Warmer weather and seasonal spring showers means your lawn will be growing rapidly from around April or May. This is probably the time you dust off the old lawn mower and realise you desperately need to upgrade it. If you’ve realised you don’t have the best lawn mower, fear not – I’ve got the ultimate roundup here.
A neat lawn – ideally with satisfyingly straight lines mowed into it – has a big visual impact on the whole garden. Even if you have a small patch of grass, a mower will make all the difference.
“The biggest mistake people make when buying a new lawn mower is choosing the wrong size and power of mower for your garden,” says Ben Martin, owner of Ben Martin Garden Design. “You don't need a large, heavy, powerful petrol mower, if you have a small flat garden. An electric or battery powered push mower will more than suffice.”
I asked Ben what buyers should prioritise when it comes to choosing their next lawn mower and he said: “Blade sharpness is key; blunt blades will leave a scruffy, untidy finish. So keep your blades sharp and clean and you'll reap the benefits. Power comes next: you don't want to be struggling through longer grass and stalling regularly. Cutting width comes in third. If you have a smaller (narrower) mower, things will just take a little longer.”
So let’s take a look at the mowers that are a cut above the rest.
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The best lawnmowers for 2026 are:
- Best overall – Ego LM1914E-SP self-propelled lawn mower: £729, Egopowerplus.co.uk
- Best budget buy – Stihl RMA 235 cordless lawn mower: £184, Stihl.co.uk
- Best for a striped lawn – Stihl RMA 448 RV rear roller cordless lawn mower: £829, Stihl.co.uk
- Best value – Worx WG749E lawn mower: £449.99, Worx.com
- Best compact mower – Worx WG737E lawn mower: £259.99, Worx.com
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Ego LM1914E-SP self-propelled lawn mower
Best: lawnmower overall
Cutting width: 47cm
Weight: 24.4kg
Number of blade heights: Seven
Self propelled?: Yes
Why we love it
- Well made
- Great battery life
- Great for large gardens
Take note
- Requires a decent amount of storage space, on the expensive side, controls slightly tricky to master
I was so impressed by Ego’s LM1914E-SP lawn mower. It sits in Ego’s middle to high end of its power+ range, and is designed for people who want a bit more oomph from their lawn mower. The self-propelling feature is powerful and can whizz you around a lawn very quickly – you can alter the speed if you prefer a more leisurely pace. Indeed, the controls on the handle are all within easy reach. However, I found they require a level of dexterity that took me a while to achieve. The Ego has an LED dashboard so you can switch between eco and power modes, see the battery life (nothing worse than running out of juice halfway through mowing without warning) and troubleshoot. The headlights seemed overkill though – who is mowing their lawns at night? And do their neighbours hate them?
While some lawn mowers’ height gauges are fiddly, I found the Ego’s really easy to swap using a lever on the side of the wheel. I cut my lawn at the lowest and second-lowest setting and it did a great job, creating neat lines on the grass as I went. There are three options for grass disposal – cut and collect, mulch or rear discharge. I found the 55-litre collection bag filled fairly quickly on a low-cutting height. However, the battery life is very good – the battery that comes with this lawn mower is a fairly beefy 6Ah that should get around most medium-sized gardens without needing to be recharged.
Buy now £729.01, Egopowerplus.co.uk
Stihl RMA 235 cordless lawn mower
Best: budget lawnmower
Cutting width: 33cm
Weight: 13kg (without battery)
Number of blade heights: 5
Self propelled?: No
Why we love it
- Well built
- Relatively affordable
- Great for smaller gardens
- Compatible with Stihl’s AK battery system
Take note
- Not ideal for larger expanses of lawn
The RMA 235 is a great mower if you have a smaller garden but still want the premium feel of the respected Stihl brand. This lightweight mower is designed for smaller gardens and is nice and compact – easy to store in smaller sheds. The 33cm cutting width is great for small lawns, and it’s easy to manoeuvre.
I found the controls easy to use on the RMA 235. A safety button and a lever are all you have to get to grips with. And the adjustable cutting heights were easy to change. Despite being smaller and fairly affordable, I was really impressed with the build quality on this mower – it felt like no compromises had been made. Even the grass collection bin is solid and all the mechanisms work well. I would suggest this is better suited to flatter terrains, as it’s not self propelled and this will create a certain degree of extra effort on gardens that have an incline.
