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WORX Landroid Vision Cloud WR303

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

Published: Wednesday, 15 July 2026 at 12:11 pm

Like the look of robot lawn mowers? Browse our pick of the very best, for gardens of all shapes and sizes.

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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.

WORX Landroid Vision Cloud WR303. Image: Harry Duncton

WORX Landroid Vision Cloud WR303 at work. Image: Harry Duncton Image: Harry Duncton

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Our best robot mowers to buy at a glance

Our 2 top-rated mowers, under £400

Our 5 top-rated mowers, £400+

Comparison table: best robot mowers

ProductRRPRatingSystemMax lawnMax slopeWarrantyLawnMaster OcuMow 16£299.994.5/5Camera & sensors150m²19°2 yearsLawnmaster OcuMow AMB 16-400£399.994.5/5Camera & sensors400m²19°2 yearsEcovacs GOAT O600£4494.5/5RTK Navigation600 m²24°3 yearsWORX Landroid Vision Cloud WR303E£699.994.5/5GPS & cameras300m²17°2 yearsSegway Navimow i208 LiDAR£1,0994.5/5GPS, LiDAR and camera800m²24°3 yearsMammotion Luba mini 2£1,3995/5GPS & camera1,000m²38°3 yearsStihl iMOW 5£1,7294.8/5Boundary wire500m²22° / 31°5 years

Our expertise

To help you find a robot lawn mower suitable for your garden, we tested a range of mowers for different size gardens, including gardens with slopes and a complex shape. Each mower is in use for weeks at a time to allow us to assess its battery capacity and cutting proficiency as well as ease of use. Each mower in our review has a detailed list of pros and cons for clarity and has been rated according to set up and ease of use, cutting performance, extra features and value for money. From 2026, you’ll only see newly awarded Best Buy badges on robotic mowers that score 4.5 out of 5 or higher. Anything rated 3.5 or above will still feature in our ‘Best of the rest’ lists.

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Our best robot mowers, under £400

LawnMaster OcuMow 16

Our best basic robot mower

RRP: £299.99

Our rating: 4.5 out of 5

A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.

Available from: B&Q (£299.99), Argos (£300) and Currys (£299)

LawnMaster OcuMow 16

Our best basic robot mower: LawnMaster OcuMow 16

Reasons to buy:

Reasons to avoid:

I test robot lawnmowers for a living and, at first, I thought that this little machine was not going to impress. When other robots are becoming more complex, with in-depth phone apps to navigate and ever more complicated arrays of sensors, the LawnMaster OcuMow 16 seems quite plain. But I’m happy to say that I was wrong.

Set up and ease of use: There’s not much to set up on this mower. I charged the battery, plugged it into the back of the mower, and pressed “Auto Mow”. And that’s it. However, the type of lawn you have is important; it needs to have clearly defined borders such as a fence, wall, pathway or raised beds. You can’t tell the OcuMow 16 where the boundaries are; it relies on its sensors to find the lawn edge. So long as the lawn is well defined, it’s one of the easiest robot mowers to use. You don’t need to set a schedule, draw a map, or worry about setting up GPS antennae or Wi-Fi. It truly is “drop and go”.

Mower statistics: Designed for lawns up to 150 sq. metres and with a cutting height range of 20-60 mm, the LawnMaster OcuMow 16 is something a bit different to a lot of robot mowers available right now. It’s clever enough to avoid garden furniture and get on with the job, but it doesn’t come with the hassle of installing a charging station or the need for outside power. It uses three cutting blades underneath and is powered by a 24-volt, 4.0Ah battery. The battery also works in LawnMaster’s range of other garden power tools.

LawnMaster OcuMow 16. Image: Harry Duncton

LawnMaster OcuMow 16 is easy to set up and use. Image: Harry Duncton

Top features: The front of the orange-and-black body features a centrally mounted camera that scans the edge of the lawn. Either side of this camera is a pair of ultrasonic sensors that point upwards, “looking” for obstructions. They work remarkably well. During testing, it didn’t get stuck under a garden bench that has defeated more expensive robot mowers in the past. When it’s time to recharge the batteries, this mower doesn’t head home to a docking station, so you can avoid that part of the installation altogether. Instead, you simply open the flap on the back of the mower and pop the battery out. Just like a drill battery, you charge it for a couple of hours and put it back in. If there’s a particular spot on the lawn that needs attention, you can employ the spot cutting mode. Simply pick it up by the handle and place it where you want. Pressing the spot cut button on the top makes the OcuMow 16 spiral out from that spot. It’s a simple way to make sure that tricky spots get the attention they deserve.

It’s not like some premium robot lawn mowers that mow in stripes or even patterns. It mows in a straight line until the camera, sensor or bumper on the front detects the edge of the lawn or an obstacle. It then makes a turn and mows in a different direction. It’s not perfect, but over time, it hits the whole lawn. Overall, this little mower scratches an itch that other mowers just can’t reach. Sure, it can’t mow to a schedule, and you need to bend over to change the batteries yourself, but if you want a robot mower without the fuss, this one at this price is hard to beat.

