I’m a big fan of robot vacs – I’ve got one on each floor of my home and I’m happy to let them take over my floor care. Getting a robot to take care of my lawn has seemed like the next logical step, but, to be honest, the prospect of mapping out my garden, even though it’s not huge, left me cold, so I’ve persevered with my trusty and perhaps somewhat retro, corded mower. Until, that is, Stiga launched their new robot lawnmowers, which let you map out your garden virtually and I got to test the A4.
The Stiga A4 is a sleek looking autonomous mower, which costs a not insignificant £999 and is suited to gardens of up to 400 m2, provides up to 90 minutes of daily mowing time and can be programmed for two cutting zones. It uses Stiga patented RTK AGS technology, which promises precise navigation.
Surprisingly simple setup
As I’ve already mentioned, the draw to the Stiga A4 for me was the promise of a simple set-up with no stress from any digging or tangled perimeter wires. Pairing your new robot should literally take a few seconds out of the box but I found I had to update the firmware first, which took fifteen minutes.
With the firmware successfully updated, the A4 was easy to set up via the STIGA.GO app. As a robot lawnmower newbie, I appreciated that the app suggested the best place to put the base station for optimal GPS antenna position – it wants a spot with an unobstructed 120-degree view of the sky. What really wowed me though was being able to map my garden out using Google Maps! As Google maps hadn’t updated for quite some time the view I got was of the previous owner’s crazy stone garden, but I was still able to work out the area I’d turfed easily.
With my lawn mapped – this was a very simple affair for me as mine is one flat rectangle – the robot was doing its spot first cut immediately and I was impressed at how easy it had been to get going!
My autonomous pal
With the 4G connection, you can, if you so wish, have continuous communication with your autonomous robot pa via the STIGA.GO app. The app is well designed and I found it intuitive to use. There are lots of options – obviously creating a mowing schedule, then tracking performance in real time – this is useful while you’re perfecting the settings you need for your lawn. The ability to adjust the cutting height came in useful for me – I started off with it super short but now I have it mow a couple of times a week and leave it a little longer as grass looks a lot healthier as time has gone on.
A feature I haven’t needed to use because of my garden not being sectioned off, is the A4’s ability to move between different surfaces or areas, with the blades switched off. This will be a real plus for people with sectioned gardens.
I found the app easy to navigate and after spending a little time tweaking settings and routine was happy just to leave my lawn to the A4. It’s reassuring that there are a host of easy-to-follow guides and tutorials on the app though, should you need them.
Quiet and clever
I think because robot vacs can be a little noisy and annoying if you’re home (I’m firmly in the letting them do the hard work while I’m out of the house camp) I expected the A4 to create a bit of a noise too. I was wrong – it’s actually Quiet Mark certified and just makes a low hum when it’s mowing. I’ve had it mow the lawn while I’ve been relaxing on my decking area and it’s not disturbed me.
Quite rightly, my dog sees the garden as his domain where he reigns supreme with his squeaky chicken toy in his mouth… Good news then that I don’t have to worry about him getting in the way while the A4 is working. The on-board obstacle detection works really well, it simply changes track and avoids my crazy animal if needed. A great feature for gardens where there is a lot of wildlife, too.
Glorious green grass
When the Stiga A4 first started taking care of my grass we were enjoying the hot summer weather and my lawn was very patchy and had started to resemble hay in places. Over the last two months, while I’ve been testing the A4 and my lawn has been receiving a far superior cut to that I provided previously, it’s not only far less patchy but also greener and healthier looking. People have noticed and I’ve been accused of having green fingers…
Navigation wise, overall the A4 has proved itself fully capable of systematically mowing my lawn. It does the job better and quicker than I can with a traditional mower and I don’t mind it taking the job from me.
The catch? Obviously, as with other robot lawn mowers, the A4 can’t get close enough to do the lawn edges, so you do need to do that yourself. I’ve found going around with a strimmer once a week is sufficient, even though the A4 is mowing more frequently as per the schedule I’ve set.
There’s no going back! I’m still sitting outside with my morning coffee now the weather has turned, admiring my grass, which has never looked so good!
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