Written by Terry Smith

Our site is reader supported so when you click a link to Amazon we may earn an affiliate commission.

UK’s best lawn mowers TESTED: Makita, Bosch, Flymo, Hyundai, and McCulloch for value and cut quality.

This article was last updated on January 31st, 2022 at 9:30 am

Exciting times. You’re picking a new lawn mower but which is the best lawn mower for you? Cordless lawn mowers (as well as robotic lawn mowers) are now competing side by side with traditional corded electric mowers, and in some cases nearly as much power as petrol lawn mowers! I’ve personally tested many of the models in this review to give you an on the ground feel for small, medium, and large garden. And as a spoiler, for a mid range size garden I feel the Makita cordless range has a massive advantage over the other options at the moment, especially if you miss the odd cut or three like I do 😀 Seriously though, I went over to my sisters to prove a point with this mower – you can cut 8 inch grass with this thing, and in times gone by my petrol would have struggled with that! This is the best lawn mower in the UK and you can only make that claim from testing 🙂 many models as I have personally.

Here’s what you can cut with one pass of the Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V

So before we get into this in any detail we should really highlight the big benefits and drawbacks with each style of lawn mower – a quick rundown may save you time and help you navigate to a more relevant page:

Main types of lawn mower

Cordless lawn mowers – these are by far the best option for a small and medium sized garden, generally up to 600m2. They offer all the freedom of a petrol lawn mower without the noise or requirement for petrol stored in the shed. The big drawback on these units is the price – a Flymo may end up being a quarter of the price and less.

Cordless lawn mowers offer the most convenience for gardens up to 600m2

Electric lawn mower – these are the cheapest and offer the best bang for your buck – by a country mile. The trouble is they are limited by the need for a cable reel extension which can range from inconvenient to very dangerous.

Petrol lawn mower – By far the most powerful but come with a big price tag, and if not, the mid range petrols are now far less attractive than the most powerful cordless electric models.

Petrol lawn mowers offer the most power and freedom for large garden

Robot lawn mower – Once you’ve setup and paid the upfront costs, you are practically golden – these modern robots even dock themselves for charging 🙂

McCulloch ROB 1000 – Robotic lawn mowers take all the maintenance out of lawn care

Hover mower – Hover mowers are the ultimate budget tool for small gardens and if you’ve got uneven ground or cutting grass on banks or slopes then you’re in business with this type of mower.

Hand push lawn mower – Absolutely love these – and I have one myself. They are ideal for exercise and once bought, all I’ve ever done is sharpen the blades:

My Webb manual push lawn mower that I use when I want exercise and helps with a stripe in the lawn

So with that brief rundown here’s a look at my top picks from testing:

Best lawn mowers in the UK – editor picks:

Best cordless lawn mower: Makita DLM460Z Twin 18V or the Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Cordless Lawn Mower if you have a small or medium sized garden which I’ve personally tested. The 460 is the best of the best but much pricier. The 380 now has the Makita DLM382Z upgrade which is another blistering choice but you might want the saving on the older model.
Best electric lawn mower for a small garden: Flymo Turbo Lite 250 Electric Hover Lawnmower
Best electric lawn mower for a medium garden [cheap]:Flymo Speedi-Mo 360C Electric Wheeled Lawn Mower
Best electric lawn mower for a medium garden overall: Makita DLM460Z Twin 18V
Best hover mower for a small garden: Flymo Turbo Lite 250 Electric Hover Lawnmower
Best petrol lawn mower for large gardens: Hyundai HYM510SPE Petrol Lawn Mower
Best robot lawn mower for a small garden: Flymo EasiLife 150 GO Robotic Lawn Mower
Best robot lawn mower for a large garden: McCulloch ROB 1000 Robotic Lawn Mower

I have provided a best lawn mower buyers guide table of contents so that you may find the specific information you require more quickly and conveniently just below with a price comparison table of the best lawn mowers should you not wish to read a lengthy and detailed review of each product, however, it’s a good read if you like garden lawn mowers and tools as much as I do :-).

Please be aware, as you progress through this post, you will notice it is separated into further pages for more specific information, though I highly recommend reading this page first, it brings together the very best lawn mower of each category and compares them for you with recommendations with regards to the size and layout of your garden. This will be very helpful if you’re caught in two minds and not quite sure what type of mower suits you and your budget best.

In this review I am bringing together a culmination of the best lawn mowers from each category. Though linked in the buyers guide table of contents, I am just linking them again in case you found yourself immediately looking for the best lawn mower. Here is the list of the best lawn mower from each category:

What you should know about the best lawn mower options

The Flymo Turbo Lite 250 Electric Hover Lawnmower won the best electric lawn mower for small gardens as well the hover mower category. I’m afraid there’s not a lot I can do if Flymo are out front when it comes to value and small gardens! In fact they won everything budget pretty much. You just can’t seem to beat them for price to performance and I guess that’s what comes from years of testing, research, and development. Here’s a look at the old 250:

FLYMO 250 – the olden days

They were already ahead thirty years ago, moving on they now look modern and in keeping with most contemporary setups – they also pack a real punch and can cut 4 inch grass easy – astonishing for such a cheap lawn mower:

FLYMO Turbo Lite 250 – best electric lawn mower for small gardens

I’m pleased to say I was able to restore balance in the categories heading toward medium to larger gardens where Flymo become far less efficient – but they absolutely dominate for price and small/mid sized gardens combined, no question about that!

