GARDENA SILENO city

Yes, as long as your home broadband is working. The current GARDENA SILENO city set includes Gardena's smart Gateway, a small hub that plugs into your router and talks to the mower by radio. The GARDENA smart App then reaches the mower over the internet, so you can start, pause or reschedule it from anywhere.

There's no SIM or mobile data in the mower itself, so if the router or broadband goes down, remote control stops until it's back. Place the Gateway where its radio signal can reach the charging station; a garden office or a window facing the lawn is often better than a cupboard at the far side of the house.

Gardena mentions no paid plan for the smart App or LONA features on its UK pages. The app also links to Alexa and to Gardena's smart watering products.

Gardena rates the GARDENA SILENO city for slopes of 35% inside the lawn, but only 10% where the boundary wire runs across a slope. That second figure is the one that catches people out.

A 35% gradient is roughly a 19° incline, which covers most gentle banks in a typical garden. The 10% limit applies to the strip along the wire, because a mower turning at the edge of a steep slope can slide over the wire and leave the lawn. If the edge of your lawn drops away, you may be able to route the wire along a flatter line a little way in and trim the remaining strip by hand.

Our slopes guide explains how to measure a gradient and convert percentages to degrees.

Yes. The GARDENA SILENO city is a boundary-wire mower, and the LONA version doesn't change that. Gardena's spec table lists the boundary type as a physical wire, and the current 500 m² set comes with 150 m of wire and 200 hooks.

LONA is best thought of as an extra layer on top of the wire. It adds GPS position tracking, which Gardena uses for zone management (up to 4 zones with their own mowing frequencies) and for "Area Protect" no-mow patches drawn in the app. The wire still marks the outer edge of the lawn and any beds or ponds the mower must never enter.

If you'd rather skip the wire entirely, Gardena's wire-free models are the GARDENA smart SILENO sense and the GARDENA smart SILENO free. Our wire vs wire-free guide sets out the trade-offs.

Choose by lawn size first and theft risk second. The GARDENA SILENO city is the small-garden model, and the GARDENA SILENO life is the step up for medium lawns, with a wider cut and an alarm.

Both are boundary-wire mowers, both current sets include the smart Gateway for app control over your home internet, and both share the same slope rating: 35% inside the lawn and 10% along the wire. The LONA versions of each offer up to four zones and no-mow areas.

The differences on Gardena's spec sheets:

• Cut width: 160 mm on the city, 220 mm on the life, so the life covers more ground per hour.
• Rated area: the current city is sold as a 500 m² set; the life comes as 750 m² and 1,000 m² sets.
• Security: both have a PIN code, but Gardena lists an anti-theft alarm only on the life.
• Weight: 7.3 kg against 8.3 kg.
• Wire in the box: 150 m for the city set, 200 m for the life sets.

As a rough rule, the city suits lawns up to about 400 m² in a garden that isn't visible from the street. Above that, or where the mower can be seen from a road, the life is the safer choice. Gardena publishes no UK RRP for either, so compare retailer prices on the model pages.

The GARDENA SILENO city sold new in the UK is rated for 500 m², but it's most comfortable on lawns of up to about 400 m². Gardena states its area ratings with a tolerance of plus or minus 20%, and the figure assumes a simple, open lawn.

Two things eat into that rating in real gardens. First, the cut is narrow at 160 mm, so the mower needs many hours to cover the ground. Gardena quotes about 65 minutes of mowing per charge followed by roughly an hour on the charging station. Second, every narrow passage, island bed and awkward corner adds time, because the mower has to find its way in and out of each one.

You'll also see older 250 m² SILENO city models, smart and non-smart, as old stock or second-hand. Gardena lists those as legacy products and no longer publishes their specifications.

If your lawn is over about 400 m², look at the GARDENA SILENO life, which has a wider cut and larger ratings. Our lawn size tool helps you measure the area first.