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 he LawnBott LB3500 is Zucchetti newest and most advanced robotic lawn mower. Currently, there are three different LawnBott models in the US:
LawnBott (also known as Ambrogio) has been imported from Italy to the US since 2005. LawnBott robotic lawn mowers have been sold in Europe for over 8 years with more than 70,000 in-use units worldwide so far.
The following is an in-depth review of the final-release LawnBott LB3500 – not a prototype.
LawnBott LB3500 Appearance and Design Review
It is quite obvious that a lot of thought went into designing the outer appearance of the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower. It reminds me of an Italian sports car. It is one thing to look at photos, but it is entirely different to see the real thing in person. The photos do not do it much justice.
The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower is 26 inches long, 19 inches wide and 11 inches high. The low profile of this robotic lawn mower ensures it will mow under hedges. The 19” width is less than most push lawn mowers and a lot less than riding mowers. The narrow width means it can reach more areas of the yard. The more areas it can reach, the less trimming. But do not let the small size fool you. The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower can mow more than 1-acre lawns and the LawnBott LB3500X robotic lawn mower can mow 2-acre lawns. Multiple units can be installed for 3+ acre lawns.
The outer shell not only looks good, but its primary functions are to keep water out, withstand bumps from objects, and protect the insides – all in which it does very well. The plastic may look fragile from photos, but believe me – it is as tough and rugged as a lawn mower should be. Since the LawnBott will be outside most of the time, the shell is designed to withstand UV from the sun and is fade resistant. I have to admit the glossy finish concerned me until it bumped into our concrete wall. Much to my surprise, it did not leave a scratch. Is it scratch resistant too?
On top of the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower are 3 dome nuts, which can be removed by hand to access the 360-degree bump sensors. The two-rear dome nuts dual as charging contacts. The orange arrows are for looks and do not seem to serve any other purpose.
 The adjustable rain sensor consists of two probes on the back of the mower. Adjustments can be made by simply turning one of the probes with an allen wrench. The closer the probes are – the more sensitive to rain. This is a brilliant and simple design.
The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower's response to rain can be set via the menu, which include: ignoring rain, resuming after rain or waiting till the owner resumes future sessions.
In our test, the rain sensor worked wonderful. Within moments of rainfall, the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower stops the blade and immediately goes back to the charging base. The display will read “RAIN” until several hours after the rain has cleared, which turned out to be just enough time to allow the grass to dry. I found the default setting to be perfect.
The keypad is completely sealed. There is no chance of water getting inside the keypad.
The LCD emits a cool blue backlight, which is easy on the eyes. The 2-line display interface is user friendly and big enough to read while standing.  I had no problems with navigating and finding options on the menu because it is straightforward. The primary buttons are the three centered directly under the LCD screen. The "Up" arrow and the "Down" arrows change the values and the "Enter" button advances to the next option.
Buttons
Emergency Stop - Shuts down the mower immediately
On – Power Button
Off – Turns off the LawnBott
Start / Pause – Pause is standby mode. Start is for manually starting the mower.
Charge – Sends the mower back to the charging base or forces a session
- Scrolls through options
+ Scrolls through options
Enter – make selection and advance to next menu
When the handle or these metal strips are touched, the blade stops turning. The locations are strategically placed where a person will most likely attempt to pick up the LawnBott.
In our test, the sensors worked as promised. Not only does the blade motor shut off, but the blade actually stops spinning in less than a second. If you touch the sensor without triggering the bump (obstacle) sensors, the LawnBott robotic lawn mower will continue to roll forward. After a few seconds, the LawnBott robotic lawn mower will stop and emit warning beeps before it restarts the blade. We will discuss this and other safety features in more detail in the Safety section of this review.
 The new larger LawnBott wheel is designed to improved traction over the previous generation models. On surfaces that are flat, inclined and has minor dips and holes, the notched wheels did an excellent job without the optional spiked wheels.
If you have steep hills or your terrain is rough, the spiked wheels are a must have. Spiked wheels give the ultimate in traction.
The optional spiked wheels for the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower screw directly on top of the regular wheels in pre-drilled holes. They can be mounted on the outer, inner wheel or both sides.
If you order your LawnBott with spiked wheels, LawnBotts.com will install them at no additional cost.