If you like a quiet cut without a power lead and don’t want to spend big, the Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Cordless Lawn Mower is a cracker of a cordless lawn mower. It handles small to small and small mid-sized gardens very well considering it’s a battery lawn mower, limited by battery technology only which is now improving with the new 6 amp Makita battery.

My Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Cordless Lawn Mower making light work of my sisters overgrown lawn

I just want to give the Greenworks Tools 2504707 Lawnmower a well deserved mention too in the cordless category, a close runner up.

If you have a mid sized garden and hate power leads but want a fast and effective trim up on a budget you go for the Mountfield 297411028/AMZ / 394 P-B Petrol Rotary Lawnmower. Lovely machine, great performance for the price with Mountfield reliability.

If you have a big garden and want the job done fast in any weather condition with sheer brute force power you turn to the Hyundai HYM510SPE Petrol Lawn Mower. What a machine for the money, the only pity is how it’s roller mower sister with the same engine didn’t perform quite so well.

What you should know about the best cordless lawn mowers

Now pushed for my absolute favourite lawn mower at the moment, and although not appropriate for large and above gardens, it’s the Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Cordless Lawn Mower. There’s a few drawbacks with cordless lawn mowers and I think it’s worth getting to the bottom before you take the plunge and buy.

Cordless electric lawn mower – the balance of price and performance

The only problem right now is price to performance. Petrol lawn mowers cannot be touched when compared to cordless electric! So even the best cordless electric lawn mower is going to struggle to keep up with petrol as a mass market. The best we can hope for is continued improvement of batteries to make cordless electric lawn mowers both cheaper and more convenient for the mass market. A cheap petrol will set you back around £150 but with the price of batteries that’s already your budget eaten up without buying the tool itself. Battery prices are on the rise but that didn’t put me off especially with the Makita fast charger that gives near full charge in 15-20 mins:

Makita fast battery charger will give you near full power in 15-20 mins

When that happens, we will all benefit, the question will be are we using robotic lawn mowers by then? 🙂

Part of the reason the Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Cordless Lawn Mower stole the show was the battery recharge times. If you invest in a fast charger then the result is Makita’s batteries basically become the best value for money anywhere to be found in the UK. How?

Some chargers are down to 15 minutes

Quite simply with a 15 minute charge you just don’t need to keep more than two. It’s not inconvenient at all to wait fifteen minutes between each charge. Hands down this makes it the best battery lawn mower and if by some random chance I’ve missed a model, I am certainly not selling you short here. There’s no way that you’ll be disappointed and you can learn more about the best battery lawn mower on the link provided

That means if you have a medium sized garden and the batteries don’t quite make it, you’ll find yourself having a cup of tea whilst you pop the batteries on charge and you’ll be ready to go again. So simply put the best rechargeable lawn mower is the Makita.

A huge proportion of the overall success is due to the battery technology that Makita developed for a wider power tool use, and it is now bearing fruit for the garden power tool range. It’s not just the rechargeable lawn mower that’s extremely impressive!

What cordless lawn mower brands are out there and how do they rate?

As we’ve already discussed, the best cordless lawn mower [UK] is the Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Cordless Lawn Mower. That doesn’t mean it’s the only choice out there, far from it in fact. There are a few cracking brands I’d love to give mention to and whilst not the best cordless lawn mower [UK] choice, they are certainly quality bits of kit.

Bosch cordless lawn mower

If you ask me about a Bosch cordless lawn mower, I only really have one good answer for you that I would happily endorse: the Bosch Rotak 43 LI Ergoflex Cordless Lawn Mower. A fabulous bit of kit with over 4 out of 5 star ratings all over the internet. If you’re thinking 4 star seems a bit low to get a mention on the best lawn mowers reviews, battery lawn mowers in general rate lower.

Bosch Rotak 43 LI Ergoflex Cordless Lawn Mower – beautiful bit of kit

Unfortunately many buy them and are disappointed to find they pay as much as a good petrol mower but don’t get the performance. Please, know that you buy a battery lawn mower for the convenience, lack of noise, and the environment factor. The small trade off in my opinion is you lose pound for pound performance, but not as much as the benefits that are gained from and you can find out more about the Bosch cordless lawn mower here as well as an in depth review of the Bosch Rotak 43 LI Ergoflex Cordless Lawn Mower here too.

