How much mower do you actually need?
Every Automower publishes two capacity figures, and the two product lines mean completely different things by them. Read the wrong one and you can end up with half the machine your yard needs.
The acreage on the box is a best case, measured under ideal conditions — and “ideal” means something different on the homeowner line than it does on the professional line.
Neither number is wrong. They're answers to different questions. Below is what each one actually measures, so you can compare machines on the same terms before you spend anything.
Two lines, two definitions
Husqvarna sells a homeowner line and a professional line. Their spec sheets look identical at a glance. They are not measuring the same thing.
Measured by mowing pattern
- Systematic
- Neat parallel or checkerboard tracks under satellite guidance. Needs open ground and a clear view of the sky.
- Irregular
- Classic random, multi-directional cutting. What the mower falls back to on slopes, around obstacles and in complex shapes.
Husqvarna headlines the systematic figure as “Lawn Size” — the best case.
Measured by cutting cycle
- Standard 48
- Covers the whole area every 48 hours. Every blade of grass cut every other day — right for ordinary green space.
- Sports 24
- Covers the whole area every 24 hours. Cut daily — the agronomic standard for playing fields and fine turf.
Husqvarna headlines the Sports 24 figure as “Area capacity” — the worst case.
Comparing headline to headline is rigged against the professional machines. A 420 iQ advertises 1 acre and a 520H EPOS advertises 0.6 — but on the same every-other-day schedule the 420's claim assumes, the 520H covers 1.2 acres. The machine that looks smaller on paper is the bigger machine.
Across every EPOS model the two figures sit in an exact 2:1 ratio. Halve the cycle window, halve the area.
Best case to worst case, one scale
Same acreage axis for both lines, so the machines are finally comparable. The solid bar is the conservative figure — the one to size against. The tint extends to the manufacturer's best case.
Every figure carries a ±20% tolerance. Full specifications for each machine are in the tables below.
The Florida filter: cut height
Acreage is only half the question. In Tampa Bay, the spec that quietly eliminates most machines is how high they can cut — and it is the reason our lineup is shorter than the manufacturer's catalogue.
University of Florida turf guidance puts standard St. Augustinegrass at 3.5 – 4 inches and Bahiagrass at 3 – 4 inches. A mower that tops out at 2.4 inches cannot maintain either one — it will scalp the lawn no matter how much acreage it covers.
Most of Husqvarna's professional range stops at 2.4 inches. Those machines are built for bermuda, zoysia and sports turf kept deliberately short — not for a St. Augustine front lawn. Which is why every model we sell is a high-cut machine: the H variants of the professional line, and the residential models that reach a full 4 inches. It isn't a coincidence, it's the filter.
| Grass | Recommended height | Which of our machines reach it |
|---|---|---|
| St. Augustine — standard | 3.5 – 4.0 in | All four |
| St. Augustine — dwarfCaptiva, Delmar, Seville | 2.5 in | All four |
| Bahiagrass | 3.0 – 4.0 in | All four |
| Zoysiagrass — coarse | 2.0 – 2.5 in | All four |
| Centipedegrass | 1.5 – 2.0 in | 410 iQ · 420 iQ |
| Bermudagrass | 0.5 – 1.5 in | 410 iQ · 420 iQat 1 in, the low end of their range |
If you don't know which grass you have, that's normal — it's the first thing we identify on a site survey. Most Tampa Bay residential lawns are standard St. Augustine, and every machine in this guide handles it. Bermudagrass is the one case where a robotic mower needs care: our residential models can hold 1 inch, but a bermuda lawn cut properly is a different conversation and worth having before you buy.
