How we test lawnmowers

Lifetime score

Our overall score combines test performance (how well the product works) with predicted reliability (how likely models from the brand are to remain free of faults) and brand satisfaction (how likely owners of the brand are to be satisfied).

We’ll only recommend appliances you’ll love to own, that work well and keep working well for a long time.

Test performance

It’s no good if a product lasts for many years if it doesn’t work well in the first place. A disappointing product will soon become unloved and unwanted. For this reason, our independent lab testing forms an important part of our overall lifetime score.

Our lawnmowers test is based on:

Performance: We assess:

• Catcher cutting
• Long grass cutting
• Mulcher cutting
• Ease of use.

We cut short and medium length grass with the catcher attached, and mow long grasses without a catcher. We look for an even, tidy finish without missed patches or leftover clumps of clippings.

We run the short and medium-length grass tests with the mower in both catcher and mulching modes where applicable. Neither the catcher nor the mulcher is used for the long grass test.

Ease of use: We assess ease of starting and manoeuvring, handle vibration and comfort, controls, how easy it is to adjust the cutting height, and catcher convenience.

Predicted reliability

It’s reasonable to expect a new lawnmower to remain fault-free for a good amount of time. Our predicted reliability won't tell you whether yours will stop working tomorrow, but it does show which brands make models that are less likely to fail early.

Brand satisfaction

Satisfaction is important – no product should be a source of buyer regret. Lawnmowers with satisfied owners are more likely to be taken care of and therefore last longer.

Survey data

In our annual reliability and satisfaction survey, consumers tell us about faults that have left a product they own unusable or mean they’ve had to change how they use it. We also ask them how satisfied they are with the product. We use their data to produce our predicted reliability and owner satisfaction scores.

We use a statistical test to rate the relative performance of each brand. Compared to data we have for all products (of the same type) in the survey, we rate each brand with highest, high, average, low or lowest for predicted reliability and brand satisfaction respectively.

You can compare the rating of different brands for the same product type (for example, the reliability rating for Stihl and Masport lawnmowers), but you can’t compare the results for different product types (for example, satisfaction of EGO lawnmowers and Makita line trimmers).

We analyse brands that get at least 30 responses in our survey. That means there are some brands we can’t analyse because we don’t have enough data. For those brands, we assume they have average reliability and satisfaction.

Our data is based on 2,055 responses from owners of lawnmowers in our 2023 survey.