The best robot lawn mowers for 2026, as tested and reviewed by our experts

Jump to our 3 top-rated robot lawn mowers

Increasingly popular with UK gardeners, robot lawn mowers are a welcome, hands-free alternative to traditional petrol and electric lawn mowers. Because a robot lawn mower is fully automatic, it can be a brilliant option for gardeners with mobility concerns, those away from home a lot, or those who simply find mowing a chore. Powered by rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries, most mowers are guided by a boundary cable laid around the edge of the lawn, which helps the robotic lawn mower identify where to mow and to avoid flower beds, trees and other obstacles.

While we tested models from several different brands, note that all of them offer mowers of varying sizes, capabilities and features.

Our best robot mowers to buy at a glance

Our 3 top-rated robot mowers

• 5 stars: Our best robot mower for hills – Mammotion Luba Mini AWD £999
• 4.8 stars: Our best robot mower without perimeter wire – Segway Navimow i105E £749
• 4.8 stars: Our best robot mower with perimeter wire – Stihl iMOW 5 £1,729

Also recommended

• 4.3 stars: Our best budget robot mower for small gardens – Flymo EasiLife Go 500 £689

Comparison table: best robot mowers

Jump to best robot mowers:

• Our 3 top-rated robot lawn mowers
• Also recommended
• Best of the rest

Jump to robot mower advice:

• How does a robot lawn mower work?
• What are the benefits of a robot lawn mower?
• How to choose the best robot lawn mower
• How to clean a robot lawn mower
• How we tested robot lawn mowers
• Top tips for lawn care

Our 3 top-rated robot mowers

TOP-RATED: Mammotion Luba Mini AWD 800

Our best robot mower for hills

RRP: £1,499 (now £999)

Our rating: 5 out of 5

Available from: Amazon (£999) and Mammotion (£999)

Reasons to buy:

• Reliable and intelligent navigation
• Robust build quality and six cutting blades
• Powerful app with a huge range of features
• Whisper-quiet at less than 60dB

Reasons to avoid:

• Need to be smartphone-savvy to get the most out of the mower
• Requires a GPS antenna with plenty of open sky
• The tiny safety key is easy to lose

I'd say this mower is quite an astonishing achievement, blending rugged all-wheel drive capability with a powerful app and tons of useful features. Decked out in all white, it looks rather like an off-road F1 car. Setup is as easy as possible, with a detailed paper guide and app support. You just need to attach some components and plant the antennae in the ground. Impressively, it doesn’t need to be close to the charging base. The mower even keeps in touch via WiFi, Bluetooth, and 4G connectivity.

Set up and ease of use: Determining the lawn shapes involved driving the mower around with my phone like a remote-control car. You can demonstrate your no-go areas and channels between up to 20 lawns, and that’s about all you have to do. The Luba Mini AWD takes care of the rest. It can even use AI to map out your garden all on its own, but that takes longer.

Mower statistics: The Luba Mini AWD can tackle lawns up to 800 sq. metres and mow up to 250 sq. metres per charge. Plus, it does it in neat, straight lines and performs a thorough perimeter cut. It makes neat three-point turns at the end of a pass to protect the grass. Another feature, and one that seems to have been missed on other mowers, is “manual mowing mode”. When you’re within Bluetooth range, you can drive the mower with your phone to tackle any awkward tufts of grass or missed spots. You can change mowing heights on the go from 20-65mm. The mower also acts as a mobile security camera, with a live video feed, and if you're feeling playful, you can even draw pictures in the grass.

Top features: I think the best thing about this mower is that it can go just about anywhere. It has four powered wheels rather than the standard two that you get on most robot mowers, so it's a solid choice if you have an uneven garden. It can climb steep slopes of up to 38.6° and turn on its own axis thanks to clever front “omni” wheels. I was incredibly impressed by this mower's power and capability, as well as its ability to cut long grass when needed.

The only downside of a feature-rich mower like this is that you've got to be confident with the app to get the most out of it. If you want something that is “set and forget”, you might find the Luba Mini AWD challenging. It comes with a three-year warranty.

