The best cordless lawn mowers under £500
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TO mow or not to mow, that is the question. This time last year gardeners all over the country were already adjusting their cutting lengths after a milder, sunny Spring.
Stunning shots of manicured stripes were filling our social media feeds, as shelves were increasingly stripped bare of lawn feed, grass seed and fertiliser.
But so far this year has been an absolute disaster weather-wise, with biblical rains turning even the hardiest of lawns into muddy swamps. There’s been no point even thinking about getting the mowers out - as it would literally rip your lawn to pieces.
But there is hope - and now the clocks have changed, the evenings are longer, and the temperatures are slowly rising - it's the perfect time to get out outside and give your lawns a lop.
So here at Sun Selects we’ve put a whole host of rechargeable battery-powered machines through their paces - all under £500 - so take a mow-ment, pick your favourite and hopefully get that green green grass at home.
Best cordless lawn mowers at a glance
- Smallest mower:
- Best for small lawns:
- Best budget lawn mower:
- Best all-rounder:
- Best for larger lawns:
- Best mid-range mower:
Smallest mower: Gardena Handy Mower
- Gardena HandyMower, £174.99 at Amazon -
So tiny you could fit it in a kitchen cupboard, at just under 38cm across it is literally the size of a throw cushion. It’s small and yet so mighty - it’s perfect for urban gardens.
With just a single pivoting handle, you can literally mow one-handed if you fancy it. And although it might not win any prizes for the perfect stripes, its absolutely ideal for those who might not be feeling too strong this Spring.
It's got an adjustable cutting height with three different levels between 30 to 50mm and instead of a collection basket on the back, it has a mulching blade that just scatters the clippings back into the lawn - which can be used as a natural fertiliser.
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Because of this, it's not going to be ideal to go too long between cuts, but it's so easy to manoeuvre it’s not going to take long to whiz around regularly anyway.
You only need one battery - which took less than an hour to charge, and the set-up is super easy - literally, slot the handle into the mainframe. And it’s part of the Power For All system - so if you’ve got any other tools under the same banner, it can be used in them too.
It’s really reasonably priced at £174.99 without the battery, so could easily come in the budget section too.
Best budget lawn mower: Flymo EasiStore 36V
- Flymo EasiStore 36V, £329 at B&Q -
This is your classic mower, with a large 35-litre collection basket on the back, five different cutting heights and a roller to boot. It takes two batteries, so lengthens your time out in the garden and again, comes under the Power For All Alliance. This means any other strimmers, electric saws or other power tools that are under this system can take the same batteries.
The fact that unusually it comes with two batteries and a charger at no extra cost, puts it firmly in the best budget category.
It's slightly fiddly to put together, but once it's going, it has a reassuring purr and is really light to manoeuvre. Its super sharp blades give it a really good cut and mean you can go right up to the edges without the need to get out the strimmer - or scissors - or whatever you fancy giving the edges a good finish.
Once you’ve got the hang of it and enough space, the roller on the back gives really obvious stripes. And for those short of storage space, it can hang up vertically, or fold right down with a very small footprint.
It also has a couple of nice little touches: it tells you when it's full, and the batteries have little lights on to show you how well-charged they are.
The first time out, it took an hour or so to charge the batteries, but I gave it a good outing, and it barely made a dent in the capacity.
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Best all-round mower: Mac Allister Solo Mini
- Mac Allister Solo MLM1834, £195 at B&Q -
I absolutely love this mower, although it's not top of the range, it's so easy to use, budget-friendly, easily assembled, and thorough, it just had to be in the best all-rounder category. It’s only £194 at the time of writing, but feels like it should be more.
One of its biggest positives is you don’t have to disassemble it - it all folds down into a very tidy small mower, or you can store it vertically.
It’s battery charges quickly - took around an hour to get full - and has a nice little indicator of the level of power left. I mowed three lawns with it straight after the other and it didn’t falter once. It’s got a grass catcher which alerts you when it’s reached capacity - so no more cuttings exploding out of the bag when you try to take it off.
It also has six cutting lengths and three different handle heights, which is another nice touch. Most importantly, it comes with a battery pack and charger all included - which makes the price all the more pleasing. Absolute winner.
Stihl RMA Rechargeable Mower
- STIHL Cordless Lawnmower RMA 235, £445 at Amazon -
At the time of writing, this actually comes in at £229 on Amazon for the mower only - but adding the charger and battery pushes it into the high-end category.
One of its cleverest attributes is the fill - level display on the 30l
grass collection box, which means no more exploding cuttings once you remove the box.
And it also has a ‘flow optimised blade’ which makes the grass stand up, cuts it efficiently and then blows the grass into the grass catcher box. It also claims that to help you mow for longer the eco mode maximises battery life by regulating the speed of the blades.
In longer or dense grass, the blades will spin faster and in short grass they will be slower. All this technology in a small orange plastic box is mindblowing! It has a 33cm cutting width with five cutting heights and the battery can be used across all Stihl tools. A very clever machine.
Best for larger lawns: Mountfield Electress 34li
- Mountfield Electress 34li, £229 at Amazon -
This looks a bit like it should be a robot mower, but seeing as they’re definitely out of this article’s price range, it’s a good thing it's still got its handle and is only £229 at the time of writing.
It boasts that it can mow up to 250m2, so good for larger lawns and it backs this up with double battery action to see you through the distance.
I got around 30 minutes out of it before it needed a boost. Both batteries and charger come as part of the deal - and they are Stiga batteries, so can be used across the range.
It looks more basic than it is and it's very light with a polypropylene chassis, so it should be rust-proof. It's also got a 34cm cutting width, and six different cut heights, from 25 to 75mm.
