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Larry’s Small Engines brings high tech to local lawn care

March 12, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The days of filling up the lawn mower with gas and pushing it noisily around the yard are coming to an end.

Larry’s Small Engines now have automated lawn mowers that will take care of your grass even when you’re not at home.

Called the iMow, the mowers come in two different sizes and models which can cut up to 1.25 acres of grass.

The STIHL brand mowers can be programmed using your iPhone.

Popular in Europe for several years, the mowers are now available in North America and are generating a lot of interest with people who like the idea of being able to maintain their lawn even when they’re not at home.

The mowers are designed to cut your grass to a certain height. They can go out every day and give the grass a trim so you never have excess lawn clippings.

Fully electric, the mowers have a station for charging and will return to the station when they have completed the job or sense that the battery is getting low. They even have a sensor that will detect rain, and the mower will return to the charging station when it gets wet outside, then return to the job once it sense the moisture is gone and it is safe to continue cutting the grass.

The mower operates within a perimeter wire that is placed at ground level and signals the mower as to the where the lawn ends. 

“The iMOW criss-crosses your lawn in a random pattern,” explained STIHL representative Larry Isaac. “As soon as it comes close to the wire it will sense the wire and turn around and go in another direction. It will work off an algorithm to take care of your entire property.”

The homeowner can program which time of day they want the mower to be active. 

The iMOW is designed to be extremely safe when in the yard. It can sense an object on the ground and will stop and turn in another direction. The body is designed to be below the cutting blade so it will sense any object, including feet, and back off so the blade never comes near anything other than the grass it is supposed to be cutting.

The electric motor means it has an almost silent operation when cutting the grass. 

There is an anti-theft device which stops the unit from working if it is removed from the property and it has a GPS locator built in. 

Once the snow melts, Larry’s Small Engines will have one of the iMOW grass cutters taking care of their lawn at their location on Dufferin Road 10 just west of Highway 10. Visitors and passers-by will be able to see it in action as it keeps Larry’s lawn maintained all summer.

“We’re going to have one outside during the summer for people to see,” said Bake Fifield, Larry’s Small Engine’s general manager. “It’s environmentally friendly, environmentally conscience, and it has zero emissions.”

If you want to see the iMOW in action, Larry’s Small Engines will have one working and on display at the Orangeville Home and Garden Show, coming to the Orangeville Agricultural Centre April 3 to 5.

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