We here at Autmow are known for several things. Of course, two of the most obvious are absolutely hilarious dad jokes and astonishing good looks. However, what we are most known for, what is most essential to our core, is helping our customers find the right robotic lawn care solutions for their properties.
Well, if you are in charge of a large, somewhat complex property (such as a school, a park, a corporate campus, etc.), Husqvarna robotic mowers may very well be the right solution for your needs.
As a result, we wanted to create a video that highlighted how Husqvarna products work so well on complicated commercial installs. To illustrate, we showcase a 5-acre community park that has been using Husqvarna robotic mowers (and other lawn care products) for over a year. And at the end of the video, we show off a few more commercial installs.
Enough preamble. Let’s check out how Husqvarna robotic mowers can adapt to a variety of complex commercial property installs.
Differences Between Professional Husqvarna Robotic Mowers and Residential Models
Of course, before we delve too far into the professional series of Husqvarana robotic mowers, we need to give a bit of background. Which Husqvarna robotic mowers are we referencing in each category? And what makes them distinct?
Professional Models vs Residential Models
When we reference professional models, we aren’t discussing Tyra Banks, Seth Deere, or Martin Neff. We are referring to the Husqvarna robotic mowers that are optimized for commercial property. Can you use them at your home? Of course you can. But they are designed more for business and government areas.
With Husqvarna, you know you are dealing with the Professional Series if the robotic mower model number is in the 500s. Husqvarna robotic mowers intended for residential properties have model numbers in the 100s-400s.
Another easy way to tell the difference is that the Husqvarna robotic mowers intended for commercial properties are bright orange. We believe, though it hasn’t been proven yet, that you can see them from space. The residential models, on the other hand, are colored gray.
One other fairly obvious tell with the professional series of Husqvarna robot mowers is the lack of a keypad on the outside. Instead, you would use one of the Husqvarna robotic mower apps to run your machine(s). Of course, this lack of a keypad makes sense. If you are running a robotic mower over your park, school ground, or corporate campus, you don’t want someone to be able to play around with the machine’s controls.
So, what are examples of Husqvarna robotic lawn mowers intended for use on commercial and government property? Some that use boundary wires are the 520, the All-Wheel Drive 535, and the 550. The Husqvarna Professional Series robotic mowers that use RTK (real-time kinetics) and thus don’t use a boundary wire include the 550 EPOS (Exact Position Operating System) and the CEORA.
Key Differences in Performance Features Between the Two Types
We already laid out a few cosmetic differences between Husqvarna’s residential models and commercial models above. But as you can imagine, the differences go far beyond that. In our mind, there are three other key distinctions between the two categories:
Different Cutting Systems
The Husqvarna 500 series uses a 5-blade cut disc, while the other models use the more-standard 3-blade disc. The 5-blade system, as you can imagine, offers a slightly better cut. But more importantly, a 5-blade disc puts less stress on the motor. With corporate or government properties, you generally expect a robotic mower to run almost constantly over a fairly large area. A 5-blade disc gives your robotic mower a longer shelf life to handle this challenging work, again showing how Husqvarna has optimized the 500 series for commercial property.
Cut Heights
With the Husqvarna 500 series of robotic mowers, you can choose between the standard model (e.g. Automower 520) and a high-cut model (520H, in this example). The standard model has a cut height that ranges from .8” to 2.4”. The 520H’s range is 1.8”-3.6”. This allows great flexibility to best choose what will meet the needs of each commercial or municipal property. The lower cut height is good for shorter grasses, like Southern varieties. The higher cut height is good for things like rye/bluegrass mixes and turf-type fescue.
Fleet Management
Finally, the Husqvarna professional series offers what we consider to be the industry-leading fleet management system, called Husqvarna Fleet Services. You can access the dashboard on a computer, tablet, or phone. When you do, you will see your whole Husqvarana robotic mower fleet at once. You can give multi-unit commands (such as adjusting a schedule or changing a cut height.) You will also have access to a map feature where you can see if any area of the property isn’t getting mowed properly and then address it. For example, in our experience, that feature has often uncovered divots or gouges in the ground. Much better for a Husqvarna robotic lawn mower to find that than someone’s ankle!
Considerations Before Choosing a Commercial Husqvarna Robotic Mower
Again, at Autmow, our job is to help our clients find the right solutions for their property. Of course, in order to help find the ideal solution, we have to be mindful of a few factors:
- How much area does the Husqvarna robotic mower need to mow? Obviously, you want to pick a model that has a range capacity that fits your property. However, sometimes the range needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as we explain in the next bullet point. (We also explain it in our blog post about robotic lawn mower ranges.)
- What type of terrain do you have? If you have a lot of slopes, you may want to pick a Husqvarna robotic mower that has a higher range than your property. (And of course, make sure the autonomous mower can handle those slopes.) On the other hand, with a flat property, you may be able to get by with a robotic lawn mower that has a smaller range than your property, especially if you don’t intend to mow every day. Finally, if you intend to run your robotic mower near fountains or retention ponds, consider an AWD (all-wheel drive) model.
