Husqvarna Automower 305 Compared Against Worx Landroid M500 for Small Lawns

The Husqvarna Automower 305 is rated for a maximum area of 600 square metres on one boundary loop. The Worx Landroid M500, sold as WR165E, lists 500 square metres. Both came to the European market through their distributors, Husqvarna AB of Sweden and Positec Group, the owner of the Worx brand.

For a rear garden of about 250 square metres, with clipped grass and a strip of drought tolerant gravel planting along one fence, both machines sit comfortably below their stated limits. The rated area leaves headroom for normal scheduling, provided the perimeter is laid correctly and the mower can reach every part of the lawn.

Both machines spin three pivoting razor blades on a disc, but the cutting widths and height ranges separate them. The Husqvarna clears a 17 centimetre swathe and drops as low as 20 millimetres or as high as 50, set by a dial under the cover. The Worx cuts a slightly wider 18 centimetre path but its dial only goes down to 30 millimetres before topping out at 60. A lawn kept especially short for a tidy finish therefore favours the Husqvarna, which is the only one of the pair that reaches the 20 millimetre setting.

Boundary wire beside beds, trees, and gravel

Both mowers depend on a buried perimeter wire to mark the working area. The Automower 305 installation kit includes roughly 250 metres of boundary wire and around 600 pegs. The Landroid M500 package includes a comparable length of wire and 200 pegs, with more pegs sold separately.

Laying that wire takes the largest share of setup time. A plain rectangle is quick; a garden with beds, trees, and a gravel planting strip along the fence takes longer because each excluded area needs to be marked cleanly.

Loose aggregate is rough on a robotic mower. If either machine drives onto the gravel strip, it can scatter stones and dull its blades within days. The answer is an island loop or cut-out around the gravel bed, since neither mower recognises gravel with a sensor.

Husqvarna documentation specifies a minimum 0.7 metre channel between two parallel wire runs, so the mower does not bridge the gap. Worx works to the same principle with its own minimum spacing. The wire defines the safe route; a careless loop around planting is one of the most common reasons for a stranded unit.

Where the two diverge is the return path. The Automower 305 supports a single guide wire back to the charging station, and that defined route reduces repeated wheel marks in narrow passages under 2 metres wide. The standard Landroid M500 has no dedicated guide wire, so it returns by following the boundary back to base. A pinch point such as the route between a shed and a fence is therefore more likely to show tracking on the Worx.

A unit run past its warranty gives the practical test after three seasons of root growth lifting the boundary wire. Once the line moves or rises, a layout that worked cleanly at installation can begin to catch wheels or shift the cut edge.

Slopes, damp grass, and narrow arms

Slope ratings are where the price gap first earns its keep. The Husqvarna handles up to a 40 percent gradient inside the working area, equal to a 22 degree incline, dropping to 15 percent along the boundary wire itself. The Worx tops out at 35 percent. On a flat suburban plot that five point margin means almost nothing. Where the grass rises toward a back fence, though, it gives the Husqvarna room on banks where the Worx may spin once the surface turns damp.

The two machines also differ in how they roam. Worx fits the Landroid range with an AIA navigation algorithm that narrows the mower into channels and adjusts the cutting path. Husqvarna relies on a random pattern across the whole area, sending the mower back to base when the battery falls below a set threshold. Over a week, the 305 gives an even cut across a simple lawn, while an L-shaped lawn with a thin arm suits the channel-aware Worx logic more neatly.

Charging, controls, and indoor scheduling

The Automower 305 carries a lithium-ion battery. Its typical mowing time is around 70 minutes per charge, followed by roughly 50 minutes on the charger. Under a programmed schedule it repeats those mowing and charging cycles through the day.

The Landroid M500 draws on a 20 volt, 2.0 amp-hour battery from the Worx PowerShare platform. Mowing time sits near 60 minutes, and charging time shifts with the ambient temperature.

The two brands ask you to program them in different places. With the Husqvarna 305 everything happens on the machine, through a menu and keypad under the lid, locked behind a four digit PIN. The Worx M500 is scheduled instead through the Landroid smartphone app over Bluetooth.

Controlling the Worx from away from the garden needs more hardware. A Wi-Fi or cellular module is required for that, so a buyer changing mowing times from indoors still has to be within Bluetooth range unless the optional connectivity module has been fitted.

Five-year cost on a small UK lawn

The purchase gap starts at roughly £400 in favour of the Worx. Running costs reduce that difference. Replacement blades for the Automower 305 cost around £15 for a pack of nine pivoting blades, with changes every one to two months in heavy use. Landroid M500 blades sit at a similar figure.

Electricity is a minor line for both. On a 250 square metre lawn, either mower should use well under £20 a year at typical UK domestic rates.

Both manufacturers advise indoor storage when temperatures fall below a few degrees Celsius, and both batteries degrade with full discharge cycles. A replacement battery for the 305 is a Husqvarna service part priced near £100. The Worx 20 volt pack is shared with the wider PowerShare tool line, so a household already using Worx drills or trimmers can rotate a spare battery between tools and lower the effective cost of replacement.

That shared pack also complicates the life story of the battery. A PowerShare battery that has cycled through a cordless hedge trimmer as well as the mower is accumulating wear outside the lawn routine, so its capacity after repeated use depends on more than mowing alone.

Across five years, the Husqvarna total cost of ownership remains above the Worx, though by less than the headline £400 purchase gap. The Worx connectivity module and any extra pegs add to its base price. Theft sits outside the headline purchase line: both units fit a PIN alarm and GPS or tilt sensors, while an Automower carries an installer-set theft code that disables the unit when lifted.

Charging base footprint

The Automower 305 charging base has the larger footprint and needs a flatter approach apron. In a cramped side return, the compact Landroid station fits where the Husqvarna base will not.

Which garden fits each mower

A flat lawn under 400 square metres, with simple borders and no steep bank, can be cut equally well by either machine. At that point, price carries the decision, and the lower-priced Landroid M500 clears the brief.

A garden with a slope toward the back fence, a narrow passage between structures, and a desired 20 millimetre cut height leans toward the Automower 305. Its guide wire, 40 percent slope rating, and lower cut dial each match a specific condition that the Worx handles less cleanly.

The gravel planting strip does not separate the two. Both machines need a manual cut-out loop around the aggregate, and neither senses the stones. The result depends on the patience and accuracy of the installer working with the boundary wire. A loop laid to the Husqvarna 0.7 metre channel spacing keeps either unit off the stones.

For all the talk of slope ratings and battery platforms, the decision often comes down to the wire in the ground and the hand that buried it. A perfectly specified mower stranded by a sloppy loop around a flower bed is no better than the cheaper machine that was set up with care, and that part of the equation belongs to the installer long after the box is opened.