RRP: £299.99
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: camera and sensors
Lawn area up to: 150 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 19°
Cutting height range: 20-60 mm
Warranty: 2 years

LawnMaster OcuMow AMB16-400

Our best budget self-charging robot mower

RRP: £399.99

Our rating: 4.5 out of 5

A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.

Available from: Lawnmaster (£399.99), Argos (£400) and Amazon (£399.99)

Lawnmaster OcuMow AMB 16

Our best budget self-charging robot mower: Lawnmaster OcuMow AMB 16

Reasons to buy:

Reasons to avoid:

I was excited to get my hands on the big brother to LawnMaster’s excellent OcuMow 16. And I wasn’t disappointed either. Small, nimble and with no app to faff about with, the AMB16 is a proper robot lawnmower that can recharge itself. It might not have all the special features of a premium robot, but at this price, it’s seriously hard to fault.

Setup and ease of use: This must be one of the easiest robot lawnmowers to set up, provided you have the right type of garden. It's quite literally “drop and go”. There’s no app to download or map to build; the AMB16 simply drives until it hits a border, then turns and goes in another direction. However, because the AMB16 relies mainly on cameras and ultrasonic sensors to navigate, you need well-defined borders to keep it on track. Luckily, LawnMaster include five metres of magnetic “no-go” strip that you can dig into or lay on the lawn to keep the robot out of flower beds or ponds. And, unlike the LawnMaster OcuMow 16, it has a charging station. I found the controls on top of the robot simple to use as well. You can set the daily working time from 4-10 hours, on send home, spiral cut or auto mow.

Mower statistics: Changing the mowing height from 20mm to 60mm is easy via a manual dial on the top. And as the name suggests, the AMB16 has a 16 cm cut width. It’s not particularly big, so it’s more suited to small gardens. The maximum cutting range of 400 sq. metres is another improvement over the cheaper OcuMow 16. And it’s capable enough to operate on uneven ground too: the aggressive tread on the tyres helps it tackle slopes up to 19°. To help keep the AMB16 safe, there’s a PIN lock and an alarm that sounds if it’s picked up. And picking it up is easy, as it weighs just over 6 kg. It’s a pint-sized but capable little robot that can recharge itself in 60 minutes.

LawnMaster OcuMow AMB 16_IRL_1

LawnMaster OcuMow AMB is a light, affordable mower that cuts the lawn with minimal effort on your part. Image: Harry Duncton

Top features: It’s the direct descendant of the excellent LawnMaster OcuMow 16, but with the added bonus of a charging station. Using the same single camera and dual ultrasonic sensors as the previous model, it does a good job of staying on the grass and out of the flower beds. But the rather astonishing thing about this robot is the price. At less than £400, it wipes the floor with any other robot mower for affordability. It might not have every bell and whistle, but it does the job well, charges itself, and still retains the simplicity that I liked about the OcuMow 16. This robot is ideally suited to simple gardens. You can’t programme in a map with corridors between mowing areas or anything like this; it mows on a random pattern only. This irregular mowing style is actually great for the grass, so long as you don’t mind a few tufts left behind. However, a handy feature of this robot is its spiral-cut function. If a spot on the lawn needs special attention, simply place the AMB16 down on the offending area. Pressing the spiral cut button sends the robot in concentric circles to make sure every blade is cut.

RRP: £399
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: camera and sensors
Lawn area up to: 400 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 19°
Cutting height range: 20-60 mm
Warranty: 2 years

Our best robot mowers, £400+

Ecovacs GOAT O600

Our best value robot mower for medium-sized lawns

RRP: £449

Our rating: 4.5 out of 5

A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.

Available from: Amazon (£449), Ebay (£449) and Ecovacs (£449)

Ecovacs GOAT O600_BB

Our best value robot mower for medium-sized lawns: Ecovacs GOAT O600

Reasons to buy:

Reasons to avoid:

Set up and ease of use: The Ecovacs GOAT O600 is the entry-level robot in the GOAT range. But that doesn’t stop it from packing in cutting-edge technology. It does everything you need, it looks good, and it’s keenly priced, too. For the money, I was really impressed by the onboard features and just how easy this robot lawnmower was to set up.

The way it moves around the garden might put some people off, though. It’s guided with great precision by an RTK station, a device that communicates with up to 45 positioning satellites. So I needed to put a pole in the ground. It’s not the best-looking thing, but it’s a necessary part of how this robot gets around. But honestly, for the price, it’s a small inconvenience to deal with. The design of the O600 is quite refreshing as well. It’s angular and minimal with a silver chassis and a sharp visor on the front. Not to everyone’s tastes, but it’s not as garish as some of the competition.

Mower statistics: While it might not have the off-road capabilities of a larger all-wheel drive robot, the GOAT O600 is small and nippy. It zips around the lawn when cutting, and measuring just 40cm across, it can get into tight spaces and down narrow pathways just 70cm wide. The cut width of just 19cm isn’t going to mow huge gardens quickly. But, rated for 600 sq. metres, it will still cut two-and-a-half tennis courts in a 24-hour period. It can cut for around 45 minutes on a single charge and takes about 80 minutes to recharge in the little dock.

