Husqvarna lawn mower start. Husqvarna lawn mower start

Husqvarna lawn mower start

Your Husqvarna riding mower might be your biggest investment into your yard. Just like with other investments, it is important to make sure you keep up with the recommended annual maintenance to help keep it running and operating properly. Here is a maintenance schedule to assist you in keeping your Husqvarna riding mower in tip top shape.

General Cleaning

Using your Husqvarna zero-turn mower on a regular basis can cause it to get dirty. Clean your lawn mower by spraying water under the mower deck and remove all the debris which can help you get a cleaner cut. Before spring season get your mower ready by lifting the mower’s engine hood and check any exposed items. During the winter mice and other animals can make their home in your mower. Clean the steering plate and battery after every 25-hours of the mower’s operation in addition to before and after the mowing season. It is recommended to perform a more thorough cleaning before storing your Husqvarna mower for the winter.

Once Per Season

No matter if you decide to do it at the beginning of the season or at the end of the season, once a year you should replace your spark plug and fuel filter. If you decide to change it when winterizing your mower, add a small amount of engine oil to the spark plug hole prior to installing the new spark plug. Then crank the engine a few times to work the oil into the cylinders.

Winterizing is typically done before your store your Husqvarna riding mower for the winter season and when the mower will be stored for longer than a month. Husqvarna recommends checking the riding mower for loose fasteners, cleaning the battery and battery terminals, lubricating all points indicated on the lubrication chart in the mower’s operator’s manual and changing the engine oil and oil filter if it applies to your mower in addition to removing the gas from the fuel tank. Refer to your mower’s operator’s manual for a complete list of instructions and items.

General Maintenance

General scheduled maintenance should be done in intervals, not only annually. Husqvarna recommends checking the mower cutting blades, fluid levels, cleaning and changing the oil. It is also recommended after every 50-hours of mowing to check the levelness of the mowing deck, change the oil if applicable, and inspect the muffler for any signs of debris or damage.

Husqvarna’s riding mower annual maintenance can be found in the operator’s manual for those who are a DIY consumer. If you are unsure about performing these tasks yourself, contact Boiling Springs Small Engine, your Husqvarna Spartanburg dealer today via email or at 864.578.1692. We can schedule a time for you to have your Husqvarna riding mower maintenance performed.

Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322 review: achieve a beautifully manicured lawn with a self-propelled electric lawn mower

The Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322 impresses with customisable mulching, adjustable heights, and a self-propelled motor.

This is a good mower that will sort out your backward. However, minor but persistent issues Cloud an otherwise impressive performance.

• LED headlight
• Space-saving design
• Multiple cutting modes
• Adjustable self-propel system

You can trust Homes Gardens.

Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing the latest products, helping you choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

My yard is a beast to mow – half an acre with lots of trees, slopes, and some sections with thicker and taller grass. I’m always looking for the best mowers to make the lawn mowing process less of a hassle, which was why I was excited to test the Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322 with battery and charger.

Although I have used gas-powered lawn mowers in the past and understand the appeal of them, I truly believe that battery-powered mowers, like the Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322, are the future. Not only are they eco-friendlier, but with each new year, they become more powerful and efficient.

According to Husqvarna, the Lawn Xpert can cut grass 30% easier and has a 30% longer run time than the competition. Over the course of a month, I put this lawn mower through the ropes in my large and complicated yard, getting a good idea on how it works and how long the battery lasts. Read about my experiences below to see if this is the right battery-powered lawn mower for you.

Product specifications

Unboxing the Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322

The lawn mower arrived in a large cardboard box on my front porch, so I used a dolly to move it to the garage. I was able to recycle the box, but the Styrofoam was not recyclable, which was disappointing. Upon removing the Styrofoam, I saw that the orange and black lawn mower had been packaged in a way that the handle was folded over. To lift the handle, I pushed the large orange button on the bottom of the handle and then lifted it to my desired position.

I put one battery on the charger while I examined the lawn mower. Unfortunately, you can only charge one battery at a time. Combined, they take about 1.5 hours to charge. However, set up was really easy. The lawn mower itself didn’t require any further set-up besides using the lever on the wheels to change the cutting height (up to 4.5 inches).

