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- Best robot lawn mowers: At a glance
- How we test robot lawn mowers
- 1. Best robot lawn mower for ease: LawnMaster VBRM16
- 2. Best budget robot lawn mower: Yard Force EasyMow 260B
- 3. Best for efficiency: Bosch Indego S+ 500
- 4. Best robot lawn mower with GPS navigation: EcoFlow Blade
- 5. Best robot lawn mower for difficult-shaped gardens: Gardena Sileno City
- 6. Best robot lawn mower for edge cutting: Worx Landroid M500 Plus WR165E
Robot lawn mowers are one of the best garden tools to emerge in the last few years. While our top lawn mower picks include some fabulous corded, cordless and petrol options, robot mowers are the perfect choice for people who want to spend less time on tedious chores. However, choosing one is tricky, with prices ranging from hundreds to thousands of pounds. Ive reviewed a good selection of mowers over the last few years, so have the knowledge and expertise to know what to look for when choosing one of these trundling automatons.
How intelligently these devices perform the job varies from one model to the next. Unlike robot vacuum cleaners, you cant leave many models to find their own boundaries and bounce off your herbaceous borders on their own. Most need their boundaries set, whether by a physical wire or, in more expensive models, using an app and accurate satellite positioning to draw them a map. Ive put all the models listed here and more through rigorous testing on my own lawn, to come up with this definitive list of our favourites.
For a quick guide, see my top picks in the at-a-glance list below. After that youll find short reviews of my recommended models and a buying guide with information on what you should know before purchasing.
Best robot lawn mowers: At a glance
| Best budget robot lawn mower | Yard Force EasyMow 260B (~£332) | |
| Best for efficiency | Bosch Indego S+ 500 (~£1,031) | |
| Best with GPS location | EcoFlow Blade (~£2,399) |
How we test robot lawn mowers
Every robot lawnmower I review has gone through the same series of Expert Reviews tests. I mark out an area of test lawn, lay down the boundary wire if necessary and connect the charging station to the mains supply.
I then test the control panel and app to see how much control each mower provides. I set the mowers off on their schedules and note how well they manage the lawn its caring for. I look at the evenness and comprehensiveness of the trim and the number of times, if any, I need to intercede to get the mower to complete the task.
1. Best robot lawn mower for ease: LawnMaster VBRM16
Price when reviewed: £300 | Check price at B&Q
- Great for… affordability and ease of set up
- Not so great for… patchy lawns, neat edges and object avoidance
Robot lawn mowers are traditionally fiddly to set up, requiring an outdoor power supply and a boundary wire laid around the edge of the lawn. I found the LawnMaster VBRM16 to be very different, though, with no wire to install and no requirement for outdoor power.
It was ready to start mowing as soon as I had charged its battery, which can be done from any wall socket thanks to the removable battery and supplied battery dock. Instead of being guided by a wire, the mower uses a camera mounted on the front of the device to scan the lawn in front of it. If it sees a surface that isnt grass, it turns round and heads off in a different direction.
This has its pros and cons. In my tests, I found it was very good at detecting the edge of the lawn and turning around when it reached it. However, without an edging mode it doesnt leave a neat cut edge because it noses into the sides and turns away, rather than cutting a straight line around the perimeter. I also found that it works best on lawns with a healthy covering of grass. If your lawn gets patchy, it may mistake the bare earth for a flowerbed and turn away.
Read our full LawnMaster VBRM16 review
Key specs Size: 425 x 350 x 220mm (WDH); Weight: 6.6kg; Cutting height: 20-60mm; Maximum lawn size: 100m²; Maximum incline: 35%; Replaceable battery: Yes
2. Best budget robot lawn mower: Yard Force EasyMow 260B
Price when reviewed: £332 | Check price at Amazon
- Great for… affordability and programmable scheduled
- Not so great for… larger lawns and remote control away from home
Competition between robot lawn mowers is fierce, with manufacturers battling to keep prices down without cutting too many corners. I found the Yard Force EasyMow 260B is a good case in point. From the outside, it looks like a simple set and mow model that can work for either three or six hours daily, depending on the size of your lawn.
However, its possible to take greater control over this mower using the smartphone app. This let me start and stop it remotely, though it only supports Bluetooth, so I still had to be in the vicinity. More crucially, it lets me perform some basic scheduling controls, with two programmable mowing slots available for each day of the week, so I was able to fine-tune when it headed out.
I found the robot to be perfectly competent at mowing my lawn, sticking happily within its wired boundaries and scheduled time slots. Its rotating disc cutter with sharp blades is slightly small but its still rated to cover a lawn of 260m².