It cuts the grass with four double-sided razor blades and uses a floating deck to avoid gouging tufts of grass. You can set up to four different lawn zones, which is plenty for most domestic homes. It has automatic cutting height adjustment from 30-80mm that’s set from the app, but you can’t change cut heights for different zones.

2048x1365Ecovacs_GOAT_IRL_1

The Ecovacs GOAT O600 is small enough to fit down grassy pathways up to 70cm wide. Image: Harry Duncton

Top Features: The default setting for mowing patterns is parallel lines, and I liked the fact that it changes the direction of the parallel lines each week. You can also select a chequered effect. Another useful thing about the Ecovacs app is that it can also control their other robots. So, instead of having a separate app for your robot vacuum cleaner, it’s all controlled from one place. A bit like the Mammotion Luba mini 2 AWD, you can dial in to the front camera via the app. It’s a good way to keep an eye on your garden from anywhere with an internet connection. You can even control it from your phone in “patrol” mode. The picture quality isn’t as good as the Luba's, but it’s still a nice feature to have.

Obstacle avoidance is effective, and it reacts quickly to objects on the lawn that are stationary or moving. And thanks to the rain sensor on top, it will avoid cutting the grass in the wet. But don’t worry about leaving it outside, as this robot lawnmower boasts IPX6 protection against water and dust. Overall, this is an impressive robot mower at an incredibly competitive price. It might not have LiDAR like the flagship Ecovacs O1200 or four-wheel drive capabilities, but for smaller, complex gardens, it’s pretty hard to beat.

RRP: £449
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: RTK and camera
Lawn area up to: 600 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 24°
Cutting height range: 30-80mm
Warranty: 3 years

WORX Landroid Vision Cloud WR303E

Our best value robot mower for small lawns

RRP: £699.99

Our rating: 4.5 out of 5

A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.

Available from: Ebay (£699.99), Amazon (£699) and B&Q (£699)

WORX Landroid Vision Cloud WR303

Our best value robot mower for small lawns: WORX Landroid Vision Cloud WR303E

Reasons to buy:

Reasons to avoid:

Set up and ease of use: Getting this robot mower ready for its first cut is reasonably straightforward. I downloaded the Landroid app and paired it with my phone via a QR code on the inside of the battery port. Then I connected it to Wi-Fi, downloaded an update, and it was ready to locate the charging base. Setting up the lawn shape was simple. I used the auto-mapping function, letting the robot use its camera to find the edges of the lawn. It was surprisingly accurate on the first go. To make manual changes, you can always drive the mower around with your phone like a remote-control car.

The app is quite intuitive, and it’s easy to set schedules and edit the map. Whilst building the map of the lawn, it was easy to select “no go” areas for flower beds or wildflowers. Once I had defined the edges, the mower made a trial perimeter cut, then got to work on the bulk of the lawn. It mows in straight lines by default, and you can set the orientation of the lines via the app, depending on the shape of the lawn.

Mower statistics: Using three blades mounted on the cutting deck, the mowing heights range from 30-60 mm, which need to be adjusted manually via the robot. You can’t set different mowing heights for different lawns. The included 2.5Ah battery is fine for smaller lawns up to 300 sq. metres. But something I like is that you can simply swap it out for a larger capacity one to tackle larger spaces. The WR303E uses a standard WORX battery from across their range of tools. This is an advantage over other robot mowers that have fixed batteries. To navigate around the lawn, the WR303E uses a combination of satellite data and its AI-enhanced camera to detect obstructions and lawn edges.

The WORX Landroid Vision Cloud WR303

The WORX Landroid Vision Cloud WR303 can detect the lawn edges. Image: Harry Duncton

Top Features: The WR303E uses super-accurate RTK GPS to determine its location in the garden and combines this with data gathered by a camera mounted on the front. This means it can detect obstacles and lawn edges and even find its way under cover when the satellite signal is poor. And, unlike some robot mowers, I didn’t need to install an RTK antenna in the garden; it’s mounted on the robot instead. When the signal weakens due to overhead trees or other obstructions, it switches to its VSLAM camera system to guide itself. Obstacle avoidance works well enough, too; it didn’t get stuck, although it’s quite timid when dealing with bushy borders. The WR303E would rather not cut up to the edge if it thinks there’s something close by. It avoids getting stuck but leaves a few tufts at the edge of the lawn. Another useful set of features that are unfortunately not included are a night-working headlight, an anti-theft module and a useful-sounding Cut-to-Edge module that tackles boundaries. It’s a shame that they’re not included in the model I tested.

RRP: £699.99
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: GPS and cameras
Lawn area up to: 300 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 17°
Cutting height range: 30-60mm
Warranty: 2 years

Segway Navimow i208 LiDAR Robot Lawnmower

Our best robot mower for easy set-up on big lawns

RRP: £1,099

Our rating: 4.5 out of 5

A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.