Greenworks cordless lawn mower

Let’s not forget the Greenworks cordless lawn mower. They are the surprise package for me. They have the best ratings on Amazon and only lost out on best cordless lawn mower due to a less than perfect customer service record. You can find more about the Greenworks cordless lawn mower at the link provided.

Green works cordless electric lawnmower – decent power delivery for a budget tool

I highly recommend taking a look at the Greenworks Tools 2504707 Lawnmower which is a fantastic piece of equipment and I am certain that Greenworks will flourish into an incredible brand over the next five or ten years.

Ryobi cordless lawn mower

When I reviewed a Ryobi cordless lawn mower, I will put my hand up and be the first to say I didn’t give them enough credit. Sorry about that Ryobi. The mower I reviewed was the Ryobi OLM1833H ONE+ 18V Lawnmower. What a machine. That’s not just my opinion either. It was ranked 4.3 out of 5 stars at the time of writing and that is better than the Bosch which is probably known by most of the UK as a very solid piece of equipment.

Ryobi cordless lawn mower – looks and performs very well

Basically, if you’re in the market for a cordless mower, or if you already have Ryobi cordless tools with batteries that would be compatible. This is a very very solid choice. You can learn a bit more about the Ryobi cordless lawn mower at the link provided. I was highly impressed and it would certainly not be rude to say this is a far better piece of equipment than the average they produce and I am certain the manufacturer would be happy to agree too.

Picking the best electric lawn mower – what you should know

This was subdivided into small and large gardens. There was no way of picking a clear winner because in the category of best electric lawn mower, there are so many highly specialised machines that it just wouldn’t be fair to go for one. For the small garden I chose the Flymo Turbo Lite 250 Electric Hover Lawnmower and for a medium I went with either the Flymo Speedi-Mo 360C Electric Wheeled or the Bosch Universal Rotak 550 Electric Rotary Lawnmower. If we think about what we want from an electric lawn mower I have to say the first word is value.

Flymo Speedi Mo 360C Electric Lawnmower – can’t be beaten for value and performance!

Here’s why. We all know a power lead is a pain in the you know what. Firstly it takes ten minutes to get a power reel out and put it away. How many times have you put it in the shed and the kids tangled it to the point of near break down when they’ve tried to get their bike out or similar? 🙂

You can’t use them in the rain for fear of electric shock, damp grass is also enough to make the more sensible of us think twice about running a power lead along. It’s quite understandable to me that what makes a good electric lawn mower is the price to performance ratio. There really isn’t a lot of other advantages with exception that you’re environmentally friendly. That’s why the Bosch Universal Rotak 550 Electric Rotary Lawnmower made it into the reviews. It’s costly but it does get it done. There are other good models too on the best electric lawn mower page. I never bother reviewing rubbish!

What you should know about robot lawn mowers

This was subdivided into small and medium/large gardens as there was no one robot lawn mower that made sense for all garden situations. While the McCulloch ROB 1000 Robotic Lawn Mower was a great performer and probably the best robot lawn mower overall, it makes no sense to spend nearly double on a small garden when the Flymo 1200 R Lithium-Ion Robotic is such a solid performer.

Not to mention the Flymo has an army of positive reviews and already proved itself to be one of the best robot lawn mowers. Personally I really like Flymo because of their research and development. The Flymo robotic lawnmower is exactly what you would expect from this brand, a trustworthy and quality piece of kit. To find out how we came to the best robot lawn mower result please feel free to follow the link provided. It’s a lengthy read but well worth it if you’re interested in a robotic lawn mower.

Electric lawn mowers vs petrol lawn mowers

A lot of traditionalists will tell you that electric lawn mowers are inferior to petrol ones, but, with advances in technology, it’s not hard to find an electric lawn mower that will fulfil all your grass cutting needs.

There are 2 main types of electric lawn mower, ones with a power cord, and cordless models but both types share many advantages over petrol lawn mowers.

Electric lawn mowers are more cost effective. You don’t have to keep buying petrol to fuel them and there is no need for oil or other parts required for petrol engines to work, such as spark plugs and the like. This also makes them more reliable and less prone to breaking down.

When it comes to noise reduction, you can’t beat electric lawn mowers. You don’t have to worry about waking the neighbours if you decide to do a spot of early morning gardening or upsetting the wife while she’s watching her favourite TV shows.

Another advantage of electric lawn mowers is they don’t give off emissions like petrol models. With the threat of global warming possibly flooding our gardens with melted ice from the poles, it’s probably a good idea to be a bit environmentally conscious these days. Here’s a nice video to give you some ideas too:

Power-wise, petrol lawn mowers win hands down. Although electric lawn mowers have become more powerful over the years, they still can’t compete with something that’s fitted with an engine. Electric lawn mowers are great for small gardens but for a larger lawn, or one with tough grass, weeds and other debris, a petrol lawn mower is the best choice. They are the professionals choice and used commercially – only the Makita cordless battery version that I am aware of is now used commercially.