Read our full Yard Force EasyMow 260B review
Key specs Size: 370 x 450 x 220mm (WDH); Weight: 11.8kg; Cutting height: 20-55mm; Maximum lawn size: 260m²; Maximum incline: 30%; Replaceable battery: No
3. Best for efficiency: Bosch Indego S+ 500
Price when reviewed: £1,031 | Check price at Amazon
- Great for… more efficient mowing and less wear on the grass
- Not so great for… anyone on a budget
Most of the robot lawn mowers weve tested still bumble their way around a lawn randomly, changing direction when they reach the border wire and setting off in a new random direction. The Bosch Indego S+ 500 left me impressed with the vastly more intelligent way that it approaches the task.
As with most robot lawn mowers, theres a fair bit of setup, as it requires a wire to be laid around the perimeter of the lawn. After this is done, the robot traces the wire around the garden on its first time out, creating a map of the area as it goes.
Now heres the clever bit: on subsequent mows it covers the area inside the wire in a methodical manner, one stripe at a time, moving a little bit further down each time it turns. That means no random mowing and it knows exactly when its finished. In testing, I found my lawn was mowed in record time and there was less wear and tear on regularly visited sections of my grass.
Read our full Bosch Indego S+ 500 review
Key specs Size: 445 x 364 x 202mm (WDH); Weight: 7.7kg; Cutting height: 30-50mm; Maximum lawn size: 500m²; Maximum incline: 27%; Replaceable battery: Yes
4. Best robot lawn mower with GPS navigation: EcoFlow Blade
Price when reviewed: £2,399 | Check price at B&Q
- Great for… large lawns and installation without a perimeter wire
- Not so great for… your bank balance
The unique design of the EcoFlow Blade is a real head-turner, but it isnt the most interesting thing about this robot lawn mower. I was more impressed with its ability to summon the navigational power of satellites to help eliminate the need to lay down a perimeter wire.
It still requires a bit of setting up, with a base station and an additional antenna that you have to locate somewhere in your garden with a clear view of the sky. Then you walk the robot around the perimeter of your lawn, using a software remote control in the smartphone app and the robots ready to go.
It cuts the lawn well, with a broad range of blade heights from 20mm to 70mm. It uses a methodical stripe pattern that stays within the area Id mapped out and minimises the length of time it needs to spend mowing.
Read our full EcoFlow Blade review
Key specs Size: 440 x 640 x 310mm (WDH); Weight: 16kg; Cutting height: 20-76mm; Maximum lawn size: 3,000m²; Maximum incline: 51%; Replaceable battery: Yes
5. Best robot lawn mower for difficult-shaped gardens: Gardena Sileno City
Price when reviewed: £681 | Check price at Amazon
- Great for… complex garden shapes and simple scheduling
- Not so great for… those after a simple installation experience
When I installed the Gardena Sileno City, I quietly cursed the robot for requiring even more wire to be laid than any other robot lawn mower Ive reviewed. Thats because this model requires an additional guide wire, as well as the perimeter wire, which goes from the middle of the base station to the far end of your garden.
Anyone with an unusually shaped lawn can rejoice, however. Thats because, even though this robot moves randomly, it can use the guide wire to get to a gardens troublesome or far-flung reaches.
The app also provides additional control, such as carving your garden into sections, so you can set it to mow some areas more than others. It also includes CorridorCut, which reduces the intensity of the mow in small, narrow areas that dont need as much repetitive mowing.
Read our full Gardena Sileno City review
Key specs Size: 550 x 380 x 230mm (WDH); Weight: 7.3kg; Cutting height: 20-50mm; Maximum lawn size: 300m²; Maximum incline: 35%; Replaceable battery: Yes
6. Best robot lawn mower for edge cutting: Worx Landroid M500 Plus WR165E
Price when reviewed: £699 | Check price at Amazon
- Great for… maximising the area of your lawn that gets cut
- Not so great for… efficiency as it mows randomly
Because most robot mowers have their blades centred in the middle of the chassis, they often arent particularly good at cutting up to the edge of a lawn. The Worx Landroid M500 Plus WR165E offsets its blade to the right, which is designed to let the robot cut closer to its edge.
In my tests, it worked supremely well, getting much closer to edges that are on the same level as the lawn, such as sunken paving. While you can also cut closer to boundaries such as flowerbeds, I found that it still couldnt get right to the edge, as the M500 needs some leeway left to eliminate the risk of it falling off the lawn.