Available from: Navimow (£1,099) and Amazon (£1,099)

Our best robot mower for easy set up on big lawns: Segway Navimow i208LiDA

Our best robot mower for easy set-up on big lawns: Segway Navimow i208 LiDAR

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

Making up just part of Navimow’s extensive and slightly confusing new line-up for 2026, the i208 LiDAR represents the ideal setup for medium-sized gardens up to 800 sq. metres of any shape and size. Boasting incredibly fast automapping and a powerful app, the only place the i208 lets itself down is on rough terrain. For that, you’d be better off with an all-wheel-drive robot.

Set up and ease of use: First impressions of this robot are great. It’s a sleek robot with easy controls and even a little LED screen to look at. The light ring around the circular section on the top changes colour and pulses gently to show the current mode. It’s all very impressive. Long gone are the days of fiddly boundary wires, unsightly antennae, or even mapping the garden yourself. I took the robot out of the box, charged it, connected to Wi-Fi, downloaded updates and then agreed to 'auto map'. The i208 drove a few metres into the middle of the lawn, and that was it.

The incredibly powerful solid-state LiDAR mapped the entire 100 square metre lawn almost instantly, then got straight to work. It’s an impressive leap forward for robot lawnmowers and makes it ideal for just about anyone to use. Editing the map was simple too as the LiDAR and AI-enhanced cameras build a real full colour map on the app that is easily edited by driving the mower like a remote-control car. It makes the process easy, and the robot followed the paths I made perfectly. The only downside of this mower that I can see is that the cutting deck underneath is mounted in the centre. This means that it can’t get right up to the edges of the lawn, and you still need to go around with a lawn trimmer.

Mower statistics: The standout feature of this robot lawnmower is how it sees the world around it. The powerful vision software can recognise hundreds of objects on the lawn, and laser range-finding hardware keeps it on track. Mowing from 20-70 mm and with six blades making up the 22cm cut width, it’s an efficient and very quiet robot too. Rated to just 59dB, the i208 could run at any time of the day or night without waking the neighbours. Setting the cutting heights from between 20 and 70mm can be done via the app, which means you can set different zones to different heights. Nice if you have a complicated garden with multiple lawns.

The downside of this mower is that it still relies on two-wheel drive to move itself around. The front shopping trolley-style wheels are not powered, so the aggressive rears do all the work. And this is where the Navimow lineup can get confusing. There are so many new types of robots that deciphering the fleet is a challenge. They do make an AWD robot as well as another one with a powered front wheel that are all better on slopes and uneven garden terrain.

Segway Navimow i208 LiDAR. Image: Harry Duncton

The Segway Navimow i208 LiDAR is a sleek robot with easy controls. Image: Harry Duncton

Top features: The standout feature on this particular Navimow robot is the LiDAR. Taking 200,000 precise laser measurements per second to build a map of the garden, it doesn’t need to wait for satellite reception, internet connectivity or even daylight at the bottom of the garden. It’s perfect for gardens with patchy reception without the need for a clumsy boundary wire. Obstacle avoidance is effective as well. The AI-assisted cameras on the front can recognise more than 200 objects across the lawn, and in practice, it routes neatly around obstructions before resuming its mowing pattern. And you don’t need to worry about security either. With inbuilt GPS tracking, lift sensors, a PIN code and geofence software, it’s rather hard to steal. Overall, the i208 LiDAR is ideal if your garden is flat but has plenty of obstructions that would confuse a lesser robot. Bear in mind that the 4G connectivity, which enables remote control and GPS tracking, is free, but only for the first year.

RRP: £1,099
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: GPS, LiDAR and camera
Max lawn: 800 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 24°
Cutting height range: 20-70mm
Warranty: 3 years

Mammotion Luba mini 2 AWD 1000

Our best robot mower for bumpy or hilly ground

RRP: £1,399

Our rating: 5 out of 5

A star rating of 5 out of 5.

Available from: Amazon (£1,399), Mammotion (£1,399), Mower Magic (£1,399)

Mammotion_Luba_mini_2_AWD BB

Our best robot mower for bumpy or hilly ground: Mammotion Luba mini 2

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid

Setup and ease of use: There’s only one bit of assembly required before the Mammotion Luba mini 2 can get to work. The vision module that houses the triple camera array needs to be screwed on. All I needed to do was attach three cables and then do up four Torx screws with the included screwdriver. It took about five minutes and wasn’t hard. There are no fiddly boundary wires or RTK antenna to install either, which is always a bonus. After that, there was barely any set-up at all. Place the charging station, follow the onscreen instructions, and off it went. The auto mapping feature works really well, and making tweaks is easy by driving the robot like a remote-control car.

The setup makes it easy to define multiple lawns, no-go areas, channels and complex lawn shapes. You can set different mowing patterns and cutting heights for each lawn, and the schedules are simple to set up, too. Mammotion have fine-tuned the app to make setup and daily use as straightforward as possible. It’s great to see how much customisation is available, with voice control via Alexa and Google Home, plus upgraded obstacle avoidance and the ability to only charge during off-peak or free electricity hours.