Petrol lawn mowers for professionals and commercial use

One of the main drawbacks of electric lawn mowers is that they need to be attached to a power source by a cable, greatly hindering their mobility and range. It can be time consuming, not to mention annoying, to have to constantly be messing around with the power cables and being limited to the length of the cable. Those cables also have to be watched carefully, it’s far too easy to sever a cable and risk electrocution. Cordless lawn mowers, of course, don’t have this problem but their batteries have to be charged up before you can use them.

Petrol lawn mowers tend to be higher priced but they also tend to have better build quality. There are far more choices of well manufactured petrol lawn mowers out there than with electric models, which commonly have more moulded plastic parts that are broken easier than good quality materials.

So which is better? It all depends on your needs. If you have a small garden with neighbours in close proximity, you’d probably be better off with an electric lawn mower. Then again, if you have a medium to large sized lawn or you are using your lawn mower commercially, you should probably opt for a petrol lawn mower.

Specification: Mowing Width: 38 cm/15″, Cutting Height: 2.5-7.5 cm, Mowing Area: 270-540 m², Grass Box Capacity: 40 L, Speed (No Load): 3700 min, Max Output: 620W,

As battery tech continues to improve (Makita are leading the way), these mowers will only serve to become that much more efficient and will eventually retire power cord and petrol mowers alike. A wonderful thought in my mind. So supporting at this stage is doing our bit to go green in the future.

Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Lawn Mower

When I tested this lawn mower I was shocked how well it performed, even on wet grass it had no trouble and the collection box works pretty well too. The biggest thing for me though was just how tight it’ll cut up to edges:

Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Cordless Lawn Mower can cut right up to the edge

I’d say I empty the collection box three or four times on a 20m by 10m patch – it doesn’t seem to be as effective if you let it completely overfill so I make sure I empty well before.

In terms of batteries, I easily get around 200m2 with two 5amp fully charged batteries. It takes about 20-30 minutes at full tilt to flatten off two batteries – I am fine with this as I have a fast charger – if you want to take advantage of a mower like this price wise, and you have a 600m2 and up garden then you want either 4 batteries and a tandard charger, or cough up for a fast charger and have a cup of tea between charges!

Talking of batteries they are well protect under the cover – no problems with that and the battery gauge is plenty helpful too – just press the button and you can see where you’re at power wise – useful if you’re planning your garden cut.

Here’s what I think in terms of features:

Best cordless lawn mower: Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Cordless Lawn Mower

Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Lawn Mower Review

Best Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Lawn Mower Features

What needs work on the Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Lawn Mower

Incredible value for money Rarely you get a dud
Best cordless lawn mower
Lightweight
Folds down saving space when stored
Highly powerful
Will cut a 500m2 lawn
Batteries charge in 15 minutes!!
Quiet to use
Grass collection box

If you want to know more about the best cordless lawn mowers please follow the link provided. There are plenty of other great manufacturers and if you own batteries to other power tools, you may be able to find better value in another brand.

Specification: Mowing Width: 46cm/18″, Cutting Height: 2-7.5cm, Mowing Area: 500-800m², Grass Box Capacity: 60 L, Speed (No Load): 3300 min, Max Output: 1450W

Since I wrote this review a couple of years ago the DLM380Z was top dog. Welcome the bigger, more powerful, and generally better all rounder: the Makita DLM460Z Twin 18V. It really is a case of anything you can do, I can do better with this upgraded and uprated model. More cutting, wider cut, faster cut and somehow it’s actually quieter. It is easily a comparable for a petrol lawn mower.

This cracker of a cordless lawn mower can actually cut and handle a a garden up to 800m2 with ease. Now I just want ot point out. Once you’re at that kind of rating its a matter of batteries. The more batteries you have, the more garden you can cut. Personally I see no problem with gardens larger than this still, especially if you don’t mind a cup of tea in between a couple of fast charged. Incidentally the fast charger will give near full batteries in half hour, less in fact but I always give them half hour….

The 60 litre collection box is a nice step up on the old DLM380Z and the mulching function sees you even longer between trips to the compost bin. I can’t really fault this cordless lawn mower. It has been on sale for a couple of years now and hasn’t got one single credit 1 star review. If I could recommend one improvement it would be to get the height adjust out of the way, I have to turn to the left hand side always to go close up to objects. Need to work on that. But overall its another case of Makita just being too good for the money. They charge the kind of money that put them in range with Ryobi and Greenwoks. this is a bit tough on them to be fair as Makita is world renowned by tradesmen. In fact almost all UK trades I know use Makita. It’s a great balance of power and quality.

Performance wise this is now up there with a mid sized petrol. As I mentioned a few years ago on my cordless lawn mower review, I for-see a day petrol is a thing of the past, it’ll just come down to battery tech. I must have had a crystal ball that day as we are now there. You’ll motor your way through three or four inch grass, and don’t think this lawn mower light weight and flimsy like most cordless lawn mowers. This is fairly heavy so factor that when you look for a place in the shed.

