What’s the best gift for dad this Christmas?
It’s Saturday morning, the sun is out, the front lawn beckons dad, and someone said something about a Robomower. If the grass were any taller, it would be a prairie. Maybe it already is. It’s time to get the old push-behind mower out. Even though it might be Christmas day tomorrow – well, especially because it is (being 2011).And you’re still looking for gift ideas for dad, and being the good geek that you are, thinking about gadgets for him.
Maybe his arms are too sore from waving the Wii remote around last night (after all, your dad’s into gadgets and geek tech too, isn’t he?) Or maybe he’s just getting on in years and really could use a break from pushing the old gas powered gizmo around. Or, maybe he’s just lazy. We’re not judging.
Whatever the case, the Robomower might be just the thing. No, not Robocop. Robomower.
Likes
On the face of it, the Robomower is an awesome gadget, and could give other leading grass droids, like the Husqvarna Automower and LawnBott, a run for their money. The RM400 model can mow lawns bigger than 4000 square feet, while the RL2200, which includes a heavy-duty mulching system, can do up to 6600. You don’t even have to tear yourself away from the Playstation to turn it on – it is timer controlled, and will start automatically, do its job, then return to its charging station. If someone comes by and decides they like it a little too much, its high-tech theft protection system will alert you. They’ve also remembered that a lot of people will be interested because they’re just not good with garden tools, especially the ones with sharp spinning blades. So it shuts off automatically when tipped up – also important if it takes a tumble on its own. And it’s quite light at 39lbs. It also has a rain sensor, so will stay in its dock if the weather isn’t right for cutting.
Dislikes
Lawns can be minefields, especially when kids are around – toys, garden hoses and other hard objects might be hiding in the grass. So you’d probably want to make sure the lawn is clear of debris before the Robomower cheerfully chews its way through your lost sunglasses. It’s also a little pricier than the average manual model, but they say time is money, so it will probably have more than paid its way after a couple of summers. We’re also not sure how thorough a job it does, despite using an advanced tiling algorithm to find its way around, along with a bumper sensor. The manufacturer is pretty confident that it won’t leave any unmowed patches.
Conclusions
Apparently the Robomower will take a little longer to do the job, on average, than the typical walk-behind mower, but this should be of little importance when dad is preoccupied with other things, like shooting pool with his buddies or watching ESPN. We think it sounds like a great Christmas gift for him. You’ll find it here.