Husqvarna ports Doom to a robot lawnmower – not, thankfully, its chainsaws Swedish garden appliance maker Husqvarna has ported Doom to one of its robotic lawn mowers. Come April 9, owners of the NERA series in Husqvarna's Automower range will be able to use a companion app to upload the seminal first-person shooter to their grass-scything machines. The NERA boasts a small screen and a "jog wheel" …
I have 1 Husqvarna thing and it's shite and I'm pretty sure Husqvarna has been badge engineering for a while now. Anyway, given that both Husqvarna and Stihl seem to have decided that the domestic market is where growth will come from, I presume everything will be app connected, battery powered and probably come with cup holders soon (for your coffee from your Husqvarna or Stihl coffee machine).
Mind you I haven't bought anything Stihl since their designers got new CAD software and everything got made with sexy corners, which is a health and safety hazard when your trying to start a chainsaw on a wet, freezing January morning.
Bought a Makita telescopic pole chainsaw last week and it's the nads.
I got a Milwaukee Fuel electric chainsaw and bush trimmer saw (stop sniggering at the back there!) in last year’s Good Friday sale and I am rather impressed. The 8Ah battery does a really good job of cutting through even thick tree-trunks and it’s lovely to not have to faff around with premix and a persnickety doesn’t-want-to-start gas chainsaw.
My Husky is a horrible starter when warm and has a tendency to stall, usually when you are precariously balanced half way up a tree. I've since discovered the trick to getting it to start is to pull gently until you feel the the piston compress and then give it a very sharp tug (oh err missus).
The Ryobi multi-function thing on the other hand, the one that gets absolutely hammered by online reviews saying its difficult to start, always starts on the button, even with last year's fuel, but you must follow the starting procedure *to the letter*.
"Mind you I haven't bought anything Stihl since their designers got new CAD software and everything got made with sexy corners"
You'll never have to buy new again, just keep the old one in good shape. OEM parts should be available from Stihl into the foreseeable future.
Nearly 50 years ago I bought a Stihl 031av for firewood, limbing, brush cutting and other light duty use. I've replaced the bar a couple times, the carb once, the ignition is now transistorized, and I've rebuilt the powerhead a couple times. She starts second pull on a cold morning after a month off. It wasn't the cheapest saw on the market, but I'm still using it in my firewood shed. Not a bad TCO, that.
My family has my great-grandfather's kindling hatchet sitting next to the wood stove. It's on its sixth head[0] and 13th handle. My dad started calling it Theseus's axe before I was born.
[0] The original, out of the Sears catalogue in 1897, followed by hand-forged replacements made by Great Grandfather, Grampa, Dad, me, and my daughter. The grand daughter (almost a teenager) has already learned how to forge coat hooks, hinges & the like, so I'm sure she'll continue the tradition.
Makita happens to have a coffee machine, the DCM501Z.
James Hoffmann did a video on it, titled "The Makita Coffee Machine: A Bizarre Battery-Powered Brewer"
If I remember right the takeaway was it worked, and it worked in places you would never think to brew coffee before, or such places where Elven Safety didn't allow fire or extension whips.
Be warned, there is a chance you go down a rabbit hole watching all the rest of his stuff.
...on a piece of equipment of that nature is video game capability.
Come to think of it, I'm not all that interested in a video display on a lawn mower at all. How much will it cost to replace when (not if!) it dies? I'm absolutely certain that it will refuse to start without it ... which is a rather loud "HELL, NO!" in my book. Even louder if it has to connect home via the Internet to run ...
It bodes badly I tells Ye!
Reminded me of the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett's DIscworld novel 'Reaper Man'. The original DEATH was satisfied with a scythe, HE considered his job to require the personal touch. The new DEATH, OTOH went mechanised ...
Is Husqvarna entering the Killer Robot market?
Now, where's that 3/8ths Gripley?
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