A lush and neatly manicured lawn is a sight to behold.
But achieving it requires high-quality lawn care. It all starts with the right lawn mower.
There are a million models, but when you boil it all down, there are essentially three types of mowers.
No matter your lawn size and terrain type, you want a powerful and adaptable mower to tackle your yard and save you time and effort.
Here, we’ll provide tips on choosing the best option.
Whether you’ve got a sprawling country estate or a simple suburban lawn, you’ll find multiple options with the power and precision to tend your landscape and make your yard the envy of the neighbours.
What Are the Most Common Types of Mowers?
The three types of lawn mowers are defined by their build and functionality. Let’s take a closer look at the three most common classes of mowers to determine which one best suits your lawn size, terrain, and other requirements.
1. Riding Mowers
If you have a sizable lawn to cut, consider treating yourself to a riding mower. As the name suggests, riding mowers are petrol-powered vehicles that you ride to cut the grass.
There are several different subtypes of riding mowers, including:
- Lawn tractor: These large mowers have deck widths between 42 to 54 inches and offer between 18 to 25 horsepower. They’re best for big lawns and heavy-duty usage.
- Zero-turn mower: These mowers can pivot on their back wheels for sharp turns. With enhanced steering ability and high-powered cutting performance, zero-turn mowers are a solid option for cutting grass quickly.
- Rear engine riding mower: This type has an engine in the back with a hand lever control. These mowers are best for medium-sized lawns, no larger than 2.5 acres.
Riding mowers feature powerful engines and large wheels to cut through the grass and reduce manual labour.
Advantages
- Cuts large plots of grass very efficiently
- Ideal for large lawns or commercial properties
- Eliminates the physical effort of pushing a lawn mower
- May include optional attachments for added functionality
Disadvantages
- More expensive than push mowers
- Unnecessary for small lawns
- Petrol-powered machines that rely on fossil fuels; not eco-friendly
- Ongoing fuel costs
- Require routine upkeep for the engine to run smoothly
2. Push Mowers
If you ever tried to earn some pocket money by cutting lawns as a kid, you’re probably all too familiar with push mowers.
Push mowers require the user to push them manually to cut the grass. Depending on the size of your lawn, this can be backbreaking work.
Push lawnmowers are best suited for small lawns — up to about an acre max. They come in endless variations — including petrol, electric, cordless, and corded options. Push mowers usually utilise a cylinder blade system and work well for small flat lawns without slopes.
Modern push mowers are typically lightweight and easy to manoeuvre — a different beast from Grandma’s old petrol-powered machine. Push mowers are great for navigating through gardens with obstacles or tight spaces.
The biggest drawback is that mowing your lawn by hand requires manual effort. It’s a hassle and not a viable option for people with physical limitations.
Advantages
- Ideal for small and flat lawns
- Little maintenance required
- Most affordable option
- Less complex than other types of mowers
- Cordless, corded, and gas-powered options are available
Disadvantages
- Not suitable for larger gardens
- Requires manual effort to push
- Challenging to use on uneven terrain
3. Robotic Mowers
Robotic lawnmowers are the latest innovation in lawn care technology. Similar to robotic vacuums — like the Roomba — robot mowers are automated machines designed to cut your grass expertly with no physical labour involved. Robotic mowers offer a high degree of user control, enable scheduled cutting and give you multiple options for where, when, and how much grass to trim.
EcoFlow BLADE — a revolutionary new robotic mower — “literally reinvents the wheel” and offers an unprecedented level of customisation. Unlike most robotic lawn mowers, which move randomly and produce messy trims, the BLADE moves within boundaries that you designate and mows in a clean, efficient pattern.
Robotic lawnmowers use various technologies to stay within boundaries, including GPS, wire boundaries, and vision systems. The newest technologies can also recognise objects like your plants, flowers, or lawn ornaments, thus protecting your prized landscape features.
The Blade harnesses proprietary X-Vision technology, using LiDAR and visual sensors to avoid obstacles — from lawn chairs to rose bushes.
