29guidesevery figure traced to its source
Buying, troubleshooting and seasonal guides
Guides for choosing, running and storing yard robots, written against the same rule as our model pages: every spec comes from a manufacturer datasheet or support page, carries its measurement basis, and where makers contradict themselves we show the conflict instead of picking a side.
Robot mower guides16 guides
- Best robot mowers for steep or large lawns: what the datasheets supportTwo published specs, max slope and work area, eliminate most robot mowers on a steep or large yard. What the manufacturer datasheets say, and for which lawn.
- How to choose a robot mower: the specs that decide itA decision framework for reading robot mower spec sheets: work area, slope, navigation, runtime, noise, and what unpublished figures mean.
- Best robot mowers for small yards: what the datasheets supportA spec-first look at the sub-quarter-acre robot mower class: price, navigation, narrow-passage handling, and published noise, all traced to datasheets.
- Robot mower slope ratings explained: percent, degrees, and the boundary figureHow to read a robot mower slope rating: percent against degrees, why the edge of the lawn gets a lower limit, and what the datasheets actually publish.
- Robot mowers without a perimeter wire: what replaces the wireEvery robot mower we track is wire-free. What each maker uses instead, RTK satellite, LiDAR, or cameras, and the setup each published system depends on.
- Quietest robot mowers: the published decibel figures and what they measureRobot mower noise figures are published on bases that do not line up. What each maker actually publishes, which numbers compare, and which do not.
- Robot mower runtime and charge time: what the published figures meanRuntime is published under four different names, and coverage per charge is a separate spec that does not follow from it. How to read both from the datasheets.
- Robot mower cutting height and width: how to read both specsHow to read robot mower cutting width and height specs: what width means for coverage time, matching a height range to your grass, and where comparison breaks.
- What robot mower and pool cleaner makers do not publishWhat is systematically missing from robot mower and pool cleaner datasheets: cable length, boundary slope figures, runtime in minutes, and the basis of noise.
- Navimow stuck or keeps stopping: every cause, tracedEvery documented cause of a Segway Navimow stopping mid-mow, traced to the article in Segway's own Navimow help center that states it, with the fix each one publishes.
- Robot mower will not return to its dock: a systematic diagnosisA four-branch diagnosis for a robot mower that will not dock, built only from the Segway Navimow, Mammotion and Husqvarna support articles that document each cause.
- Robot mowers for St. Augustine grass: which specs matterUF/IFAS publishes a mowing height for St. Augustinegrass and a separate note on robotic mowers. Which published cutting-height ranges actually reach it.
- Robot mowers and dogs: poop, safety sensors, and schedulesWhat robot mower makers actually publish about detecting pets and obstacles, why none publishes a pet-waste guarantee, and how the sensor families differ.
- Robot mower winterization: the complete checklistStorage charge level, temperature ranges and base-station handling, taken from each maker's own winter guidance. The brands disagree, and the spread is wide.
- Spring startup for robot mowers: remap or resume?Whether your mower keeps last year's map is decided by hardware position, not by brand. What each maker publishes about map retention, blades and the first cut.
- Are Robot Mowers Worth It? Cost Per Mow, CalculatedCost per mow from observed prices, warranty guaranteed years, and published battery figures, with every assumption labelled, plus the cases where a robot mower is not worth it.
Pool robot guides13 guides
- Cordless vs corded robot pool cleaners: what the datasheets sayHow to read cordless battery runtime claims against corded cable reach and cycle times, using only what manufacturers publish on their datasheets.
- How to choose a robot pool cleaner: the specs that decide itA spec-first framework for robot pool cleaners: capacity bases, coverage modes, runtime, filtration, and flow, read from manufacturer datasheets.
- Robot pool cleaners for above-ground pools: what the datasheets supportWhich tracked robot pool cleaners carry a manufacturer above-ground rating, the floor-only vs wall-climbing question, and how capacity and price line up.
- Best robot pool cleaners for large pools: what the datasheets supportWhich robot pool cleaners publish the largest pool ratings, why area and length figures are not interchangeable, and what each maker actually states.
- Robot pool cleaner runtime and battery: reading the published figuresHow to read cordless runtime claims, charge times, and corded cycle times on robot pool cleaner datasheets, and what an unpublished runtime tells you.
- Robot pool cleaner filtration explained: what a micron rating coversMicron ratings on robot pool cleaners describe a layer, not a whole filter. What each maker publishes, on what basis, and where the published claims stop.
- Robot pool cleaner cleaning modes: what each claim coversFloor, wall, waterline, surface, and clarification modes on robot pool cleaners: what each published claim covers, and why per-mode figures do not compare.
- Aiper Scuba S1 not climbing walls: what the datasheet says it should doThe Scuba S1 publishes wall and waterline cleaning as modes, not as a measured climb. What Aiper's own spec table claims, and the conditions its troubleshooting pages say defeat wall climbing.
- Beatbot AquaSense 2 not charging: the documented fix sequenceBeatbot's published charging checks for the AquaSense 2, including the multimeter dock test and the drainage step, plus what its own indicator-light table does and does not document.
- Wybot S2 Solar not charging in the sun: a solar panel reality checkWhat Wybot publishes about the S2 Solar dock, the battery arithmetic you can actually do from its spec table, and the one figure that would settle the question and is not published.
- Do pool robots work in Intex and soft-sided frame pools?Framed vinyl and soft-sided pools are not the same buy. What makers publish about pool type, wall material and working depth, and where the record stops.
- Pool Robot Winter Storage: Battery, Temperature, and DrainageWhat Aiper, Wybot, Beatbot and Maytronics actually publish about storing a robot pool cleaner over winter: storage temperature, storage charge level, recharge cadence, and drainage, with the conflicts named.
- Is a Robot Pool Cleaner Worth It vs Manual Vacuuming?Robot pool cleaner against manual vacuuming, on published cycle times, published charger and load figures, observed prices, and the cases where the robot is the wrong purchase.