The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower is fully electric and the parts are at the top of their class. After many years of continued use, the LawnBott LB3500 would not need much repair if any at all. But that did not stop Zucchetti from designing the LawnBott LB3500 easy enough for the end-user to replace parts. To open the LawnBott LB3500's cover, simply loosen the two screws underneath the front by hand.
Upon looking inside, you will notice how simple the mower is designed and how easy it is to access the parts. The chassis is surprisingly very sturdy and thick.
The major parts are: two wheel motors, one mowing blade motor, a main board, and three obstacle sensors.
 The 360 degree obstacle sensors (on the right) consist of three disc centered by springs. When the shell is moved, these sensors trigger a switch. Once triggered, the LawnBott robotic lawn mower will stop, reverse then go in another direction.
The only tools needed for a complete rebuild are allen wrench set, screw driver, adjustable wrench and maybe a pair of pliers. Special tools are not required to service the unit.
Image on the left:
A. Double lithium battery
B. Braces for additional batteries (LB3500X)
C. Mowing motor
D. Perimeter Wire sensor
E. 360 Degree Obstacle sensor boards
F. Proximity sensor board
G. Blade height adjustment wrench
H. Alarm Board
Image on the right:
1. Drive motors
2. Main board (the brain)
The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower has room for 2 additional lithium batteries that expand coverage to 2 acres – in which we call the LawnBott LB3500X robotic lawn mower. The brackets (B) are in place and pre-wired for easy addition of the extra batteries. If you order the LawnBott LB3500X robotic lawn mower from LawnBotts.com, these batteries will come pre-installed.
According to the LawnBott headquarters in Italy, the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower will be able hold an extra 4 batteries – there is certainly room. But with just the double lithium battery it can mow for about 5 hours. I am estimating that the run/charge time cycles will only allow for a maximum of 2 extra batteries found in the LawnBott LB3500X robotic lawn mower. Because there is only 24 hours in a day, I am having my doubts how an additional 4 batteries can be a benefit outside adding extra weight.
LawnBott LB3500 Feature Reviews
The LawnBott LB3500 has numerous safety features. We are proud to say that in Europe the LawnBott has sold over 70,000 LawnBott mowers in the past 8 years with no reported injuries. That is in part because a person does not have to be around the mower while its in operation. Other reasons are the safety mechanisms which have been in place by strict European Safety Standards.
As of April 2008, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has decided to create standards that are even stricter than European standards. The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower is the first LawnBott robotic lawn mower to receive approval from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. It easily passed their test.
The LawnBott LB3500 is the first robotic lawn mower to incorporate “touch” sensors. These sensors remind me of touch lamps. For example, when the handle is touched, the blade stops spinning in less than a second. Therefore, before you can lift the mower off the ground, the blade has already stopped turning! When the proximity sensors that surround the mower are touched, the blade stops as well.
In addition to the touch sensors, the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower has a tilt sensor. Therefore if the mower was lifted, the blade would stop.
In our test, all safety mechanisms in the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower worked as promised and surpassed our expectations. Of course you would still want to exercise normal safety practices, which include not operating the mower when people (especially children) are present on the lawn. We find that night mowing is a big plus when it comes to that aspect.
In summary, the LawnBott LB3500 robot mower is a lot safer than a traditional lawnmower. Everyday there are hundreds of emergency room visits caused from traditional lawn mowers. By eliminating the human, you dramatically reduce the chances of injury.
The LawnBott LB3500 is the first robotic lawn mower that allows you to control and program it through your Bluetooth compatible cell phone.
Originally I thought setting this up would be just as easy as pairing a set of Bluetooth headphones with my cell phone. Unfortunately, that was not so. First of all, in order for Bluetooth to work with the LawnBott robot mower, you need to have a compatible cell phone. The cell phone must not only be Bluetooth compatible, but also will need to support JSR-82 applications and allow Midlet to send Java through Bluetooth. Since most phones do not fall into this category, you probably want to check our list of compatible phones before getting too excited about this feature.
Installing the custom LawnBott application is about as simple as downloading and installing a game for your phone. If you have never installed a game or application to your phone, it is not extremely difficult, but it is not easy as pie either.