RRP: £1,499 (now £999)
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: GPS & camera (plus AI mapping)
Lawn area up to: 800 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 38.6°
Cutting height range: 20-65mm

• Buy the Luba Mini AWD from Amazon (£999) and Mammotion (£999)

Segway Navimow i105E

Our best robot mower without perimeter wire

RRP: £749

Our rating: 4.8 out of 5

Available from: Mowers Online (£749)

Reasons to buy:

• Almost silent when cutting
• More than enough cable to position the GPS antenna
• App offers live help and features
• Cuts in straight lines, so fewer tufts are left behind

Reasons to avoid:

• The default light settings are far too bright
• Need to find a place for a large GPS antenna in your garden
• Makes a lot of unnecessary beeping noises until you turn them off

The latest addition to Navimow’s fleet of robot lawn mowers has built on the success of the previous H series. It's pleasing that they’ve listened to criticism and tweaked this new mower to work better in the garden with easy setup and impressive features.

Top features: Not only is the GPS that helps guide it around the garden (the Exact Fusion Location System) the upgraded 2.0 version, but its camera technology can detect and avoid all sorts of obstacles in the garden. It’s a simple addition, but you now get 20m of antenna and power cable, which I found made placement of the GPS receiver so much simpler, and all without the need to buy extra wires. The app also helped me find the ideal place to position both the GPS antenna and the charging station in my garden. They’ve kept my favourite features too, like the brilliant app that lets you drive the mower around like a remote-control car to define the shape of your lawn.

You can watch the mower work in real time, and it lets you know immediately if there are any problems. The mower also checks the weather via the internet and adjusts the mowing program accordingly. The i105E model can happily cut moderate-sized gardens up to 500 sq. metres and, thanks to the large orange wheels with an aggressive tread pattern, it can cope with slopes up to 17°. I'd say the cut quality is just as good as the previous mower, but it now comes with a class-leading 20-60mm cut depth range. It still cuts the lawn in precise straight lines, which helps avoid untouched tufts of grass.

RRP: £749
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: GPS & camera
Lawn area up to: 500 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 17°
Cutting height range: 20-60mm

• Buy the Segway Navimow i105E from Mowers Online (£749)

Stihl iMOW 5

Our best robot mower with perimeter wire

RRP: £1,729

Our rating: 4.8 out of 5

Available from: STIHL-approved dealers

Reasons to buy:

• Easy to set up on the app
• Wide range of cutting heights and cuts longer grass well
• Quiet
• Rain sensor, anti-stuck and 22° slope capacity
• Long warranty

Reasons to avoid:

• Need to be tech/app savvy
• No mobile connectivity for the price
• Installation kit sold separately

The iMow is the smallest in a new range of six robot mowers from Stihl that cover three sizes of larger garden. Together with the iMow 5, 6, and 7, there's also the iMow EVO range, which covers the same size lawns with the same features but also has mobile connectivity. When you purchase an iMow, you can choose to have it installed by a Stihl-approved dealer or install it yourself and purchase an additional installation kit.

Set up and ease of use: To cut down on waste, different-sized installation kits are available, and you can also buy bio pins, made from 100 per cent biodegradable material that gradually break down in the soil. Like many robot mowers, the iMow requires a boundary wire around the perimeter of the lawn and a guide wire through the middle of the lawn to help it find its way back to the docking station. The mower comes with a clear instruction booklet, plus I found helpful guides on the Stihl website, and laying the wires in our 1,250 sq. metre test garden took 3-4 hours. Once the wires are laid, I'd say it's easy to programme the mower via the My iMow app, as long as you’re comfortable with this kind of tech.

Mower statistics: Like many other robot mowers I've tested, the iMow has three free-swinging blades, and it cuts very well. The lawn was quite long before it was installed but with an impressively wide cutting height range of 20-60mm it didn’t struggle, and after a few days the whole lawn looked good with no tufts of uncut grass. Unlike the Husqvarna Automower, once you’ve laid the boundary wire, you can’t completely alter mowing zones. It cuts close to the edge, and if it comes across an obstacle, it gently bumps into it and then turns away.

Top features: The iMow also has a useful feature that helps it manoeuvre if it gets stuck, and it can cope with slopes of 22°. It also has an anti-theft alarm and a rain sensor feature, which you can adjust to interrupt or not start mowing if it’s raining. You can choose what degree of rain you want it to mow in, and when the sensor on the top of the mower dries, it automatically begins mowing. Not only that, it comes with a five-year warranty, and a host of accessories are available, including spare wire, pins and clips, and upgrade wheels for the EVO range to enable them to cut slopes of up to 31°. For the size of lawn it cuts, it's a reasonably priced mower that’s packed with excellent features and cuts very well.