- Do you have a lot of obstacles? If so, you want to consider a wired model. Though RTK technology is excellent and can often measure to within a few centimeters, boundary wires are still the most tried and true at this point. Also, if you have a lot of trees on your property, boundary wire is definitely an advantage. RTK models may not function as well under heavy leaf cover.
- What is your budget? Another advantage for Husqvarna robotic mowers with boundary wires is that they are far cheaper than EPOS models. Similarly, your budget will help determine if you want to stick with just one mower or go with 2 (or more).
Case Studies Where We Installed Husqvarna Robotic Mowers on Complex Commercial Property
We like to say that deciding upon a robotic lawn solution for any property is like a puzzle. (Yes, we use similes. Underneath our awesome homemade haircuts are some pretty big brains.) Luckily, we have years of experience solving these puzzles. As such, we wanted to share a few examples of some commercial installs we have done with Husqvarna robotic mowers. All of them are near our home base of Ohio. So as an added bonus, we hope you can see the beauty that is Ohio instead of equating us with those damn memes!
Local Park
We spend most of the video in a local 5-acre park. However, we split it into three different sections, each with different solutions from the professional Husqvarna robotic mower line.
In one area of the park, we mow just under .5 acres. This area has sidewalks, and the robotic mower cannot go on those walkways. Also, the area has a lot of leaf cover. Can you guess which mower we went with? If you said the 520, you are correct! We wanted a wired model, and it was especially beneficial because it was cost-effective for our client.
Another area of the park (about .9 acres) has a lot of slope, so our primary concern during installation was that the mower would not get stuck, especially in wet/muddy conditions. So…we went with the 535 AWD. Yes, that model can handle more than .9 acres, but the terrain made this model the perfect choice. Its pivoting chassis and ability to handle 35° slopes mows this area like a boss.
One final area of the park is just under 1 acre with some medium-grade slopes. This area doesn’t have a ton of leaves overhead. We had a few solutions that could have worked here, so we chose the more cost-effective solution. Can you guess what it was? The 520H. The 520H has the capacity to cover 1 ¼ acres, but we purposefully wanted to give it a little less than that. Why? So the mower could stop and recharge sometimes. That way, the mower lasts longer and the grass gets even healthier.
OK, friends, moving on to a new case study. But if you didn’t get 3/3 on our quiz, you need to watch more of our YouTube videos. Please like and subscribe. Thanks.
A Corporate HQ
This client was using two wired units on a pretty flat piece of property that runs about 3 acres. We replaced the two wired units with one 550 EPOS model. Using just one Husqvarna robotic mower led to significant cost savings.
For those of you who are robotic lawn care geeks like us, you may recognize that 3 acres is actually slightly over the 530 EPOS’ range. (By the way, if you did know that off the top of your head, please call us so we can create a new game show. Working title: Robotic Mow Knowledge Throw…down. It’s sure to be a hit.) We installed a mower with a lower range because it’s a wide-open, flat surface, so it’s easy to mow. Also, the client just wanted to keep the grass controlled with a nice checkered pattern as an added bonus. We didn’t need to create a super fine cut several times a week. So the 530 EPOS has worked well, even on a slightly larger patch of grass than its recommended capacity.
Sports Complex
The final commercial property install we wanted to showcase is a sports complex. As you can imagine, this is a large area (around 17 acres.) It is also flat land with almost no trees around.
Let’s play our super fun game one more time and see if you can guess the Husqvarna robotic mower we chose. The answer is…(pause for dramatic effect)…the CEORA.
The CEORA was a good choice for this property for a few reasons. First, it is able to handle large properties. (Indeed, 17 acres is actually about 1 acre below the max.) Thus, the CEORA was cost-effective, since we only needed to use one robot mower. Also, the fact that there is very little tree cover and very few intricate obstacles to go around means that a wireless model is appropriate. Finally, the client only wanted a maintenance cut around twice a week (scheduling around all the times the field was in use). The CEORA, with its massive capacity, could handle that no problem.
A few other quick notes about this install. After we set it up, the staff at this park has really taken to all the helpful features of Husqvarna robotic mowers. They love that they can set up a custom schedule for the mower, changing it every week based on when the field is being used. They also can customize the mowing for the season or sport. For example, they add Stay-Out Zones around the goals during soccer seasons.
We also would be remiss if we didn’t take a second here to point out the versatility of the CEORA. We also love using that Husqvarna robotic mower for medium-sized property (6 acres or so). The CEORA will mow a property like that every day and give a really beautiful carpet cut.
Solving the Puzzle of Robotic Mower Commercial Installs
As we said above (but repeat here because again, we love extending a good simile), commercial property installs are puzzles. What we love about Husqvarna robotic mowers is that they give a lot of great pieces to work with. In our minds, Husqvarna is the best brand on the market for most commercial installs. Husqvarna offers the flexibility with different machines to handle all the different types of properties we can encounter.
Again, our job is to help you figure out which puzzle piece goes best for your space. We love solving these puzzles and have lots of experience doing so. If you need help figuring out your commercial install, contact us. We can help you decipher what is best for your property, whether it’s a Husqvarna robotic mower or any of the other manufacturers we work with. We can even set up an Autmow feasibility study.
And if you are lucky, we will share more of our brilliant analogies and unstoppable game show ideas along the way.
