sg3000 asks:
"Our lawnmower broke -- it's an electric, rechargeable Craftsman mulcher mower, and it seems the battery won't charge any longer. So, now we have to find a new lawnmower. My wife, being an environmentalist, listed her requirements: electric, zero emissions, and mulching. Luckily, she never said she didn't want robot to mow our lawn, so my solution so far is the Toro iMow. Unfortunately, the iMow isn't selling well; They only sold about 500 units last year and Friendly Robotics's US local company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year. They've already dropped the price 50% since it's introduction, so I don't want to pick one of these up and then have Toro discontinue the model. Has anyone had any experience with one of these things? Does it really work? Will my lawn look good afterwards? Will I spend 3 hours watching it to make sure it doesn't run over a neighbor's kid? Does it have little arms that sprout out to run the edger? Should I look for something else, resigned that my dreams of a little robot to mow my lawn are still years away?"
"Apparently, the way it works is you lay out some conductive wire along the perimeter of your lawn, and let the iMow loose. It first mows the perimeter, and then it zig-zags through the inside until it completes your lawn. It looks a little random in action-- kind of like a teenager half-heartedly mowing the lawn after he's been told 5 times to, 'Do it already!'
After a little searching on Google, I learned a little about the mower. Apparently Toro rebrands the Robomower made by Friendly Robotics. There are some mpegs of the mower in action on their site. The movies are pretty funny to watch -- check out the "Handling a Tree". Unfortunately, the robot doesn't seem to be very efficient and there are no good shots of what the lawn looks like afterwards. There should also be a movie showing what the neighbors think when they see this thing in action."
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Unfortunately, the iMow isn't selling well ; They only sold about 500 units last year and Friendly Robotics's US local company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year. They've already dropped the price 50% since it's introduction[...]
Umm... didn't you pretty much answer your own question? They dropped the price in half and still no one's buying it, and they're on the skids to boot.
Seems like the answer is pretty obvious to me...
WWJD? JWRTFM!!!
buy this if you want to be environmentally friendly!!
So, how about you look for a new battery rather than a super robot slave army? I mean, super robot slave armies are nice, but in the end rather hard to find at your local hardware store. Also, let's say you do go for the robotic minion strategy of lawn management. If you're worried about your robotic minion being discontinued, and the price has been dropped 50%, why not just buy two and keep the second as a spare?
And, just for some extra sodium chloride for your wounds, have you considered the environmental consequences of chunking the whole damn mower or the battery (full of heavy metals) compared to the environmental impact of a quality gasoline-driven mower that'll last longer? Or even just nuking your lawn and putting in wild flowers or a rock garden? You'd be amazed how much pollution the average picket-fence-and-one-point-five-kids lawn contributes to your local watershed in the form of storm runoff becuase of all the crap you have to put on it to make it look "nice" ("nice" here evaluating to the traditional standard of perfection and control accepted by society, not natural chaotic beauty). You need to evaluate your real goals; is your priority the environment, a nice lawn, or no time spent on lawn maintenance?
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
"My wife, being an environmentalist, listed her requirements: electric, zero emissions..."
His wife, being yet another NIMBY-mentalist, prefers that it be electric, so that the 'zero emissions' instead will be sulfur emissions at the coal fired plant, or long term radioactive waste at a repository, rather than that awful gasoline smell that hurts her nose.
(NIMBY=not in my back yard)
My wife, being an environmentalist, listed her requirements: electric, zero emissions, and mulching.
Just because a {Mower, Car, Bus, anything that moves without Animal power} is electric does not mean it is zero emissions. The power has to come from somewhere. It may not be produced in your back yard, but it is most likely produced in someone's back yard and it does pollute in some fashion. It may not pollute as much, but the only zero emission power plants I know of are hydro and wind.
A note on Hydro: just because it does not pollute does not mean it is environmentally friendly. Just ask any fish if they can get back up stream to spawn.
the amount of coal being burnt to charge your mower is more then if you were to just get a gas mower...
Though some may opine to the contrary, electric lawn mowers aren't about the environment. They're about convenience. My electric mower is cleaner and quieter than a gas-powered mower, and I never have to drive to the store for a quart of oil on a Sunday morning.
Batteries are only good for a certain number of charging cycles, and/or other limits based on the various technologies.
Go to a battery place, there are such things now, and bring your old battery in for recycling, and take back a new one.
Far better ecologically than discarding and replacing.
If you use a pushreel lawnmower, they use no gas, oil, or electricity, and dont make any noise. They don't mulch, so your wife will need to make a compost pile, or just leave the clippings where they fall, which is not a problem if you mow often enough. Sometimes primitive technology can solve modern problems.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
That's hardly environmentally friendly. And it also doesn't speak well for the technical ability of a slashdotter. The obvious thing to do is not to buy a new lawnmower, but to replace the rechargeable battery.