RRP: £1,729
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: boundary & guide wires
Lawn area up to: 500 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 22°/31°
Cutting height range: 20-60mm

• Buy the Stihl iMOW 5 robot mower from STIHL-approved dealers

Also recommended

Flymo EasiLife Go 500

Our best budget robot mower for small gardens

RRP: £689

Our rating: 4.3 out of 5

Available from: Amazon (£784.99), AO (£477) and Currys (£649)

Reasons to buy:

• Incredibly quiet
• Small and easy to move around
• Plenty of boundary cable and spare connectors
• Spot mowing function for problem areas
• Affordable robot mower for smaller gardens

Reasons to avoid:

• Installing the guide wire correctly can be tricky
• Lacks screen
• Changing mowing height isn’t quick
• Setting multiple mowing zones takes a while

Set up and ease of use: In my opinion, this compact yet capable little robot lawnmower is an ideal choice for small to medium-sized gardens. With more than half a century of experience in the garden, Flymo know a thing or two about mowing, and their EasiLife Go 500 is marvellously small and lightweight. It uses three pivoting blades for an even cut, and there's an online video to help with installation. You should watch it before you start, as the mower needs both a boundary wire and a guide wire pegged down. I found this a bit tricky, but it's easier if you plan ahead.

Mower statistics: The cutting height ranges from 20-50mm, and the wheels can cope with slopes up to 14° and a slightly bumpy terrain, but I found it much happier on flat lawns. Due to the small cutting width of just 16cm, it’s only really suitable for small gardens up to 500 sq. metres.

Top features: Unlike some mowers, instead of an LED screen, you get five buttons on the top of the mower that control all the basic functions. For everything else, there’s the Flymo EasiLife app. It’s simple enough to programme and cuts regular-shaped lawns with ease. It mows in a random pattern, so every patch of grass is cut eventually, but there’s a handy spot-mowing function if any are missed. You can also set the mower to cut different sections of your garden, including narrow passageways, although this is a bit fiddly to master. It’s one of the more affordable mowers that I tested and comes with a two-year warranty.

RRP: £689
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: boundary & guide wires
Lawn area up to: 500 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 14°
Cutting height range: 20-50mm

• Buy the Flymo EasiLife Go 500 from Amazon (£784.99), AO (£477) and Currys (£649)

Best of the rest

Although some models didn’t quite achieve a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Best Buy award, they still have great features that make them worth recommending. Browse our pick of the best of the rest.

Stiga A4 Automatic Robot Lawn Mower

RRP: £999

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Available from: Stiga (£899)

Reasons to buy:

• Reasonably priced mower
• Very quiet operation
• Intuitive in-app setup

Reasons to avoid:

• No camera technology for obstacle avoidance
• Lots of open space is required directly above the garage
• Short power cable

Set up and ease of use: During setup, the app instructed me, via email, to begin digital mapping. Rather than via the app, it asked me to use my laptop to define the lawn area. Overall, I found the Stiga Go app easy to use and quite intuitive, so it was a surprise to be asked to use a laptop instead. The trick that Stiga have up their sleeve though, is that you can use Google Maps’ satellite view to pre-draw the perimeter of your garden. If you have a large space to mow, it works well.

To define lawn shapes, channels and no-go areas, I drove the mower around like a remote-controlled car. The robot then attempted the same path on its own. I liked this feature because it provided a trial run before agreeing to a mowing pattern. It’s just a shame that you can only set two different zones. Tucked inside the garage is the GPS receiver that guides the A4 around the lawn. And because Stiga have developed a clever guidance system that uses multiple satellites to map out the garden space, it should work even when there are overhanging trees.

However, the garage needs 120° of open air above it to work correctly, which I found tricky as it only comes with a 5m power cable. You can remove the GPS module and attach it to a wall or fence, but you'll need to buy an extra 15m extension cable and another power supply. Even though the test garden I used had a tricky shape, the mower still installed itself and cut the lawn well. It could find itself on the lawn, get back to the charging station and cope with reasonable undulations without getting stuck.

Top features: The mower features a pair of wheels at the back for the drive and another pair of shopping-trolley-type omnidirectional casters at the front. Four cutting blades, the height of which can be adjusted from 20-60mm via the app, are included. The mower can tackle lawns up to 400 sq. metres and slopes up to 24°. Once it gets mowing, it's incredibly quiet at just 57dB. It mows in 18cm-wide parallel lines across the grass, then finishes things up with a neat perimeter cut.