Pros:

  • Power of a petrol but remarkably just batteries
  • Incredible cut speed
  • Mulch function and collection works well
  • Can do a larger garden no problem as well as smaller

Cons:

  • a bit pricey

Specification: Power: 1400W, Cutting Heights: 1.1-3.1 cm, Cutting Width: 25 cm, Cable Length: 10m, Foldable Handles: Yes, Grass Box Capacity: Non-Collect,

Just to recap this fantastic bit of kit. Pound for pound it’s hard to believe you can buy a lawn mower for £69.00 that actually cuts grass efficiently. While it’s not the most powerful and some even called it a bit ‘plastic’ which I thought was cheeky for the price, as a cutter of grass on a budget, from a brand that will help you if something does go wrong, what more could you ask for? Well given it averages 4.3 over 1500 reviews says a great deal to me, when priced so cheap, there’s bound to be the odd flaw.

For an extra few quid they have a model that picks up grass too. Flymo really did themselves great credit with this little machine and I believe it’s one of their best sellers of all time. Very easy to see why. I’m going to include the review table here but you can find the full review of the Flymo Turbo Lite 250 Electric Hover Lawnmower at the link provided.

Flymo Turbo Lite 250 Electric Hover Lawnmower Review

Best Flymo Turbo Lite 250 Electric Hover Lawnmower Features

What needs work on the Flymo Turbo Lite 250 Electric Hover Lawnmower

Light as a butterfly whilst turned on I prefer a collection box
Very easy to operate Quality control should be more stringent
Very smooth to use
Surprisingly big cutting power
Very very well priced at £69.00
Good blade sharpness retention
Flymo after sales care
Reliable

Pros:

  • Super light weight and easy to use
  • Shockingly powerful for the money
  • Blade well designed to keep sharp and get the most from the engine
  • Good old Flymo reliability

Cons:

  • The odd bad one from manufacture – hardly surprising with tens of thousands being sold


Specification: Power: 1500W, Cutting Heights: 2-6 cm, Cutting Width: 36 cm, Cable Length: 12m, Foldable Handles: Yes, Grass Box Capacity: 40L,

I had to best electric mowers for a medium garden. I went with the Flymo Speedi-Mo 360C Electric Wheeled if talking about a budget for a few valid reasons. Firstly, we all know rotary mowers are great mid range and always provide the best cut for pound in this arena. At just £112.50, Flymo gave us a 1500 Watt motor more than capable of handing small to medium gardens and it only weighs 11.5kg. Talk about easy to use and convenient. Before we get going here’s a pretty sensible review in video form:

The price tag is the cherry on top. If you don’t want to spend big, you have a small/medium garden and you don’t mind not buying the absolute best, this is the choice of all the mowers I reviewed on the best electric lawn mowers post. Here’s a link to the review table to save me duplicating information:

Flymo Speedi-Mo 360C Electric Wheeled Lawn Mower Review

Best Flymo Speedi-Mo 360C Electric Wheeled Lawn Mower Features

What needs work on the Flymo Speedi-Mo 360C Electric Wheeled Lawn Mower

Super powerful for the price 12m power cord shorter than performance capability
Great cutting speed
Good blade edge retention
Big collection box
Light and easy to use
Minimal assembly
Very reliable

Pros:

  • Incredible cutting power for the money
  • Super easy to wheel around the garden
  • Light and easy to use

Cons:

  • Can’t get away from the power lead

5. Bosch Universal Rotak 550 Electric Rotary Lawnmower

Specification: Power: 1300W, Cutting Heights: 2.5-7 cm, Cutting Width: 36 cm, Cable Length: 10m, Grass Box Capacity: 40L,

For those of us not ready to spend £800 on a cordless electric lawn mower but want performance and the ability to cut a medium size lawn fast, without burning fossil fuels, or hate the noise of a petrol engine are left with a couple of good options, one is the Bosch Universal Rotak 550 Electric Rotary Lawnmower which is reviewed in far more depth at the link provided.

To recap this Bosch electric lawn mower very quickly for you: it’s a massive cutting machine. It’s big in power, it delivers huge performance and at the price point it’s comparable in performance to a petrol lawn mower. I had one small gripe with it. The power leads too short at 10m. For a machine capable of tearing through a mid sized garden 10m could easily have been improved upon. That said, it is industry standard spec. Here’s the review table table:

Bosch Universal Rotak 550 Electric Rotary Lawnmower Review

Best Bosch Universal Rotak 550 Electric Rotary Lawnmower Features

What needs work on the Bosch Universal Rotak 550 Electric Rotary Lawnmower

Unrivalled power 10m power cord
Effortless use
Picks up leaves too
Can be used when damp
Easy to control
Packs away fairly small given size
Ideal for older customers
Easy assembly
Leaves lovely strips down the lawn
Brilliant alternative to a powerful petrol lawn mower

One thing I’d love to draw your attention to is the ease in which you’ll change heights:

Pros:

  • Easy to change cutting height with a simple press of the button
  • So easy to use even if you’re not the strongest
  • No problem using when damp as long as careful with power lead

Cons:

  • Hard to justify when the cordless models are equally powerful
  • Ten metre power cord will restrict you whatever

Best Hover Mower

It was impossible to pick any one hover mower as the ‘best hover mower’. They are all far too highly specialised so I split them into two categories: small and medium gardens. As you can imagine the Flymo Turbo Lite 250 Electric Hover Lawnmower won the small garden best hover mower and for the medium we had a couple of good choices. Either the Flymo Easi Glide 330VX Electric Hover Collect Lawn Mower or the Flymo TurboLite 400 Electric Hover Lawn Mower.