Mower statistics: The model of Luba mini 2 AWD 1000 I tested out can cope with 1,000 sq. metres, but there’s a large capacity 1,500 sq. metres available too. The flagship in the Luba mini range is the version that boasts a 360° LiDAR sensor on top and a 1,500 sq. metres battery underneath. Designed for getting into tight corners, the mini’s cut width of 20 cm is modest. Although it can cope with up to 1,000 sq. metres, don’t expect it to cut all of that in one go. Depending on how long the grass is or how steep the lawn gets, you can expect to see it work for up to 85 minutes at once.

Where the Luba mini 2 really shines is on the hills. It will happily mow up to nearly 40° slopes, and I was really impressed by how well it tackles little steps and garden borders too. The inclusion of a second, smaller cutting disc mounted underneath the mini 2 is a leap forward. This dedicated side disc is about as good as you can get when it comes to edge cutting. The boundary cuts it performs are impressive. Obstacle avoidance is excellent, too. The three forward-looking high-definition cameras use AI to “see” the garden, looking for objects such as discarded toys and delicate flowers. It also guides the robot around and underneath trees when the satellite signal becomes poor.

You can select a cutting height via the app from 20-65mm and even mow different lawn areas at different heights. Weighing 15kg, it’s a solid robot that luckily has a pair of grippy handles on both sides for when you need to pick it up. To help stay in touch in the deepest depths of your garden, the Luba mini 2 has 4G connectivity. It means you can dial in, view the front camera and even control your robot wherever you are in the world.

2048x1365Mammotion_Luba_IRL_1 (1)

One of the innovative design features of the Luba mini 2 AWD 1000 is the second cutting disc, which helps create sharp edges to your lawn. Image: Harry Duncton

Top features: I was lucky enough to test the first version of this robot, the excellent Luba mini AWD. The second edition of this go-anywhere machine has now conquered the edges as well as the slopes. The Luba 2, just like the first version, has some of the best off-road capabilities of any mower I’ve tested. All four wheels are powered, meaning that it happily mows places that other two-wheel-drive mowers struggle with. The front omni wheels are a clever bit of engineering, allowing for nimble turns without complicated machinery, using clever lateral rollers.

Something I really like about Mammotion’s app is the inclusion of basic and advanced modes. If you’re not interested or uncomfortable with the deep, granular settings available, you can just turn them off. It’s ideal if you just want the Luba to get on with mowing with minimal fuss. But one of my personal favourite features is manual mowing mode. Even though the mini 2 does a great job on its own, driving it around and mowing the lawn yourself is a pleasure. It drives well, feels smooth, and it even lets you turn on the First Person View mode so you can drive while looking at your phone only.

Another huge feature that elevates the Luba mini 2 AWD is the “drop and mow” feature. It means you can take the robot to any patch of lawn and set it to work without setting up a map. Great for helping out neighbours or family, it uses its onboard cameras only to mow just about anywhere.

RRP: £1,399
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: GPS & camera
Lawn area up to: 1,000 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 38°
Cutting height range: 20-65mm
Warranty: 3 years

Stihl iMOW 5

Our best robot mower with perimeter wire

RRP: £1,729

Our rating: 4.8 out of 5

A star rating of 4.8 out of 5.

Available from: Tools Today (£859)

Best Buy for performance: Stihl iMOW 5 robotic mower

Our best robot mower with perimeter wire: Stihl iMOW 5 robotic mower

Reasons to buy:

Reasons to avoid:

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. 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
Warranty: 5 years

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

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Available from: Amazon (£899)

Stiga A4 Automatic Robot Lawn Mower

Stiga A4 Automatic Robot Lawn Mower

Reasons to buy:

Reasons to avoid:

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
Warranty: 3 years

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STIGA A 6v

RRP: £999

Our rating: 4 out of 5

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Available from: Just Lawnmowers (£999) and STIGA (£999)

Stiga_A_6_robot_mower_BOTR

STIGA A 6v robot mower

Reasons to buy:

Reasons to avoid:

Something that stands out about this robot mower is that it’s not just designed in Italy, but built there, too – and that’s unusual in today’s world. Not a selling point per se, but a point of difference in a crowded market, for sure. And this mower’s European heritage is clear in its attractive, aerodynamic-looking design. Decked out in bright, sporty yellow, I think it’s a handsome robot that’s unashamedly easy on the eye.

Set up and ease of use: I found this robot rather easy to set up. After waiting for the various firmware and software updates to trickle in, I drove it around the perimeter of the test lawn like a remote-control car. I could have used the digital mapping feature to trace the lawn on a satellite picture with my finger, but I enjoy the driving experience. And it’s more accurate too.

