Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've been intrigued by the concept of an autonomous lawnmower ever since I saw the concept years ago. However, the price to performance ratio was always asinine, and there wasn't a significant external stimulus that could justify such an expense. Fast forward a few years, I've relocated from Michigan to Texas, and I discovered it was a very different environment mowing your lawn in May-August. Trying to maintain my lawn while it's nearly a 110F heat index on a daily basis during these hellish months made me reconsider the idea of purchasing a robot that would perform this task for me. Yes, I briefly considered a lawn service, but at a charge of $40 a visit on a weekly basis, I would break even with a lawn bot in less than one mowing season in the lone star state. I wanted an unbiased opinion on the current state of the art, so I went to Consumer Reports. They had reviewed 4 of these units recently, and the top pick happened to be the Worx Landroid WG794. As an added bonus, the Landroid was also the least expensive. Something about knowing what you're doing and not being a greedy corporate villain made me an instant Worx fan. Next step was Google to seek reviews, videos, forums, manuals, etc. I always perform due diligence before committing to such an indulgence. From the looks of the internet landscape, the overall opinion was very positive. Finally, I start the bargain hunting process. Most of the time, I wind up on Amazon, due to reputation, price, and peace of mind. In this particular purchase, Amazon was indeed the lowest bidder, $160 below the $1K MSRP. For some reason, I take notice at the offer of an $80 gift card if I sign up for the Amazon Visa Card. I think why the hell not, it will make this deal that much sweeter and I can just cut up the card when it gets to me. Then a second offer comes to light: $40 gift card when you apply for the Amazon Prime Store Card. This time, I note the benefits of the card: no annual fee and 5% off all Amazon purchases? Why was I not using this card already?! I place order, able to checkout for a sweet deal of just under $700 (I had a bit of a gift card left to use as well) No 2 day shipping, but free nonetheless, so I'm satisfied. I get the unit a week later and set it up in my back yard to start. Like any good bicentennial, I half-a** the installation by placing the boundary wire 8-10" from the fence line (14" recommended), separating the pegs by at least 5' (2.5' recommended), I don't bury the wire or even so much as try to work it into the grass, and on top of this the length of the lawn is from a full week of growth (recommended to mow lawn before installing). I'm not quite sure how I was expecting this setup to perform well by any means; I guess I'll say I wanted to see how the Landroid "behaved" before committing to a more permanent, proper installation. Of course the next few days is filled with "optimizing", while I effectively continue to try and jam a square peg through a round hole to make my style of installation work with the robo. But he was acting out against all this nonsense by slicing through or pulling out the boundary wire, not reacting to my 90 degree corners and alarm that he was "outside the working zone" and I couldn't once get him to actually enter into his charging station. Even if I set him right on the wire, 3 feet from the charger, and a straight shot home, he would turn of to the right at the last minute, bumping into the side of the house, causing him to reset and either try again, or wander off in another direction, simply refusing to fuel up so he wouldn't have to be subjected to this disgraceful work environment any longer. On the fourth day I commit to doing things right, 14" gap from the fence/house, 2.5' between pegs, nice round corners, and I used a trimmer to outline a trench down to the soil level for the wire. The da** thing worked perfectly from that point forward. If you follow the directions, the Worx Landroid will serve you reliably and consistently. Try to pull anything else, trust me, you will lose the battle.