Best lawn mowers including cordless, petrol and electric

Having spent a lifetime squeezing and holding drive and motion bars while mowing, Bosch’s cordless Rotak was a revelation: it’s operated via push-button controls built into the height-adjustable handle, making it much less tiring to manoeuvre.

Its seven cutting heights are easily interchangeable, but what wins it our top spot is that it stripes your lawn as it goes, courtesy of a plastic roller mounted just behind the cutting deck. It’s effective – even if the straightness of your stripes depends on your powers of concentration.

The brushless motor means you’ll never have to replace carbon brushes and they’re also more efficient so the battery charge lasts longer. If you already have a 36-Volt Bosch appliance like a grass trimmer or leaf blower, you can use the battery from that. Otherwise, the sets range from about £125 to £220, depending on the duration.

The only quirk I encountered was that the collapsible grass boxes couldn’t hold the full 50 litres advertised. When the “grass full” indicator showed red, there was always lots of empty space left, which meant I had to empty it more often that I would have liked.

It’s remarkably quiet and the grass combs in front of the cutter let you mow close to the lawn’s edge with consistent quality. The 44cm cutting deck is a terrific compromise between large-scale lawn-munching ability and nimbleness. My narrow, grassed banks, which were too tricky for the bulkier Stihl to navigate, proved easy meat for the Bosch.

A cheaper version of this mower without a rear roller might have wider appeal, but if striping is a must-have, this model’s combination of performance, lightness and clean cuts makes it one of the best choices out there.

Also in this range:

Bosch’s Rotak rotary mowers come in corded and cordless model. The range-topping model tested is designed for 750 square metre gardens, whereas the entry-level EasyMower 18V-32-150 (£198, Wickes) is designed for 150 sq metre gardens. We tried that last year and gave it a score of 8/10. Only the most recent Bosch models are called Advanced, which refers to the brushless motor and the ProSilence engineering which reduces noise by a third.

Bosch mowers can use batteries from any of their other power tools as long as they’re the same voltage (18V or 36V). It’s a neat trick which has seen Bosch pop up in our guides to the best cordless drills and best pressure washers.

Key specifications

• Weight: 16.5kg
• Cutting width: 44cm
• Cutting height: 25-80mm
• Grass collector: 50 litres
• Power source: Cordless electric
• Warranty: Three years