Victa mowers get a robot upgrade

Who can forget pulling that Victa starter-cord furiously and having to repeat the procedure several times. No more.

The Victa RM100 robot mower.

The first robot Victa lawnmowers are rolling off the production line and will sell in Australia from next week.

“Turn grass into lawn with a Victa” was the product slogan I remember as a child when the two-stroke Victa was an Aussie iconic alongside the Hills hoist, Four’N Twenty pies and Holden sedans.

Some of the early ads for Victas wouldn’t cut muster safety-wise these days, such as smiling people mowing their lawns with Victas while wearing thongs.

They certainly weren’t the first lawnmower – the handheld types go back to the 1830s and inventor Edwin Beard Budding. He apparently also invented the adjustable spanner – maybe the two went together.

The Victa RM100 Picture: Supplied

Mower variants included an added roller for that striped patterned mowed look, and ride-on mowers were around early in the 20th century.

Electric mowers are also old hat, but they didn’t have batteries. I remember a neighbour pushing a mower (from memory, a fancy, green Scott Bonnar) with an extremely long power cord, wondering in my mind whether there was a chance he’d mow over it and be electrocuted.

It was the genius of adapting a two-stroke motor to lawn mowing that was Victa’s raison d’etre. Who could forget wrapping that Victa starter-cord around the top of the mower, pulling furiously and having to repeat the procedure several times if the motor spluttered and stopped?

Now Victa’s “petrol mower” is getting a 21st-century upgrade with automation. Victa isn’t the first by any means – Husqvarna for example has a range of robot mowers, but who would begrudge another moment of glory to an Aussie icon?

Victa robotic mower. Picture: Supplied.

The robot Victa RM100 looks like an outdoor adaptation of a robot vacuum cleaner, although I’d imagine it would do terrible things to your pile carpet. It operates with an electric battery powered motor.

It has an LCD touch screen with a host of programmable features. You can set the mowing frequency and time of day and key in the adjustable cutting height for desired grass length.

Victa says the new mower has bump sensors to steer around obstacles, and a rain sensor. It comes with a docking station which also doubles as a recharge statement.

“If it starts to rain the mower will simply return to the docking station and wait until the rain has passed before it heads back out to complete the task,” says Victa.

As with robot vacuum cleaners, the mower will release from the docking station when it’s time to mow and find its way back when the job is done.

Victa robotic mower. Picture: Supplied.

“Additionally, it will recognise when the battery is running low and take itself back to the docking station to charge,” says Victa, adding that the lithium battery delivers up to an hour of mowing.

The Victa comes with boundary wire that you can use as a perimeter fence to stop it mowing your neighbour’s lawn as well. It will navigate around obstacles such as trees.

Victa says the RM100 tackles terrain up to a 21-degree slope and covers areas up to 600 square metres. It comes with a PIN to start operating and an antitheft alarm. There’s a two-year domestic warranty.

The Victa RM100 will sell for $1299 RRP initially through Bunnings online from next week. You can also order it from Victa Gold dealers.