Last year, Husqvarna celebrated 30 years of robotic lawn mowers. The technology has changed a lot since then, and over the last two years we have seen drone and robotic-vacuum tech migrate to robot lawn mowers. Chinese brands have led the way with these new innovations, but Husqvarna has now responded. I tested the Husqvarna Automower 308V to see how it performs in what I believe will be a very popular year for robotic lawn mowers.
Husqvarna Automower 308V features
The Husqvarna Automower 308V is a wire-free robotic mower for lawns up to 800 m² with a camera for obstacle avoidance. Its cutting width is 22cm, and the cutting range is 20 to 50 mm, achieved with three replaceable razor blades. In the box, you will find the mower charging station and six spare cutting razor blades.
By wire-free, I mean the mower uses GPS satellites to navigate your garden and doesn’t require a boundary wire to stop it from going into a garden bed. Note that the automower does need a clear view of the sky. The benefit is that setup takes less than 30 minutes, rather than spending hours burying cables in your lawn. Husqvarna quotes the mower’s accuracy as within 5cm.
According to realestate.com.au, the median land size of Australian properties was 645 m² in 2025. Meanwhile, ABS data from 2021 showed that the average land size of new homes in capital cities was 432 m².
Of course, once you put a house, a driveway, and gardens on that block, the room for lawn shrinks quickly. For example, my back lawn is 150 m² on an 800 m² block. The 308V can mow up to 800 m², but this would take up to two days and would require many trips back to the recharging station to replenish the battery.
For my lawn, the 308V completes the job on one charge. The mower can create patterns in your lawn, including striped, checkerboard, or triangle patterns, but if you want an invisible finish, the mower’s capacity drops to 500 m².
The Husqvarna can be programmed to mow multiple areas. If an accessible path exists, the mower will drive itself between locations. In my case, to mow my front lawn, I must carry the mower, as a brick path connecting the two is too steep and slippery. The area is small, so a full charge is more than enough, and when it’s finished, the mower waits patiently to be returned to the rear garden base station to charge. If you have a bigger area, the mower will run till the battery goes flat.
A new built-in camera from Husqvarna incorporates AI technology to analyse objects in its path and steer around them, protecting the object as well as the mower itself. I found this feature works well with oranges that drop from my fruit tree; it avoids them, while other brands I have tested run over them and make a mess.
These same smarts also let the mower detect longer grass, switching into a spiral pattern to ensure an even cut.
For those worried about someone stealing their Husqvarna Automower, there are a number of security features, including a geofence, which is an imaginary boundary that the mower will not work outside of and will emit a siren when breached. If internet coverage is available, the app sends a message, and a 4-digit PIN also adds security. Yes, someone could take the mower, but it becomes useless to them.
For ultimate control, the Automower supports smart home integration, which lets you issue voice commands via Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa to pause, start, or park your mower.
Husqvarna Automower 308V specifications
| Area capacity | Up to 800 m² |
| Battery | 4Ah, providing 100 minutes of mowing |
| Sound level | 63 dB |
| Dimensions | 59 x 45 x 25 cm 9.9 kg |
| Price (RRP) | $3,499 |
| Website | Husqvarna Australia |
| Warranty | Two years |
Using the Husqvarna Automower 308V
Last time, I trialled a boundary wire and GPS Automower, and a Husqvarna dealer installed them. This time, I’m intentionally doing it myself. My first observation was that they recommended I not set up the new 308V mower in my back garden due to the number of trees. To work correctly, the mower needs good GPS coverage. Obstructions like buildings and trees interfere with GPS signals. I am pleased to report that the mower is working fine in the back garden.
When I tested the GPS model last year, a separate GPS reference base station was also installed. This improves GPS accuracy, allowing centimetre-level positioning of the mower. Husqvarna has cleverly installed a GPS base station at each of its dealers, eliminating the need for individual houses to install a reference station. You must, however, check your location on their website to ensure you are close enough to a dealer to get the precision it needs. If you are too far away, you can still install a reference station, which costs an additional $499.
Assuming the Husqvarna cloud (GPS corrections available from a Husqvarna dealer) is available for your location, your mower will need Wi-Fi coverage wherever it is working. In my case, I have an Amazon eero Outdoor 7, which extends the Wi-Fi into my entire back garden. Your indoor router likely won’t have enough range unless it is up against a window facing the area. You don’t need Wi-Fi if you have the reference station. Another alternative is to purchase the cellular network Connect Kit ($359), which will also connect you to the internet.
To set up the robot lawn mower, you will need a flat area for the charging station with access to mains power. The charging station uses plastic screw-in pegs to secure it to the ground. Then use the Husqvarna app to set up an account and sync with your mower. Next, use your smartphone to manually drive the mower around the perimeter of the grassed area you want to cut. You add points around your garden until you get back to the starting point. In theory, you are now done, and other than whipper snipping around the edges, the mower will do the rest.
Adjusting the mowed area is simpler than I have found with other brands, which require you to manually drive a section of the area again. With Husqvarna, you essentially move a waypoint in the app map by a certain number of centimetres to adjust the mowing area.
You can also set up no-go zones for areas you don’t want your mower to enter. For example, if you have a garden bed inside your mowed area. Don’t worry about the clothesline; the mower’s avoidance system will automatically account for it.
Beyond setup, the app lets you defer mowing if rain is expected, schedule how often the grass is mowed, and adjust seasonally to increase or decrease mowing frequency based on expected growth. Robot mowers are designed to run multiple times a week, only removing the tip of the grass growth, with clippings falling to the ground unseen and composting. Over-the-air software upgrades will also keep your mower up to date.
You can also have a Husqvarna dealer install the robot for you, which will unlock a 45-day money-back guarantee. This costs extra money and is unnecessary for a confident smartphone user.
I do find small sticks that fall from my trees to be problematic for all robot mowers. The mower shaves them, likely blunting the blades, and you have to pick them up manually. The old Victa would simply suck these up in the catcher. To clean the mower, a simple low-pressure hose down will do the trick.
I would not recommend scheduling this mower to mow at night, as its obstacle avoidance will be compromised.
So, does 30 years of robot mower experience count for anything? If I look out at the grass from our second-story window and compare the lawn cut by the Husqvarna to the lawn cut by a different robot mower a few weeks ago, I feel the lawn looks better. Maybe it’s my imagination, but who cares, as it looks better than me mowing it, and I save 30 minutes not having to mow it every time.
Who is the Husqvarna Automower 308V for?
At $3,500, the Husqvarna Automower 308V is one of the more expensive mowers in its class. You are, however, buying from a brand that has an established dealer network in Australia and 30 years of knowledge built into its products from a reputable brand.
The 308V is for people who want the latest technology to keep their lawn looking great with minimal effort, knowing they can install it themselves but get help easily if they need it.
I believe that 2026 will be the year of robot lawn mowers, and we will see explosive growth in new brands as the weather warms. Not all these brands will survive, but I am sure that Husqvarna will be around for the life of their current mowers.
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