Husqvarna Robotic Mower Compared Against Worx Landroid for 500 Metre Lawns

At 500 m², a Husqvarna Automower 305 cuts for roughly 65 to 70 minutes per session and recharges in about 50 minutes, so it can get through the area within one working window. The Worx Landroid M700 Plus, with the standard 2.0 Ah pack, runs closer to 60 minutes before its 4 Ah charge logic sends it back to base. Both machines finish the plot, although the Husqvarna carries less strain against its own rating: 600 m² of capacity for a 500 m² lawn. That extra headroom means fewer cycles close to depletion, the variable that matters for cell longevity across five seasons.

At UK retail, the Automower 305 sits around 1,000 to 1,100 GBP. The Landroid M700 Plus usually lands near 800 to 900 GBP, with the exact figure affected by whether the Find My Landroid GPS module is bundled. The apparent 200 GBP saving narrows quickly because Worx sells navigation, anti-collision and Cut to Edge as paid plug-in modules. A fully specified Landroid closes most of the price difference before the mower has cut a single strip of grass.

A 25 percent bank changes the comparison

The Automower 305 is rated for gradients up to 40 percent, about 22 degrees. The Landroid M700 series is rated to 35 percent at the perimeter and loses grip earlier on wet clay.

Put a single 25 percent bank along one boundary of a 500 m² garden and the difference becomes practical rather than theoretical. On dewy mornings the Worx unit can wheelspin, trip its tilt sensor and log incomplete passes that the app still reports as area covered. Husqvarna’s rubber-studded rear wheels and lower centre of gravity let it hold the same line without a perimeter-wire workaround.

Gradient also dictates how the wire is laid. A guide wire running straight up the fall line looks tidy, yet both machines follow that return path home, and a low battery makes the climb harder. The return route works better across the contour on a sloped plot.

Husqvarna’s installation guide specifies a minimum 1.5 metre corridor width for the wire-following return. Worx tolerates 1.2 metres, although docking misses become more common below 1.4 metres. In a steep garden, the installer often ends up with a longer wire route and more boundary staples than the box quantity allows. That adds roughly 30 to 50 GBP in consumables, a cost absent from the rated-area figure on the carton.

Boundary wire is still part of the budget tier

The Automower 305 and the Landroid M700 both rely on a buried or pegged perimeter wire. Neither is a GPS-mapped boundary-free mower.

Husqvarna keeps EPOS satellite navigation for the higher Nera and 400-series lines, which cost well above 2,000 GBP. At the 500 m² budget tier, the wire remains unavoidable on both brands.

Cut finish, borders and wet grass

Husqvarna uses a pivoting razor-blade disc carrying three small blades. The blades spin at high rpm and shear the grass tip. The Landroid uses a similar pivoting-disc design with three blades. Both leave the fine mulch clipping that returns nitrogen to the sward, and lawn density improves visibly over a season because frequent micro-cutting takes off only a few millimetres at a time.

Because its blade disc sits inboard of the wheelbase, the Automower 305 leaves an uncut margin of roughly 15 to 20 cm against walls and beds. Worx answers with its Cut to Edge plug-in module, which shifts the cutting path so the blade runs closer to the perimeter wire and narrows the uncut strip to around 8 cm. On a 500 m² lawn bordered by a patio and two beds, that margin decides whether the strimmer comes out every fortnight or closer to monthly. The module adds about 100 to 130 GBP, making it the most consequential Worx option for this lawn size.

The Landroid’s rain sensor pauses mowing, returns the mower to the dock and resumes after a programmed delay. The Automower 305 has no rain sensor as standard and keeps cutting in wet weather. That can mean clumping and tracking marks on saturated soil, while it also keeps the cutting window open during a wet British summer. Owners who want the Worx to behave the same way set the rain delay to zero in the app and accept the same wet-grass trade-off.

Neither specification sheet explains how each pivoting blade mechanism behaves around molehills and windfall apples between scheduled cuts. That gap matters less for the basic buying decision than slope, edging and security, yet it is one of the few ordinary garden messes left outside the neat performance figures.

Five seasons make the cheap mower less cheap

A 500 m² lawn of vigorous fescue and ryegrass will keep either mower eating blades. Husqvarna recommends changing the three-blade set roughly every four to six weeks during peak growth, and a pack of nine blades with screws costs about 8 to 12 GBP. Worx blades are cheaper per unit, though the M700 goes through them at a similar pace. A sensible blade allowance for either machine is 30 to 40 GBP per season.

The perimeter loop adds a different kind of cost because a damaged wire stops the whole system. A strimmer strike, frost heave or a fork through the lawn can create the same fault, and both apps usually report only a generic loop-broken error. They do not locate the break. Husqvarna sells a wire-break finder accessory; Worx owners commonly halve-and-test the loop manually. Around a 500 m² boundary, the wire run is often 150 to 200 metres, so a midseason failure can consume an afternoon whichever badge is on the mower.

Battery replacement sits behind those smaller expenses and usually arrives later. The Husqvarna lithium pack for the 305 costs around 90 to 120 GBP and is rated for roughly three to five seasons. The Landroid PowerShare battery costs around 70 to 100 GBP and can be swapped with other Worx 20V garden tools, a real saving for a household already using that system.

Add the mower, blades, one battery, extra wire and staples, then specify the Worx with Cut to Edge and GPS, and the five-season total cost of ownership lands within about 150 GBP either way. The Landroid’s shelf price still looks lower, yet its most persuasive version depends on the paid modules that reduce the original saving.

Theft tracking and app behaviour

Find My Landroid is a paid module with a recurring data element. Without it, the M700 has a PIN lock and a lift alarm, with no location tracking. The Automower 305 includes Automower Connect with GPS theft tracking and geofencing as standard at no subscription. On a front-and-back garden visible from the street, that bundled tracking is a meaningful security difference because a robotic mower left charging at the bottom of an open garden is a known target.

Both brands offer app control over Bluetooth at short range and cellular or WiFi for remote commands. The Husqvarna app is more stable for scheduling. The Worx app gives more granular zone settings, including multiple start points, so the mower spreads wear across the lawn instead of carving a route to one corner.

A flat or gently sloped 500 m² lawn with long open boundaries and little theft exposure still suits a fully loaded Landroid M700 Plus. Add a bank above 25 percent, street visibility or wet-clay soil, and the standard-equipped Automower 305 has the stronger case. The cheaper-looking mower ends up depending on extras to match the security and edging many buyers assume are already built in.