As we head further into the 21st century, many of us lament the lack of flying cars and wonder where the future’s gone. But there’s one sci-fi gadget that’s actually come to pass. The best robot lawnmowers will cut your grass while you put your feet up.
However, these clever garden gadgets have some big drawbacks. Many robot mowers work using a boundary wire placed around your lawn, but this is a lot of work to install.
There are an increasing number of machines that instead navigate by camera or GPS. This makes setup a lot simpler, as the machine only needs an antenna or reference (RTK) station to navigate.
But if you’ve ever shopped for a robot lawnmower, you’ll know that the biggest issue is the high price point. These robots are much more expensive than traditional mowers, and prices for the top models often start at £1500.
To figure out which models are actually worth your money, I put a range of robot mowers to the test.
How we tested
I tested a range of robot lawnmowers in my garden, but I also tried them on other lawns. I tested these in gardens from around 1/8th of an acre all the way up to large gardens of a couple of acres. Each of the gardens had the usual obstacles to navigate – paths, ponds, and garden furniture.
I set up each mower per its instructions, laying metres of boundary wire and establishing satellite connections. After that, I paid close attention to the navigation of each machine, to see how precise and organised its mowing patterns were.
As well as the overall finish, I assessed the quality and connectivity of the accompanying apps – did they give me total control over cutting heights, schedules and cutting zones? All the mowers that made my final edit passed the test and enabled me to get them mowing even when I was miles away.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
Jon Axworthy has been a feature writer since 1996 and has been contributing reviews to IndyBest since 2017. He specialises in the outdoors and has tried and tested plenty of garden products, from grass strimmers to traditional lawnmowers and much more.
The best robot lawnmowers for 2025 are:
- Best overall – LawnMaster OcuMow 18 MX: £499.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best budget buy – Yard Force easymow 260B: £399.99, Yardforce.eu
- Best professional – Mammotion Luba mini AWD 800: £1,499, Amazon.co.uk
