These cons don't seem terrible. Maybe in a few months we'll see some new ones on the market and see prices a bit more competitive. Appreciate all the input.
- They're expensive, especially the high-end ones.
- They'd only do a portion of the house, albeit the part that gets the most traffic
- However, it's also the portion of the house that tends to have a pile or two of stuff that's being prepared for a trip or has just come back from a trip, various cords here and there, etc.
In the end, I ended up just getting a cordless vac that I can pull out in a few seconds if some vacuuming is needed. (I have a housekeeper who comes every month or so, so it's mostly about doing some light touchup between full cleanings.)
Probably my fave tech purchase this decade.
Used to own robo-vacuum cleaners of many brands, eventually sold them all, as each of them caused more work than they were supposed to spare me. After that I was reluctant to get a robomower but it is worth it.
Pros:
- you have to buy machinery anyways (if you're new to having a yard)
- less noise
- it will get mowed more often
- more mows -> healthier lawn
Setup cons:
- you have to bury/hammer a wire into the ground surrounding the area to-be-mowed
- you may have to expand/change your wifi-setup because mower/base-station need access as well
- like with robomowers, decoration is an obstacle. It will either get destoryed or destroy the bot
- because of this, need to have less decoration or need to surround them by wires as well
Recurrent cons:
- obstacles hit can (and will) cause blades to break free
- bc of this I have to replace the blades every 2-3 months (the only real maintenance to be done)
- at least try to find the lost blades (unless you're ok with guests/kids stepping into some unexpected, dirty, rusty, crooked blade