I’m not going into the Flymo Turbo Lite 250 Electric Hover Lawnmower again. It’s won just about every category going and it’s like flogging an old horse to death. If you want to learn more about this miracle machine please just take a look at the link provided. For .a budget hover mower and a small garden there’s just no way you’ll beat this machine, it’s far too good!

Specification: Power: 1700W, Cutting Heights: 1.2-3.2 cm, Cutting Width: 30 cm, Cable Length: 10m, Grass Box Capacity: 20 L,

When making my choice for the hover lawn mower, I had to think of a few things. Firstly, is it good value for money? Secondly, is it practical for a small garden? And finally, what features does it have that makes it stand out from the crowd? Before we decide what’s what – here’s what the manufacturer thinks about their features:

The Flymo Easi Glide 330 is an electric hover mower with 1300 watts of power behind it. It has a 30cm cutting blade and can be adjusted to 4 different cutting heights from 12mm-32mm and you can read more about the Flymo Easi Glide 330VX Electric Hover Collect Lawn Mower here or otherwise please find a short recap:

Weighing in at only 8.5kg, its very light for an electric lawn mower and makes cutting a small lawn a breeze. It also means that you won’t be breaking your back carrying out from the shed or turning it over to clean out.

It comes pre-assembled and ready to use straight out of the box saving you the all too common, lawn mower related, frustration felt when dealing with nuts and bolts that just don’t seem to want to fit in the places they’re ‘supposed’ to go.

Its compact design, along with the folding handle, means it won’t be taking up too much space in your garage and can be stored almost anywhere.

Flymo Easi Glide 330VX Electric Hover Collect Lawn Mower Review

Best Flymo Easi Glide 330VX Electric Hover Collect Lawn Mower Features

What needs work on the Flymo Easi Glide 330VX Electric Hover Collect Lawn Mower

Collection box 12m Power cord
Picks up leaves and other debris too Grass collection
Easy to use
Light weight
Handles a mid-sized garden at just
Standard adjustable cutting height
Ideal for less able customers

Pros:

  • Given the price for an uneven garden surface this is second to none
  • Decent collection box that actually works collecting grass but could use improvement
  • Easy enough to adjust the height of cut
  • Anyone can use this lawn mower

Cons:

  • Still needs a power lead
  • Not ideal for larger gardens

Best petrol lawn mower

In the same way we broke down the electric lawn mower review with small and large gardens, I had to do the same again here. There was far too much competition and specialism to slap a winning sticker on just one machine. In the end, for me it boiled down to the Mountfield 297411028/AMZ / 394 P-B Petrol Rotary Lawnmower if I was looking at a medium to large garden and the Hyundai HYM510SPE Petrol Lawn Mower if it’s anything over a medium sized garden. The interesting thing about this review is I wrote it back in 2019 and I actually still prefer the two two picks in 2021. they are solid machines and if anything the

I had a great deal of fun reviewing and comparing the best petrol lawn mower. When you click on the link provided here you will see there’s links going all over the page sub-comparing mowers against each other into the finest detail. Actually, that’s great for you as a user, and even more useful because if you don’t want to read that much detail, you know the research has been thorough for you.

 

Specification: Engine: 4-stroke OHV / 196 cc / 3.1 HP, Cutting Width: 20 inches, Cutting Heights: 0.98-2.95 inches, Fuel Tank Capacity: 0.26 gal / 1L

The Hyundai HYM510SPE Petrol Lawn Mower came out on top of all the competition for large garden mowing but there was plenty of stiff competition as you’ll see from the post linked. The Frisky Fox probably deserves a mention here. What an incredible sucker of grass. We all hate picking up grass after mowing! Here’s a look at their demo and sales video – I wouldn’t normally include it but the guy is pretty unbiased:

The Hyundai HYM510SPE Petrol Lawn Mower did win though, and won my vote big time. Normally when you have a machine that’s got all the gadgets you start wondering what’s going to fail first. Hyundai do a great job of steadying never with a cracking three year guarantee which is better than some of the stiff competition. Where they really scored then was the features. Here’s the review table which shows off its massive feature list.

