If you’re like me, then you love spending time with friends and family but hate the idea of mowing your lawn. That’s why I have a robot that does it for me! R80Li is an autonomous lawnmower that can do all of the hard work while I spend more time doing what I enjoy.
Manually mowing a lawn is gradually fading out as most robotic lawn mowers move in to replace traditional gas-powered and electric walk-behind lawn mowers. Robot lawn mowers are steadily taking over yard maintenance and they really do take the work and stress of manually tending to your lawn off your hands.
One such robot for automatically maintaining small to medium-sized lawns is the Gardena R80Li robotic lawn mower — this Gardena R80Li review will provide answers to every possible question you may have about this robot.
Designed for automating the tedious lawnmowing chore, Gardena R80Li (4069) keeps your lawn perfectly cut while you enjoy a fun time with friends and family.
On a hot summer afternoon, nothing beats sitting back to watch a robot trim your lawn while sipping a chilled glass of your favorite beverage.
If this sounds cool to you, then you definitely should invest in an automatic lawn mower. But which one? Keep scrolling to find out if this Gardena robotic lawn mower is a good fit for your lawn.
You may also like: Tertill Garden Weeding Robot Review
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Last update on 2023-09-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
2-minute Gardena 4069 R80Li review
Lawn maintenance can be very easy when you have a robot do it for you. And for a lawn of about 800m2, the Gardena robotic lawnmower will independently work to beautifully reduce the grasses to an even height.
Using 3 small rotating blades and a SensorCut system, it mows in a random pattern leaving a perfect carpet of grasses with no lawn stripes.
The Gardena 4069 R80Li is an environmentally friendly robot, it’s emissions-free and runs very quietly, you will hardly hear it working.
Its intuitive control panel lets you program it to work at any time even at night and the almost silent motor will run without causing a nuisance. A rotary knob gives you the liberty to select your preferred cutting height between 0.7” to 2”.
The R80Li robotic lawnmower comes fully equipped with safety and anti-theft features, it’s also weather-resistant and will mow under rain or shine. Let’s take a quick look at the pros and cons before getting into the full Gardena 4069 R80Li review.
- Excellent cutting results on small and simple lawns
- Quiet and energy-efficient motor.
- Easy to install and use
- Anti-theft protection
- Weatherproof design
- No GPS tracking
- No remote control
- No mobile app
- No rain sensors
Last update on 2023-09-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Full Gardena robotic lawn mower review
How it works
Gardena R80Li robot mower is a great device for keeping a small lawn tidy and perfectly manicured. It’s designed for a lawn of about 800 square meters, and it uses 3 razor-sharp blades attached to a rotating disc to slice through grass.
These blades are small but they deliver very sharp cuts and produce tiny clippings that are scattered on the lawn as fertilizers. The Gardena 4069 R80Li mower moves in a random pattern and mows grasses as it goes leaving an evenly cut lawn and no wheel tracks.
The Gardena R80Li has sensors for detecting the obstacles and when it comes in contact with one, it gradually reverses and changes direction. This robot works in a mow and charge circle, when the battery drops to a certain level it finds its way back to the docking station for a recharge, it has a Li-Ion battery which takes 50-60 minutes to charge.
How long will it run for?
A fully charged Gardena 4069 R80Li will mow for about 65 minutes, depending on the thickness of the grasses on your lawn and the battery condition. This robot mower has a very quiet and efficient motor, you will hardly hear it while it’s mowing. It also has a control panel with a keypad and an LCD display, with this you can set it to mow every day or program it however you want.
Does it have any anti-theft protection?
The R80Li comes with a number of safety features in place, it has tilt sensors and automatically shuts off its motor when titled or lifted off the ground. You can also shut it down using the STOP button. It uses a PIN to prevent unauthorized users and an alarm system to discourage burglars and anti-theft protection.
Performance
With very little input from you, the Gardena lawnmower drives through your lawn cutting every grass on its path. It’s an excellent lawn mower for small lawns as it steadily works to keep your lawn neat and freshly cut every time. Much like every robot lawn mower out there, this robot comes with a lot of promise but not without limitations.
Gardena 4069 $80Li gives an impressive cutting result but the speed at which it does this is unimpressive. For a robot designed to manage only 800m2 of size, you would expect it to mow the entire lawn in one charge, but it covers only about 45m2 in 60 minutes and that’s pretty much how long it mows before it heads to the charging dock for a recharge.
The Gardena 4069 R80Li also struggles on uneven terrains and sloped lawns, apparently, it’s designed for a simple lawn and loses traction on any surface inclined above 25%, it also struggles with narrow passageways. Since it has neither a remote control or a mobile app, programming this robot is done only via the control panel and this isn’t exactly convenient.
Although it’s built to work in any weather, mowing the lawn while it’s raining isn’t ideal because you’ll have grass clippings stuck on virtually every part of the mower, this produces a less-than-perfect cutting result and makes cleaning and maintenance more difficult.
As the Gardena R80Li has no rain sensor, you’ll have to carry it to the docking station when it’s raining.
Ease of set-up and use
If you’ve heard anything about robot lawn mowers besides automatically mowing the lawn, you must’ve heard that they all rely on a perimeter wire for smartly navigating through the lawn. The R80Li lawn mower is no different, it first has to be installed on your lawn before you can get it to work.
The Gardena 4069 R80Li installation process involves carefully laying down the perimeter, creating islands where needs be (that is cordoning off trees and flower beds), and installing the docking station. This can be pretty straightforward or tedious and time-consuming depending on the simplicity or complexity of your lawn, and it can take between 2 to 3 hours.
