What is like to have: The BigMow.

This is the Part II of the serie: “What is like to have”, click here to read the first part -> The Turflynx F315 AWD

After a second season using the BigMow, here are my opinions* on this robot.
All opinions expressed in this article are mine and only mine.

What is the BigMow?

Like its name suggests, the BigMow is BIG. It is 71kilos (156lbs) and has a cutting width of 1 meter (40,7inch).  The BigMow by Belrobotic, also sells under the name TM-2000 by Echo Robotic is the largest version of a series of 3 (others are the GreenMow and ParcMow / Echo TM-1000).

Capable of mowing up to 24.000m² +/- 20% (6 acres), the BigMow can be your driving-range best buddy. The 5 floating heads with “shuriken alike” protection discs allow the robot to mow without damaging your golf balls.

With the 3 razor-sharp blades lasting up to 2months, they offer a high-quality cut. The HOC ranges from 20mm up to 100mm (0,8 to 3,9 inch) with a step of 5mm (0,2inch).
(Editor`s note: A 10mm (0,39inch) kit is currently under testing).

Since it has a Lithium-Ion battery, the robot will return autonomously to the charging station to recharge or park, and re-start on his own, eliminating the need of an operator. The charging time takes approx. 80minutes and can run an effective 16hours of work per day.

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How to install the BigMow?

The BigMow requires a buried boundary wire at 5cm (2inch) in the ground. You can install multiple loops to run different HOC or different working hours. In our case, we have 3loops, front, and back that we split 50/50 + one loop for the charging station.

An affiliated dealer did our installation, but the careless job left us with multiples problem and needed to be adjusted three times:
1) The cable was too close to some bunkers, resulting in the robot diving into the bunker when it’s wet or frosty.
2) Too much space between the two zones, leaving an unmowed 20cm wide stripe.
3) The charging station was not correctly aligned, resulting in the robot “climbing” the station and / or failing to touch the charging electrodes.

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Our experience with the BigMow?

The robot has 5 ultra-waves sensors, but only avoid obstacles by touch & go.
At first, the robot had no problem with the flags, but on windy days, flags often fell off the cups, and the robot ate them. To prevent this from happening again, we chose to replace all cups with concrete plots with a 20cm deep hole in the center to insert the flags.
Another unexpected problem we encountered was the charging station being hit by lightning, leading to two PCBs to burn out.

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All the controls are accessible via the display on the robot or directly via the mobile/web app, which is user friendly.

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But why the BigMow?

The BigMow was the first robot we decided to purchase, and Daisy (its nickname) didnt failed to the task.

Our original maintenance program was closing the driving range on a Wednesday morning, allowing one guy to pick up the balls, immediately followed by the semi-rough mower at 43mm (1,6inch).
This maintenance program was limiting, and we could only mow the landing zone once a week; that is if you didn’t skip it for other maintenance.

Our new program is much simpler now. The BigMow is mowing 23 hours per day (allowing one hour for the irrigation system to run), seven days a week, and at 30mm (1,16inch), offering a top-quality presentation of the driving range every day of the year.
This new setup came with a lot of other benefits because the constant mowing reduced the plant stress, the small clipping returned to N faster, or more surprising, the shorter grass made the ball collector’s job a lot easier.

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So… BigMow or Big Flop?

After being left with a bad installation, our first impressions were mixed. So, to obtain a positive result, the robot needs to mow X hours per Sqm, in our case 23 hours/day for 28.000m², meaning every time the robot goes into an alarm, it is time you’ll never get back! After ticking each problem off our list (redirecting cables, moving the charging station, etc.), the robot hit 100% efficiency, and the bitter taste we had, melted away like snow in the sun.

It took us a bit to master the robot, and we had to learn the right time for changing the blades. We also had to find the correct distribution percentage between mowing the front and the back. We changed our dealer, which I can now only say positive things about. But once we mastered these things, the only thing we regretted was not buying it earlier!

Would I recommend the BigMow to others? Yes, every – single – day!

Non-affiliated link:
• https://www.belrobotics.com/en/mowers/bigmow-connected-line/
• https://echorobotics.com/fr/turfmower-series/

Editor recommendations:
• Part I: What is like to have the Turflynx F315 AWD.
• Hot news! Turflynx to introduce the new F340!