Read our full Worx Landroid M500 Plus WR165E review
Key specs Size: 580 x 403 x 208mm (WDH); Weight: 9.5kg; Cutting height: 30-60mm; Maximum lawn size: 500m²; Maximum incline: 35%; Replaceable battery: Yes
7. Best for advanced tech: Honda Miimo 70 Live
Price when reviewed: £1,290 | Check price at Honda
- Great for… large gardens with weak Wi-Fi and a low tech setup
- Not so great for… price
In testing, I found the Honda Miimo 70 Live had a lot of features to make life easier. Its one of the few robot lawn mowers Ive tested that doesnt need connecting to Wi-Fi, as it comes pre-installed with a mobile internet connection that skips your router and connects straight to the mobile network. That means you can operate the mower using its app, even if your garden is large and your Wi-Fi cant get to its furthest reaches.
In my tests, mowing proved to be fast and efficient. The Honda Miimo creates a map of your boundary wire when it first goes out, then cuts the lawn in perpendicular lines, covering the area inside the boundary in a very efficient manner. This means the risk of it missing a bit is significantly lower than with mowers that move around your lawn randomly. Theres a lot less wear and tear on the grass, too.
Read our full Honda Miimo 70 Live review
Key specs Size: 445 x 364 x 202mm (WDH); Weight: 7.6kg; Cutting height: 30-50mm; Maximum lawn size: 700m²; Maximum incline: 27%; Replaceable battery: Yes
How to choose the best robot lawn mower for you
Mechanically, most robot lawn mowers are surprisingly similar. In your garden, theyre about the same size as an upturned washing-up bowl and look a bit like a tiny car, with two large wheels to control movement and one or two coasters to add stability. They tend to cut the grass with sharp steel blades that closely resemble razor blades. These are attached to a spinning disc on the underside of the mowers chassis. Weve got a full guide on how robot lawn mowers work if youre after more information.
Are they difficult to set up?
Alas, you cant just plonk a robot mower down in the middle of your lawn and expect it to know where to mow. Most robot lawn mowers need a docking station, which they return to in order to recharge their battery. This sits on the edge of your lawn and needs to be within reach of an outdoor power supply thats always switched on and ready to charge your mower. The mowers that dont have a charging station will probably need their battery removed, so it can be refreshed in an indoor charging cradle instead.
You usually need to lay a boundary wire around the edge of the area you want your robot to mow. This is supplied on a reel, is connected to the charging station at both ends and carries a low voltage. The mower uses this to detect when to stop and turn around. You can bury this wire, or peg it down and eventually it will bed down into the grass.
Most robot lawn mowers can then be set to run to a schedule or set off whenever its convenient. This is usually done using controls on the mower itself, or remotely through a smartphone app.
How much should I spend?
With the basic design essentially the same, the differences in price usually indicate whether mowers come with extra features and the size of lawn they can cover.
At the cheaper end of the scale around £400 the simplest mowers are programmed using a control panel on the back. From here you can set a simple schedule, usually based on mowing for a certain number of hours per day.
When in operation, they mow in a straight line until they reach their boundary wire, then they will perform a turn so they can head off in another direction. The boundary wire is the only guidance they have, and they will move around your garden for a set period or until they need to return to their base station for a recharge.
The skys the limit at the upper end of the scale but for a top-of-the-range mower with the smartest sensors, the most sophisticated control apps and enough equipment to mow a large lawn, you can expect to pay thousands of pounds.
What other features should I look out for?
Object avoidance: A feature thats rarely seen on robot mowers, certainly at the lower end of the price spectrum. A good safety feature, though we wouldnt recommend relying on it when small children or pets are around.
Maximum incline: If you have a particularly steep slope in your garden, then be sure to check out the maximum incline a robot is capable of climbing.
Adjustable cutting height: You can choose the grass height on most robot lawn mowers, but if you prefer your grass ultra short or left quite long, check its within your mowers range.
Maximum lawn size: Larger lawns tend to need a smarter and more expensive mower, so measure your garden to the nearest 100 square metres before you buy.
Replaceable battery: With regular recharging and a life outdoors, you cant expect your robot lawn mowers battery to last forever. Check that it can be replaced and that a dead battery wont turn your mower into a useless garden ornament.
Edge cutting: No robot mower can edge your lawn as well as you can but some can trim closer to your flower beds than others. To reduce secondary mowing, look out for models with offset blades.
Rain detection: Its better to let your grass soak up excess moisture before mowing it. A rain sensor will send your robot home if it starts to rain, and can delay mowing until its dry again.
Security features: Robot lawn mowers arent cheap, so some come with additional security features, from PIN number locks and movement alarms, through to tracking devices that can help trace a stolen mower.