Several controls are under a flap on top of the mower body, and, for security, a tiny key needs to be in place before mowing. Lacking cameras to keep out of the way of obstacles, it gently bumps into objects left on the lawn and then mows around them. Overall, though, I'd say this is a solid robot mower. It doesn't have some of the advanced features of other mowers, but it's simple to install and leaves the grass well cut. It comes with a three-year warranty.

RRP: £999
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: GPS
Lawn area up to: 400 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 24°
Cutting height range: 20-60mm

• Buy the Stiga A4 Automatic Robot Lawn Mower from Stiga (£899)

Husqvarna Automower 405XE NERA

RRP: £999

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Available from: Mow With Us (£1,395), Radmore & Tucker (£999) and Winchester Garden Machinery (£1,359)

Reasons to buy:

• Cuts close to borders
• Impressive level of height- and lawn-pattern customisation

Reasons to avoid:

• Slightly confusing map setup
• No cameras for obstacle avoidance
• High price

I'd say the Husqvarna Automower 405XE NERA is a grown-up’s idea of what a robot mower should look like. Staying away from gaudy colours and concepts, this looks more like a sports car – with LED headlights and a price tag to match. It’s not just good-looking, though; it’s robust and solidly built, and it cuts lawns up to 600 sq. metres.

Set up and ease of use: It works in two ways: either with a boundary wire that you sink into the ground around the edges of the lawn or with a clever satellite-guided module that eliminates wires altogether. The version I tested was the updated boundary wire-free offering. The sat-nav module comes in a separate box; all you need to do is pop the top of the mower and screw it on. This upgraded ‘brain’ also uses 4G coverage to help track it should someone steal it. The best thing is that you don’t need to install a fiddly antenna in your garden.

I found setting up the map a bit trickier. Rather than simply driving around the edges of the lawn, the 405XE NERA wants you to leave waypoints instead. They’re a bit of a fiddle, and I didn't find them intuitive. A nice feature on the 405XE NERA is the second cutting deck slung underneath the mower. Positioned at the very rear, it gets as close to the edge as possible, which solves the robot mower problem of leaving the borders of the lawn ragged and untidy.

Mower statistics: The drive comes from a pair of large wheels with deep treads on the front of the mower. The rear ones are a pair of shopping trolley-like castors that move in all directions. It can climb slopes of up to 30° and, running at just 60dB, it’s a very quiet mower. It can fully charge in around 90 minutes before giving around 100 minutes of mowing time. There's a handy little screen on the top of the mower that you navigate with a little wheel. It's an intuitive control, if you don't mind bending down to use it.

Top features: I thought the depth of customisation was impressive. For example, you can choose a different mowing pattern, height and schedule for each zone. The app also lets you choose a security geofence that alerts you if the mower has been stolen. Overall, I found this a premium-priced mower that does a great job of cutting the lawn. It might lack a camera to help avoid objects like trees and discarded toys, but once it gets going, it leaves the grass looking neat and well-trimmed. The Husqvarna Automower 405XE NERA comes with a two-year warranty that can be extended to three years.

RRP: £999
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: boundary wire or GPS module
Lawn area up to: 600 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 30°
Cutting height range: 20-55mm

• Buy the Husqvarna Automower 405XE NERA from Mow With Us (£1,359), Radmore & Tucker (£999) and Winchester Garden Machinery (£1,359)

Segway Navimow X350e

RRP: £3,199

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Available from: Mowers Online (£2,699)

Reasons to buy:

• Mows lawns up to 5,000 sq. metres
• Six cutting blades and a 21cm-wide cut
• Easy setup with lots of customisation available
• Mowing performance improves over time

Reasons to avoid:

• Expensive investment
• No first-person video option
• Struggles with some all-terrain challenges
• The orange plastic bumper is easily marked

Segway Navimow is no stranger to the robot lawnmower market, and the latest addition to its fleet is the X3 series. This one, the X350e, is a heavy-duty machine designed to replace a ride-on lawnmower, as it can tackle huge lawns up to 5,000 sq. metres. Bristling with cameras on three sides and finding its precise location with an antenna, the X350e uses AI to map out your lawn and avoid various garden obstructions. It's an impressive-looking beast, a large grey and orange robot with a large screen on the top that shows the mowing status in animations.

