Husqvarna's SMS-enabled Automower 260 ACX: ur lawnz mowed kk?

Good news for unmanned lawnmower enthusiasts (we know there are at least two of you out there). Husqvarna's latest, the Automower 260 ACX, can be programmed to send you an SMS text message if something should interrupt the mow job -- because sometimes looking outside to see if your robot is still tending to the lawn is just too much to ask. This bad boy gets an hour on a single charge -- which should be plenty of time to take down about half an acre of lawn -- and upon returning to its docking station, the battery is recharged in roughly forty minutes. Recommended retail price: €4,000 (that's over $5,200). No word yet on a stateside release.

[Via News Market]

[whatishalo? @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:30PM]

SRY. I PWND UR CAT

[Bryan @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:31PM]

ROFL!

[Precurse @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:51PM]

The unit is also firmware upgradable. It also allows certain text phrases to be added depending on the trigger.

Certain "catch phrases" such as "MEOW", or "WOOF!", or "I Taw a Puddy......." can be added and will change depending on what the lawnmower decides to run over.

[Brian @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:28PM]

Hahahahahahaha.

[th3archiv3 @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:38PM]

People 10 years and beyond used to dream about robots mowing there lawn for them, and here you guys are taking it all for granted. Shame!

[OneLove @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:30PM]

Unmanned lawnmower enthusiasts? cant wait for that convention.

[Carl @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:31PM]

Damn, 5 large for a mower. I'd rather buy a tractor and use it for hundreds of more things. Not to mention getting outside.

[Jon Acheson @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:59PM]

For five grand, you could get the neighbor's kid to mow the lawn for the next six or seven years.

[scooterbaga @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:27PM]

@Jon

Bingo.

[Frank @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:23PM]

That's their latest and biggest Automower. I also think this device is overpriced. This device is meant for huge garden, not a normal sized garden. The other Automowers they offer go from 1.300 Euro - 2.700 Euro, depending on the size of your garden and if it's even or not.

[brn @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:52PM]

Wasn't the Toro iMow about $500 back in 2000? Nine years later, Husqvarna costs several times as much.

[Cassini @ Apr 25th 2009 4:59AM]

For five grand, I could get an entirely new home surround sound entertainment system.

Hmm... lawn mower... entertainment system.... lawn mower... entertainment system. Yeah, I think I'm gonna go with the entertainment system.

[2busy @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:32PM]

I'd call it Lambormini!

[Surfaced @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:01PM]

Exactly my thoughts; they obviously drew insipiration from Lambos

I guess it means it goes fast?

[Jean-Michel Decombe @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:28PM]

I like Lawnborghini too.

[Phil @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:35PM]

@ Jean-Michel

Damn, you beat me to it! :-(

[Kfunkcc @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:32PM]

All your lawn are mowed by us.

This thing is awesome.

[kjb434 @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:33PM]

I like "mow jobs"

[Jay Voorhees @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:34PM]

Hey! I just got a text from my mower, it says i should get my fat ass out of the lawn chair and get it a beer. It's finished cutting the grass.

[DangerZone1223 @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:36PM]

I wish my grass was emo. Then, it would cut itself.

[aznofazns @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:37PM]

+1 for unoriginality

[Jon Acheson @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:37PM]

Do android sheep have electric dreams of this thing?

[Col. Readily Apparent Upon Cursory Inspection @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:58PM]

Nice Scalzi reference, I caught it. BrainPal FTW.

[nparikh @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:25PM]

Feed me your cat!

[glenn s @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:38PM]

Robot with a 22" spinning blade. You just know someone is going to find a way to hurt themselves with this.

[JS @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:39PM]

That's what happens when a drunken Lamborghini has an illegitimate child with a crack whore Roomba.

[F. C. @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:41PM]

Ok... I can buy my lawn mower a SIM card, but will it pay the bill?

[TREX6662k5 @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:17PM]

In Soviet Russia bills pay you!

[allenu @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:50PM]

One thing not mentioned in the write-up above is that it also rewinds VHS tapes for you.

[Kamokazi @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:22PM]

Well that's useless, all I have are DVDs. Why can't it rewind them too?

[obijon @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:58PM]

Geez, how many years of professional lawn service would 5 grand pay for?