Advantages
- Automates the entire lawn mowing process, saving you time and energy
- Whisper quiet operation
- Scheduled mowing
- EcoFlow BLADE operates with a high degree of precision and autonomy
- Safer to use. By eliminating manual operation, robot mowers also eliminate the risk of injuries and accidents
Disadvantages
- High initial cost compared to other mower types
- Requires initial setup and customisation (usually through a smartphone app)
How Many Power Options Are There for Mowers?
Whether it’s petrol or electricity, a mower’s power source will affect the machine’s performance, maintenance, and ongoing cost.
Here are the most common options.
Electric-Powered Lawn Mowers
Electric-powered mowers need to be plugged into a wall outlet to operate. Since they’re corded and less powerful, electric-powered mowers are better suited for small to medium lawns.
If you’ve ever used one, you’ll know that the further you get from the house, the more cumbersome (and potentially hazardous) the cord can be.
Electric mowers CAN be more eco-friendly than petrol-powered mowers since no fuel is burned, but that depends on how your on-grid electricity is generated.
Lightweight and easy to operate, electric-powered mowers run quieter than petrol-powered machines. With a push-button start, it’s easy to get mowing.
Since electric mowers don’t require oil changes or air filter replacements, they’re easier to maintain than those with petrol-powered engines. Simply remove the clippings from the deck and blades to ensure that there isn’t debris stuck inside.
Electric mowers allow you to adjust the settings to mow higher, which leaves clippings on the lawn to feed the soil in a process called grasscycling. It can make for a healthier and greener lawn.
Battery-Powered Lawn Mowers
As the name suggests, battery-powered lawn mowers use a battery to store electricity to draw on while operating.
Robotic mowers are always battery-powered. Some electric-powered lawnmowers fall into this category if they’re cordless. Cordless land mowers give you the benefits of an electric machine without having to deal with an annoying cable.
Since battery-powered mowers don’t need to be plugged in to operate, they’re more suitable for medium to large-sized lawns.
Modern cordless (and robotic) mowers usually use lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries, known for being lightweight, energy-dense, and long-lasting.
Battery capacity is typically measured in watt-hours (Wh) or kilowatt-hours (kWh).
EcoFlow’s BLADE, for example, has an electricity storage capacity of 298Wh and can recharge in about 130 minutes when connected to a standard household AC plug via its charging station (included).
Fully charged, the BLADE can trim — or sweep — your lawn for about 4 hours before recharging.
And it doesn’t take lemonade breaks.
If you want to go longer between plugging into a wall outlet to recharge, add a Smart Extra Battery. It offers an additional 1024Wh of storage and enables you to recharge using clean, renewable solar power.
By more than tripling your electricity storage capacity, you can operate your BLADE for almost 13 hours (total) off-grid. But you will have to stop every four hours to recharge.
With a solar charge input of 400W, you can power up the Smart Battery to recharge your Blade with a 400W portable solar panel.
With some battery-powered mowers, the primary drawback is that you’ll need to continually recharge the battery and replace it when it reaches the end of its life cycle.
Thanks to leading-edge LiFePO4 battery chemistry, the BLADE, and its Smart Extra Battery, will last up to 3,000 cycles (full discharge/recharge) without a noticeable dip in performance.
Lastly, like electric mowers, battery-powered mowers are much quieter than their petrol counterparts.
Petrol-Powered Lawn Mowers
Petrol-powered mowers use an internal combustion engine that runs on petrol or diesel. They’re powerful, allowing them to cut more grass faster than other mowers. With a high-powered engine of up to 30 horsepower, you can cut thick, tall, and even dense grass.
However, petrol-powered lawnmowers may soon be phased out nationwide.
There have already been petitions before Parliament to ban the sale of petrol lawn mowers and other lawn tools like leaf blowers. With petrol mowers burning between eight to 16 litres of gasoline (or more) on a full tank, they consume a lot of fuel and significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
Combustion engines are also loud and require frequent upkeep.
Manual-Powered Lawn Mowers
Manual lawnmowers are 100% human-powered.
Without a motor or engine, you must physically push the mower to spin the blades and cut the grass. Manual mowers run on muscle power instead of petrol, battery, or electric.
