Whether you need serious power to tackle an unruly garden, or just a decent and reliable lawnmower to see your greenery through the warmer months, a cordless lawnmower is a necessity for all types of gardens.
Compared to traditional lawnmowers, cordless options are much easier to use and maintain, and as there’s no need to worry about dragging cables around your lawn.
There are a few features to keep in mind when considering a cordless lawnmower. One key thought is what size you need your lawnmower to be. Consider the size of your garden and how much grass you have to cut. If you’ve just got a small patch of grass to contend with then you definitely won’t need one of the bigger models available.
Another key feature of cordless lawnmowers is the battery life. As it operates using a rechargeable battery, the capacity of said battery is important as it determines how long the runtime of the lawnmower will be. You do have the option, however, of buying additional batteries if you find your lawnmower doesn’t last quite as long as you need it to or if you ever move to a bigger garden and require more power.
Cordless lawnmowers can also boast a host of extra features that can make your life easier. Some lawnmowers have adjustable cutting heights, which is particularly handy when some areas are left to grow more than others.
You should also keep in mind that many have built-in bins that handily store all the grass clippings until you empty them. The larger the bin capacity, the longer you can go without emptying, which is particularly useful if you have a larger garden as some smaller bin capacities may need a mid-use empty.
To ensure we give you the best possible recommendation, we thoroughly use each lawnmower in our test garden. We test each height setting, performance on a variety of surfaces and see how each mower copes with harder patches including longer grass and brambles.
If you’re after more garden tools, be sure to check out our best grass trimmers list too.
Best cordless lawnmower at a glance
- The best lawnmower for larger gardens: Stihl RMA 448 TC
- A great budget lawnmower for smaller gardens: Flymo Mighti-Mo 300 Li
- An outstanding compact cordless lawnmower: Stihl RMA 235 – check price
- A premium battery-powered lawnmower for larger gardens: Husqvarna LC 347VLi
- A great lawnmower for the largest of lawns: EGO LM2122E-SP
- Best for battery life: Stihl RMA 248 Cordless Lawn Mower – check price
How we test
There’s only one way to pick the best cordless lawnmowers – and that isn’t simply by listing the ones that look good, as many other sites do.
We mow test strips in our test garden. Using three heights – high/medium, medium/low and low – we use before and after photos to see how well each mower has cut and if it missed anything.
We test on a variety of surfaces, too, to see how each mower handles itself on uneven ground. In addition, we see how each mower copes with undergrowth, with longer grass and brambles. Only then can we truly compare the performance of each product to help you buy the right one.
For more information, read our full how we test lawnmowers.
Stihl RMA 448 TC
The best lawnmower for larger gardens
Pros
- Excellent cut performance and pickup
- Solid run-times & coverage (750m²)
- Ideal mowing speed
- Excellent Mono-Comfort handle
- Mulching kit optional
Cons
- Woefully slow charger (others available)
- No drive-only setting
The Stihl RMA 448 TC is a self-propelled cordless lawnmower with a 46cm-wide cut designed for larger lawns. Its dual battery slots allow you to carrying around a spare, giving you enough power to cut even the largest areas of grass without having to traipse back to the garage.
Robust and well built, the Stihl RMA 448 TC has a single arm for pushing it. We thought that this would make the lawnmower uneven to push, but we’re happy to say that we were wrong. Driven by an independent motor, the Stihl RMA 448 TC moves comfortably, with the handle just used for steering.
There’s a generously sized bin on the rear, which fills up with compacted grass to the point where it’s really heavy to empty. There’s an optional mulching kit available, too. With excellent cutting performance, the Stihl RMA 448 TC is the best choice for large gardens.
Our one minor complaint is that the bundled battery charger takes the wrong side of four hours to charge – faster chargers are available if you want to recycle batteries more frequently.
Reviewer: Richard & Jackie Stevenson
Full Review: Stihl RMA 448 TC
A great budget lawnmower for smaller gardens
Pros
- Ideal for small gardens
- Super-light weight
- 21 minutes’ run-time
- Well-weighted height adjuster
- Easy to store
- Exceptional value
Cons
- Bogs down in long grass
- Woefully small bin
- Poor build quality
- Expensive spare battery option
The Flymo Mighti-Mo 300 Li is one of the smallest, lightest and cheapest cordless lawn mowers that money can buy. With a 30cm cutting width and five cutting heights, this is a compact model aimed at those with smaller gardens. In our experience, we managed 125m² on a single battery charge.