Buy now £184, Stihl.co.uk
Worx WG749E lawn mower
Best: value self propelled lawn mower
Cutting width: 46cm
Weight: 28.7kg (with battery)
Number of blade heights: 7
Self propelled?: Yes
Why we love it
- Dual battery option to extend use
- Fairly priced
- Easy to operate
Take note
- Not great on bumpy terrain
- Could feel a bit more robust
Worx’s WG737E lawn mower is a big, beefy mower – you’re going to need a decent storage space for it. It’s a self propelled, cordless lawn mower that punches above what you might expect from Worx. The cutting width of 46cm puts it firmly in the arena of medium and larger lawns and the self propulsion makes it feel more premium than some of Worx’s other models.
When comparing the WG737E with other self propelled, larger mowers though, there were some places it fell down. The self propulsion on low isn’t as powerful as some of the others on this roundup – Stihl and Ego, for example. You can adjust this on a lever though. The main downside was that it really struggled on bumpy patches of lawn. However, I loved how easy it was to operate. It was easy to switch between cutting heights and the levers on the handlebar were easy enough to master.
Buy now £449.99, Worx.com
Stihl RMA 448 RV rear roller cordless lawn mower
Best: lawnmower for striped lawns
Cutting width: 46cm
Weight: 27kg (without battery)
Number of blade heights: 5
Self propelled?: Yes
Why we love it
- Well made
- Creates striped lawn
- Great battery life
Take note
- Fairly heavy
- Slightly clunky controls on the grass-cutting height
There’s a lot to like about this Stihl lawn mower, but the standout feature that sets it above the rest is that there’s a rear roller on the RMA 448. This means I was able to get Wimbledon-worthy stripes on my lawn, which made my garden look incredibly manicured (just don’t look at the weeds in the flower beds). This is quite unusual on a battery-operated lawn mower.
This is a larger mower, and designed for medium-to-large-sized gardens. The 5Ah battery offers a decent go around even a fairly large lawn without needing to charge it. However, the mower is relatively heavy once loaded with the battery. If you’re heaving this mower in and out of a shed you’ll get an upper-body workout at the same time. But it’s clearly a well-made mower with a decent self-propelling action that you can adjust based on your pace and terrain. This means despite a bulky battery and a rear roller, mowing a lawn is relatively low effort.
Buy now £829, Stihl.co.uk
Worx WG737E lawn mower
Best: compact lawn mower for medium gardens
Cutting width: 37cm
Weight: 15.3kg
Number of blade heights: 6
Self propelled?: No
Why we love it
- Easy to use
- Decent cutting width
- Cut-to-edge design reduces strimming
Take note
- Bag fills quickly
- Mulching setting jams a bi
- Not suitable for very large gardens
If you’re looking for something compact that gets the job done, this Worx lawn mower is a good candidate. With six cutting heights, there’s a good degree of choice here in a relatively small package. And the cutting width is still decent – good for gardens that aren’t teeny. I would say that the cutting height on the shortest setting is extremely short indeed – I’m not sure why you would ever want such a short cut.
There’s no self propulsion here, which keeps cost and weight down, but means it’s fairly arduous to use on sloping lawns. However, this model features IntelliCut – which means the mower changes the torque automatically to suit the texture of the grass. You can also opt for cutting collection or mulching. I found the mulching a bit annoying though, as the blade got overwhelmed and jammed pretty quickly.
Buy now £259.99, Worx.com
Kaercher LMO 18-36 cordless lawn mower
Best: lightweight lawn mower
Cutting width: 36cm
Weight: 13.3kg
Number of blade heights: 4
Self propelled?: No
Why we love it
- Easy to use
- Lightweight
- Easy handling
- Compact footprint
Take note
- Average run time
- Limited oomph
- Not loads of cutting heights
I’ve tested numerous other Kaercher bits of kit and have always been thoroughly impressed, so I was keen to see if this quality and functionality transfers through to lawn mowers too. Spoiler alert: I was pretty impressed with the LMO 18-36 lawn mower too. It’s a mower that’s great for people who want to move away from corded electric mowers – it doesn’t have the prowess to replace a petrol lawn mower.
