, saws, trimmers, mowers, angle grinders, drills, and more.
They’d probably be the perfect company for Tim the Tool Man Taylor if you remember the show, Home Improvement. We also appreciate their brand humor. Check out their bacon joke on their combo kit page.
SENIX is fully vertically integrated, doing all their research, development, software and hardware design, and manufacturing in-house. So, despite its humorous outside, it is a serious company.
SENIX’s Robotic Mower History
This is not SENIX’s first foray into the robotic mower game. They have the 500m2 18V 2,5 AH S-CUT LR180-L. The name just rolls right off of the tongue.
But it looks like it’s only available through third-party dealers. Also, with a lack of review, it’s difficult to ascertain how much success SENIX has had with its first robotic mower.
SENIX’s New Robotic Lawn Mower
The company’s new robotic mower, the GrassKeeper, has rain sensing. It also has double tread (which we like) and a simple digital display (another aspect that we like). The mower has a 24-volt lithium ion battery, a pull-in-forward charging system, and is meant for lawns sized at one acre or less.
The robotic mower mows in parallel strips, which makes for less time-consuming mowing than random navigation. The GrassKeeper uses three blades on one disc to cut. It has a 30-60 millimeter cut height with a 22.5 centimeter cut width maximum. Also, it manages slopes up to 45% (24 degrees).
It has no boundary wires. Instead, the GrassKeeper uses GPS, real-time kinematic (RTK) navigation, ultrasonic sensors, and a camera for vision. The sensors and camera serve as a backup to the RTK and helps with obstacle avoidance. It remains to be seen whether the Grasskeeper’s final form will use its vision system to define the mower’s boundary, combat signal loss, and aid in convergence between the mower and its station.
Release Date and Price
The GrassKeeper will be available in America in 2025. Its MSRP will be under $4,000, which includes the mower’s reference station.
That’s quite pricey considering the average robotic lawn mower is $1,000 to $1,500. Top of the line mowers—such as those from Husqvarna and Ambrogio—can cost as much as $4,350-$5,000. Perhaps SENIX’s newest robotic mower will fall under the “top of the line” category. We’ll see.
It’s being tested in Europe through private parties. But there may be an opportunity for Autmow to go ape-poop crazy (hey, we’re a family-friendly company) on testing the GrassKeeper.
Should we test the Grasskeeper? Also, we don’t sell SENIX products yet, but do you think we should? Let us know in the comments.