A few weeks ago I bought a gadget that has changed our life here at Nerd HQ, and my nerdy little heart is singing!

Meet my new robot friend, the Navimow X4 Robotic Lawn Mower.

Watch this video for a real-time breakdown of the features as well as captivating video of me with walking around behind this thing and talking about my yard, my husband, my cats and my aversion to the outdoors (on a bad hair day, no less). Quick note: I used Descript, an AI editing tool, to put this together from several longer clips. I asked it to add features and media from the site as well. The results are mixed. But the video is fun.

After about a month of getting to know this machine, here are five things you need to know before you buy your own:

One: Robot mowers are worth the price

I’ll admit that I have a gadget addiction, and sometimes I really have to reach to come up with a justification for some of my purchases (remember the voice-activated kitchen faucet? Turns out I don’t need the ability to have it measure out a gallon of water for me.)

But a robot lawn mower serves a real purpose right now. Until he contracted this pesky blood cancer stuff, the hubby was in charge of mowing our giant yard. I created the hashtag #LawyerOnATractor when he bought his first John Deere. It was even a theme for his first Tennessee birthday party.

But his docs say he can’t work outside until his immune system is trustworthy. And I sure as heck am not gonna drive that thing. We could hire a service, but that is hundreds of dollars a month. So a robot lawn mower was the perfect solution.

Y’all… it just works. Every morning I wake up and check my phone, and sure enough, I’m mowing the lawn. I mow the lawn when I am commuting to the hospital to see Deej. I mow when I binge watch “Hacks.” I even mow when I’m taking one of my famous 3-hour bubble baths. Our yard is keeping up with the Tennessee spring growth spurts, and I don’t have to do endure mosquitoes, gas fumes or even dangerous ditch driving conditions.

Two: Buying the Right Robot Lawn Mower Takes Lots of Research

Even though I have AI to do research for me, I spent hours and hours learning about the different brands, watching videos and evaluating the options.

I waited until this spring until the Navimow X4 came out because it had the features I needed. This thing is basically an ATV with razor blades. It has the absolute latest technology, including 360-degree AI vision, satellite navigation, antenna-free auto mapping and all kinds of other features I don’t really understand.

Our lot is almost 2 acres, and it’s more of a meadow than a lawn. Thanks to moles, voles, groundhogs and other furry subterranean pests, we have a very uneven terrain. We have stumps and bumps, baby trees and random flower beds. So the Navimow clicked all the right boxes. We also have an irregularly shaped lawn and iffy wifi connections. All this matters.

Things to think about:

• Your terrain
• The size of your mowing area
• Whether it needs a receiver
• How hard it is to set up
• Whether it needs wires for the boundary

Not surprisingly, the easier and more advanced it is, the bigger the pricetag. You can get some small, basic devices for less than $500. Mine was just under $3k.

Three: Size Matters When Buying a Robot Lawn Mower

If you have a half-acre lawn, don’t be tempted to buy a mower with .25-acre capacity and programming it to do one half one day and the other half the next. It’s not gonna work.

These machines are designed to run almost every day because they work best when they trim off the minimal growth regularly and leave the tiny clippings as mulch. The Navimow line limits you to the overall space you need to mow. So it’s not going to map two .25-acre areas for a half-acre lot.

Four: Neighbors Are Fascinated by These Devices

Inspired by the Roomba, the O.G. robot vacuum device, the kids next door have named my mower the “Grass-ba.” One neighbor sent me video of his 5-year-old following the mower around. And people walking by always ask me about it when I’m, well, following my mower around. It’s a lot more fun than it sounds.

If neighbors are fascinated, are thieves tempted?

I’m sure they are, but many newer models have some serious anti-theft features.

If someone were to try to run off with mine, here’s what would happen:

• An alarm would go off if they didn’t have the bluetooth-connected phone with them.
• An alarm would go off if they took it past our cul-de-sac circle.
• The device wouldn’t work on any other property.
• They’d figure out how heavy this thing is and abandon it.
• And, of course, I’d get an alert on my phone.

Five: You Want to Keep an Eye on Your Robot Mower

I adore my robot vacuum/mop, but because I have a cat who loves to run around with balls of yarn, I rarely run it unless I’m at home because it gets stuck.

I like to be around with my robot mower as well, just in case it needs me. Because this guy is a monster truck, it has only gotten stuck once. But it has misinterpreted its rain-sensing technology a couple of times, so I like to be close-ish by when it is running. I trust it much more than the vacuum already, though. And lots of times I forget that it’s programmed to run, and it just does its thing while I’m gone. I love to look at the app just in case.