The homeowner line
Wire-free satellite positioning, reference station included in the kit. No boundary wire to bury and none to cut through later.
| Model | Systematic | Irregular | Cut width | Cut height | Slope | Battery | Mow / charge | Sound |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 410 iQ | 0.5 ac | 0.25 ac | 9.4 in | 1 – 4 inclears St. Augustine | 45%15% at boundary | 5 Ah | 84 / 108 min | 62 dB(A) |
| 420 iQ | 1.0 ac | 0.5 ac | 9.4 in | 1 – 4 inclears St. Augustine | 45%15% at boundary | 5 Ah | 84 / 54 min | 62 dB(A) |
Both accept virtual or physical wire boundaries and carry cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and both reach the 4-inch cut height standard St. Augustine wants. Both iQ models carry radar object detection. We also keep wired and pre-owned machines in inventory — including a 435X AWD for the rare Tampa property that genuinely has slope — so ask if your yard is an unusual one.
The professional line
For HOA common ground, business parks, schools and municipal green space — and for residential properties too complex or too large for the homeowner line. We carry the H high-cut variants only, for the reason in the section above.
| Model | Standard 48 | Sports 24 | Cut width | Cut height | Slope | Battery | Mow / charge | Sound |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 520H EPOS | 1.2 ac5,200 m² | 0.6 ac2,600 m² | 9.45 in | 2 – 3.6 inhigh-cut deck | 45%15% at boundary | 4 Ah | 75 / 50 min | 61 dB(A) |
| 550H EPOS | 2.5 ac | 1.25 ac | 9.45 in | 2 – 3.6 inhigh-cut deck | 45%15% at boundary | 10 Ah | 200 / 60 min | 68 dB(A) |
Both reach a 3.6-inch cut, where the standard versions of the same machines stop at 2.4. The difference between them is endurance, not height: the 550H carries a 10 Ah battery and runs 200 minutes a charge against the 520H's 4 Ah and 75 minutes, which is what more than doubles its area. Every EPOS installation needs an RS5 reference station — one station covers a 500-metre radius and drives several machines, so on a multi-mower site the cost spreads across the fleet instead of repeating per unit. Where Husqvarna publishes a single “area capacity” figure it is the Sports 24 number; the Standard 48 figure follows the 2:1 relationship the line publishes across every model.
Sizing your property in four questions
This is the same process we walk through on a site survey. You can do the first pass yourself.
How often does this turf need cutting?
A playing field, fine turf, or a lawn you want looking freshly cut every single day means a 24-hour cycle — size off Sports 24. General green space, HOA common ground or a normal residential lawn is fine on a 48-hour cycle. This one decision moves the answer by a factor of two before anything else is considered.
Can the mower actually run its neat pattern here?
Systematic mowing needs open ground and a clear view of the sky for satellite positioning. Heavy oak canopy, narrow throats between zones, scattered planting beds, a trampoline and a swing set all push the machine back toward random behaviour. In Tampa, mature tree cover is the single most common reason a yard performs below its headline number.
Apply the tolerance in the direction that protects you
Every published figure carries ±20%. On a property with any complexity, treat the number as the ceiling minus 20%, not the midpoint. Husqvarna's own guidance is that systematic mowing adds “at least 50%” capacity on a typical lawn and “up to 100%” on an open field — that spread is exactly the risk you absorb by sizing off the optimistic column.
Remember you are buying an installation, not a box
iQ kits arrive with the charging station, reference station, blades and standard installation materials. Professional EPOS machines do not — they need an RS5 reference station, a sited and powered charging station, and zone mapping. Where the dock goes and how power reaches it is real work, and it is part of the price of the result.
Let us measure it instead
We bring a running mower to your property, walk the ground, check satellite sky view, measure the slopes and narrow passages, and tell you which machine actually fits — including when the answer is a smaller one than you expected. Free, no obligation, anywhere within 60 miles of Tampa.
Machine figures transcribed from Husqvarna published product specifications, September 2026. Metric values are Husqvarna's own published figures, not conversions of the acre values. Mowing heights from University of Florida IFAS Extension, Mowing Your Florida Lawn (ENH10/LH028). Specifications change without notice — confirm current figures before purchase.