[Tom @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:00PM]

that is one expensive mowing job

[Donnie @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:04PM]

They also have a Solar powered one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXGdyZZjad0

[wingman1659 @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:09PM]

Where's the Recession Antidote giveaway when I need it?!

[neil @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:24PM]

What's to stop someone from stealing this thing, or at the minimum vandalizing it. For $5,000 grand its a tad expensive; for the same price you could buy FIVE riding lawnmowers.

[Stubb @ Apr 24th 2009 3:02AM]

You seem to forget that this thing has an (albeit rudimentary) AI, great speed, and vicious weapons. No one will attack this robot.

[Patriks7 @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:10PM]

Wow, that'd be almost 7 hours to mow my lawn (including the charing). I really wanna see what lazy (American) ass will buy this.

[obijon @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:22PM]

Someone with more profitable things to do than mow 2 acres by hand.

[Dan Davis @ Apr 25th 2009 3:03AM]

I dont think it will take 7 hours if you're just charring your lawn...

[TareX @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:14PM]

Some people have a lot of money to spare....

[Matthew @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:24PM]

Gee...I must be one of the two enthusiasts! But I got my robomower CHEAP on Woot! a few years ago (something like $190 shipped I think). Worked great until I chopped the perimeter wire with the snowblower. Guess I should get out there this weekend and fix it!

[Brian @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:25PM]

Normally people get pissed the hell off when they see a car tearing ass around the yard, but this ...

[chris @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:25PM]

I actually owned/used a Robomower 500 for a few years before my dogs started digging up the yard on a regular basis looking for moles. I only paid $500 and overall it was a very enjoyable experience. Safety was obviously a engineering priority and the amusement factor alone was worth the price. I had to sell Robomower on eBay, but I hope he is happy in his small, flat yard in Idaho.

[WhyteKnight @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:36PM]

This thing looks worthless!
It looks like your lawn will become some freakish version of a screensaver!
"Automower will then work irregularly around the lawn..."
Take a look at the demo!
http://www.automower.com/node155.aspx
After several hours there are still parts of the "Demo" lawn that haven't even been touch by those whirring razor blades!

[Frank @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:24PM]

Looks worthless but it isn't. It works. We have a 230ACX. You have to look for him, replace the blades once in a month,but else it runs each days, from morning till evening. The first two days in a new year the garden looks like a battlefield, but after he ran for a while, and if you keep him running then you'll have a perfect trimmed garden the whole year. If you have a large and difficult garden you may have to keep it running the whole day, for smaller gardens you may only have to keep it running a few hours a day or maybe even only a few hours a day once in a week.

[bytor4232 @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:55PM]

Husqvarna kicks ass. I have one of their couple year old 125 lawn tractor and love it to death. As wicked neat this robot is, I still love the experience of being out there in the summer on my half acre, beer in hand, ipod in ear, and trimming up my green in my big ol straw hat. its my little escape.

[macmankev @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:25PM]

Incoming text...
Mower: Sry, Cat Dead, kthnxbye

[yrag @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:34PM]

So let's see:

• You save $30-40 dollars a week not paying someone to cut your lawn

—BUT—

• You now need to pay a security guard 10Xs that a week to protect your $5,200 investment

Meh— I'll pass.

How do you think I got so rich?

[Scott Fletcher @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:10PM]

That 'web demo' simulation of the Automower make it look ridiculous. http://www.automower.com/node155.aspx -- Where's the GPS tracking, laser sighting, and automatic mapping? SOOooooo much wasted energy mowing over the same spots multiple times. Not to mention the little sprigs of grass that are bound to be poking up all over the lawn where the mower missed. Really? I'll wait for the Peter Weller version.

[Frank @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:33PM]

The trick is that you keep the mower running a few hours each day. After a while (depending on the size of the garden maybe one, two or even three days) he will have reached ANY spot, so he won't miss anything. Because it mows each day a few hours, and because he mows by chance and thus reaches any spot in some time, you'll have a perfectly trimmed garden the whole time. GPS is not precise enough, laser sighting is not possible, automatic mapping, maybe, in the future they will include some positioning device, camera or other gadgets to give him some sort of intelligence, but at the moment, it perfectly works without it, too, maybe even better.