Once setup, Bluetooth works as advertised. You can control the movements of the mower and modify the schedule without bending down to scroll through menus. It is a nice bonus but definitely not a “must have” feature especially since it only takes two minutes to setup your LawnBott using the mower's interface. However, by using Bluetooth, you could modify the working schedule from inside your home given the mower is within range of your phone's bluetooth capabilities which is about 30 feet for most phones.
The LawnBott Evolution LB3200 comes with a radio frequency remote. However, we found that most of these remotes ended up in the garage or in a drawer somewhere rarely (if ever) used. I suspect the same will be the case with Bluetooth once the “newness” wears off. The mower is independent enough to take care of the lawn all by itself.
The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower has a built in alarm system. When enabled, the mower will emit a siren when picked up. To shut it off, you must enter the PIN code that was set by the owner. The alarm is not as loud as a car alarm, but it is loud enough to scream attention.
Also, as part of the security system, the LawnBott has a PIN code. When enabled, the mower will require a pin to be entered each time the unit is manually operated. Therefore, if the mower is stolen, it will be useless.
From a personal stand point on security: I have been using and selling robotic lawn mowers for over 4 years now. We have not owned a traditional mower in our household in over 4 years. In my personal experience, most people think someone is controlling the mower from inside the house or near by. Therefore, one would not dare attempt to pick it up, but it is nice to have the alarm for peace of mind.
Another advantage of the LawnBott robotic lawn mower is how quiet it mows. It is so quiet; it can run at night without disturbing you or your neighbors. In our test, the LawnBott LB3500 robot mower can barely be heard at all standing directly 20 feet away from it.
That is not to say its whisper quiet all the time. The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower is louder when the blade is at full throttle for very high grass. Even when the blade motor is at full throttle, we found the LawnBott LB3500 robot mower is quiet enough to run at night, next to the bedroom window without disturbing one's sleep. The loudest moments also occur when chopping up twigs – you hear the metal blade is chopping them up.
There is no chance nearby neighbors will be disturbed. Overall the LawnBott is extremely quiet for a lawn mower. We really love the night mowing ability.
LawnBott LB3500 Accessories and Parts Review
The dimensions of the LawnBott LB3500 box are 36.5 inches x 31.5 inches x 15 inches, which is larger than the other LawnBott models. A box within a box - All accessories packed quite securely next to the LawnBott, which is in a separate box. The LawnBott LB3500 is surrounded with molded Styrofoam that does a great job protecting the robotic lawn mower during shipping. The box is labeled “Fragile” but it is packed well enough to withstand not so fragile treatment.
- Charging base
- Perimeter signal transmitter
- Power supply (Battery charger)
- 650 ft. wire
- 200 pegs
- Manual in English
- Manual in Italian
- Warranty card and certificate
- LawnBott installation DVD
- Battery connection sheet
If robotic lawn mowers are new to you, the charging base is where the mower goes “home” to charge. The LawnBott LB3500 charging base is more sturdy and heavier than the LawnBott Evolution (LB3200) and LawnBott Professional (LB2100) charging base, which comes to my surprise because the previous models are covered. The charging base is heavy enough that strong wind would not cause it to move even if it were not staked to the ground. It is secured to the ground by the same pegs used for the perimeter wire. The base is weatherproof and is meant to stay outside all the time, even during the winter months.
Cosmetically, the round corners of the base fit the contour of the LawnBott LB3500 robot mower quite nicely, but I would have preferred it in green to match the color of the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower.
The charging contacts are mounted under the rim and are wide enough to leave several inches of play. The charging base is attached to a 30-foot long cable, which connects to the perimeter wire transmitter.
Unlike the LawnBott Evolution LB3200 & LawnBott Professional LB2100, the LawnBott LB3500 charging base is not covered but does not need to be. However, in development are several designer cover options that disguise the base to look like a rock, doghouse or a green high-tech cover.
 The sinusoidal transmitter is about 4 inches long. This little device is responsible for sending a low voltage signal around the perimeter wire. While mowing, the LawnBott robotic lawn mower is “listening” for the signal at all times. If the LawnBott is out mowing and the signal is interrupted, the robot mower will stop immediately. If the signal resumes, the mower will automatically continue. The transmitter can power up to 2,000 feet of perimeter wire, which is plenty for most yards. An optional signal booster can be added to power over 3,000 ft of wire. The transmitter connects directly to the wire from the charging base.