My first impression of the electric mower was that it was larger than I expected it to be with a 21-inch cutting deck. It was also pretty heavy to move around too.

What’s it like to use?

Once the batteries were charged, I placed them inside the machine until they clicked, and then pushed the On/Off button followed by the Start button while holding the brake handle down at the same time. The lawn mower powered up immediately. The motor did not emit as much noise as gas mowers do. If I wanted to use the self-propel system, I had to hold the drive control buttons on the handlebars. The speed can be adjusted with a lever up to four mph.

The control panel is one of the most high-tech that I’ve seen. There is a cut mode button that looks like two oscillating arrows. This allows the user to move through three different modes. Mode 1 is the Sensing mode which senses the height and thickness of the grass and adjusts the power used to cut it. This mode will automatically turn on when your battery is near the end of its charge so you can mow your yard for a little longer. I typically used Mode 2 which is the Mulching/High Quality mode, though I did try Mode 3 which is called Max Power. As the name implies, it gives you the most power, but at the cost of your battery life.

I tested the Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322 three times on my half an acre yard. The first time I used the lawn mower, the grass was thick in some parts and high (no more than four inches) in others. On one part of my yard, the grass was slightly moist. There were only a few areas where I had to adjust the cutting height one notch higher than initially set as it was too difficult to push the mower through.

I opted to mulch my grass the first time and so left the mulch plug in the lawn mower. At 102 lbs., the lawn mower is too heavy for me to push without utilizing the self-propel system, though I did try on a few occasions just to see what it was like. It was not pleasant. Even reversing the lawn mower in a few sections of my yard was no easy feat.

Because the mower is so heavy, I used the self-propel system the entire time. Most self-propel systems have speeds between 4-6 mph, so while 4 mph is on the small side, it didn’t necessarily feel that way while using the Lawn Xpert LE322. My yard has a lot of slopes and without the self-propel system, I would have struggled to push the lawn mower up the inclines. When turning, I had to decrease the speed or else the mower would buck out of my control.

My wrists and forearms got tired and achy from holding the motor brake handle and the drive control buttons at the same time within just 10 minutes of mowing. I wish there was a better method that didn’t cause so much wrist strain.

In the past, I’ve used lawn mowers that had side discharge chutes, which can get in the way of mowing and subsequently get knocked off. I loved that the lawn mower mulched the grass without needing a side chute. While a rear discharge chute was provided, I do not relish the experience of having grass clippings covering my shoes as I walked.

On the first trial run, the batteries lasted about 50 minutes on Mode 2 (mulching/high quality) before automatically changing to Mode 1 (sensing) for 10 more minutes. I did not get the full 75 minutes of run time as advertised. This could have been for a number of reasons – like the thickness and height of the grass. I was only able to mow about 2/3rds of the yard before the lawn mower shut down. I recharged one battery up to three bars within an hour and cut the rest of the lawn in 20 minutes.

The second and third test runs were about the same in terms of the battery life and coverage. The only thing I did differently was use the grass catcher the second time. It did a phenomenal job catching the grass clippings. I had to empty it after mowing 1/4th of my yard and so on. I did not notice any real difference in terms of the battery life when using the grass catcher versus mulching.

While I never cut my yard when the sun was setting, I did notice that the LED lights automatically came on when I pushed the lawn mower into the garage. This is a nice touch for those who might need to mow their yard in the summer evenings.

Cleaning the Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322

The one thing this lawn mower lacks is a deck wash port to connect a gardening hose. That would have made cleaning the deck or the underside of the lawn mower a lot easier. This is likely due to the fact that this lawn mower is electric, and Husqvarna warns buyers against cleaning this product with water. Using a hose or a pressure washer to clean the underside of the deck can result in water entering the motor or the battery and cause a short circuit. To prevent grass build-up, turn the lawn mower on its side after every use and use a leaf blower to clean the underside of the deck.

In terms of the rest of the lawn mower, it hasn’t gotten dirty in a way that warrants cleaning. If need be, I can always wash out the grass catcher, but otherwise, a nice wipe down with a dry or lightly wet rag on the exterior of the lawn mower (away from the motor and the battery) does the trick.