Like most robot lawnmowers these days, you don’t need to get on your hands and knees to bury a boundary wire. Instead, it uses ultra-precise RTK GPS navigation to map out the garden and an AI-assisted camera on the front for obstacle avoidance. The A 6v doesn’t rely on an unsightly RTK antenna to guide itself around the garden either. It’s just the robot and a little charging station. Interestingly, it doesn’t need to connect to your home Wi-Fi network. It uses your phone as a hotspot when downloading software updates and an inbuilt 4G SIM card for its other data needs. You get a generous 10 years of connectivity included, so the robot works pretty much autonomously wherever there’s a decent phone signal.

Setting up a mowing schedule is as easy. The app suggests a reasonable mowing schedule, but it doesn’t take much effort to change it to what suits your garden. And I was very pleased to see that it encourages you to avoid mowing at night and in the early morning to avoid harming or scaring off wildlife. If you want, you can set up to ten distinct garden zones, complete with no-go areas and pathways between zones. There are also options to mow the lawn in three different patterns: parallel lines, a chequerboard, and a dense grid cut that attacks the lawn from all points of the compass.

Mower statistics: Built to mow gardens up to 600 sq. metres, it uses four little double-sided razors underneath to get the work done. It cuts an 18cm swathe and can drive up slopes up to 24°. And if you’re fastidious about your borders, you can even set it to perform two edge cuts, using its camera to look for blades of grass left behind. The A 6v performs well on the grass. I set it to mow at 30mm in a parallel line pattern and was impressed by how well it kept to its paths. Even without an RTK antenna looking for satellites, it didn’t get lost in the test garden.

It did get stuck in a couple of flower beds on its first trip out, but happily, it seemed to learn from its mistakes on its second and third scheduled mows. The obstacle avoidance works well and manages to avoid various objects left in its way. My only other gripe with this mower is that it drives rather slowly, and I couldn’t speed it up. However, it’s very quiet during use, so it shouldn’t attract any unwanted attention.

Stiga_A_6_robot_mower_IRL

STIGA A 6v robot mower is a quiet, aerodynamic-looking mower that's easy to set up. Image: Harry Duncton

Top features: You can change the cutting height from 20-60 mm directly from the app. Crucially, this enables you to cut parts of the garden nice and short while leaving sections long enough for wildflowers to flourish. And if you want, you can turn on a smart cut height feature that does it all for you. Something I also liked when I reviewed the A4 (STIGA’s previous robot) is the app, STIGA.GO. It’s clean and uncomplicated, with everything you need in just a few pages. I particularly like the satellite image it generates of the garden zone taken straight from Google Maps. This robot is really only suitable for flat gardens. Like other two-wheel-drive machines, if they get stuck in a hole or down a slope, they can’t get themselves out of it. It can certainly climb a slope of 24°, but if you want a more capable robot for a challenging garden, you need all-wheel drive.

This robot lawnmower isn’t exactly cheap, but it still manages to keep things locked behind a paywall. Want to mow more than ten zones and add 50 extra obstacles? It’ll cost you an extra £59. To keep itself safe, the A 6v will only work with the app it’s paired with. Good news, though: you can share the app with interested family members or friends. However, theft alert notifications are an extra purchase. Even with this drawback, I’m pleased with this robot lawnmower overall. It looks good, it’s easy to use, and it can even help you maintain a wildlife-friendly garden. It’s a solid choice for small to medium-sized gardens, so long as there aren’t too many ruts and holes to deal with.

RRP: £999
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: RTK GPS & AI-assisted camera
Lawn area up to: 600 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 24°
Cutting height range: 20-60mm
Warranty: 3 years

Husqvarna Automower 308V

RRP: £1,249

Our rating: 4 out of 5

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Available from: Husqvarna (£1,249), Mow With Us (£1,149) , Winchester Garden Machinery (£1,149)

Husqvarna 308

Husqvarna 308

Reasons to buy:

Reasons to avoid:

Setup and ease of use: Setting up the mowing area is straightforward enough. It comes with plenty of cable for positioning the charging station. As with many robot mowers I’ve tested, I traced the lawn's outline by driving the robot like a remote-control car. The app takes care of everything else. It’s easy to get the hang of, and I particularly like the satellite image of the garden on the map – it’s a nice touch. Setting up a schedule is a piece of cake, too. There’s an auto-scheduling feature that adapts the mowing and charging time to suit your lawn size. The only real downfall of this robot is its reliance on a stable Wi-Fi connection throughout the garden. It will work without it, but for that to happen, you’ll need to dig out your wallet and buy the RS1 EPOS system. This little module can sit on a pole or be attached to the wall of your house. It provides an impressive level of accuracy, but beware that you need to have it installed by an authorised Husqvarna dealer.

Mower statistics: The cutting deck slung underneath the 308V uses three double-sided razor-type blades to cut the grass. Husqvarna have added an aluminium skid plate below the deck that helps to avoid grass wrapping around the blades and affords extra motor protection. The 22cm cut width is wide enough to cope with small to medium-sized gardens. You can set the cutting height from 20-50mm, in increments of 5mm, which is great for dialling in a precise lawn height. Unfortunately, the 308V is manual height adjust, though, so you can’t set different heights for different lawn areas.