The power supply (also called the transformer) reminds me of the Robomower fast charger. It connects into the perimeter signal transmitter.
The LawnBott robotic lawn mower will cost only $7 - $11 per year in electricity to charge the robot mower and power the perimeter wire. This is a fraction of what you would pay in gas every year for gas powered lawn mowers.
  Transmitter and Power Supply are not waterproof - Both sinusoidal transmitter and battery charger are the only items that must be kept dry. If you have a covered porch, garage, a crawl space or a utility shed these items can be kept there. If the transmitter and power supply must be kept outside, you can purchase the optional transformer cover (diagram on the right). The transformer cover itself is about 11 x 8 x 3 inches and fits the power supply, sinusoidal transmitter and their wires perfectly. It can be mounted on a wall or fence.
 The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower comes with a 650 ft. roll of perimeter wire, which is enough to cover about a quarter of an acre. Prepare to use about 500 ft. of wire for every quarter acre of yard – you may need more or less depending on how many obstacles you run wire around. LawnBott perimeter wire is designed to stay outside all year round. Installation is a one-time event.
 The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower comes with a bag of 200 plastic pegs. These pegs hold the perimeter wire and charging base to the ground. The end of the peg can be snapped off to shorten the length. At first, I thought this was a useless “feature” until I tried nailing them into my hard clay soil. It did not take long before I was snapping off the ends as soon as I took them out of the bag. LawnBott pegs serve their purpose very well but I would have liked the area around the head to be firmer. I broke several peg heads while nailing them in the ground. Here is some advice – if your ground is very hard, use water to moisten the soil. I went through about 200 pegs per 500 ft. of wire. If you stake the wire down, grass (and their roots) will completely conceal it. It usually takes about 2 - 3 weeks for grass to hide the wire.
Two manuals come with the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower. One is in English and the other is in Italian. I'm not sure why they bothered putting the Italian manual in US mowers. The English manual is poorly translated but is a must read. It is packed with illustrations to help you along the way. You can download it here. (The online version is in color but the printed version is in black and white.) The units within the manual are metric, so it helps if you have a metric tape measure or a conversion calculator handy.
Upon reading the print manual, I immediately saw some of the menu items were slightly different than the LawnBott robot mower itself. The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower is new to the market, and LawnBott is known for making frequent updates. One great feature about the LawnBott LB3500 robot mower is that you can connect a cable from the robot lawn mower to your computer to update the firmware over the internet free of charge.
Taped to the outside of the box is a package that contains a DVD and warranty cards. The installation footage of the DVD requires you to fast forward past the beginning. The installation video is quite informative. Not only does it show someone installing the mower, but also there is a footage of how to raise the blade height which I think is a nice bonus.
The LawnBott robot mower and its charging base come fully assembled, but the battery is not plugged in to the main board, as explained in a sheet of paper wrapped around the manuals. To connect, you have to remove the double lithium battery to access the main board. Four Phillips head screws secure the battery to the chassis. It only takes about 5 minutes to connect from start to finish, but we have been doing this for all our customers before shipping. It is required to charge the battery for at least 12 hours before the first run.
LawnBott Installation Review
Installing the LawnBot LB3500 (or any robotic lawn mower that requires perimeter wire) requires a little planning upfront. It is best to draw somewhat of a map of your property and where you would like the wire to go. Since the wire will be powered by a single source, you may have to get a little tricky to wire areas not connected. (If you send us your property diagram, LawnBotts.com will draw the best wire placement free of charge.)
The first step is putting down the docking base. It’s best to locate the docking base in the largest area; no longer than 30 feet from a plug.
The manual instructs to leave about 6 and half-foot clearance behind the base and to space the docking base several inches from the wall. I broke both these rules with no problems at all.
If you have an idea of where to lay the wire, installing the perimeter wire is no big deal. It is recommended to connect one end of the wire to the dock base, and then start working clockwise around the lawn, pegging and pulling the wire as you go.
