Spring startup for robot mowers: remap or resume?

The question is hardware position, not brand

Robot mowers that navigate without a boundary wire hold their map against a fixed physical reference. On RTK systems that reference is a base or reference station whose exact position defines the coordinate frame; move it and every stored boundary is wrong. On systems with no local station the reference is different, and so is the answer. That single distinction, not the badge on the machine, is what decides whether spring is a ten-minute restart or a full remapping session.

Five makers state the condition explicitly, and the wording is remarkably consistent given that they never coordinate. Ecovacs: the GOAT cannot be used if the RTK reference station is removed and not put back in its original place, because the movement causes positioning errors and risks such as going out of boundary, and the fix is either to return the station to its original location or to remap. Husqvarna: as long as the EPOS reference station is reinstalled in its original position, existing virtual boundaries and work areas are preserved, and if it is remounted in a different position you will need to recreate the virtual boundaries. Segway, in its Navimow i winter storage guide: changing the antenna location requires creating a new map.

So the work that determines your spring is the work you did in autumn. If you marked the footprint, left the pole or bracket in place and did not relocate anything, you resume. If you pulled a ground-mounted station and did not record where it sat, you remap. Our winterization checklist covers the marking steps each maker publishes.

Local reference station systems: the remap-or-resume rule

Mammotion publishes the most explicitly conditional procedure in the set, splitting on both temperature and mounting type for the YUKA mini 2 1000H. Where winter ambient stays above minus 20 degrees C and you left the RTK reference station in place, unplugged and covered, Mammotion states you will not need to delete the map and remap for the next mowing season. Where the ambient drops below minus 20 degrees C and the station is ground-mounted, Mammotion instructs deleting the map in the app before removing the station, and remapping in the next season. Where it is wall or roof mounted, you remove the head and reinstall it in its original position, and Mammotion states there is no need to delete the map and remap because the station location is unchanged. Separately, Mammotion instructs reinstalling the charging station and then remapping a channel between the station and the task area in the app.

Ecovacs publishes a shorter version for the GOAT O1000 RTK and adds a useful design detail: bring the RTK signal head indoors and leave the mounting pole outside, and when you reinstall, make sure the pole position is unchanged or the positioning signal will be misaligned. Its published spring checklist is five steps: reassemble the charging station and put it back where it was last season, check the cables for damage or breaks before connecting, check the blades for sharpness and replace if needed, gently wipe the top panoramic camera and the front AI camera, then power on and confirm the app connects and the machine works, rebuilding the map if it does not.

Husqvarna's spring guidance for the Automower 420 iQ family adds an EPOS-specific point that is easy to miss: if you use a local reference station and stored it, reinstall it on its mount and plug it in, then review your work areas, stay-out zones and transport paths in the app and adjust if the garden layout changed. For Wi-Fi-only mowers using EPOS via Husqvarna Cloud, Husqvarna states the mower needs a stable internet connection across the entire work area and will not operate if it loses that connection, and says that if the mower stops unexpectedly after reinstallation in spring, verify Wi-Fi coverage first. Sunseeker's guidance for the X7 is lighter, saying users may need a quick map verification after reinstalling RTK equipment.

• Ecovacs GOAT O1000 RTK: unusable if the RTK station is not back in its original place; return it or remap.
• Husqvarna EPOS: boundaries and work areas preserved if the reference station returns to its original position; remounted elsewhere means recreating them.
• Mammotion: no remap if the RTK station never moved; ground-mounted removal below minus 20 degrees C requires deleting the map first and remapping in spring; wall or roof mounted returns without a remap.
• Segway Navimow i: changing the antenna location requires a new map.
• Sunseeker X7: quick map verification after reinstalling RTK equipment.

Systems without a local base behave differently

Not every wire-free mower depends on a station you can move. Dreame publishes the A3 AWD Pro 3500 as wire-free LiDAR plus vision with no boundary wire and no RTK, and its spring instruction reflects that: reinstall the charging station and place the robot in it to charge, and if you reinstall the station in a different location, the robot will automatically update the station's location as soon as it charges and leaves. Dreame recommends remapping only if you hit positioning errors caused by major changes in the garden. That is the cleanest resume case in the set, and it follows directly from the navigation architecture rather than from better software.

Worx sits at the other end of the same logic. The Landroid Vision WR208 is published as camera-based AI vision with no boundary wire, no RTK antenna and no radio beacons, and Worx's spring preparation page contains no mapping step at all. Its three steps are the garden (clear debris, check the edges), the software (apply firmware updates from the app), and the hardware (unplug and brush out the charging base, confirm it still lies flat, since uneven ground from winter rain or snow affects charging contact, then replace blades and charge the machine fully before the first mow). Worx also documents an emergency-charge routine if the Landroid will not power up after a deep discharge: dock it manually with the contact pins aligned, and emergency charging starts on its own.

The Segway Navimow i110N needs a scoping note. Segway publishes it as network RTK with vision, stating that no base antenna is needed where network RTK coverage exists. The Navimow i winter storage guide we cite describes antenna removal steps, which apply to i-series installations that use a local GNSS antenna. If yours runs on network RTK with no antenna installed, the antenna step and the new-map consequence attached to it do not apply to your setup. We flag the distinction rather than flattening it.

Blades: what each maker publishes

Blade guidance divides cleanly into replace-in-autumn and check-in-spring, and several makers publish both. Husqvarna's spring article says sharp blades are essential for a clean cut and for protecting grass against disease, instructs replacing blades if they were not changed at the end of last season, and adds a specific rule that the screw is always replaced at the same time as the blade. Its winter guide already listed new blades and screws as a storage step, so on Husqvarna's own documentation a correctly winterized machine needs no spring blade work.