It can cut lawns up to 800 sq. metres in systematic cutting mode, and up to 500 sq. metres in irregular mowing mode. 'Systematic' mode includes stripes, checkerboard and triangular designs. They save a bit of battery and look good, but don’t always cut every blade of grass. Irregular mowing leaves a better finish but takes longer to complete. The internal battery provides up to 100 minutes of continuous operation and takes the same amount of time to recharge. It can climb decent slopes up to 22° as well, which is fine for most gardens.

We test mowers like the Husqvarna 308 in real gardens.

We test our mowers, like this Husqvarna 308, in real gardens. Image: Harry Duncton

Top features: The Automower 308V is a leap forward for Husqvarna, mainly thanks to the AI-enhanced camera planted on the front of the robot. It adds obstacle avoidance, a feature missing from previous models. The thing I liked the best about this robot was just how smooth and incredibly quiet the mowing process became. None of the movements were jerky or unpredictable; even the slick little three-point turn made at the end of each pass was a pleasure to watch. But I don’t think these smooth movements are purely for show. Gliding around the lawn like this puts less wear on parts and should help to keep the 308V running for years without issue.

The quality of the cut left behind was excellent. I set it to mow in stripes, and it was clear that after just a few cuts the pattern was beginning to show. The mower followed its own tracks well, and besides leaving some tufts at the edges, it just got on with the job of mowing. For security, the robot uses a PIN lock, sensors that can tell if it’s been lifted, and a geofence that sounds an alarm if the mower leaves the boundaries of your garden. It’s just a few ways to keep this premium mower out of trouble. To summarise, this is a polished and refined robot lawnmower from one of the best names in the business. It cuts beautifully and boasts an intuitive app, but is let down by relying too much on an internet connection. You can get around it with the RS1 EPOS system, but it’ll cost you.

RRP: £1,249
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: GPS and camera
Lawn area up to: 800 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 22°
Cutting height range: 20-50mm
Warranty: 5 years

Segway Navimow X350E

RRP: £3,199

Our rating: 4 out of 5

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Available from: Navimow (£2,699)

Segway Navimow X350e

Segway Navimow X350E

Reasons to buy:

Reasons to avoid:

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. 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: £2,699
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
Warranty: 3 years

Cobra Mowbot 800

RRP: £663.99

Our rating: 4 out of 5

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Available from: Mowers Online (£749.99)

Cobra Mowbot 800 robotic mower

Cobra Mowbot 800 robot mower

Reasons to buy:

Reasons to avoid:

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
Warranty: 2 years

EGO AURA-R2

RRP: £1,799

Our rating: 3.8 out of 5

A star rating of 3.8 out of 5.

Available from: The Green Reaper (£1,799), Winchester Garden Machinery (£1,798), Cheap Mowers (£1,798.99)

EGO AURA_R2_BOTR

EGO AURA-R2

Reasons to buy:

Reasons to avoid:

Setup and ease of use: EGO’s second-generation robot lawnmower, the AURA-R2, is a mighty machine that’s capable of cutting huge swathes of grass in one go. Setting up for the first mow took a while. After spending a long time downloading updates and a couple of false starts, I mapped the lawn by driving the R2 around like a remote-control car. It’s a shame that a premium-priced robot like this doesn’t feature an auto-mapping function.

Mower statistics: This model, the RMR1500E, pushes EGO’s impressive battery technology to the limit, with a maximum cut size of 1,500 sq. metres. The massive rear wheels provide plenty of grip on uneven terrain. It’s rated for slopes up to 26°, and it does well for a two-wheel-drive robot. You can also clean it with a pressure washer thanks to IP66 protection against dust and water. The three blades on the automatic cutting deck can be adjusted from 20 to 90mm, and they cut at a width of 24cm. It’s great to see a robot with such a wide range of cutting heights. It means you can cut up to 20 individual lawn zones to suit their use, from a short ornamental lawn to a much longer meadow across your garden.

2048x1365EGO_Aura_R2_IRL_2

The AURA-R2's huge drive wheels ensure excellent traction. Image: Harry Duncton

Top features: The AURA-R2 works best on large lawns. It’s not just the robot’s big battery, but the precision of the parallel lines it cuts. It makes full use of its super-precise RTK guidance system to cut neat stripes on each lawn zone, and it changes the direction of these lines each week to avoid making ruts in the lawn. Plus, it’s all controlled from the EGO Connect app. Compatible with both Android and iOS, you can set schedules, edit maps, and even control other EGO products from one place. For navigation, the robot relies on an RTK antenna that you need to place on a wall or at the top of a pole (for an extra £59). It’s not ugly, but some other manufacturers have already got rid of them in favour of a receiver on the robot itself. It also has Wi-Fi and built-in 4G connectivity to keep in touch with the app wherever you are in the world.