The pegs worked great until I reached sections of the yard in which the soil was very hard as described earlier. The hard clay soil broke a few pegs thus forcing me to shorten the length. After that, it did not work. I went for the hosepipe, which worked like a charm. You can use a screwdriver to “pre-drill” holes as an alternative.
The LawnBott LB3500 schedule is not exactly what you might think. Sure, you could set it to mow Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 pm-10:00 pm and that will work fine. But to take better advantage of the auto-programming feature, it’s best to give your LawnBott a wide window of operation. For example, the default time window of operation is set from 8:30am – 10:30pm, Monday – Sunday. This means the mower will come out (or not) anytime during this timeframe depending on when your lawn needs to be mowed – yes, it knows when.
Many averaged size yards (depending on how quickly your grass grows) will not need to be mowed every single day and surely without such a wide operating window, but it is great to have the flexibility. The LawnBott robotic lawn mower can have two different time windows with about 4 hours separating them to recharge. Fast recharge times come in handy for very large lawns.
Setting the schedule is very simple and straightforward. If you have multiple areas, the mower will ask what percentage size the areas are in contrast to the rest of the lawn. It will also ask how far it needs to travel the perimeter wire (either direction) before it arrives in those locations. Once that is done, the LawnBott robot mower figures the rest out on its own. It only takes about two minutes to setup the mower.
To keep the LawnBott robotic lawn mower confined to each area without “leaking” may require creating a virtual gate with the perimeter wire in which is invisible to the eye, but very visible to the mower. We explain this in detail inside our exclusive LawnBotts.com Tips and Advice Guide that ships with every LawnBott robotic lawn mower we sell.
In our test, the regular LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower ran over five and half hours on a single charge, which I think is extremely impressive. Since the LawnBott robotic lawn mower can run twice a day, it could mow about 10 hours per day, every day of the week. And that i’s without the additional batteries found in the LawnBott LB3500X robotic lawn mower.
The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower has a feature called “Auto-Setup” which is enabled by default, but could be turned off. Here is an explanation of how this wonderful feature works: When the mower is cutting grass, it will sense how high or low the lawn is by resistance against the blade. The LawnBott robotic lawn mower uses this information, plus several other aspects to determine how long and how often the LawnBott needs to mow the lawn to keep it looking its best. Once the LawnBott robotic lawn mower has “learned” your grass, it will adjust its schedule (within your time window) to minimize the amount of time it spends mowing.
In other words, if your lawn hits a slow growing period due to drought or other reasons, you will notice the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower spending less time mowing. However, if the grass starts to grow rapidly, the LawnBott will automatically maximize the amount of time it spends out mowing.
In our test the auto programming feature worked impressively well. This feature solidifies the LawnBott's independence and ability to manage the yard all season long without human help.
Once the wire is secured to the ground, connected to the base and plugged in, I put the LawnBott robotic lawn mower in the charging base then pressed the "Start" button to manually start it. Immediately it reversed a couple feet, turned right, paused to sync with the perimeter wire signal. Within a second, it powered up the blade and off into the yard it went!
The LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower managed to cut the perimeter wire a few times where it was not pegged down properly. When the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower severes the wire, it reverses about a foot then stops with “No Signal” displayed on the LCD. The LawnBott waits for the signal to come back before doing anything else. Upon repairing the wire, the LawnBott robot mower proceeds mowing automatically.
After a few wire adjustments and cut wire repairs, the installation was complete. The LawnBott LB3500 is very good at finding its way back into the docking station after each session – too bad I cannot say the same for my Roomba’s self-docking ability. We will cover how it mows next.
LawnBott Field Test and Mowing Quality Review
It is fun to discuss the high tech bells and whistles of the LawnBott LB3500, but at the end of the day what matters most is how well it mows the lawn and its ability to do so without your help.
The LawnBott was designed to maintain a “just mowed” appearance all grass types including weeds. Since it can mow daily, the probability of the lawn getting out of hand is very slim. However, in real world situations, sometimes the lawn can get slightly out of hand – especially in climates where there’s lots of rain. Therefore, we decided to test the mower in some more challenging conditions. Here are the results:
High grass: The manufacture recommends not to mow lawns over 4 inches high. That goes for the LawnBott and all other robotic lawn mowers, but in our test the LawnBott LB3500 had no problem mowing grass nearly twice that high. As soon as the blade went over the higher grass, the motors thrust at full throttle and had no problems what so ever. On medium grass the motor would increase at just the right amount of power to get the job done.