When not in use, the handle folds down for storage – although it’s a bit of a pain to get it there – and you have to loosen the orange wing-nuts quite a way to get it to fold. The controls will be familiar to anyone with a Flymo, with two orange grab-levers. These are clearly from a corded lawnmower, since there’s still a clip for a cord: parts re-use helps keep the price down, so we can’t complain.
The provided battery lasted for 21 minutes, although in that time we had to empty the bin 10 times. This shows you that the Flymo Mighti-Mo 300 Li is an efficient collector and that the bin is a little small. To extend run-time you could buy a second battery, although they’re expensive at £106.99 plus £8.99. At these prices, you may as well put the extra cash towards a larger mower that lasts longer.
There’s a lack of power in long grass, but this isn’t likely to be so much of a problem in most UK homes where there’s just a small-ish lawn to contend with. If you’re on a tight budget and don’t have much grass, the Flymo Mighti-Mo 300 Li is a great budget choice.
Reviewer: Richard & Jackie Stevenson
Full Review: Flymo Mighti-Mo 300 Li
An outstanding compact cordless lawnmower
Pros
- Excellent cutting performance
- Grass catcher bin takes a lot of clippings
- Folds up neatly for storage
Cons
- Grass cutting height fiddly to adjust
Just because you’ve got a small lawn, it doesn’t mean that you don’t want exceptional results. If that sounds like you then the Stihl RMA 235 is probably the cordless lawnmower for you. Stihl’s entry-level product, this model has a 33cm cut width and the build quality of the company’s more expensive models.
With the provided battery and charger, Stihl says that you can cut up to 200m² of lawn, although we managed 50% more at an incredible 300m². Other battery and charger options are available, depending on whether you have a smaller or larger lawn.
All this from a lawnmower that comfortably folds down for easy storage. Be warned that the Stihl RMA 235 is heavier than it looks, thanks to the incredible build quality.
Easy to handle, the Stihl RMA 235 managed to cut in crisp straight lines, picking up cuttings easily, and even having the strength to grab leaves and other bits of debris. Thankfully, the bin is super-easy to empty.
The Stihl RMA 235 isn’t cheap but it offers great value. If you want a compact lawnmower with the power to keep your green in great shape, this is the model to buy.
Reviewer: David Ludlow
Full Review: Stihl RMA 235
Husqvarna LC 347VLi
A premium battery-powered lawnmower for larger gardens
Pros
- Powerful cut and drive
- Outstanding build quality
- Immaculate cut finish
- Great choice of batteries
Cons
- No bag-full indicator
- Weighty at 26kg+
- Not cheap
For larger lawns, the huge Husqvarna LC 347VLi is a great choice. It has a massive 47cm cutting width for making short work of large spaces. It ships without batteries, but there’s a huge choice available to suit the area and use that you’ll put the lawnmower to.
Build quality is outstanding, with everything of the highest quality, feeling chunky and well made. It’s a huge lawnmower, weighing 25kg without a battery.
There are plenty of battery options. We opted for the BLi20 and QC330, which added £130 and £80 to the price respectively. The BLi20 gives around 20-minutes run-time at full-power and can be recharged in a swift 30 minutes. The Husqvarna LC 347VLi has storage space for a second battery, too, so you can do a quick swap in the middle of mowing.
There are five speed modes to choose from (3km/h to 4.5km/h), with the Husqvarna LC 347VLi propelling itself for easy work. There are also six height adjustments from 20mm to 75mm.
Cutting performance is excellent, although the 55-litre bag can get very heavy thanks to the compression of the grass cuttings. With the huge amount of power and excellent performance, the Husqvarna LC 347VLi is about as big a consumer lawnmower as you can get. Note, though, it can get expensive when you add in the batteries and chargers that you need.
Reviewer: Richard & Jackie Stevenson
Full Review: Husqvarna LC 347VLi
EGO LM2122E-SP
A great lawnmower for the largest of lawns
Pros
- Huge 1000m²+ cut area
- Up to 49 minutes run time
- Very fast charging (1 hr)
- Solid build quality
- Easy to use controls
- Compact, upright storage
- Collect or mulch
- Excellent value
Cons
- Finicky speed controller
- Old school grass bag
- No ‘bag full’ indicator
For the largest lawns, the EGO LM2122E-SP could be the right choice. With its 52cm cut width, this is a cordless lawnmower designed to make short work of even the biggest areas. That’s particularly true when you factor in the 1000m² of lawn that the EGO LM2122E-SP can tackle on a single charge. Given the price, this lawnmower is something of a bargain.