Having a big robot lawnmower is not always a benefit, however. It might not suit every garden, as the R2 requires a 1-metre-wide gap for access. My test garden has a few tight corners and a narrow pathway that caused the R2 to get stuck more than once. And that leads on to where the AURA-R2 struggled. The robot uses AI-enhanced cameras to guide itself around and avoid obstacles, but it’s not a perfect system. The R2 recognises lots of things, but some smaller objects slipped through and ended up under the robot. When it does recognise an object, the R2 takes a wide detour around it. And if it bumps into something like a wall or the leg of a chair, the blades stop. It makes sense from a safety perspective, but it takes a few seconds for the blades to restart, leaving patches of grass uncut until the next session. Happily, these are all things that can be fixed with software updates, so I hope the R2 improves as it upgrades.

RRP: £1,799
Type: robot mower
Guidance system: RTK & cameras
Lawn area up to: 1,500 sq. metres
Slopes up to: 26°
Cutting height range: 20-90mm
Warranty: 3 years (mower), 2 years (battery)

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.

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:

How to choose the best robot lawn mower

How much do basic models cost, and are they for me?

Robot mowers used to be something of a luxury item, but these days the most basic models can be found at prices similar to those of a mid-range cordless mower. For example, the cheapest ‘drop and mow’ style machines can be had for just £300.

However, the drawback of these entry-level machines, which are in reality something of a hybrid between a robot mower and a standard cordless mower with a removable battery, is that they’re usually only suitable for small lawns. Also, every time the lawn needs cutting, you have to get the mower out of the shed, charge up or slot in the removable battery, and put it down on the lawn – and then pick it up and put it away again afterwards.

Because the capacity of rechargeable batteries declines over time, if you’re buying a ‘drop and mow’ machine, make sure it can cover your whole lawn on one charge with plenty of power to spare.

How much do more automated models cost, and are they a better choice?

If you have a bigger lawn, or just want something that will keep your lawn neat without the hassle of the ‘drop and mow’ models, then prices are more likely to start from around £400, and go up to ‘usedsmall- car’ levels of £3,000 to £4,500 for premium models designed for very large lawns. The big benefit with these models is that they’re self-charging, with their own docking station, and will mow large lawns on an ongoing basis without any intervention from you. They’re also generally better at avoiding objects and coping with tricky terrain.

What features should I look out for?

Innovation happens fast in the world of robot mowers, and a lot has changed over the past few years. For example, not long ago, nearly all robot mowers needed boundary wires, but now, newer models are dispensing with these in favour of other technologies that are much more user-friendly.

With the budget-end ‘drop and mow’ machines, guidance is via a special camera that uses AI to recognise if there is grass in front of it, steering itself around like a sheep absent-mindedly munching its way across your lawn. One drawback of this is that you can reasonably expect this guidance system to work slightly less well in low light and on patchy lawns.

Going up the price scale, many of the best new machines use Real Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning. This is an evolution of GPS technology that allows the mower to know its own location to within just a few centimetres, rather than the 3-5m margin of error in old-style GPS systems.

With this system, it’s typically just a matter of first setting up the mower by ‘driving’ it around the edges of your lawn using your smartphone, rather like a To ensure you get the right robot mower for your budget and your garden, here are the key points to consider Robot lawn mowers range from about £300 for basic machines, up to about £4,500 for premium models remote-controlled car. With some models, the mower will even use AI to help with this part. Combined with an onboard camera to detect and avoid obstacles, RTK GPS is a big leap forward, meaning you can forget about the hassle of boundary wires altogether.

Finally, sophisticated LiDAR 3D-mapping technology, which was previously the preserve of self-driving cars and industries such as construction and mining, is now making its way into the world of robot mowers. This technology, used in tandem with cameras and GPS could, it’s claimed, open the door on all-but-infallible selfmapping robot mowing over very large, complicated garden layouts – but at a significant price tag.

What limitations should I bear in mind before buying?

Although robot lawn mowers are fully automatic once set up, most are more complex initially than traditional petrol, electric or cordless mowers.

Also, unless it’s a ‘drop and mow’ type model, a robot lawn mower requires an outside power source for the docking station. It’s also worth considering where you can put the docking station, as they usually have specific requirements. In most cases, it should be sited out of direct sun and on level ground, and have a clear area around it – typically 2m to the front and 1m to each side. This will restrict where you place it and could be tricky to accommodate in a small garden. RTK GPS models typically also need an antenna somewhere in the garden, ideally with clear sky above.

Assessing the layout of your lawn is also essential before purchasing a robot lawn mower. Some models can struggle with narrow strips of lawn, uneven ground and steep slopes. Generally, the larger and more challenging your lawn, the more likely it is that you’ll need a more expensive, feature-packed machine.

How to clean a robot lawn mower

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

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:

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.

Jane Moore, Freelance Garden Writer
In a horticultural career spanning 30 years, Jane has been a head gardener at a Benedictine Abbey, a writer for national gardening magazines and newspapers, a researcher on BBC gardening programmes and a TV presenter on BBC Gardeners’ World. Among her many accolades are a Chelsea Flower Show medal, several awards from the Garden Media Guild and her books are published worldwide. She has spent 30 years working as a hands-on head gardener, using tools on a daily basis.

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

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