Overall the LawnBott LB3500 performed very well on medium and high grass. To be honest, this part of the test didn’t surprise me because the other LawnBott models can handle high grass quite well too. Though it is not recommended to mow high grass, it is nice to know that the LawnBott can handle it.
Twigs & small branches: Most yards with large trees have more than their share of twigs. Therefore, we decided to see how the LawnBott LB3500 would handle twigs, pinecones and small branches. As soon as the blade hit the first twig, the motor speed increased by just the right amount and had no problems chopping them. Again, this part of the test didn’t surprise me because the previous LawnBott models could handle twigs and pine cones very well too. Although the LawnBott can chop twigs and small branches without any problems, if you’re going to mow them on a regular basis, it is a good idea to inspect the blade more frequently than normal. Also because the LawnBott is a lot quieter than gas lawn mowers, the sound of twigs being pulverized can be quite entertaining.
Do not try the following two tests at home:
12-inch+ high grass: To challenge it even further I aimed it at a section of very high grass (actually weed/grass mixture). Much to my surprise the electric motor performed better than I expected. It plowed through the high stuff almost as if it was slicing butter. The mulching quality on 12-inch+ grass wasn’t up to par, but I didn’t see clumps of grass building up either. The mowing motor in the LawnBott LB3500 is more powerful than the previous LawnBott models.
Big Rocks: I have to admit I wasn’t planning on allowing the mower to run over a big rock, but somehow it managed to find one before I picked it up. Much to my surprise it pulverized it quite well. Upon inspecting the blade, there was no significant damage – just a minor nick. Perhaps I was lucky with the blade this time, but we recommend clearing rocks that are within blade reach. Also the mower did not throw any debris more than just a few inches from the mowing deck. Had a gas-powered mower hit the same rock, it would have thrown it several feet and would have been a lot more dangerous.
 Because the mower covers every inch in the yard from several different angles, the final result of the lawn seems to look better than that of traditional lawn mower. Perhaps this is due to the smaller clippings, sharper/thinner blade, varying mowing angles, the fact I did not have to lift a finger to mow or a combination of them all.
The LawnBott doesn’t create wind speed. Therefore it does not blow grass all over the place. This eliminates the need to rake or tidy up the driveway and sidewalk after mowing.
Initially there were some wheel marks on the lawn, but they quickly disappeared. The end result is an evenly mowed yard with no noticeable missed spots. I’m extremely impressed with the cut quality of the LawnBott and I’m unsure how anyone cannot be.
The LawnBott can automatically manage up to 4 different areas of the yard separately. If more areas are needed, some can be combined. For example, the front and side yards can be considered as one area. As an alternative, you can manually place the mower in closed off areas, which is great for fenced or tiered lawns.
The LawnBott automatically leaves the charging base then centers itself on the perimeter wire. It follows the perimeter wire until it reaches the designated area of the yard before it starts mowing inside.
One neat bonus is you do not have to “babysit” the perimeter wire. I placed my hosepipe dispenser about 8 feet behind the dock – just to see what will happen. Sure enough the mower bumped into it, reversed then formed a half circle around the dispenser and into the charging garage it went. It’s great to know you don’t have to “babysit” the perimeter wire for objects, toys and so on.
A new feature that separates the LawnBott LB3500 from the previous models is that can follow the perimeter wire in both directions to access areas of the yard faster.
Another great new feature is that if the LawnBott LB3500 finishes one area before the batteries are low, it’ll automatically move to another area, which is a very smart use of the extra time.
The mower’s LCD displays percentage of its progress. For example, for a yard it hasn’t spent much time in, it will display it’s progress as 0% complete. This is part of the Auto-Programming feature discussed earlier.
We found that the LawnBott LB3500 does an outstanding job at managing each area of the lawn.
Years ago, I thought random mowing will not yield good results for mowing grass. I thought the best way for a machine to mow is with a pattern – like how the Robomower mows. But even the first generation LawnBott proved me to be very wrong. Randomly mowing is truly an effective way to cover every single inch of small, medium, large and very large lawns. Random mowing is also a great to mow lawns with many trees and obstacles – which can sometimes be a problem for the Robomower.
