RobotMower.info

Intro

The Worx Landroid M500+ (WR165E) is a mid-range robotic lawn mower designed to make small to medium-size lawn maintenance a breeze. This model is particularly suitable for small to medium-sized yards, up to 500 square meters (approximately 5,400 square feet).

With its robust build, powerful cutting capabilities, and sleek design, this mower is a top contender in the market. In this review, we'll dive into the technical details, features, and performance of the Worx Landroid M500+.

Design and Build Quality

The Worx Landroid M500+ has a reasonably sleek and modern design, with a sturdy build that can withstand various weather conditions. It's not the prettiest mower out there, but it's a lot nicer looking than most, and it has a low unobtrusive profile. The mower is encased in a durable plastic housing that is both weather-resistant and UV-protected, ensuring longevity despite exposure to the elements, and its compact size allows it to navigate through tight spaces with ease.

Underneath the mower is just as important as the top, and there's a lot to talk about here. The Landroid M500+ has a three-blade cutting disc which is not only adjustable for height but also self-adjusts based on a sensor at the front to avoid roots and other ground-laying obstacles. This is a great feature, which we love. What we like less though is the protection cage on the cutting side of the mower. This cage is there to protect the blades, which is useful, no one wants to find shards of a cutting blade in their lawn. But the cage also ends up catching up leaves and twigs and, if your lawn is prone to wormcasts, oh so much mud. This won't usually stop the mower, but will slow it and means that you do need to check the underside more frequently than you would if the cage wasn't there.

Additionally, we need to talk about one of the most under-mentioned and yet seriously important parts of a robot mower, the wheels. The WR165E has three wheels, a single smaller non-powered wheel at the front, think shopping trolley but without the mind of its own. This is pretty robust and immune to everything my lawn has thrown at it, but it does collect mud and from time-to-time grass will wrap around it although this doesn't inhibit it.

The rear wheels are two large plastic moulded affairs, with ridges to provide grip. It will handle 35% slopes. These are okay, and for most lawns are absolutely fine. That said, in dry climates where the soil is a bit dusty, these can dig a bit pushing soil out, and in muddy conditions they will collect mud like a squirrel collects nuts. Alternate wheels are available from Worx and others for these conditions and we definitely recommend them if you face these scenarios.

Lastly, underneath we would mention that the Worx Landroid unlike some more recent mowers is not water-proofed, which means it's a manual cleaning job at the end of the season, not just a quick spray down with the hose-pipe.

Technical Specifications:

• • Boundary type: Wire
• • Cutting width: 18cm (7 inches)
• • Cutting height: adjustable 3 - 6cm (1.2 - 2.4 inches)
• • Mowing capacity: 500m² (1/8 acre or 5382 square feet)
• • Battery: 2.0Ah lithium-ion battery (replaceable with larger batteries if needed)
• • Navigation system: random bounce within wired area
• • Connectivity: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
• • Weight incl. battery: 9.5kg (21 pounds)
• • Dimensions: 580 x 403 x 208 mm (23 x 16 x 8.2 inches)
• • Noise: 67dB *

* - although louder than some other robot mowers, you really don't tend to notice the gentle hum of the Landroid, unless it's cruising right up to you. And even then, it's an inoffensive sound.

Performance

Set-up is a pain. There's no way to dress this up, and the incredibly detailed and extensive user guide goes into great detail with a lot of warnings! The Landroid will drive into the base station from the side and will exit from the other side, so it needs a straight run to the base station. From the base-station there is a wire which you will need to lay around the edge of your lawn with any cutouts for trees, flower-beds, ponds, etc. This is a pain to set-up initially, be prepared to spend half a day laying out wire, tapping in plastic pegs to hold it in place and working out how close to the edge you want it to be. Pro-tip: add loops of spare wire every so often, you will likely have to rejig the layout a few times once you're up and running - you'll thank me for this. So, yes, a pain. But that said, we have found wired boundaries to consistently be more reliable than many of the GPS, RTK, radio or visual AI systems on other mowers.

Once you're up and running the Landroid is solid and robust. It charges itself; it stays inside the boundary; it just gets on with it.

The mower's cutting performance is impressive, with a cutting width of 18cm (7inches) and a cutting height of 3-6 cm (1.2 - 2.4 inches). The mower's blades are designed to mulch grass clippings, leaving your lawn looking healthy and well-manicured. The blades are the standard razor blade types for robot mowers, meaning cheap replacement blades are available on eBay and other sellers for when these ones become dull.

Mowing pattern wise, the Worx is pretty basic in this department, despite the mention of AIA™ intelligent navigation technology and Noesis™ cloud computing the M500+ seems almost to follow a random bounce method once it's out of the charging station. I'm sure there's more to it, and that it is trying to ensure it covers all of the lawn evenly. It does a good job at this and if you let it mow daily, the Landroid will keep your lawn in great trim. What it doesn't offer is some of the fancier mowing pattern features, like stripes or mowing your name in your lawn, that some other manufacturers provide. So, if that's a deal breaker for you - you'll need to look elsewhere.

The App

The phone app is pretty solid. Available for ios and Android, I've never had it crash, and it provides a good range of features. Users can schedule mowing times, adjust settings, and monitor the mower's performance remotely, as well as tweak their mower's performance with grass type and other info.

Features

Cut to edge: The Landroid features an offset cutting disc, meaning the mower can cut nearly to the edge of its silhouette, and this allows it to get closer to the lawn edge if you set your wire up correctly.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Connectivity: The mower can be controlled and monitored remotely using the Worx app, which is available for both iOS and Android devices.

Customizable Mowing Schedules: The mower allows you to create custom mowing schedules, so you can choose when and how often your lawn is mowed. And we especially like the save-the-hedgehogs mode which avoids mowing in peak hedgehog hours after sunset.

Rain Sensor: The mower is equipped with a rain sensor that detects rain and automatically returns the mower to the charging station. You can set within the app how long the mower should wait after rainfall before it ventures out again.

Ongoing firmware updates: Worx is one of the best robo-mower manufacturers for providing ongoing software updates for their mowers. They tend to have the same firmware for all mowers, which means a great longevity for mowers, but perhaps there is a trade-off for some mower specific features.

Options: There are a large number of additional options you can get with the Worx Landroid, Acoustic obstacle avoidance, virtual fences, anti-theft geo-fencing, a wifi extender, different wheel types, etc. There are also some really cool mower modifications to see on the landroid subreddit. Although, as we mention on our buying guide page, we'd only go in for accessories after you've set-up and used the mower for an initial period to really understand what you do and don't need.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• • Powerful cutting performance, cutting right to the edge
• • Customizable mowing schedules
• • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for remote monitoring and control, plus easy firmware updates
• • 3-year Worx warranty
• • Rock-solid reliability

Cons:

• • Limited to Small Yards: The mowing capacity of 500 square meters may not be suitable for larger properties. If you need bigger area coverage, you'll need the L800 model or larger.
• • Price - at full price this is expensive, but is much better value at the discounted prices you can usually find on Amazon or eBay.
• • Party mode isn't what you'd hope it is.

Conclusion

The Worx Landroid M500+ is mid-range robotic lawn mower, and there's a reason it's one of the best-sellers in Europe. It offers rock solid performance, powerful cutting, and customizable mowing schedules. While it lacks some of the fancier capabilities of newer mowers, it has everything you really need in a robotic mower. If you're looking for a reliable and efficient robotic lawn mower, the Worx Landroid M500+ is definitely worth considering.