For many people, having a beautiful lawn is often unattainable due to the need for constant mowing. If you have a busy lifestyle, you know what I mean.
Luckily, robotic lawn mowers are designed to reduce lawn maintenance time by up to 99%. A robot lawn motor continuously keeps your grass at the perfect length and frees up those Sunday mornings.
In this Husqvarna Automower 310 Review, I’m going to cover the features and benefits of the 310 and if it’s the right one for you and your yard.
Husqvarna is one of the biggest names in the robotic mower business and the home and garden space in general, so it should be a good bet, right? Spoiler alert…
The Husqvarna Automower 310 is a great entry-level robot mower that comes in at a budget-friendly price point. If you don’t have a large yard, the 310 is a basic robotic lawn mower that will get you well-manicured lawns with little work from you. It’s best for small to medium-sized lawns.
But if you have a larger yard or one that has a more varied terrain, you may way to look at the Husqvarna Automower 450 Series.
Husqvarna Automower 310 Review Key Takeaways
Here are seven key takeaways if you’re short on time:
- Budget-Friendly Choice for Small Yards: The Husqvarna Automower 310 emerges as a wallet-friendly entry-level robotic lawn mower, ideal for individuals with small yards up to 0.25 acres, seeking to drastically cut down their lawn maintenance time.
- Efficient Performance: With a knack for daily or alternate day mowing, the Automower 310 ensures your lawn stays well-manicured. Its Spiral Mode is a smart touch to tackle patches of long grass, leaving no stone unturned in maintaining a neat lawn.
- Straightforward Setup and Installation: Get your Husqvarna 310 up and running within a couple of hours, thanks to an intuitive setup process. It’s all about laying or burying a boundary wire, connecting it to the charging station, and tailoring the mowing schedule and cutting height to your lawn’s needs.
- Robust Design, Built to Last: Inheriting Husqvarna’s rich legacy in quality construction, the Automower 310 is a well-crafted piece of machinery. It’s light yet robust, ensuring it stands the test of time while being easy to handle.
- Dependable Battery Life: With up to 70 minutes of mowing time on a single charge, the battery life is substantial for small to medium-sized lawns. And with a lifespan spanning five to seven years, it’s a long-term companion for your lawn.
- Safety and Security at the Forefront: The Automower 310 doesn’t skimp on safety. From lift sensors triggering an alarm to a security PIN code for re-activation, and an optional GPS module for tracking, it’s built to ensure peace of mind.
- Bluetooth Connectivity for Easy Programming: While it might lack in Wi-Fi capability for smart home integration, the Bluetooth connectivity bridges the gap, allowing for easy programming through the Husqvarna Connect@Home app. For those eyeing smart home integration, a peek at Husqvarna’s 450X and 450XH models might be worthwhile.
Husqvarna Automower 310 Specifications
Here are some core specifications of the 310:
- Amazon Alexa / Google Home Compatible – No, it isn’t compatible with either.
- Mobile App – Yes, it has Bluetooth connectivity to connect to the Husqvarna Connect@Home app.
- GPS Tracking – Optional, you can buy a GPS add-on for the robot mower.
- Yard Size – Up to 0.25 acres.
- Max Incline – 22 Degree Slopes (40%)
- Cut Height — 0.8 – 2.4 inches
- Battery Charge Time – 60 minutes
- Mow Time on Single Charge – 70 minutes
Husqvarna Automower 310 Features and Benefits
The Husqvarna 310 is designed to mow small to medium-sized lawns of up to 0.25 acres.
The 310 is a durable, weather proof robotic mower that can handle tight passageways and awkward shapes, making it suitable for a variety of lawns.
While this is a budget-friendly model from Husqvarna and lacks some features of the more expensive models, it is still a feature rich model with many of the benefits of the more expensive models.
Cutting Patterns and Modes
The Husqvarna 310 will give you that smooth, well-manicured lawn by cutting the grass often. It achieves this by mowing your lawn on a daily basis or every other day.
The mower won’t give you the striped lawn look, because it’s always varying its routes to make sure there aren’t any patches of grass that are missed.
If there are ever any patches of long grass that the 310 comes across, it’ll activate Spiral Mode. It’ll cover that area in a spiral to make sure it gets all the long grass. Spiral mode is great of areas of thick growth and around obstacles like flower bed and bushes.
An extra benefit of the regular mowing is you won’t need any artificial fertilizers containing chemicals that could harm the environment. The small grass clippings from cutting are small enough to be absorbed by the lawn and soil, acting as a natural fertilizer to keep your lawn healthy growing.
Lawn Size and Cutting Deck
The lawn size that Automower 310 can deal with is up to 0.25 acres, the size of lawn that any robotic mower can deal with is down to a couple of main factors. The power of the battery is the main factor, ideally it should have enough power to enable the mower to cut the entire lawn in one charge, or at the most two.
Another factor is the size of the cutting deck. The cutting deck is the area under the mower where the blades are. The cutting deck size signifies the size of the blades and the area that the mower can cover while it moves.
With the Husqvarna Automower 310, the size of the cutting deck is 22 cm. It uses three pivoting razor blades in a floating deck configuration for coverage.
A floating deck allows for height adjustments to be changed easily for varying ground heights due to inconsistencies in the lawn’s terrain. It could be little bumps like clumps of dirt that could cause the variances.
One common complaint of the 310 is that it does not reach every nook and cranny of lawns, but it still covers about 95% of the total area.
Handling Different Types of Lawns – Flat, Slopes, Ditches
Even if your lawn isn’t perfectly flat, the Husqvarna automower can cope with it easily up to steep slopes of up to 22 degree (40%) inclines. A couple users with the 310 have told me that anything steeper and the mower has been known to vibrate and even stop if the senesors are triggered.
