Are Robot Mowers Worth It? A Straight Answer for Your Lawn

When is a robot mower worth it?

It is worth it when the thing you are buying is time. A robot mower mows little and often, so the lawn stays tidy through the season with no weekly job. Expert Reviews calls it "definitely worth it" if you would rather avoid the chore, and says the bigger the lawn, the bigger the time saving.

A rough sum shows the scale. If mowing takes you 45 minutes a week over a 30-week season, that is about 22 hours a year handed back. If you pay a lawn service, a robot can replace a recurring bill. If you mow it yourself and enjoy it, there is little to gain.

When is it not worth it?

• The lawn is tiny. If it takes ten minutes to mow, a robot has little to save you.
• The layout is awkward. Narrow passages, many separate lawns and steep banks all make a mower harder to set up. Measure your steepest strip with our slope guide before buying.
• You want stripes and sharp edges. Expert Reviews says a fastidious gardener will get a better-looking result from a manual mower with a roller. Robots do not give neat stripes without extra gear.
• The grass is long or neglected. Robots struggle with long grass, so the first cut of the season usually needs a conventional mower.
• Wildlife visits at night. Some models are a real risk to hedgehogs. See do robot mowers kill hedgehogs before you set an overnight schedule.

What does a robot mower still leave for you to do?

Quite a lot of small jobs. According to Expert Reviews, even satellite-guided models leave roughly the last 5% around the edges, which needs a strimmer or a manual mower, and the first cut of the year is yours too. You will also wash the deck and change blades now and then. These are minutes, not hours, but they do not go to zero.

What does it cost to run?

Electricity is the small part. At April 2025 UK rates, Expert Reviews worked out about 5 pounds a year for a small battery mower and just over 15 pounds a season for a Husqvarna Automower 305E NERA. Blades add up to similar money: a pack of three was about 9 pounds a year.

The real cost is the purchase. In our database, tiers run from Budget to Flagship, and the tier rises with lawn size, slope rating and sensor hardware. Check the current price at the shop before you decide, and compare it with what you spend each year on a lawn service or on your own time.

Which type should you buy?

Choose by your lawn, not by the brand.

Your lawn	What to look for
Small, open, good sky view	A Budget-tier wire-free model
Medium, mixed shade	Mid-range, with LiDAR or camera navigation that does not depend only on satellites
Many trees or tall walls	LiDAR-based navigation
Steep banks	Rated slope well above your measured steepest strip, and all-wheel drive
Large lawn	A higher rated area with headroom, and RTK or LiDAR

Not sure which row you are? Our RTK vs LiDAR guide explains the difference in plain English.

What would we buy?

These are three places to start from our database, not a ranking of every mower:

• Anthbot M9 is the Budget-tier wire-free pick, with RTK plus a vision fallback and a rain sensor, but it needs good sky view for the antenna.
• Segway Navimow i210 AWD is a Mid-range all-wheel-drive model for a small to medium lawn, with GPS tracking and lift alarms.
• Ecovacs GOAT O1000 LiDAR PRO needs no satellite view, so it suits a lawn with trees or walls, and it has a built-in edge trimmer.