DAY 2 (after DAY 1 unboxing, assembly, and a few minutes of mowing) - Today, we are Really Mowing, the Unexpected Deep Hole, and the Inadvertent Fence Climbing!
(Note - This review is being written on Day 2 of using the mower to cut a significant amount of the lawn & is written in reverse-chronological order. Day 1 was yesterday: the unboxing, assembly of the wheels and minimal grass cutting. TL;DR at end.)
As we are writing this, it is Day 2 of our Mowrator S1 experience. We had some super-high grass (and weeds) to cut. Getting used to the remote control took a little time, especially when making turns while backing up. As long as we keep the mower moving while making turns, the mower is unlikely to dig up grass. We learned that this is similar with all zero-turn mowers.
The Deep Hole and Fence Climbing
Not being very experienced with a joystick, it didn’t take too long to get used to it, although we need a lot more experience before our mowing lines are very straight and our turns seamless. We used the slowest speed setting and the middle blade speed setting. We have not tried out the cruise-control yet. We have not mowed along the sloped busy road area yet – we need to be very confident of our skills before this. However, we were a distance away from what turned out to be a wide, deep hole, likely not very visible because the grass & weeds were very high. The mower suddenly went downward at an angle – probably between 30 and 45 degrees, and the one of us controlling the mower panicked and backed it out of the hole: NO PROBLEM! The mower stayed steady and came right back out to more level ground. Then, we tried to see how close the mower could cut next to the fence. It cuts close, and this should reduce the amount of string trimming needed (but not eliminate the need). A couple of times, we made it go a little too close to the fence and the mower started to climb up the fence! It was funny, and no harm was done to the mower or the fence. This gives us confidence when it’s time to tackle the slope near the busy road, it should work as well as we believe it will.
Storage
With the battery turned off, we turned the mower on its side to clean off the caked-on grass with a plastic scraper, and we used a blower to clear the grass and dust off of the mower & sensors. When stored in the shed, we are covering it with a push lawnmower cover, and we got a silicone moisture absorber that is placed under the cover to absorb humidity to help protect the electronic components.
We initially had 2 problems that this Mowrator will solve:
- Our landscaper’s fee was going way up this year
- The property has a sloped lawn near a busy road. Fortunately, no one ever got hurt on their riding mower along the busy road, but we needed a solution starting this year that would keep humans safe and keep the grass cut along that dangerous road.
Who Are We?
- Two older adults
- Not regular video game players
- Haven’t used a joystick like this in decades
- Not especially outdoorsy
- Large yard
The Solution: the Mowrator S1 4WD with the Deformable Tires
We had never heard of a remote control lawn mower before last month. We knew that an automatic robotic mower wouldn’t work for us close to the busy road, but an AI suggested a remote control lawn mower as a solution. This AI recommended the Mowrator S1 as the best brand out there.
Mowrator was having its spring sale last month. We decided on the Mowrator S1 4WD 100% slope with the deformable tires because of the steep slope near the busy road.
Note – the Mowrator box might say 75% slope on the outside, but it’s the deformable tires (=high traction) that arrive in a separate box that make it a 100% slope mower once the tires are installed (100% slope = a 45 degree angle – we had to look these numbers up, and they have something to do with trigonometry).
DAY 1 – Unboxing & Assembly
Unboxing
This mower is heavy!
We angled the box on a 4” step with some padding on the floor in front of the box. The 2 of us lifted the front end out of the box and slid the mower forward onto the padding to get it fully out of the box without having to lift the mower’s entire weight.
Note - We had a phone on a tripod continuously recording the unboxing, as recommended somewhere on the Mowrator site, in case anything was missing or damaged. We checked that all of the included parts indicated on the “Quick Start” sheet were in the box – yes. Then, although the manual didn’t say to do this, we took the battery out of the mower to make it about 25 lbs lighter.
Assembly
The assembly was very doable, but it was a little tricky to get the screws to “catch” with each of the tires initially, because we had to get the alignment just right. We needed to use a rubber mallet to get the tires in place all the way. It was also tricky to get the even shorter screws for the grass outlet cover to “catch.” These 2 assembly steps took more time than we expected, but we got it done.
The battery and remote control both arrived half-charged. We charged them fully before we started up the mower.
It was evening by the time we got started mowing, but we ran a few lines (although crooked) and cut some of the lawn before sunset. We stored the mower in the shed.
Summary
It has only been 2 days, but we are very pleased so far. There is a learning curve for us, but it’s not that difficult. It was even kind of fun today. And it was definitely gratifying to see all the tall grass and weeds get cut down. It’s going to be a big relief to mow near the sloped road area with no risk to human life.
TL;DR Two older adults with steep slope near dangerous road, large yard, high yearly landscape fees. As of Day 2, the Mowrator has handled tall grass & weeds, a wide, deep hole and “inadvertently” started to climb the fence without a problem.