Husqvarna Automower 420 iQ

The Automower 420 iQ is Husqvarna doing what Husqvarna has done since 1995: building a robotic mower that prioritises navigation accuracy and long-term support over headline-grabbing sensor tech. It slots into the middle of the 4-Series iQ range, between the half-acre 410iQ and the larger 440iQ, and is rated for roughly an acre of grass with a 20% margin either way. The headline feature is EPOS satellite navigation, which uses satellite positioning plus a cellular connection for centimetre-level accuracy and, crucially, lets you skip burying a boundary wire entirely. If you'd rather stick with a physical perimeter, that option is still supported, and in select regions EPOS Cloud can remove the need for the included reference station altogether.

This is a mower for the homeowner with a large, awkwardly shaped but reasonably well-behaved lawn who wants the established name and a long warranty rather than the newest gadgetry. At $3,299.99 it is firmly premium, and the box at least reflects that: charging station, power supply, EPOS plug-in and reference station, six spare blades, 33 ft of low-voltage cable and 100 stakes. Note that loop wire isn't included if you go the physical-boundary route, and the reference station needs its own power outlet without a ground stake in the box — small omissions that feel conspicuous at this price. Day-to-day control runs through the Automower Connect app for schedules, stay-out zones and cut height, with a colour TFT display on the machine itself for anyone who prefers buttons to phones.

Where the 420 iQ convinces is in the fundamentals. Wire-free setup backed by centimetre-accurate positioning is the single biggest quality-of-life improvement in robotic mowing, and having the physical-wire fallback means the mower isn't useless in a poor-signal corner of the garden. The four-year US warranty plus a 100-day money-back window is as reassuring as anything in the category, and the iQ redesign's bigger wheels and reworked bumper suggest Husqvarna has been listening about surface transitions and slopes. The 1–4 inch cutting height range is broad enough for most lawn types.

Where it disappoints is everywhere the competition has moved on. Radar-based obstacle detection is a generation behind the LiDAR and camera-vision systems now appearing elsewhere, and in testing it was comfortably outclassed — hanging up on exposed roots rather than steering around them. Rear-wheel drive with limited traction is a real constraint on a mower sold for acre-sized properties, and a single 9.4-inch disc means narrow passes, slow progress and, combined with no overlap adjustment, patchy coverage. The setup experience grates too: boundary points are placed manually rather than by walking the perimeter, which is tedious on a complex lawn. Most damningly, reviewers logged more faults here than on rival machines, including out-of-bounds slips and blocked wheel-motor errors.

So: a strong navigation platform and outstanding aftercare wrapped around hardware that doesn't justify its price. If the brand reputation and the warranty are what you're buying, you'll be satisfied. If you're buying cutting performance per dollar, look harder before committing. Three out of five — competent and well-supported, but no longer the obvious choice.