The LawnBott performed so well in our test that we did not find any noticeable missed spots at first and second glance. But after closely inspecting the yard, I managed to find a spot the LawnBott LB3500 missed. The LawnBott took care of that spot very next time it went out – almost as if it knew it was there. If you have a large lawn, do not expect the mower to cover entire lawn in a single run. Since the LawnBott robotic lawn mower can mow twice a day, 7 days a week - the whole lawn will get covered.
 If the LawnBott LB3500 runs across fairly high grass, two things happen. First the blade picks up speed that is noticeable to the ear. Second, the mower will turn into a tight circular spiral until it no longer senses the high grass. In our test this worked extremely well. My only complaint is I found that sometimes the spiral mode ended sooner than I thought it should. However, the mower eventually found those spots in subsequent passes.
Another observation about spiral mode – If you have sections of your yard that grow faster than the rest, the mower will automatically spend more time in these areas due to the spiraling action.
We are very impressed with Smart Spiral mode.
The LawnBott LB3500 is rated to handle 30-degree slopes. Optional spiked wheels can be added to provide extra traction. We tested the mower in slopes at about 32 degrees and didn’t have any problems. In fact, our LawnBott LB3500 was able to climb 40-degree slopes with no problem. As with previous models of LawnBott, the limitation of slopes has to do with the mower not being able to stop quickly enough while traveling downhill. Therefore if your perimeter wire is directly at the bottom of the slope, you do not want to exceed 30 degrees. In our test, the LB3500 performed as advertised, however if you have a fair amount of slopes , we recommend the spiked wheels.
We are extremely impressed with the mowing quality and mowing ability of the LawnBott LB3500.
The LawnBott is truly a lawn mower replacement and is an independent, hard worker that gets the job done. Because it mows frequently, the lawn always look as if it were just mowed.
As with any lawn mower, you will still need to occasionally trim around solid objects with a string trimmer, but areas around sidewalks and driveways will get trimmed if you position the perimeter wire close enough.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Mows and charges automatically – it really works!
Lawn always looks wonderful.
Works great in small and large yards.
Works great on all grass types including thick lawns.
Big buttons and simple user interface for quick and easy setup.
Large notched wheels for great traction.
14” cutting path.
Advanced safety features.
Automatic handling of multiple areas.
Smooth anti-clog underside – no grass build-ups.
Overly powerful mowing and drive motors.
Automatic programming feature very useful – It knows when to mow.
Built in alarm and PIN code feature.
Can mow without perimeter wire.
One-time installation can take several hours.
Does not come with enough wire and pegs for yards over a quarter acre.
Heavier than the LawnBott Evolution LB3200.
Stiff cell phone requirements make Bluetooth seem gimmicky.
Charging base is not covered.
Perimeter wire transmitter and power supply are not weather proof.
Will not self-dock when no perimeter wire is installed.
Needs optional spiked wheels for damp grass on hills.
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The LawnBott LB3500 is hailed as the most sophisticated household robotic mower on the market today. It improves over the LawnBott Evolution LB3200 in many ways.
If you want the best, the LawnBott LB3500 is the smartest choice. Not only is it the most flexible robotic mower available, but it is also easy to use, works on all grass types and on most lawns – small and large.
Installation is simple enough that anyone can do it. But to make it easier, we have compiled an exclusive list of tips and advice that is not found in the manual. When using our LawnBotts.com Tips and Advice Guide and our illustrated perimeter wire plan, you can install your LawnBott like an experienced professional.
The bottom line: we are very impressed with the LawnBott LB3500 robotic lawn mower. From time to time, a customer will ask which is our favorite robotic lawn mower. Our favorite is the LawnBott LB3500. It has all the bells and whistles, and is the most powerful and flexible robotic mower available today. Only time will tell if it will last the estimated 8 – 10 years of trouble-free life, but judging from how sturdy it is built and how well the previous generation LawnBotts are holding up, it will be no surprise to us if it easily exceeds 10 years. Also, since it is so easy to repair, this LawnBott will last forever.
Congratulations for a bot well done.
Clint Dawson
www.LawnBotts.com
(888) 483 0063
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LawnBott Proximity (Touch) Sensors