Storage and maintenance

When not in use, the Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322 can be folded down and stored in a standing position which takes up little room in a garage, shed, or closet.

Since this is a battery-operated lawn mower, there is very little maintenance required. You’ll need to replace the filter every season which is a good time to examine whether or not the blade needs to be sharpened or replaced. The only other thing that you’ll need to check is the battery charger and port for damage on occasion.

If you ever need to get the lawn mower worked on, you can find a network of service dealers on the Husqvarna website. The three-year limited warranty will cover the repair or replacement of any parts that are defective because of normal wear or workmanship.

How does it rate online?

The Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322 launched in the spring of 2023, so there are few reviews of the product on the Husqvarna website. I was able to find a few reviews on the Lowe’s website. Of the four reviews, two were five stars, one was three stars, and the last was one star. The three and one-star reviewers liked the product and how it cut but explained that the battery life did not last 75 minutes. One of the reviewers said it only lasted 35 minutes, while the other reviewer did not mention the exact length of time their battery lasted but noted, “In conditions that are normal, the battery does not come close to the stated runtime per charge.”

How does it compare to similar models and its predecessors

Husqvarna released another battery-powered lawn mower almost two years ago – the Husqvarna W520i. With only a 20-inch cutting deck and a 3 mph maximum speed, the W520i is no match to the Xpert LE-322. The Xpert LE-322 may not have the W520i’s aluminum rims and rubber tires, but the Xpert LE-322’s design is more ergonomic, the control panel has more indicator lights, and it’s way more affordable.

Another good comparison is the Greenworks 21-inch 60V MO60L410. The Greenworks lawn mower is cheaper and did better in terms of battery life – it could mow my entire yard, plus my neighbor’s front yard in just one charge. I also liked that the charger had two slots so I could charge both batteries at the same time. Having said all that, I thought the Husqvarna Xpert LE-322 was a heavier-duty lawn mower that could handle thicker and taller grass.

Should you buy the Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322?

Those with small to medium yards will love the Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322. This heavy-duty lawn mower cuts thick and tall grass with ease and lightens the load a bit with a self-propel system that can go up to 4 mph. It does well on inclines and around trees, and with the control panel, you can start and stop or adjust the cutting modes quickly. The battery may not last as long as advertised but this can be for a number of reasons. If you have a small or medium yard, the battery should last long enough to cut it one go.

When not in use, this electric mower folds and can be stored in a standing position without taking up much space. As a battery-powered lawn mower, it needs far less maintenance than gas-powered ones.

While it may be a little pricey, especially considering that each battery is only 36V, this lawn mower is made incredibly well by a brand you can trust.

The Best Robot Lawn Mower

New robotic lawn mowers have eliminated the nuisances that kept older models from delivering what most folks are hoping for: a big lawn mowed constantly, with zero oversight and minimal maintenance.

Several such mowers are emerging in 2023, and they’re quite pricey. But they’re already looking good enough to shift the conversation on what’s possible in lawn care.

We’ve tested one model so far (with plans for testing more as soon as they’re available). It’s the Husqvarna Automower 450XH EPOS, and we’ve been more than impressed with its capabilities.

The best robot mower (so far)

A premium model with unmatched features, this mower raises your capabilities while reducing your effort. It corrects many limitations of older bots, but it’s not perfect.

Why you should trust us

I’ve been writing about tools and outdoor power equipment since 2007, and I’ve been testing lawn mowers and outdoor power equipment for Wirecutter since 2013. To learn more about robot mowers, I spoke with four leading manufacturers: Ambrogio, Husqvarna, Toro, and Worx.

Who this is for

Consider a robot lawn mower if the following features and capabilities particularly appeal to you.

Robotic mowers are tireless workers. Instead of mowing an area once a week, they can cut it once a day or every other day. This consistent maintenance not only keeps a lawn looking pristine but also improves turf health, because the mower is cutting only the very tip of each blade of grass, and the small cutoffs quickly feed back into the soil. In addition, most robotic mowers cut with small razor blades, so the cut is smooth, not the jagged tear you get from traditional mower blades once they’ve dulled a little. With that cleaner cut, grass is less likely to develop brown tips.