Hyundai HYM510SPE Petrol Lawn Mower Review

Best Hyundai HYM510SPE Petrol Lawn Mower Features

What needs work on the Hyundai HYM510SPE Petrol Lawn Mower

Best petrol lawn mower Heavy
Mulching option
Huge grass collection box
Electric start
Self propelled
HUGE power
Side, rear discharge options
Cuts second to none
Top performer
3 year warranty
Adjustable speed control

Pros:

  • Unbelievable cutting power – will just keep on going all day long
  • Nice to be able to control the speed you walk at with the self propulsion
  • Massive grass box which is a huge benefit considering you’re not pushing the weight
  • 3 years warranty says it all in terms of quality.

Cons:

  • The only draw back is this is for a large garden and you want to have a wide shed door as well as a ramp if there’s an up-stand – it’s seriously heavy.

The first amazing feature on the Hyundai is the self propulsion. Normally a self propelled lawn mower will be petrol engine based or an extremely large electric roller which are not very common. But, before I go off on a tangent, the Hyundai HYM510SPE Petrol Lawn Mower has four settings for self propelling you along.

The first is a bit sluggish and designed for turning but the fourth setting has you whistling along. It is much quicker that the Frisky Fox as you’ll see me cross reference and a big part of getting the lawn cut of any large size is the speed. The Hyundai will have a half acre plus lawn sorted in half an hour no trouble making it a brilliant self propelled lawn mower. This was one of the contributing factors that made me pick this is the top mower but let’s not forget it is electric start too

Electric start lawn mowers are super convenient and with the Hyundai and Frisky Fox being a massive 173cc engines equally, I feel you really need that electric start. If you follow the link provided you’ll learn more about electric start lawn mowers. Unfortunately the Frisky Fox has only a pull start which the Hyundai also has as a backup. It’s fine now, while the engines new and goes like a rocket, first pull, but what about in a few years time?

Remember these are machines that should give a decade of service without any trouble at all. While an electric start lawn mower is bound to give problems over the years, at least you have the chance of trouble free, physical free push start for many good first years. I just feel when you’re up in this price range the electric start would be something worth having.

8. Mountfield 297411028/AMZ/394 P-B Petrol Lawnmower

Specification: Engine: B&S 300 E OHV / 125 cc, Cutting Width: 39 cm, Cutting Heights: 2.5-7 cm, Grass Box Capacity: 40 L,

The absolute standout from price point(from a brand well known for customer service) was the Mountfield 297411028/AMZ / 394 P-B Petrol Rotary Lawnmower. If you follow the link, you’ll see just how amazing this little petrol mower really is. I couldn’t really fault this machine for the money. Some even use it for gardens over medium size and still have no problems at all and I suppose why not if you don’t want to spend big?

It has a plenty powerful 125cc Briggs & Stratton 300 series and a 40 litre collection box that’s totally ready for work. It has a 25-75mm cutting depth range and can do everything the larger mowers do, just a little slower. Here’s the review table to see whats going on:

Mountfield 297411028/AMZ / 394 P-B Petrol Lawnmower Review

Best Mountfield 297411028/AMZ / 394 P-B Petrol Lawnmower Features

What needs work on the Mountfield 297411028/AMZ / 394 P-B Petrol Lawnmower

Solid build No faults
125cc Briggs & Stratton 300 series OHV engine
Great grass cutter
Ideal for medium sized gardens
Collects grass brilliantly
Best value for money
Handles very well
Great after sales care

Where it really is ideal though, it’s a medium sized garden. The machine is perfectly designed as to be agile enough to go around logs, tables, kids play houses and any other block in its way. I have to say I really loved this little lawn mowers value for money and as hard as I tried, couldn’t come up with any fair faults at all.

Pros:

  • Great mid range petrol that starts easily
  • Ideal for medium sized gardens if you like lots of power
  • Great grass collector

Cons:

  • Battery powered lawn mowers are completely caught up in terms of ability

It’s not all great news with Hyundai though. They can make the odd slip up, whilst the Hyundai HYM530SPER Petrol Roller Mower is super value for money, you can’t help but feel they should of powered it up mower. A petrol lawn mower with roller function is never going to come out with anywhere near the same performance as a rotary cutter if you throw the same engine in them.

I see the idea from Hyundai though, they’ve tried to pull off a petrol lawn mower with roller for the same money as a rotary cutter and blow Hayter and Honda away with a product half the price.

Actually let’s be fair, it’s getting a mention because it does a fair job and at half the price this can’t be overlooked. If you’re on a budget but want a Wimbledon tennis lawn, this is a serious contender and well worth a look. If you want to learn more about petrol lawn mower with rollers, please follow the link provided and you’ll grasp a fuller understanding very quickly.