All of that power is manifested in the size of this lawnmower: at 30kg, it’s quite a beast. Part of this is down to the robust build quality, which we can’t knock. Despite the size, the handle folds over flat, making it easy to store the lawn mower in a shed or garage.
There are 11 speed settings for this self-propelled mower, although we found it hard to get quite the right balance: we found the EGO LM2122E-SP either a little slow for us or just a bit too fast to keep up with.
Cutting performance was excellent, with a nice clean cut and straight lines. It’s a shame there’s no “bag full” indicator, as you have to keep an eye out for grass being left behind before you make a change.
Minor speed niggles aside, if you need a big and powerful lawnmower for a large area, it’s hard to find anything that provides the same excellent value as the EGO LM2122E-SP.
Reviewer: Richard & Jackie Stevenson
Full Review: EGO LM2122E-SP
Stihl RMA 248 Cordless Lawn Mower
Best for battery life
Pros
- Clean cut
- Good endurance
- Large grass box
Cons
- Charging takes a long time
- Not nimble round corners
- Quite heavy
The Stihl RMA 248 Cordless Lawn Mower is a powerful cordless lawnmower with a long battery life, allowing you to keep mowing for longer.
The RMA 248 is a four-wheeled lawnmower that can be folded down for storage without completely disassembling the mower. The grass box is large and detachable, capable of holding 55L of grass. The box also has a pop-up flag that goes down to indicate when it’s time to empty the box.
There’s a chunky red jumper key that needs to be in place to start the mower, which we found both easy to pocket but still hard to lose compared to smaller keys.
There’s also an eco mode that automatically engages and slows the blades when cutting shorter grass to preserve power.
The battery life is the highlight here with two AK batteries allowing the mower to cut up to 500m² grass with a single charge. While this shows incredible endurance, the mower does take a while to charge up again once the battery is empty. Stihl only sells single battery chargers, with the AL101 taking 205 minutes to charge each AK30 battery and the AL301 doing the job in 60 minutes. That means it’ll take you at least two hours to get back to full power in the best-case scenario.
That being said, the mower has a 46cm cutting width, meaning it doesn’t take many passes over an area to get it cut. We found it able to tackle taller lawns and weeds, with the cutting height able to be altered in seven steps from 25 to 75mm.
However, long or unkempt grass can bind the blade, so that’s something to be aware of.
The Stihl RMA 248 isn’t the most nimble choice for smaller or more intricately shaped lawns, but if you have a large lawn and are looking for a mower that offers long endurance, a large grass box and a clean cut, this is a great choice.
Reviewer: Ian Evenden
Full Review: Stihl RMA 248 Cordless Lawn Mower
FAQs
For home use, battery-powered models make far more sense than petrol models and are all that we’ve listed here. Battery models are easier to maintain, have more than enough power, are quieter and, most importantly, don’t produce that petrol smell.
All cordless lawnmowers have spare batteries available. The advantage is that you can continue mowing before your battery has finished charging. If your provided battery won’t last for your entire lawn, then look to buy a spare battery. Be careful with cheaper machines, since replacement batteries are often expensive and you may be better off spending the money on a longer-lasting, more expensive lawnmower.
Look out for different battery charger options, too. Slow chargers that take hours are fine if you mow your lawn once a week. If you need your batteries sooner, then a faster charger makes more sense.
The rating of the lawnmower’s electrical system will only give you a rough idea of power: we’ve seen 36V mowers that are more powerful than 40V ones. Our reviews will indicate how well each lawnmower copes in a variety of scenarios.
If you have a straightforward lawn, you can get away with a less powerful lawnmower. If you’ve got a lot of rough areas, you’ll need a more powerful model instead.
The cut width describes the width of the strip that the lawnmower can make in one pass. The wider the cut, the faster you can cut, as each strip gets more grass. For small lawns, something around 30cm will be fine. Look for around 40cm for mid-sized lawns, and 45cm-plus for the largest of lawns.
For larger lawnmowers, buy a model that is self-propelled. These use a motor to drive the wheels, so you have to do exert less effort to cut nicely.
A mulching option can be useful to help keep your lawn in good shape It mulches the grass clippings and spreads them around the lawn, acting as a feed to keep your grass healthier.
