A new entry to the British lawn mower market has arrived this month, with the VIKING iMow robotic lawn mower available from selected VIKING Approved Dealers' stores.


Viking iMow

The company says advanced and intuitive programming make it easy for users to set iMow's agenda for work, with a clear control panel guiding them quickly and simply through any changes they want to its mowing schedule. They can also remove and use the control panel as a wired remote control - guiding iMow beyond its perimeter wire to mow isolated lawn areas like a verge for example.

The mower boasts short working hours,  the result of its good 30cm cutting width plus a high-capacity STIHL Lithium-ion battery with energy management that, amongst other benefits, means it can work for longer between charging. Keeping a good finish to 500 square metres of lawn, iMow will be active for around four and a half hours each week - say an hour and a half each morning from Monday to Wednesday.

Another distinguishing feature of iMow is its capacity to maintain large areas of lawn - up to one acre in fact. STIHL GB Product Manager, Vince Brauns believes that opens a significant opportunity for Dealers whose customers are large garden owners: "Just think of the hours a customer could save by not mowing the lawn". He adds: "Even those with average sized gardens will appreciate the extra leisure time and because iMow's a mulch mower, they won't even need worry about sorting or disposing of the usual mass of grass clippings that can pile up each year."

iMow's cutting system features a single rotary mulching blade, chopping cut blades of grass millimetre-short before depositing them back almost invisibly in the lawn. For enduring performance the blade changes direction of rotation each time the mower sets to work, so the blade wears evenly on both sides. The VIKING design team even considered blade changes: unique to iMow, when a change is required, the old blade is easily removed without tools and a replacement fitted securely via a simple twist and click.

VIKING has initially trained and equipped 22 of its Approved Dealers to retail, install and provide full after-sales support for iMow this year. Dealers visited the VIKING design and production facility in Kufstein, Austria to see prototypes of the new robotic mower and talk with the development team. Dealers have received training on installation and iMow selling techniques, and have been supplied with dedicated point-of-sale and marketing support tools.