2025 is officially the year of the robot lawn mower, and I went a little overboard—in the best way. I tested eight different robot mowers (RTK, LiDAR, vision, and the newer AI-driven stuff) across my yard and even my neighbor’s yard (yes, they think I’m crazy). In this video I break down what it’s actually like to own one: setup, mapping, where people get stuck (literally), and what I’d look for if I were buying today. I also brought in Matt from Midwest Turf Tech to sanity-check my experience and explain why RTK placement matters so much. If your base station can’t “see” enough sky, you’re going to lose signal around houses and trees—and that’s where frustration starts. We talk RTK vs LiDAR/vision for tree-heavy yards, why all-wheel drive is a game-changer for hills and uneven terrain, and the annoying reality that you’ll still be trimming edges because of that safety gap. I wrap it up with my real-world favorites and who I think each mower is best for—because the right robot mower depends on your yard, not just the spec sheet.