How to Set Up a Wire-Free Robot Mower

Plan for an hour or two. Navimow claims a wire-free mower can be ready in minutes. Owners across several brands say automatic mapping only partly worked and they redrew borders by hand, which takes longer. A careful first map saves weeks of fiddling later.

Before You Start

• Cut the lawn first. Navimow says to cut grass taller than about 9 cm before mapping, and Mammotion offers automatic mapping only for lawns with grass under 10 cm. eufy specifies grass under 9 cm for the E15.
• Clear the lawn of toys, hoses, fallen branches and anything the mower might snag on.
• Charge your phone and download the brand's app. You will pair with the mower over Bluetooth, standing close to it: Navimow says within about 3 m.
• Check Wi-Fi. Navimow, for example, needs 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. See our Wi-Fi and 4G guide.

Step 1: Place the Charging Station

Choose a level spot on the lawn edge, near a power socket, ideally in shade. For satellite-guided mowers, it needs a clear view of the sky. Husqvarna asks for at least 6 m of free space in front of an EPOS dock, and points out that the docking point is fixed at installation: moving it later means reinstalling. If your model has a separate RTK aerial, read our base station placement guide first.

Step 2: Map the Boundary

There are usually two options:

• Automatic mapping. The mower explores the lawn itself using cameras or LiDAR. Mammotion recommends it only for neat, level lawns.
• Manual mapping. You drive the mower round the edge using joystick controls in the app, like a remote-control car, and close the loop. Mammotion suggests driving about 1.5 m in from the edge. Navimow recommends manual mapping for complex lawns.

Go slowly at corners and along beds. Time spent on the edges here is time saved trimming later.

Step 3: Add Zones, No-Go Areas and Paths

• No-go zones for ponds, beds in the lawn, play equipment, and wildlife corners. On Husqvarna EPOS, stay-out zones must be at least 30 × 30 cm.
• Separate zones if parts of the lawn need different heights or schedules. On Husqvarna, a work area cannot be split once created, so plan before you draw.
• Channels and transport paths between lawns. Navimow advises keeping channels 1 m clear of obstacles. See front and back gardens.

Step 4: Set the Schedule

Set mowing for daylight hours only. Hedgehog Street advises against night mowing, and our hedgehog guide explains why. The RHS advises the highest setting for the first cut of the year, so start high and lower it over a few weeks. Turn on rain pausing, the PIN and the alarms.

Step 5: Update the Firmware

Most mowers get regular software updates. Navimow says an update needs the mower on its charging station, a stable network connection, at least 20% battery, and no mowing scheduled in the next hour. Run any update before the first full mow.

Step 6: Watch the First Mow

Stay nearby for the first run. Look for missed strips at edges, spots where it hesitates, and narrow passages it refuses. Adjust the map, then let it get on with it.