I have always enjoyed the setting of the vineyards and now I had the opportunity to test the Goat 22T RC mower in my local vineyard. The vineyard is Daniel Rossier et Fils and they have a great champagne style wine. Do try it out. Now back to remote controlled vineyard mowing.
Vineyard remote controlled mowing
The remote controlled mower looks great in the vineyard. I set the cutting deck to its highest level of 14 cm (5.5″) for my first pass. I wanted to check there were no big ruts to travel across.
With the first run complete without any problems, I lowered the cutting deck to 9 cm (3.5″) to make a second pass. You can see the video of both runs below. The vine spacing is around 1.5 meters, therefore with the current set up you would need two passes to mower the center spacing.
RC mower for vineyard maintenance
Below is a fast motion view of the remote controlled vineyard mowing with a zero turn at the end of the video.
Remote controlled alpine steep slope mower with Dents-du-Midi in the background
Remote slope mower test run
The time has come to test our, Goat 22T slope mower on real alpine terrain in the foothills of the Dents-du-Midi. It is still early in the season and the snow has just melted. It was still very cold and the grass has not had time to recover from the winter snow.
We have set the mowing deck on its highest setting, as we only want to test and gain experience with the capabilities of the Goat 22T. I must admit it is very exciting and fun to be using the radio control and powering the Goat 22T up and down the mountain side.
Below you will find some video of our first real user experience using the remote mower. I was still getting the hang of the radio control so the motion does not flow very well. I am sure I will get better after an hour or two of use. As you will see the access to the alpine meadow is difficult so it was also a good test for the mower’s agility. Please take a look at how we transported the mower to this point, it may save you needing to buy a trailer for transportation.
RC slope mower first alpine slope test run in Switzerland
Understanding the radio control
I have not used a radio control before and I wish I had attached the included neck strap as it would of allowed me to take photos and record video at the same time.
Radio Control (RC) for Goat 22T slope mower
Using the left joystick to start the engine was straight forward. Starting with the joy stick in the centered position just move the joystick to the right. Let go once the engine is started. To turn off move the left joystick to the up position or turn the power off.
Now the fun part using the right joystick to control the movement of the remote mower. It was very intuitive up, down, left or right. Just need to remember to be easy on the controls.
There is also one other control, which controls the speed of the RC mower. That is the R/D switch, which is the high/low speed for the electric drive of the tracks. I found that on the low speed setting with the switch pushed down I could walk at the same pace or a little bit faster than the mower. Once I set it to high speed / torque I was too fast for me to keep up, without starting to jog.
Once on the alpine steep slope I found that I needed to use the high speed / torque setting on the steepest parts.
Safety tip
I found that it was best to switch to low speed setting when directing the mower downhill. I surprised myself with the mower coming down the hill directly at me. I almost ran myself over, because I got caught up in the moment and was too excited to think rationally. It could of been a candidate for the for the Ig Noble Prize. So remember to position yourself at safe vantage point to the side of the mower and use the low speed setting when descending the hillside.
To make the engine start control easier to handle I will probably make an adjustment to the left joystick control to take the ratchet out. I would prefer the joystick to center automatically. But that is for another blog post, which I will link here.
Overall impression
Now that I have some experience, I can see that the Goat 22T can handle the steep slopes we are testing on. I need more experience to test the different angles that this slope mower can be safely operated on. This will allow me to work out the best way to tackle mowing the grass once it has grown to a length that needs cutting.
Until next time, happy mowing. If you want to test out this mower in Switzerland just let me know. More information here.
I am very excited to now be able to unbox my Alpine remote slope mower. It was delivered to my garage, which I clear out to make space for this Goat 22T. The delivery guy used a manual folk lift to position it in the garage where it has been patiently waiting for me to unpack.
Packaged Alpine remote slope mower
I decided to make a video of the unboxing so you can see what to expect when you get your delivery. I do like the way that Evatech uses minimal packaging to minimize the impact on the environment.
Please take a look at the video below:
Although it does not show on the video, I was very excited to take the Alpine slope mower out of the box. I was not sure if the on-board batteries were fully charged so I did not want to do to much maneuvering.
Before taking it out I did check the oil, which needed a top up. As it will be used in the mountains and can get very hot and cool I settled on Synthetic 5W-30 oil. This oil should be good from +38 degrees C (+100 F) down to -29 degrees C (-20 F). I also added some unleaded fuel to test the engine too.
It was the first time I used the remote control unit and it takes a bit of getting use to. I think I did not start out with the controls in the neutral position for the engine, so I had some problems connecting. I will have to write a blog post on how to use the controls and link here later.
The next step is to take the alpine muncher to a grass slope for some testing. It does so happen that down a few step I have a test slope. My next video will show you if I was brave enough to go down the stairs with out brand new alpine slope mower. I did not want to break it on my first test drive. Click here to see the post.