Set up and ease of use: I thought the setup with the Segway Navimow was easy. After finding a place for the antenna to stick in the ground and connecting to WiFi, the rest can be done almost without user input. The AI-assisted mapping feature drives the mower about on its own to define lawn shapes, but I found it more fun driving it like a remote-control car instead. The drive comes from two large orange wheels with an aggressive tread pattern. Unlike the Mammotion Luba AWD, the front two wheels are casters, similar to those found on a shopping trolley. This is common to most robot mowers, meaning that all the power is in the back, resulting in some wheel slip.

Mower statistics: Navimow has employed a traction control system to help this mower tackle slopes of up to 24°. It works pretty well, but the mower still wasn’t happy on slippery surfaces like wet paving stones and slope edges. Choosing mowing heights from 20-60mm, adding zones and paths between them, and even drawing pictures on your lawn are all controlled by the powerful app. It gives you plenty of options, such as changing the direction of mowing and even changing the cut height of each zone. And it’s incredibly quiet at just 54dB. I found the mower worked best on large, flat areas of grass. The wide cut and increased mowing speed made for fast work, but it avoided some weeds and patches of taller grass for some reason. The good thing is that you can use the manual mow feature to tidy up areas the robot misses.

Unfortunately for a mower that boasts an AI-enhanced camera, you can’t dial into a live feed on your phone. It’s a missed opportunity to double the X350e up as a mobile home security system. Overall, though, Navimow have made another highly capable mower that does a great job on the lawn. However, for this price, I'd expect it to handle uneven gardens better without getting stuck. The Navimow X350e comes with a three-year warranty.

RRP: £3,199
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: GPS & camera (plus AI mapping)
Lawn area up to: 5,000 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 24°
Cutting height range: 20-60mm

• Buy the Segway Navimow X350e from Mowers Online (£2,699)

Segway Navimow H1500E

RRP: £1,849

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Available from: Mowers Online (1,849)

Reasons to buy:

• The quality of the cut is excellent
• It mows in pleasing straight lines rather than in random directions
• The app is powerful and fun to use
• No boundary wires to install

Reasons to avoid:

• Setting up the GPS receiver can be tricky
• Need a clear space for the antennae to work properly
• The charging station needs to be within Wi-Fi range
• Power cord and antenna leads are both too short

Coming from a company famous for its two-wheeled vehicles, the Navimow H1500E cuts lawns up to 1,500 sq. metres, and the best thing for me about this mower is the app. Not only could I drive the mower around like a remote-control car to define the garden’s boundaries, but it also showed me exactly where it was in real time via the onboard GPS system.

Once I got past the fiddly setup, the mower cut the lawn in strips rather than a random pattern and offered spot-cutting and boundary-cutting modes. It cuts grass from 30-60mm, the onboard camera helps to detect obstacles before it hits them, and it can tackle slopes up to 24°. It comes with a four-year warranty.

RRP: £1,849
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: GPS
Lawn area up to: 1,500 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 24°
Cutting height range: 30-60mm

• Buy the Segway Navimow H1500E from Mowers Online (£1,849)

Cobra Mowbot 800

RRP: £663.99

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Available from: Mowers Online (£749.99)

Reasons to buy:

• Simple install with minimal tools
• Basic but easy-to-use app
• A generous amount of boundary wire is included
• Wide range of cutting heights

Reasons to avoid:

• Only two cutting blades
• Multi-area lawn is complicated to set up
• No spot mowing feature for trouble spots

A straightforward robot mower that can tackle decent-sized lawns, the Cobra Mowbot 800 is ideal for low-effort lawncare. All you need to do is install the boundary wire and press go — either on the machine or via the basic “Robot Mower” app. It can maintain a lawn up to 800 sq. metres, has a cutting width of 18cm, cuts grass from 20-60mm high, and the wheels can deal with slopes up to 20°.

One of the best things about this mower, in my opinion, is that it’s nice and quiet, running at just 66dB maximum. It won’t wake you up if you set the mowing schedule earlier than your alarm clock, and if you want to add some flair to your robot, there are several fun covers that you can purchase separately. It comes with a two-year warranty.

RRP: £663.99
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: boundary wire
Lawn area up to: 800 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 20°
Cutting height range: 20-60mm

• Buy the Cobra Mowbot 800 from Mowers Online (£749.99)

To compare these robot models against other types of mowers, see our reviews of the best cordless lawn mowers, the best electric mowers and the best push mowers.

How does a robot lawn mower work?

Robot lawn mowers are powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and designed to cut the grass regularly, little and often, so the lawn always looks neat. Clippings are mulched back onto the grass, feeding the lawn, and there are no grass piles to deal with or collection bags to empty.