Ecovacs lists checking the blades for sharpness and replacing if necessary as step three of its spring precautions for the GOAT, with a note to wear protective gloves. Worx flags spring as a good time to replace the blades if you have not already, and its winter page describes the replacement itself, a Philips screwdriver and protective gloves. Sunseeker's position is that before winter is ideal so the first spring mow is clean and sharp, and its pre-spring inspection lists inspecting blade sharpness. Mammotion's winter procedure has you remove the cutting discs, inspect the blades, and replace any that are worn, damaged or corroded before reinstalling the discs once the machine is dry.

Every instruction above is condition-based: replace if worn, damaged, corroded or dull. None of the spring or winter documents quoted here carries a replacement interval. One maker does publish one elsewhere: Mammotion's blade and motor maintenance article recommends replacing the cutting blades every 3 months or after 150 hours of use, and adds that thicker grass may need them changed more often. That is the only interval we found across this set, and it sits in a maintenance article rather than in seasonal guidance, so a figure quoted for any other brand did not come from that brand's own documentation.

The first cut: when, and at what height

Two makers publish timing and both tie it to growth rather than to a date. Husqvarna says to start mowing when the grass begins to grow actively, notes that premature mowing can damage the grass blades and hinder the lawn's ability to regrow properly, states that growth typically begins around 8 degrees C (40 degrees F) depending on grass type, and gives a guideline of waiting until the grass reaches 5 to 7 cm (2 to 2.8 in) before the season's first mow. Worx says to wait until the grass is at least 5 cm tall, a figure its page attributes to experts rather than to its own testing.

On height, the guidance converges. Husqvarna says that when you mow for the first time after winter it is important not to mow too short, because that stresses the grass and leaves it vulnerable to disease or weeds, and instructs starting with a high cutting height and gradually lowering it, with its TargetHeight feature automating the gradual step-down on selected models. Worx says to set the cutting disc to the highest level and lower it over the following weeks, adding that the approach encourages strong roots, shades the soil to retain moisture, and discourages weeds. If your lawn is St. Augustine, the cutting-height range your machine publishes may cap how high you can start; our guide on robot mowers for St. Augustine grass crosses the published ranges against extension guidance.

Both makers also publish lawn work that comes before the mower. Husqvarna lists raking leaves and clearing garden debris to prevent grass mould and reduce blade wear, aerating (with a caution not to damage a boundary wire), overseeding with a stay-out zone over newly sown grass, fertilising, and watering in a dry spring. Worx lists clearing sticks, leaves and branches, and checking the edges where plants may have grown over the boundary. Ecovacs adds one item neither mentions: check the cables for damage or breaks and repair or replace them before connecting.

The spring sequence, in the order the manuals give it

Assembled from the published steps above. Where two makers differ, follow yours.

• Clear the lawn first: debris, sticks, leaves and branches, and check the edges for overgrowth (Husqvarna, Worx).
• Reinstall the charging station in its original location, checking cables for damage before connecting (Ecovacs, Husqvarna, Dreame).
• Confirm the base sits flat, since winter ground movement affects charging contact (Worx).
• Reinstall the reference station or antenna in its original position, or accept that you will remap (Ecovacs, Husqvarna, Mammotion, Segway, Sunseeker).
• Remap a channel between the charging station and the task area if your maker requires it (Mammotion).
• Charge the machine fully before the first mow (Worx), and use emergency docking if it will not power up (Worx).
• Apply firmware and app updates (Worx, Husqvarna, Sunseeker).
• Wipe the cameras and sensors (Ecovacs, Sunseeker).
• Check the blades and replace if dull, worn or corroded, replacing screws with them (Husqvarna, Ecovacs, Worx, Sunseeker, Mammotion).
• Review work areas, stay-out zones and transport paths against any layout change since last season (Husqvarna).
• Verify connectivity before blaming the mower: EPOS via Husqvarna Cloud needs stable internet across the whole work area or the mower will not operate (Husqvarna).
• Wait for active growth, roughly 5 to 7 cm of grass (Husqvarna) or at least 5 cm (Worx), then start at the highest cutting height and lower it over following weeks (Husqvarna, Worx).

Two limits on this guide

First, coverage is uneven across the set. Husqvarna, Ecovacs, Mammotion, Worx, Dreame, Segway and Sunseeker all publish seasonal guidance we could read. The articles sit in different places, some of them regional: Husqvarna's spring and winter articles were read on its Australia self-service portal because the US support link routes to a separate help center, Mammotion's winter storage knowledge base article sits under its YUKA mini section, and Sunseeker's guidance is a post on its official US store blog rather than a manual page. Husqvarna itself notes that included services and details vary by country. We cite each as served and flag the region rather than presenting them as US-specific documentation.

Second, the map-retention statements are mostly procedural instructions rather than tolerances. For the models we publish pages for, no maker publishes how far a reference station can move before the map fails, how precisely a mounting pole must be re-seated, or what positional error triggers a boundary fault. The one published threshold we found in this set sits on a sibling model: Ecovacs states for the GOAT A2500 RTK that a movement in the small range under 5 m cannot be accurately detected and may cause positioning errors and risks such as going out of boundary or falling, while a movement over 5 m is detected and the machine automatically stops working. That figure is published for the A2500, not for the O1000 RTK we publish a page for, so mark the position and put it back exactly rather than reasoning from a number written for other hardware.

For the autumn half of this cycle, see robot mower winterization. For how the navigation systems differ in the first place, which is what makes remapping cheap or expensive, see robot mowers without a perimeter wire.