Specification: Cutting Area: 150 m², Cutting Width: 16 cm, Cutting Heights: 2-5 cm,

When the scores totted up and all the facts taken into consideration, if you have a small garden or up to around 150m2 for that matter then the Flymo EasiLife 150 GO Robotic Lawn Mower came out on top. Here’s a quick demo of the setup – very easy when you follow the instructions:

There’s not much point going through in detail so I’ll do a little recap instead. You can read the full review at the link provided if that interests you, otherwise here’s the recap:

The Flymo robot lawn mower performs really well in small gardens. The trick is setting up the wire well. It takes a little time but once it’s in place the Flymo robotic lawnmower will keep your grass well trimmed and the mulching facility that shreds grass into tiny mulch will fall between the grass into the soil and decompose. This means you won’t even need to feed the lawn that often either.

The best thing about the Flymo is that it’s pretty intuitive, it won’t bang it’s head against a rock, it’ll turn and go off in another direction and dock itself when low on battery. I’ve included a link to the review table in case it’s of interest too.

Flymo EasiLife 150 GO Robotic Lawn Mower Review

Best Flymo EasiLife 150 GO Robotic Lawn Mower Features

What needs work on the Flymo EasiLife 150 GO Robotic Lawn Mower

Great price Need to spend time setting up
Mulching feature Can’t cut to the edges
Programmable
Irregular cutting pattern
Moves around obstacles
Best seller

Pros:

  • Cutting your garden becomes a thing of the past
  • App allows you to cut grass as you please
  • Really quiet in operation, you won’t even notice it!

Cons:

  • The install takes a fair bit of work but worth it in the end.

Specification: Cutting Area: 1000 m² (±20%), Cutting Width: 17 cm, Cutting Heights: 2-5 cm, Battery capacity: 2.1 Ah, Charging time: 50 min, Run Time: 65 min

The McCulloch ROB 1000 Robotic Lawn Mower is definitely the bigger, more powerful machine and also rated higher by other customers despite the additional costs involved. It’s undeniably a great bit of kit and cuts your lawn from 50mm all the way down to 20mm which is something I can’t do with my own push mower.

If you take a look at the McCulloch ROB 1000 Robotic Lawn Mower then you’ll be quick to notice it does have a couple of bugs like not liking the rain but by and large, most customers end up happy with this little robot.

McCulloch ROB 1000 Robotic Lawn Mower Review

Best McCulloch ROB 1000 Robotic Lawn Mower Features

What needs work on the McCulloch ROB 1000 Robotic Lawn Mower

Fully programmable Hard to set up for some people
Multiple security features Needs to be kept away from water
65 minute running time Charging station needs to be on flat ground
50 minute charging time
Comes with everything needed to set up
Best robot lawn mower

As a result I would be willing to suggest the best robotic lawn mower is the best robotic lawn mower is the McCulloch ROB 1000. There are plenty of strong contenders so if you’re willing to take a look you can find the best robotic lawn mower list at the resource provided.

There are plenty of strong candidates. There are also some amazing robot lawn mowers that didn’t make the best selection due to price. There is even a robotic lawn mower called the Ambrogio L60 B Robot Lawn-Mower which doesn’t even need a wire perimeter to function so saves huge effort. Be warned though, you’ll need deep pockets for this masterpiece!

Robot lawn mowers continue to gain in strength and it’ll only be a few more years before the technology renders us humans totally redundant! So enjoy the exercise while you can. If you hate mowing the garden then they are definitely up to the task already and being a robot quite fun to setup so worth a go.

Pros:

  • Amazing design that only gotten better capable of huge areas
  • No need to cut the grass ever

Cons:

  • Occasional battery failure

Final thoughts:

With all these lawn mowers available I hope I helped break down the options and make picking that much easier. But in case you still feel like you’re missing some info heres a further look into this for you and my final conclusions:

Best lawn mower UK at the moment

Pushed right now for an answer, if I was asked what is the best lawn mower [UK]. I would say for a small garden on a budget you can’t touch the Flymo Turbo Lite 250 Electric Hover Lawnmower, at £69.00, I’m not even sure how Flymo do it. If you like it quiet mow up in the garden without a power cord you go to the Makita DLM380Z Manual 36V Cordless Lawn Mower, no question. If you have a medium to big garden the show logical choice is the Hyundai HYM510SPE Petrol Lawn Mower.

While there are other models out there, I have tested, researched, and reviewed from each section meticulously. Noting my findings as I go and that one little paragraph is not some easily thrown out five minute review. It is the culmination of two weeks work and 25,000 words of documented ‘best lawn mower’ information. I have practically written a full research paper to come to those conclusions and with the links provided on each you will be able to read far more in-depth information and fully understand the logic behind these decisions.


About Terry Smith

I’m Terry Smith from gardentoolbox.co.uk, a professional landscape designer, hobbyist gardener, and barbecue fanatic with 20 years experience building and restoring. So as you go through my site you'll watch me document some of the professional garden installs I make as well as the major projects I take on at home. While sharing those experiences and guiding you, I'll be recommending some great tools I use to enable this along the way so you can really buy in confidence. Always feel free to pop me a message: info@gardentoolbox.co.uk

View all posts by Terry Smith