This premium robot lawn mower comes with a charging station and basically everything you’ll need for the installation. You’ll get a 200m guide wire, 400 pieces of pegs for pegging down the wire, 5 connectors and 7 couplers for connecting the loop wire to the station, 3 screws for securing the station, a measurement gauge to help with the guidewire installation, etc.
Most robotic lawn mowers come with a very detailed instruction manual for the operator, in this manual you’ll find steps on how to properly lay down the guidewire, the best position for the docking station, and how to get started with the robot.
Anyone with basic reading and comprehension skills can carefully follow the instructions and get it right, however, having some basic technical skills is a plus. Although you can do this yourself (of course with an extra pair of hands), you can also get a professional if you aren’t so sure.
How good is the control panel on the Gardena 4069 R80Li robotic lawn mower?
The absence of remote control and mobile app makes it less convenient than many other robot lawn mowers out there, but it has a control panel with an LCD display and an intuitive keypad containing all the essential information for programming the mower.
There is a knob for adjusting the cutting height between 0.7 inches to 2 inches. Despite the lack of a mobile app and remote control, Gardena R80Li is a simple device and it’s easy to use – and as you’ll see, it provides excellent lawn care.
Reliability
If yours is a simple and small garden, you can expect this robot to manage it just fine. The Gardena is built to last and with the right maintenance practice, it’ll most likely outlive your expectations. However, the blades are a bit fragile and are prone to get worn much quicker than you’d expect.
The robot doesn’t mow right up to the edges of your yard and you need to occasionally trim the string of grass it leaves at the garden edges. Otherwise, it’s a strong machine, especially for a simple and small outdoor space.
Ongoing maintenance
Keeping your Gardena mower in great shape determines if it’ll continue to leave your yard excellently trimmed at all times. Maintaining a Gardena is really no different from caring for other robotic lawnmowers, it’s basically the same.
You’ll have to inspect your Gardena at least once a week to check for worn and damaged parts. Remove any grass clippings caught in the cutting deck and blade disc and make sure the latter is moving freely and smoothly.
The blades of these robotic lawn mowers will need to be checked for damaged edges and replaced if need be, the normal lifespan of the blades is 2 to 4 months for a yard of about 300m2, but the actual lifespan will depend on your lawn size, cutting frequency and the presence of stones, small sticks and other objects on your garden.
Before sending out your robot, it’s best to make such your yard is object-free so there will be nothing to interrupt the movement of the device.
Keeping your Gardena 4069 lawnmower in great shape also means making sure the chassis and wheels are free from grass clippings and dirt. This will require that you clean the robot with a brush or piece of cloth with water (not high-pressure running water).
For proper winter storage, thoroughly clean the chassis, wheels, cutting deck, and blade disc of your robotic mower and store it indoors. You may also have to clean up and take the docking station indoors to avoid weather-induced damage. Both the mower and the charging port should be stored in a dry and frost-free place until the next cutting season.
Extra purchases and ongoing costs
This robot comes with basically everything you’ll need to set up and install it, so you don’t need to make any extra purchases before you can get it to work. The Gardena R80Li also comes with 3 replacement blades, a repair set for adjusting and repairing the boundary wire, and a battery with an average lifespan of 2 to 4 years. Properly maintaining your Gardena robotic mower and replacing worn parts shouldn’t cost more than $50 a year.
For the most part, the upkeep of a Gardena 4069 robot is the same as any other lawn mower.
Gardena R80Li robotic lawn mower FAQs
Does the item come with everything needed to install it?
Yes absolutely. Besides hammer, wire cutter, and pliers, Gardena 4069 R80Li comes with everything you’ll need for the installation. With this robot comes a charging station, 200m guide wire, 400 pieces of pegs for securing the wire, connectors, and couplers for connecting the loop wire to the charging station, screws for setting up the station, a measurement gauge to help with the guidewire installation, and a very detailed instruction manual with steps on how to install and get started with the robot.
How long do these robotic lawn mowers operate on a single charge?
A fully charged Gardena 4069 R80Li will mow for about 65 to 80 minutes, the exact mow time on one charge will depend on the battery condition, type and thickness of grass on your lawn, and the garden size, recommended lawn size is 8,611 Sq. Ft. When the battery drops to a certain level, the robot finds its way back to the charging station for a recharge, charging time is about 50-60 minutes.
What safety features does this robot have?
To prevent unauthorized users and theft, the Gardena 4069 robotic lawn mower comes equipped with a PIN and alarm system.It also has lift and tilt sensors which automatically kill the motor and spinning blades to avoid accidents and keep users safe. When the robot is running, you can use the stop button to bring it to a halt, this stop button also acts as a start inhibitor and prevents the robot from coming on until you press it again.
Gardena 4069 R80Li review; final thoughts
Investing in a robotic lawn mower is a no-brainer. While it may seem like a lot of money to put down on some exotic gadget, it sure pays off in the long run. You’ll save yourself countless hours and energy, this may not be obvious but a robotic lawn mower will help you have more time on your hands.
Apparently, you want a robot to keep your yard in great shape. So now the question is, should you get the R80Li? From this Gardena R80Li review you can tell that it’s an ideal robot for a simple lawn of about 800m2 with very little or no slopes. If this describes your garden, these robotic lawn mowers are worth your consideration.
Matt is the founder of the Little Robot Shop, who has spent much of the last decade hacking home cleaning with various robots and devices to make keeping his home clean as easy as possible. Not an easy task with two young children.
When not working on the Little Robot Shop website or YouTube channel, he works as technical support and product specialist for a fast-growing digital company. He does his best to get his younglings to code, which will be an essential skill in the future.
Last update on 2023-09-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
