Worx WG779E.2 review: Just a great cordless mower

The Worx WG779E is Worx’s best-selling cordless mower and something of a classic, on the basis that it was one of the first cheap battery-powered models to actually do a decent job. We’re now on the second generation and, like the original, it’s thoroughly affordable, well built and cleverly designed. Most importantly, it does a good job of mowing an average-sized lawn, while still being easy to store and move around.

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Worx WG779E.2 review: What do you get for the money?

This is a 40V cordless mower with a 34cm cutting deck, which puts it right in the frame for people with an average-sized garden of up to 350 square metres. It comes with two 2.0A or 4.0A batteries, depending on which version you buy, plus a rapid charger and a 30L grass collection bag. The WG779E uses Worx’s Intellicut technology to match the power output to the grass it’s trying to cut, and has a choice of five cutting heights from 2cm to 7cm.

It isn’t as compact as some cordless mowers and doesn’t fold as neatly as the fantastically foldable Flymo EasiStore 340R Li. However, you can still relax the bolts on the top half of the handle and fold it over the lower half for storage. At roughly 12kg in weight, it’s also an easy mower to heft around: just grab the chunky orange handle in the centre and you’re good to go.

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Worx WG779E.2 review: Is it difficult to use?

After using a few budget mowers that have taken 20 minutes or more to assemble, it’s great to have a mower you can put together with just four finger-friendly bolts and a little bit of work on the grass collection bag. And where some of those budget mowers have felt a little cheap, the WG779E.2 feels like it’s built to last. The plastics in the chassis are thick, the wheels feel solid, the axles are reinforced and the handles bolt into place securely.

You’ll need to charge the batteries before use, and that takes approximately two hours for the 2Ah batteries or around two-and-a-half hours with the 4Ah batteries supplied with my review sample. As with all Worx products, the 20V batteries are interchangeable across the whole DIY and garden tool range. This wasn’t the case with the original WG779E, which used a single 40V unit.

The light weight and solid handle make this an easy mower to push around, and there are some nice thoughtful touches, too. The deck and chassis are designed to minimise the amount of grass left over when mowing right next to a fence or wall, while the security switch that allows the mower to turn on when you squeeze the switch bar on the handle is a sort of chunky plastic key that needs to be slotted into place. Take it out – it’s attached to the handle with a loop – and there’s no way to start the mower accidentally.

It’s not all good, though. You set the cutting height via a lever on the left front wheel, and there’s something about the mechanism and the balance of the deck that makes it hard work to adjust. The Flymo EasiStore 340R Li has a similar lever but it’s easier to tweak, while the one-click height adjustment in the Bosch Universal Rotak 36-550 is even better.

Curiously, the mower has two speeds: Eco and Turbo. Using the former is going to boost your battery life but you might find yourself short of cutting power in all but the driest months. I got around 40 minutes of mowing from a single charge (using the 4Ah battery supplied), which should be enough to tackle a medium-sized lawn or even front and back lawns if they’re relatively compact.

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Worx WG779E.2 review: How well does it mow the lawn?

I used the WG779E.2 for the tricky first cut of the year and – with one caveat – it handled it like a trooper. With the cutting height set left high for the initial chop, it made it through without any major issues, then I came back for a second run on the next-to-lowest setting. The Intellicut tech seems to give the mower enough power for most situations, and – on the lower height – the cut was impressively neat. There’s a roller at the rear for those who want a striped effect, and regular mowers won’t have any cause to grumble.

Less regular mowers might have a few issues, because if the WG779E.2 has a weakness it’s long, thick and (most of all) wet grass. The mower will mostly chew through this stuff, but it struggles to push it up into the grass collector and, sometimes, the whole shebang gets clogged. This isn’t unusual for cordless mowers, especially at this price point, but we’ve seen a handful, including the Bosch Universal Rotak 36-550, that manage long, wet, heavy grass better than others. What’s more, a corded mower will usually handle it better still.

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Worx WG779E.2 review: Should I buy it?

To be fair, though, these mowers tend to be more expensive and, if you’re sensible, cutting at a higher level then reducing the height for a trim, you can work around it. And it’s the price that I keep coming back to, because so many other options at this price point mean compromising on build quality, usability, storage, the quality of the cut or all of the above. The Worx WG779E.2 doesn’t. It’s a great cordless mower at a price most people can afford.