Small holes in the lawn shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s recommended that any holes or ditches are filled in prior to the Automower 310’s first use. Other obstacles like flower beds, bushes or ponds can be avoided by using boundary wires.
The Husqvarna Automower 310 also does well with narrow passageways and tight spaces. It can navigate widths as narrow as 24″.
Setup and Installation
For a lawn the size this robotic lawn mower is designed for, set up should be easily achieved within a couple of hours. It is simply a case of laying (or burying) a boundary wire around the perimeter of your cutting area and also around obstacles like bushes and flower beds. Both ends of the cable are then attached to the charging station.
A guide wire is also required and this should be laid across the longest part of your lawn and attached to the boundary wire and the charging station. This model comes supplied with 250m of loop wire and 400 staples to pin the wire.
Then it is just a case of charging your robot mower and setting up factors like the mowing schedule and the cutting height. This can either be done from the built-in touchpad or from a mobile app on your smartphone.
Proper installation of the boundary and guide wires is needed to improve the mower’s efficiency. If there’s anything off, the mower may miss areas or run off the lawns.
Design and Build Quality
The Husqvarna 310 is a well-designed automower that benefits from the company’s rich heritage in building quality products. It’s constructed light enough to be picked up easily with the built-in handle, yet still be robust enough to provide years of mowing acting.
The build quality is also as you’d expect from a company like Husqvarna who have decades of experience in building high quality lawn mowers.
Battery Life and Power Source
The battery allows mowing for up to 70 minutes on one charge, which should be ample for lawns of up to 0.25 acres.
As for battery life, depending on how frequently it’s used and subsequently charged, you should expect to get anywhere between five and seven years before the battery needs replacing.
The charging station needs to be placed somewhere mostly out of direct sunlight and within range of a power outlet to power the charging dock.
Majority of 310 owners have said that the battery life is decent for a budget robot mower. But some have noticed that the 310 will return to its dock station when there’s still 35% battery level.
Mower Controls and Programming
The Husqvarna 310 features a 19 button touchpad and LED screen that’s used to program the automower settings and schedule.
The 310 can also be programmed through the Husqvarna Connect@Home app, although you’ll need to be within 100ft as it only has Bluetooth connectivity.
Smart Technologies
For the Husqvarna 310, this is the area where there is the biggest gap between this entry-level model and its more expensive siblings. This is more no frills than the other models.
There is no Wi-Fi capability to connect to smart technology devices like Amazon Alexa or Google Home with this model. For some people this might be an issue as there’s less automation. You may want to check out the Husqvarna 450X and 450XH if you want smart home integration.
Another idea is to step up one model to the Husqvarna Automower 315 Series with the Automower Connect app.
Safety and Security
The Husqvarna 310 has a few built-in safety and security features.
Thanks to lift sensors, it’ll sound an alarm when it’s lifted off the ground. It also requires a security PIN code to be entered to re-enable the mower once it has been lifted.
The 310 also features an installation lock that means it can only be operated in the area it was initially set up to work within. There is also an optional GPS module that will allow GPS tracking to be enabled, so you’ll always be able to see where it is.
Safety is also taken extremely seriously. When the mower is lifted or accidentally knocked over, the blades will stop spinning automatically.
Even when the blades are stopped, they’re still sharp, but they’re recessed far enough in that they are highly unlikely to strike feet or fingers.
Noise Levels
The Husqvarna 310 is a quiet robot lawn mower operating at a low noise level of 60dB. That’s about the noise of a normal conversation, so letting it run at night won’t disturb you for a good night’s sleep.
For comparison, a standard gas-powered mower is rated around 95–100 dB.
Weather Protection
The Automower 310 is weather resistant and can be left out to continue mowing in all but the most extreme conditions, so it’ll continue to cut the grass in the rain.
However, it is recommended that you take it inside in the worst conditions and when it’s not growing season, like the winter.
Maintenance and Cleaning
The 310 is low-maintenance, but not maintenance-free. It should be periodically checked and cleaned.
The underside is the primary area to clean and check as the blades will require replacing occasionally. Depending on the schedule and the size of the lawn, this could be every two to three months.
Accessories
There are a number of accessories available including different colored, replaceable top covers, housing units that fit over the docking station, and extra blades.
Husqvarna 310 Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy to Set Up
- Mobile App
- Safe around children and pets
- Quiet
- Handles slopes
- Fast charging
- Low-maintenance
Cons
- No weather sensor
- No GPS navigation
Husqvarna Automower 310 Review Final Thoughts
The Husqvarna Automower 310 is a self fertilizing, low maintenance lawn that is good for the environment and in the long run can save you money due to its low power usage when compared to traditional mowers.
With Husqvarna’s reputation, this automower should provide years of trouble free operation and at prices that won’t break the bank. For small to medium yard sizes, this entry-level model is the perfect solution.
For larger yards, check out my reviews on these robot mowers.
- Mammotion Luba AWD 5000 Review: Perimeter Wire Free
- Husqvarna Automower 430X and 430XH Review
- MowRo RM18, RM24, and RM24A by Redback Review
FAQs Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the Difference Between the Husqvarna Automower 310 vs 315x?
The main difference between the Husqvarna 310 and 315X is the more advanced features in the Husqvarna 315X. The 315X has built-in GPS and can mow yard sizes of up to 0.4 acres. GPS for the 310 is an optional add-on purchased separately and can only mow yards up to 0.25 acres.
How Long Does a Husqvarna Automower last?
With proper care and maintenance, the Husqvarna Automower can last up to ten years or more.
How Often Should I Change the Blades on My Husqvarna Automower?
Husqvarna Automower blades should be replaced every 2-3 months depending on how often you cut. If it mows the lawn almost every day, you’ll need to replace blades every two months.
