GARDENA SILENO life

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.

It is if your garden has areas that need mowing at different frequencies, or patches you want to protect without extra wire. The two GARDENA SILENO life sets sold new in the UK share the same cutting deck and the same spec-table figures: 220 mm cut, three pivoting razor blades, height from 20 mm to 50 mm, an alarm and a PIN.

What separates them:

• LONA: the 1,000 m² set is the one Gardena advertises with LONA. That adds GPS position tracking, up to 4 zones with their own mowing frequency, and no-mow areas drawn in the app. The 750 m² page doesn't mention LONA and its sensor list has no GPS.
• Generation: the 750 m² set is an older smart model; the 1,000 m² LONA set is newer.
• Rated area: 750 m² against 1,000 m², each with Gardena's plus or minus 20% tolerance.

For a simple rectangle up to about 600 m², the 750 does the job. Choose the 1,000 for a lawn up to about 800 m², or for a garden split into front and back sections, a play area you want mown more often, or a wildflower patch to leave alone.

Both sets need the boundary wire and include the smart Gateway. Gardena publishes no UK RRP, so check the price gap at retailers before deciding.

Reasonably, for a wired mower. Gardena's spec table for the GARDENA SILENO life lists both a PIN code and an anti-theft alarm, which is more than the smaller GARDENA SILENO city offers. The PIN makes a stolen mower hard to use, and the alarm is there to draw attention, although Gardena's UK pages don't detail exactly what triggers it.

What it doesn't have is a mobile data connection or a published GPS tracking feature, so Gardena doesn't advertise a way to find the mower once it's gone. The LONA 1,000 m² set adds GPS for zone management, but Gardena presents that as a mowing feature, not theft tracking.

Practical steps still help: keep the charging station out of sight from the road, record the serial number, and check that your home insurance covers garden equipment. Our security guide lists more options.

Yes. Gardena's UK site lists all three versions of the GARDENA SILENO+ (the smart 1,600 m² and 2,000 m² sets and the non-smart 2,000 m²) as legacy models, with no buying option and no spec table. Gardena doesn't name a direct replacement.

The awkward part is lawn size. The SILENO+ was rated for up to 2,000 m², and nothing in Gardena's current UK range goes that high. The closest options are:

• The GARDENA smart SILENO free, rated for 1,200 m² and wire-free, using satellite RTK through the smart Gateway.
• The GARDENA SILENO life, a wired mower rated for up to 1,000 m². If you already have a SILENO+ boundary wire in place, it may be reusable.

If your lawn is well over 1,200 m², you'll need to look beyond Gardena. Our large gardens shortlist covers current mowers rated for bigger areas.