The best robot lawn mowers for fuss-free gardening

Score: 95/100

We love Eufy’s robot vacuums so we were excited when the brand launched its very first robotic lawn mower. Thankfully, we weren’t disappointed as it delivered a stellar performance in testing with its wire-free set-up, detailed instructions, and impressive cutting skills.

Both long and short grass cut equally well, with an even finish and no bald spots. The robot successfully navigated around obstacles, even avoiding a ball that rolled into its path. And if you thought that was impressive, just wait – once the ball had been picked up, the mower then returned to the patch of grass and finished off the job.

The intuitive app lets you add no-go zones, monitor the built-in web camera, manually control and drive the robot, and check the battery level. Once mowing is complete, the robot automatically returns to the docking station to re-charge, so it’s ready to go again whenever you need it.

We only had a few niggles overall, including how much space the docking station took up and that the robot mulches rather than collects the cuttings. However, this is a worthy winner that makes lawn maintenance a breeze.

Score: 90/100

Like our winner, this robot mower also features wire-free set-up through a plug-in that allows the mower to map out virtual boundaries. Everything can be viewed through the intuitive app and it's easy to add no-go zones and paths. Just note, that turns can’t be sharper than 90 degrees and paths can’t overlap, so it might take time to get the perfect map of your lawn.

However, once set-up, the mower delivered a brilliant cut with no chewing or flattening of the grass. An overhead tree did cause the signal to drop and make the mower restart, but if you have lots of trees in your garden, you can easily set-up boundary wires to prevent this.

The robot bumped into some obstacles on the first pass, but it successfully manoeuvred round them on the second attempt and trimmed close to the objects we put down. At over £2000, this is an expensive model, but for those that want fuss-free maintenance of large gardens, it will be a real saviour.

Score: 83/100

Our tester appreciated the sturdy design of this robot. It boasts a brushless motor, which reduces friction with the grass, increasing efficiency and the lifetime of the lawn mower, as well as free-running wheels and a well-camouflaged perimeter wire.

You do need to line the perimeter, but this model can then be connected to Bosch’s Smart Gardening App where you can manage your mowing schedule and settings with ease, something our tester found easy to navigate.

Overall, the robot tackled grass cutting effectively. It uses Bosch’s LogiCut technology to help it find the most efficient route across your lawn, reducing the time it spends out of the docking station. We did notice it missed the grass close to the station, but this is a quick fix with a grass trimmer.

Score: 82/100

Capable of mowing for up to two hours and tackling lawns up to 800m2, this robot mower is a great pick for large spaces. It’s one for more complex gardens too as it can navigate slopes up to 35% inside the boundary and features wheel sensors that allow the machine to bump into and back away from fixed objects such as garden furniture or bird baths – something our testers found useful.

The actual mowing was impressive too, with the robot cutting evenly on both long and short grass and dispersing the mulching well. It struggled a little on bumpier terrain and our tester did say it threw itself down the garden steps at one point, so you’ll have to be careful when mapping your no-go zones, but otherwise it’s an easy-to-use, well-designed robot.

Score: 81/100

Husqvarna’s app-controlled robot was a breeze to use, and our testers loved its smart, innovative features. Not only can you adjust the settings from your phone, but you can also connect to your smart home device and use voice commands. The app also allows you to create flexible mowing routines using the ‘If This, Then That’ feature – for example, if the forecast shows heavy rain, the robot won’t head out for its normal mow.

Our tester found its performance almost seamless when it came to mowing the lawn – grass was evenly cut, well-dispersed and the wheels ran freely over the grass without leaving tracks.

Set up was quite challenging, however. While laying the boundary wire was simple, our tester had issues with the app, which said the robot was ‘out mowing’ when it was still in the docking station. Once sorted though, our tester couldn’t fault the smart tech features and self-docking function.

Score: 79/100

While many other robots on this list require you to lay a perimeter wire, this Worx lawn mower works without, which means limited installation is needed before you can set the robot free in your garden.

For a simple garden layout, all you need to do is plug in the base station and turn the power on. The robot will then need to perform an initialisation process to explore and discover the cutting zone ahead of the first cut – note, you’ll need to connect to the companion app for this. Plus, if you want to mark out ‘no-go zones’, you’ll need to mark these using magnetic strips to flag the borders.

When cutting, the mower achieved full marks on both long and short grass and our tester appreciated how easy it was to view the battery life. This model also boasts LED headlights, helping it ‘see’ nocturnal animals and stay away from them.

Score: 73/100

Despite being one of the more affordable robot lawn mowers we’ve tested, the Flymo EasiLife robot still did an impressive job at cutting grass evenly, with no flattening or chewing of the grass in sight. We did notice that the shortest setting (20mm) was too short, leaving the grass brown, so we’d recommend using a taller height to prevent patching.

Our tester also found set-up complicated, taking over an hour to plan and install the boundary wire and connect the wires to the docking station. However, once sorted, the Flymo app was easy to navigate, allowing you to change settings, see the battery life, and see how the mower is working. We found the robot a breeze to clean post-mow, too.

Score: 73/100

Registering at just 52 decibels on our noise tests, this robot is only slightly louder than the hum of a refrigerator, so it shouldn’t disturb you – or your neighbours. And it cuts well in the process, too, delivering impressive results on long and short grass. It struggled a little to avoid obstacles, though, and our tester found you had to leave a gap between the boundary wire and the obstacles, which then left a border of uncut grass.

While it took a while to set up, controlling the mower via the app was trouble-free and our tester was easily able to set times and toggle on features such as the frost sensor, which pauses the mowing schedule in cold weather to protect your lawn. Very handy.