The new generation of robotic mowers can do more. Like a robot vacuum, a robot mower needs a clearly defined work area. Until now, defining that area has required the use of a boundary wire—either buried a few inches deep or pinned down with clips—around the perimeter of the lawn. Installing the wire is a fiddly process, and if it is ever damaged by an animal, a snowplow, or an errant shovel, finding and fixing the break can be difficult. To reshape the work area, you install additional boundary wires. The new mowers eliminate the need for the wire, using satellite positioning or onboard sensors instead, and their app-based controls allow for scheduled cutting, multiple work areas, cutting-height adjustments, mowing patterns, and even weather monitoring.

New robot mowers can handle bigger yards. How much acreage a robot mower can handle is determined by the battery life, namely how much can it mow and charge in a single day. Previous robot mowers worked in random patterns, which is not the most efficient method. New mowers can move in organized patterns, such as straight lines across a yard. Your lawn can look nicer as a result, and the mower doesn’t waste time criss-crossing over previously mowed areas. Thanks to this increased efficiency, a mower battery that could have handled 1.5 acres previously can now cover up to 2.5 acres. This kind of large-scale cutting puts the best robotic mowers alongside comparably priced tools such as riding mowers and zero-turns.

How we tested

As of spring 2023, boundary-free robotic mowers are just being released in the US. We found two available models, the Husqvarna Automower 450XH EPOS and the Ambrogio Twenty ZR. We’ve spent more than a month with the Husqvarna model as of May 2023. We plan to test other models from Toro, Worx, and possibly Ambrogio as soon as they’re available at retail.

We installed the Husqvarna Automower 450XH EPOS on a complex lawn in rural New Hampshire. The hilly lawn is roughly 2 acres and is littered with obstructions including blueberries, a wood shed, multiple flower gardens, a vegetable garden, a chicken coop, six Apple trees, maples, soccer nets, and a fire pit. Mowing this lawn with a riding mower takes roughly two hours. Our intent was to set up the robot mower on only a portion of the lawn and see how it did, but once we got into testing, we kept increasing the number of mowing areas until the entire lawn was being mowed by the relentless little machine.

Our pick: Husqvarna Automower 450XH EPOS

The best robot mower (so far)

A premium model with unmatched features, this mower raises your capabilities while reducing your effort. It corrects many limitations of older bots, but it’s not perfect.

Buying Options

The Husqvarna Automower 450XH EPOS is a boundary-free robotic mower that relies on satellite positioning to maneuver around a yard. The associated app allows you to create and manage mowing zones, stay-out areas, mow patterns, cutting-height adjustments, and more. In our testing, it worked well beyond its listed capabilities, proving itself to be an excellent lawn-maintenance tool. It’s not ideal for every lawn—using it involves some annoyances, and it needs good satellite reception and a wide-open sky. But in locations where it’s a strong fit, it’s worth considering, even with its nearly 6,000 price tag.

The package consists of four parts: the mower, the charging station, the reference station, and the app. You have some restrictions on where to set the pieces up, due to the system’s reliance on satellites. According to the manual, the reference station, which looks like a weather station, should have 160 degrees of clear sky above it, so installing it up high and on a pole is recommended. Don’t mount it on the side of a building. Note that the reference station is responsible for the heightened accuracy of the mower—down to about a centimeter—so if the installation is loose, and the reference station moves or swings around on the mounting pole, the entire lawn map will shift accordingly.

You have two ways to connect the phone app to the mower. Option one is Automower Direct, which uses Bluetooth; option two is Automower Connect, which uses cell reception. Certain features, such as mapping a mowing area, appear in the app only on the Bluetooth connection. The cellular connection lets you control the mower from any remote location (though we had problems setting it up). You can also connect the mower to Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

The most time-consuming part is setting up the mowing areas. You accomplish this by driving the mower around the edge of the defined area, using the app as a controller, and marking points to create the boundary. Once you’ve established the perimeter, you can create stay-out zones for objects such as flower gardens, a birdbath, a child’s play structure, a tree, or a berry patch. Finally, you create a path for the mower to return to the charger. You can create multiple areas, too. Depending on your property or yard, this can be an involved process, and figuring everything out takes a while. Thankfully, once you’ve established an area, you can move the boundary points; in our tests, after the mower cut an area a few times, we could see where our initial points were off and could make slight adjustments.