The LMO is lightweight and easy to move around the garden, but it isn’t self propelled so not great on slopes. And four cutting heights perhaps isn’t going to be great for those that like a lot of choice. But looking at other factors – the build quality is brilliant, and it’s incredibly easy to use. This is a great option if “lightweight and reliable” is a priority over battery life and cutting performance.
Buy now £219.99, Kaercher.com
Bosch ROTAK18V2-43 lawn mower
Best: lawnmower for ease of use
Cutting width: 43cm
Weight: 19.6kg
Number of blade heights: 6
Self propelled?: No
Why we love it
- Good edge cutting reduces need for strimming
- 3-in-1 mowing
- Vertical storage
Take note
- Complete kits push price up
- Might struggle in very long grass
This mower is a more premium, high performance addition to Bosch’s traditionally lightweight, easy-to-use Rotak range. The cutting width and twin 18V battery system mean it’s pretty decent for larger lawns. It also has in-built technology that automatically adjusts the power delivered depending on grass texture.
The Bosch 18V2-43 has quite a large deck, but it can fold down and be stored vertically if you have limited storage. And there are other great features too, such as six cutting heights and a generous 50L collection bin plus three-in-one mowing (mulch, discharge or collection). However, it’s not self propelled which feels like a real shame on a mower designed for bigger areas. It also requires two batteries to operate – twin batteries are great, but you’ll need to factor it into the price (there are options to buy it with the batteries).
Buy now £262.63, Amazon.co.uk
Flymo 36V easihover 300 KIT 4.0
Best: lawnmower for awkward-shaped gardens
Cutting width: 30cm
Weight: 9.7kg
Number of blade heights: 4
Self propelled?: No
Why we love it
- Great for very small gardens
- Glides around obstacles easily
- Lightweight
- Can be stored vertically
Take note
- Not very robust
- Changing cutting heights isn’t easy
I had a lot of fun testing this Flymo mower. It is incredibly lightweight – it’s less a traditional battery-operated mower and more like an upgrade on Flymo’s hover mower. It utilities twin batteries to extend the running time but is still very much designed for small lawns where you’re not looking for finely manicured lines on your lawn. But what it does do well is awkward-shaped gardens with obstacles and irregular flower beds or trees on the lawn. You can simply glide around them with zero effort.
While there are different cutting heights on this mower, you have to change them manually using discs. This requires faff and also is reliant on you not losing the discs in the depths of your shed (if you manage this, you’re a better person than me). You can store this mower vertically, and although it definitely isn’t super robust is a good option if you want something very light and easy to use.
Buy now £250, Amazon.co.uk
Ryobi 18V ONE+ cordless brushless
Best: lawnmower for Ryobi fans
Cutting width: 37
Weight: 14.3kg
Number of blade heights: 6
Self propelled?: No
Why we love it
- Lightweight
- Batteries compatible across Ryobi ecosystem
- Good for smaller gardens
Take note
- Not super powerful
- Battery life could be better
As with most of the mowers in this round up, this Ryobi one is designed to sit in an ecosystem among the rest of the tools in the brand. This means the batteries it takes work across most of Ryobi’s power tools – so if you’re a Ryobi fan, this might be a good option for you. The cutting width means it’s best suited to smaller and medium sized gardens. I would say this translates to the battery life too, which is a bit more lacking than some others on this roundup.
I found the Ryobi easy to use – it’s a simple button-and-lever operation, and the cutting height is easy to adjust. And it’s lightweight to move around when you get to the end of a strip. EasyEdge border combs will pull the edge of your lawn in to ensure clean, crisp cut without the need for strimming.
Buy now £299.99, Ryobitools.eu
Your questions about lawnmowers answered
What is the best lawnmower?
Battery-operated lawn mowers are no longer a lightweight alternative to petrol mowers – they’re now rivalling them on most metrics. EGO’s lawn mower emerged as the front runner during testing. It is a brilliant all rounder that really impressed me on battery life, cutting and ease of use – superfluous headlights notwithstanding.
How I tested lawnmowers
I spent two months testing lawn mowers during the early mowing season and assessed each one against the following criteria:
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
Zoë Phillimore is a journalist and editor who has regularly contributed to IndyBest since 2021. She has written extensively about all things outdoors, including essentials for your garden such as the best trampolines and the best patio heaters. She has covered everything from buying guides and round-ups to standalone reviews, each time prioritising quality, durable products at affordable prices.
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