And it has a single-button start, with only half a handle to grab instead of it stretching across the mower.
It’s also light enough to whizz around corners and easy to manoeuvre, so turns lawnmowing from a chore to a cheer.
Stiga Collector 136e Kit
- Stiga Collector 136e Kit, £219 at Stiga -
This is essentially pretty much the same as the Mountfield above, but it has a longer, leaner shape and a more traditional handle start. It feels more powerful than the Mountfield, although the battery power is the same and it’s actually slightly cheaper at the time of writing.
It's another one that’s good for larger lawns: it will cover 250m2 easily, with a double battery powering around half an hour. It took about an hour to charge the battery too.
Despite not having a roller. it also left a decent stripe and was really light once you got it moving. On the day I was mowing along a curved border and it managed it with aplomb.
Also, a small thing, but the wheels don’t have many grooves in them, so mud doesn’t get stuck if you haven’t managed to wait until the lawn dries out.
A great buy for the price and a reassuringly reliable brand name too.
Best mid-range mower: Titan 36V
- Titan 36V, £249.99 at Screwfix -
Slap bang in the middle of our £500 maximum price range, there won’t be any clash with this Titan. Refreshingly, it’s ready to go from the box, so no fiddly screws or fixing handles together, which is such a nice treat.
It takes an hour to charge the battery, but then it claims you can mow a whole 400m2 lawn in one go. I haven’t got a 400m2 lawn - but I did manage my neighbour's lawn twice between downpours, and it was absolutely fine on one charge.
Unlike most of the others, this has seven cutting heights from 20mm to 70mm and a whopping 45-litre grass catcher, so far fewer trips to the compost heap.
And you can also fit a mulcher onto it, so the grass goes back onto the lawn, helping to provide moisture and hopefully prevent weeds!
This Titan feels robust but, actually, once you get going it almost glides over the glass. A definitely contender for best all-rounder too.
Best high-end mower: Husqavana LC 137i
- Husqavana LC 137i, £449 at Husqavana -
When I say “high end,” it has to be remembered that some people wouldn’t blink an eye at spending more than £1000 on a lawnmower.
But in the interests of fairness and inclusion, our top end for this feature is £500 max for the mower. And, at the time of writing, this Husqavana LC137i comes in a little under, including its battery and charger.
It's slick and stylish and has a few little extra touches which explain its higher price tag. Even something as small as the fact the connectors which keep the wire out of the way are part of the screws is pleasing.
It has a big battery, and a different starting system than the rest in this article. Instead of the usual button, you just pull the handle down and lock it in, so bigger gardens don’t equal aching hands.
The blades are super sharp, making light work of the sticks hidden in the long grass. And it feels reassuringly heavy - as it was still really easy to manoeuvre.
Its grass catcher isn’t the biggest, but it slots in nicely on top. It’s also nice and quiet and apparently has no carbon emissions, which is nice to know. It also claims to be very good at complicated spaces, which, considering how easy it is to move around, comes as no surprise.
And it folds down really nicely and easily to a much smaller shape than I was expecting.
Best for small lawns: Greenworks Cordless 28v
- Greenworks Cordless 28v, £189.99 at Dobbies -
There’s no missing this bright green mower from Greenworks - and it comes with a free green strimmer too - or just consider it a budget bundle.
Suitable for smaller lawns, it only weighs 11kg - so easy to carry up or down steps if needed. It also comes with a three year guarantee!
It has just one battery, which works in both the mower and the strimmer, which is handy. And it has a cute 30cm cutting width as well as five cutting heights.
It has a brushless motor - which experts claim increases efficiency and performance and is less likely to go wrong. And it's nice and quiet.
I managed to mow for 45 minutes with this in all before it needed a charge, which is super-helpful. Especially if you’re a maintenance gardener and can’t charge between jobs.
It's small and powerful and did I mention, very very green?
How to care for your lawn
The Royal Horticultural Society says: “For the first cut of the year, adjust the mower to its highest setting. “In spring and autumn, aim to keep grass at 4cm (1½in), in summer at 2.5cm (1in). Never take off more than a third of the height.”
And it advises to always mow in dry weather as the blades will cut better and won’t get clogged with wet grass.
Cut in a different direction each week, so you catch all the stray blades of grass. And, unless you have treated your lawn with a weedkiller, put the clippings on your compost heap - if you have one - layering it with woodier material.
David Hedges Gower, chairman of the Lawn Association, said: “Spring is all about your garden coming back to life and the enjoyment of seeing your old bulb-blooming friends again! It’s also a time to start to see the results of your garden pruning taking shape.
“But when it comes to our lawns, our pruning is just about to begin and that comes in the form of mowing. Often seen as a chore, if we knew the benefits of mowing, we would perhaps take it more seriously.
“Regular mowing (with sharp blades) is like pruning your roses with top-notch pruners, we would never just hack at our garden plants so why would we do the same to our lawn?
“Regular mowing means superior root systems which will lead to better drought tolerance and recovery. With mowing there is also less chance for weeds to arrive and, therefore, no requirement for use of awful herbicides. And with all that comes a better lawn, a greener lawn and one that should come with no guilt.
“So, get your mowers sharpened, your batteries ready and be safe in the knowledge that mowing will benefit the well-being of you and your lawn.”
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It's also worth noting that mowing the lawn can use between 250 to 350 calories an hour. So bearing all this in mind, now that spring has truly sprung and the weather seems to finally be improving, it’s time to get out there and do your best.
The kind of lawn you have - large or small - can definitely affect the kind of mower you need.
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