With the mowing areas established, the fun begins. You can customize each work area with its own schedule, mowing height, and mowing pattern. Because everything happens through satellites, the mower can also work at night (it has headlights that you can turn on for safety), in the rain, or whenever is convenient. For example, the kids get home from school and often play in the yard around 3 p.m., so we kept the mower off-duty at that time.

We were surprised by how well it could handle our test lawn. All set up, our lawn had eight mowing areas and 21 stay-out zones. It worked—and it’s still working. Mowing that lawn with a riding mower typically takes approximately two hours, once a week. Going all mowing season long with the Husqvarna Automower 450XH EPOS, that will be at least 50 hours we’ll have back. We’ll also have no need to deal with refilling gas, changing oil, or winterizing an engine.

The mowing patterns are customizable. We kept things simple with a straight-line mow pattern, but you can also choose a cross pattern or a triangle pattern. You can fully customize the direction of the mow lines, as well, so you can have them run parallel to the front of the house, perpendicular, or at any angle you want. Unfortunately, you can’t mow words into your yard. (Everyone asks that question.)

It cuts with three small razor blades attached to a spinning disk. The blades are double-sided, and each time the mower goes out to work, it reverses the direction of the spin, adding life to the blades. Husqvarna recommends changing the blades every six weeks or so—a simple process that you can do with a screwdriver. The cutting path is roughly 9 inches, and the body of the mower is about 28 by 21 inches, so the design puts a good 7- or 8-inch buffer zone between the edge of the body and the spinning blades, far more than on a push mower.

For added safety, it has a sensor. When the mower encounters an object that is not programmed as a stay-out zone—such as a person, a picnic table, or a delivered package—it slows down so that it bumps the object at a very low speed. Once it feels the bump, it reverses and starts to figure out how to get around the object, a process that leads to a lot more bumping and a lot more reversing. We found that it’s easiest to create a stay-out zone through the app for any object that will be on the lawn for more than a day or so, such as a kiddie pool.

But it does not detect smaller items. You need to clear your lawn of stuff that’s small enough to fit under the mower’s housing. We found this task especially tricky with four kids living in the house. Because we had scheduled most of our mowing for the nights and early mornings, each evening we needed to do a thorough check for baseballs, hula hoops, cornhole bags, sweatshirts, dog toys, socks, and anything else strewn about.

Hitting something might not be a disaster. On a couple of occasions, we missed an item, but the damage was minimal. The blades are smaller than a traditional mower blade, and they’re hinged to the spinning disk like a flail, so if they hit something, they can spin out of the way. A baseball that got run over had only a few nicks on it—a significant difference from all the baseballs we’ve chopped in half with a traditional mower.

This map shows five different mowing areas (green), a number of stay-out zones (red), and the travel paths back to the charger (blue).

The Husqvarna robot mower offers a lot of options, including a weather timer, which coordinates the mowing schedule to the growth of the lawn.

Each work area can operate on a different schedule. In this example, we set the area around the berries to be mowed between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. every day.

This map shows five different mowing areas (green), a number of stay-out zones (red), and the travel paths back to the charger (blue).

Security and privacy don’t appear to be an issue with the app. As we do for all app-based devices, we sent a security and privacy questionnaire to Husqvarna, asking about the company’s security policies and practices for handling a device owner’s data. Among other concerns, that includes login practices, whether the company supports two-factor authentication, what user data is encrypted, and what data is recorded and shared. Husqvarna’s responses were standard for what we’ve seen and didn’t raise any questions.

Not surprisingly, it’s expensive. The mower and charging station together cost about 5,000, and the reference station adds 800. You can purchase the Husqvarna Automower 450XH EPOS only through an authorized dealer, who can do the installation at an additional charge, though we think a moderately handy person should be able to perform the install themselves. That is a lot of money, but the multi-acre capability of the 450XH EPOS, not to mention the convenience, makes it comparable to a riding mower or a zero-turn mower, which are up in the 2,000 to 6,000 range, depending on the size and features. Add in the time you recover by not mowing, maintaining, or winterizing, and the value of this Husqvarna robot mower starts to come into FOCUS.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The app is functional, but it has room for improvement. Using the app is mostly intuitive, but at times we were confused about how to navigate it. We also would have appreciated more mapping features, such as the ability to add a mapping point to an existing work area, and we found other little things, like inconsistencies between metric and US measurements. When we spoke to Husqvarna representatives, they indicated that the app and the satellite technology in general are still evolving, so we expect to see incremental improvements to both.