A manual mower is great if you’re looking for the cheapest option or want to get in a bit of exercise.
However, manual mowing can take a toll on your body, especially if you’ve got a larger lawn of a half-acre or more — and it’s time-consuming.
If you have mobility or physical disabilities or limitations, you should stay away from manual-powered mowers. They’re better suited for flat terrains and not ideal for tough mowing conditions like slopes.
What To Consider When Choosing a Lawn Mower
The most important things to consider before choosing your mower are drive type, lawn size, terrain, and functionality.
Drive Type
Just like with a car, if you’re buying a riding mower, the drive type impacts performance.
- Front-wheel-drive (FWD) mowers are best suited for relatively flat lawns with many obstacles — like trees or gardens.
- Rear-wheel-drive (RWD) mowers are ideal for hilly yards and uneven landscapes.
- All–Wheel–Drive (AWD) mowers are the best all-rounder — especially for medium to large lawns. Unless you’re living on a putting green, you’ll likely have many different types of terrain on a large property. AWD mowers give you the benefits of both FWD and RWD machines.
Lawn Size
The size of your yard is a HUGE factor in choosing the right lawn mower.
Here are some suggestions based on lawn size:
- Push mowers are only viable for small lawns of up to about ⅓ or ½ an acre.
- 1 to 2-acre lawns likely require a petrol, electric, or battery-powered mower.
- Riding mowers like lawn tractors and zero-turn mowers are best for large properties.
- Robotic lawn mowers are the most versatile for lawns of any size
Terrain
Terrain matters, especially if your property has uneven ground, hills, or many obstacles.
Flat terrain isn’t as challenging to mow. For small properties, a front-wheel drive — or even a push mower — should be enough.
If you have multiple obstructions to work around — or steep terrain — rear-wheel drive or zero-turn mowers offer more power and manoeuvrability.
Or you can save yourself the hard work and take a hands-off approach with a robotic lawn mower.
Nobody really LIKES mowing the lawn — and now you don’t have to!
You might feel bad taking pocket money away from a neighbourhood kid. But a robotic mower like the BLADE will do a much better job of mowing the grass — and it’s WAY more reliable.
After the initial setup and customisation with Blade, you can switch mowing the lawn to set-it-and-forget-it mode.
Functionality and Specs
Once you’ve decided on what type of mower you want, dive into the details like quality of manufacture, battery capacity, or horsepower to choose the model with the best performance.
With the CES Innovation Award-winning EcoFlow BLADE, you get the ultimate in automated lawn-cutting technology.
BLADE can even SWEEP your lawn. Say goodbye to that rusty old rake!
The optional BLADE Lawn Sweeper Kit lets you keep your freshly shorn grass free of debris — like leaves, sticks, or even rubbish like plastic cups — without breaking your back.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still considering the best type of lawn mower for your home?
This FAQ sums it all up.
What Type of Mower Gives the Best Cut?
The mower that will give you the best cut depends mainly on your lawn size and terrain. For small, relatively flat lawns, an electric or battery-powered mower is a solid choice. But using a hand-pushed mower to cut the grass on medium to large-size properties is backbreaking work — especially in the summer heat. An All-Wheel-Drive riding motor lets you take a seat and gives you the most flexibility and
Or you can take the manual labour out of your yard-scaping altogether with a Smart Device like EcoFlow’s Blade Robotic Lawn Mower. You can customise your cut and set the BLADE’s path with no perimeter wire.
Thanks to BLADE’s proprietary X-Vison tech that uses LiDAR and other visual sensors, BLADE won’t bump into trees, and it takes the most efficient path to cut your grass quickly. You can even schedule it to mow the lawn when you’re not at home.
If you’re looking for the most convenient and efficient lawn mowing solution that frees up your time, look no further than the BLADE.
Final Thoughts
Your home deserves a beautiful lawn — the right mower will help you achieve that.
All things considered, EcoFlow BLADE is the best solution.
It’s definitely not the cheapest solution…
But your time isn’t cheap either.
After the initial setup using your smartphone, BLADE does all the work for you.
Forget about breaking your back or chasing unreliable landscapers ever again.