Most robot lawn mowers operate by detecting the perimeter via sensors or a boundary wire. The latter is laid out around the edge of the lawn — as well as any obstacles such as trees or island flower beds — to tell the lawn mower to stay within that area. When the mower senses the boundary wire, it will change direction to avoid leaving the lawn. Many robotic lawn mowers have collision sensors, so if they bump into an object, they will automatically turn around and head off in another direction.

Some models mow randomly, eventually covering the entire lawn before returning to the docking station. Others use a more sophisticated GPS system that allows you to programme specific paths. Robot mowers are programmed with a pin pad on the front of the mower, but many models can also be controlled via an app, which allows you to monitor the mower's progress, schedule cutting times and let you know when servicing, etc, is required, easily and remotely. Once the mower has finished mowing, or if the battery is running low, the lawn mower will automatically return to its docking station, connect, and recharge.

These fully automatic mowers can save you hours of mowing time throughout the spring and summer, are great fun to watch and are emission-free. However, they are expensive, require an outside power source and careful installation, may not be appropriate for every style of garden and will not create stripes.

What are the benefits of a robot lawn mower?

Buying a robot lawn mower has several benefits over more traditional petrol or electric models.

These benefits include:

• Less work for you: Once installed and programmed, the robot mower will automatically cut the grass according to your specific schedule. The lawn will always look tidy, and the mower will return to its dock on its own when it needs recharging

• Zero emissions: Unlike petrol mowers, they emit no emissions because they’re powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery

• Quiet: The lack of an engine also makes the mowers incredibly quiet

How to choose the best robot lawn mower

Price and size ranges for robot lawn mowers

Robot lawn mowers are expensive, especially when compared to cordless or electric lawn mowers. Prices start around £600 with premium models for large gardens costing anything from £3,000 up.

Most brands include a range of mowers to suit gardens of different sizes, from small 400m² lawns up to large gardens and estates up to 5,000m² in size and beyond.

Robot lawn mower features

Beyond being fully automatic, the additional features on the best robot lawn mowers vary depending on the model. They can include weather sensors, GPS navigation and smart connectivity, which is increasingly popular and useful for making the mower easier to programme wherever you are. Readily available as an app on your mobile phone, you can adjust the schedule and set up your phone without having to bend over the mower’s PIN board, but you can also check on your robot lawn mower while you’re away, track it if it’s stolen and see when it needs servicing. Good security is essential when paying for a machine in this price range, and all mowers have security features as standard. Some simply require a PIN code to start the mower, while others have lift sensors, alarms and a GPS tracker.

The latest innovation in the robot mower world is the arrival of a number of mowers that cut without the need for a boundary wire. Although some mowers could already do this, they were primarily for very large open lawns or small gardens with particular types of boundary, such as paving or raised beds. Now there are mowers that can identify exactly where they are, with the help of pinpoint positioning via GPS or are able to identify grass as well as other obstacles to work out where to mow. We are currently testing some of these new mowers, so keep checking this page for updates and our latest reviews.

Robot lawn mower requirements

Although they're fully automatic, once set up, robot lawn mowers are more complex initially than traditional petrol, electric or cordless mowers. A robot lawn mower requires an outside power source to connect to the docking station, and this ideally needs to be positioned out of direct sunlight and level. Most also need a clear area around them — typically two metres to the front and a metre each side, which can limit where you place the docking station, especially in a small garden. Accessing the layout is also essential before purchasing a robot lawn mower. Some models can struggle with narrow passages, uneven ground and steep slopes.

Finally, they need installation, and the boundary wire and sometimes a guide wire too, laid. You can either do this yourself, which takes time or get a dealer to do it for you, which is usually an additional cost, although some models include installation by a dealer in the price. They will assess your lawn, lay your boundary wire for you and show you how to programme and operate the keypad. If you're installing the mower yourself, take care to follow the instructions precisely for the robot lawn mower to run correctly.

How to clean a robot lawn mower

Despite being fully automated, a robot lawn mower should still be checked, cleaned and serviced regularly.