Satellite coverage can be an issue. During our testing, the Husqvarna mower exceeded its documented capabilities, working fine in many spots where it had no line of sight with the reference station, but it did drop out of satellite communication a couple of times. On occasion, when the mower was operating directly against a two-story structure or under a tree canopy, it would shut itself down, with the message that it was looking for satellites. This happened maybe one in five times it was mowing that area. Often it would recover on its own, but other times we had to manually restart it.

Cloud? Bluetooth? Hello? We had problems connecting to the mower through the Cloud. This was probably due to the lousy cell reception at the test property, and it’s likely not a universal issue, but it did limit what we could do with the mower. Because we could connect only via Bluetooth, we needed to be within close proximity in order to control the mower. So if it was raining out or if it was nighttime, and we wanted to change the schedule or stop the mower, we needed to suit up and head outside, instead of making the changes from our living room.

This mower won’t work for all properties. Most manufacturers we spoke with agreed that there are still some properties where a boundary-wire robot mower is the better fit. Some properties, for example, may have too much tree cover, or they might be simple and small enough for the lower cost of a boundary-wire mower to make more sense. Right now, the Husqvarna Automower 450XH, the boundary-wire version of our pick, costs almost 3,000 less.

What to look forward to

A number of other manufacturers are in the process of releasing their own boundary-free robotic mowers. We are excited to try several firsthand.

Ambrogio, a popular robotic mower manufacturer in Europe, is set to release in the US the 4.36 Elite RTK mower, which shares a lot of features with the Husqvarna Automower 450XH EPOS, including the use of satellite positioning and an app. The specs show similar capabilities between the two models.

The Worx Landroid Vision is a much simpler mower, better equipped for smaller, well-defined lawns. It operates more like a robot vacuum, randomly bopping around the yard until it has cut all of the grass. Instead of requiring a boundary wire or satellite coverage, it uses cameras to determine what is grass and what is not grass. If it sees grass, it cuts; if it sees something that is not grass, it tries to go around. Though this mower does not need a boundary wire, it does need a well-defined yard, one that is preferably enclosed on all four sides by sidewalks, driveways, and a house. This mower is limited in capability in comparison with the Husqvarna model we tested, but it could be a great fit for certain yards. Worx is set to release four versions: 0.25 acre, 0.5 acre, 0.75 acre, and 1 acre. Pricing will range from 2,000 to 3,500, according to company representatives.

The Ambrogio Twenty ZR is similar to the Worx Landroid Vision but uses radar for sensing its surroundings, as opposed to a camera. Currently available, it works on spaces up to a quarter acre and appears to be in the 1,800 price range.

Toro is in the process of releasing a robotic mower, and we’re very curious about it. The technology behind this model sounds like it splits the difference between the simplicity of the Worx Landroid Vision and the complexity of the Husqvarna Automower 450XH EPOS. Like the Worx design, it relies on onboard cameras to find its way around, but it also lets you map out multiple mowing areas and stay-out zones. While it doesn’t have mow patterns, it does offer scheduling. Toro has not released any pricing or availability details, but representatives indicated to us that the cost would be in the range of a zero-turn mower, likely putting it in the 3,000 to 4,000 range.

The competition

We did not consider any models that use a boundary wire. This is a large group of mowers that have come and gone in recent years; the current lineup includes the Husqvarna Automower 430XH, the Robomow RK4000, and the Worx Landroid WR147. Such models may work for some people and situations, but the new boundary-free mowers, though more expensive, offer much more customization, larger work areas, and none of the frustration associated with burying and maintaining a wire perimeter around your lawn. If you have a smaller, well-defined lawn and decide to take this route, we recommend starting your search with Husqvarna, Worx, and Ambrogio.

This article was edited by Harry Sawyers.