LawnMaster OcuMow 18

Only if you want to control it from your phone; it doesn't mow any better. LawnMaster sells the LawnMaster OcuMow 18 in two versions, and apart from the app they're the same mower, with the same camera navigation, cut, battery and 800 m² rating. Their RRPs are £499.99–£549.99.

The standard model is set up on the mower's dial and LCD and runs to that schedule on its own. The App version adds Wi-Fi control through the OcuMow App, which LawnMaster describes as optional. That's handy for pausing it or changing the schedule from indoors, but it doesn't add app-drawn no-go zones: both versions use the supplied magnetic strip for areas to avoid. Neither has 4G, GPS theft tracking or a subscription.

Probably not well. The LawnMaster OcuMow 18 finds the edge of the lawn with an HDR camera that recognises grass, and LawnMaster says the lawn needs clearly defined borders for that to work. Paving, gravel or a raised edge give it a clear line; beds with plants spilling over the grass, rough meadow areas or ground cover don't.

There's no perimeter wire to fall back on. The mower uses satellite positioning only to find its way back to the dock, not to know where the lawn stops. For areas it should avoid inside the lawn, LawnMaster supplies 10 m of magnetic no-go strip that you lay on the ground, and more is sold separately. You could in theory run strip along a soft bed edge, but on a lawn with many soft edges that becomes a wire installation by another name.

Slopes near the boundary are a second point to check. LawnMaster rates it for 35% inside the lawn, but only 17% where the lawn meets the boundary strip.

If your lawn is mostly soft-edged, a wired mower such as the Einhell FREELEXO, or a wire-free mower that uses RTK mapping, will handle it more predictably. If you can add a mowing strip of bricks or edging along the beds, the OcuMow 18 becomes a much better fit. Our wired vs wire-free guide compares the approaches.