WORX WR165 Landroid S 1/8 Acre Robotic Lawn Mower

When I got this mower I thought it was a fail since it did not work properly, when WORX repaired it I thought it was good and now after a summer of mowing I think it is GREAT – the best tool I have ever owned.I wanted to wait until I had fully tested this mower before I left my review. I bought my WORX WR150 Landroid Robotic Lawn Mower in October of 2020. Since I live in Colorado, I had to immediately break open the box and begin putting down the perimeter wire to test the mower before the snow started to fly. Unfortunately, after staking out the entire yard the Landroid did not work. It continuously threw an error indicating that it had been picked up. I even took video of the Landroid on my perfectly flat and pre-mowed and raked yard just refusing to work. After a long call with the Worx team including reverting my software to a less sensitive previous version to no avail, WORX decided I had to send it to them for repairs. By the time I got it back it had already snowed a few times and all I could do was start the Landroid and determine it ran continuously without error, so I was hopeful for spring, but into the garage it went.Fast forward to May 2021 and ‘Larry’ the Landroid is back in action.I’m going to break my review into sections to help others with similar issues.My yard – I probably have the ideal yard for this type of mower to be fair. I have a 7,000 square foot, perfectly flat rectangular lot upon which sits my house, garage and two sheds. The ½ acre WORX WR150 Landroid I purchased is more than adequate for this application. My yard has trees, however I did not bother to circle those trees with the wire since the mower only taps them lightly, for the smallest of trees I have hammered rebar around the trees so that the mower taps that first before changing course. I have Kentucky bluegrass which is a very fine blade grass species and this easy for the mower to get through. Typically, small tree bits and leaves don’t seem to bother the mower at all.Setup - Let’s start with the setup. I would suggest not rushing through the planning, charger placement and wire installation phase.The charging pad – I believe the instructions say to leave space in front of and behind the charging pad, however you really need it to be clear on all three of the sides that face the inside of your yard. My mower navigates back to the pad flawlessly however when charged the first thing it tends to do is not drive straight forward but make an immediate 90 degree turn and thus bumps into the ladder garden I have it installed under (see photo). A better option would have been for me to simply build a little roof under which the Landroid could get out of the weather.The perimeter wire - The wire is going to be your weakest link in the entire system; fortunately Worx did not flavor the wire with rabbit or squirrel chow like all of my other outdoor wiring seems to have been (soy based wire coating) so to my surprise my wiring was 100% intact this spring. In fact, since I put it down in the fall after a good mowing and onto dormant grass, I find it very difficult to even find the wire in most areas now.Pay close attention to all instructions, including the distance from objects and the inside and outside corner instructions as well as how to secure the wire to the ground. If I had it all to do over again, I would have given the Landroid a bit more space on the inside corners in particular. As I have a fence, when the Landroid makes its cleanup lap and comes to an inside corner if even the grass under the fence has built up the mower will sense an obstruction and back up. Since this is an inside corner it immediately hits the fence behind it and struggles. Ultimately it will figure it out but not without effort. My observation is this, you will likely need to weed eat every now and again so what is an extra inch or so of weed eating? Give the Landroid a little more room.Obstacles – again, I have my Landroid mow under a stair landing and when it is following the wire it does so flawlessly, however when it is mowing it comes at the perimeter from a 90 degree angle and always struggles to free itself (see photo). Again, hindsight being 20/20 I would have just had the Landroid stay out from under the landing. Also pay close attention to obstacles that may exist above the perimeter wire. Unfortunately, as my mower performs its clean up lap by following the wire it goes under a Lilac bush that has a branch that is just low enough to grab the back wheel of the mower and make it hiccup a bit on its way home. Again, it navigates this perfectly well, but I did not think about low hanging branches when I strung the perimeter wire. Keep in mind the real wheel of the Landroid is ~9.5” high so anything that overhangs your yard by less than this height will eventually catch your Landroid. I have not had this mower through a fall season where I expect leaves may affect it's performance however a good raking should be enough to mow until the snow flies again.Sidewalk – As I said before, your wire is your weakest link. I have a front walk with grass on either side of it. Since the wire has to cross this in order for the Landroid to cross it you have to figure a way to get the wire across your sidewalk. I guess I could have burrowed under the sidewalk and snaked the wire underneath however I know it would be at least 5 inches deep and I’m not sure that would even work. I was lucky insomuch as I had my front walk scored with a diamond blade and thus was able to lay my wire in this crack leaving about a 3 foot gap through which the mower occasionally randomly finds it way (see photo). This actually works quite well but in any other application this may have been difficult.Surprises – now for the best part. I have not had to mow my yard once all summer! This is the best purchase for my yard I think I have ever made. I am stunned at how well this mower works. We have a Roomba, and this blows that away. A couple of side benefits that were unexpected to me. First, my yard looks freshly mowed every single morning because it is! I never look outside and think to myself that the yard needs mowing, it doesn’t. Next since the yard is kept short all of the time my dandelion problem seems to be under control. When you see the photos, bear in mind I do not use weed killer to kill dandelions, I simply pick them but with the Landroid they never have the chance to flower.Bottom line – I would HIGHLY recommend this mower or other WORX models depending on your grass type, configuration and yard geography. I read a lot of reviews before buying this mower and there is really good information to be learned by doing so. I hope this helps with your decision to by a robot lawnmower.