• To clean, make sure the machine is switched off and turn it over to check the blades for damage. Clean the chassis and blades with a brush or a garden hose if the dirt is more stubborn
• Grass may need removing from the wheels, and give the body a wipe down with a damp cloth
• Blades should be able to pivot freely, and damaged blades should be replaced. All blades should be replaced at the same time to ensure a balanced cut
• A service each year is encouraged so that dealers can update software. They will also clean and replace any worn parts, including batteries

How we tested robot lawn mowers

The BBC Gardeners' World Magazine reviews team tested a range of robot lawn mowers for several weeks in different gardens. Some were installed for us by dealers, while we installed the smaller mowers ourselves. They were programmed and left to work and were assessed according to the following criteria, with equal marks attributed to each:

• Set up and ease of use: Looked at installation and programming, including the need for a guide wire as well as a boundary wire, smart connectivity capacity and how easy it is to connect to the app.
• Cutting performance: Assessed how well it cuts the grass: the efficiency of cut and the neatness of the finish, its ability to evenly spread the cuttings and its ability to handle rough and damp grass. Also looked at run time, charge time, and noise
• Features: Focused on how well the mower could cope with obstacles or handle slopes, the number of zones you can programme it to mow, rain or temperature sensors, security features, etc.
• Value for money: Considered all of the above, along with the length of warranty and price, including installation cost where applicable

For more information on our testing process, see How we review

Top tips for lawn care

Here are some top tips for keeping your lawn looking fresh and healthy:

If your lawn is young, ensure it’s well-watered, but be careful not to overwater as this will cause the grass to root shallowly. Use rainwater if possible, or grey water from your bath or washing-up bowl. Sprinklers are effective but use lots of mains water. Don’t worry if your lawn is established and goes brown; it will green up again after some rain.

Weed your lawn – keep an eye out for plantains and dandelions, which have wide, flat leaves, and can smother large areas. Remove with a hand trowel or daisy grubber. Avoid weedkiller if possible. Find out more about weeds.

Compacted ground can prevent grass from growing well and lead to bare patches or muddy spots. Relieve compaction and aerate the soil with a garden fork, pushing it about 10cm deep every 10cm, and gently rocking back and forth on the fork handle. Take a look at our pick of the best lawn aerators and the best scarifiers.

Edge your lawn for a neat finish; this satisfying job can be carried out with long-handled shears. It will also stop grass from growing in your borders. See our review of edging shears. You might also like to keep edges neat with a physical border. Take a look at our picks.

For more tips on keeping your lawn looking good, see our article on top lawn care tips.

Meet our testing panel

Oliver Parsons, Strategic Projects Editor
Oliver is a gardener and magazine journalist of 20 years’ experience. He trained as a professional horticulturalist at RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Chelmsford and has also worked for Gardening Which?, as a freelance gardener and with the gardening team at Down House in Kent. He is now Strategic Projects Editor at BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine and GardenersWorld.com, heading up our reviews desk, Apple News output and weekly newsletter.

Kay Maguire, Magazines Editor
Kay trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and has been writing and making films about gardening ever since. She has written for websites and magazines, including The Garden and Amateur Gardening, was Horticultural Editor on BBC Gardeners' World Magazine for five years, and has also written several books on a range of gardening topics from growing house plants to making the most of a small space. After several years as Reviews Editor, building up our reviews section into a leading resource for UK gardeners, she has now become Magazines Editor for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, responsible for all print output.

Harry Duncton, freelance powered tools tester
Harry has a wealth of experience, from being a language teacher to a tree surgeon, and has built this into a career writing about all things DIY and gardening. A passionate believer in self-reliance, his aim is to inspire others to give it a go themselves and not worry about making a few mistakes along the way. A regular contributor to popular DIY blogs and a recent addition to the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine team, he loves tracking down the best new tools and writing about them.

Sue Fisher, freelance garden writer
Sue’s extensive horticultural career spans over 40 years, starting with a decade in the garden centre and nursery industry before developing into an accomplished gardening writer, designer and speaker. Sue writes regularly for BBC Gardeners' World Magazine, GardenersWorld.com, and Garden Answers magazine. She has written 10 books on subjects including container gardening, plants for small gardens and designing with colour, and she has co-authored other books with some of the biggest names in gardening.

Emma Crawforth, Horticulture Editor
Emma holds the Kew Diploma in Horticulture and has been working in horticulture for 18 years, including roles in public gardens, a plant nursery supplying plants for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and a training college for young horticulturists. She looks after an ornamental, fruit and veg garden at home and regularly undertakes trips to see plants growing in their natural habitats. She is the author of the Kew Publications book, Things to Do with Plants.

This review was last updated in February 2026. We apologise if anything has changed in price or availability