Wire-free robot lawn mowers

Why go wire-free

Laying a boundary wire is the least-loved part of owning a traditional robot mower. It takes an afternoon to a day, it needs care at corners and around obstacles, and it's easy to cut the next time you edge the lawn or dig a bed. Change the shape of a border and you move the wire too.

Wire-free mowers do away with that. You map the lawn in an app, set up no-go areas for beds and ponds, and edit them whenever you like. Most also cut in neat straight lines rather than at random, have better apps, and include 4G with GPS tracking in case the mower is stolen.

Wire-free doesn't mean effortless, though. Every mower still needs to know exactly where it is, and each of the ways it can do that has conditions where it works well and conditions where it doesn't. Choosing the right navigation for your garden matters more than choosing the right brand.

We haven't tested any of these mowers yet. What follows is based on manufacturer specifications, manuals and well-established principles of how each navigation method works.

The five ways to navigate without a wire

RTK with your own base station

RTK (real-time kinematic) positioning corrects ordinary satellite navigation using a second receiver in a fixed, known position, giving centimetre-level accuracy. With this type, you mount the reference station yourself, usually on a pole or wall with a clear view of the sky and within radio range of the lawn.

Works well: open lawns with few tall obstacles, rural gardens with no mobile signal (because the base talks to the mower directly), and large areas where straight-line mowing saves a lot of time.

Struggles: under dense tree canopy, in the shadow of a tall house, and in narrow gaps between buildings, where the mower can't see enough satellites. You also have one more thing to site and power.

Examples: the STIGA A-series and Ecovacs GOAT O RTK. Some other brands sell a base station as an optional extra for gardens where their network service is weak.

Network RTK over 4G

Network RTK removes the base station. The mower receives its correction data over a mobile connection from a network of reference stations run by the manufacturer or a partner.

Works well: open suburban and rural lawns with good mobile coverage. Installation is the easiest of any type: place the charging station and map the lawn.

Struggles: the same sky-view problem as any RTK under trees and near tall buildings, plus a dependence on mobile signal across the whole lawn. The UK's coverage has improved, but rural valleys, the far end of long gardens and some new-build estates can still be weak. Brands generally offer a postcode checker; Ofcom's mobile coverage checker shows what each network claims for your address.

Two things to check before buying. First, how long the 4G data is included and what renewal costs: Navimow includes 12 months with the i2 AWD, whereas STIGA includes ten years (120 months) with its A v range. Second, whether the mower still mows if you don't renew. STIGA says its robots need their cloud connection to work at all. Navimow says network RTK itself is included at no extra cost, with renewals paying for remote features.

Husqvarna's smaller wire-free models, such as the Husqvarna Automower 308V, receive their corrections over your home Wi-Fi as standard rather than 4G. That removes the mobile question, but your Wi-Fi has to reach the whole lawn.

Examples: the STIGA A v range, Segway Navimow i2 AWD, Kress Mission RTKn and Husqvarna's Husqvarna Automower 310E NERA (wire-free version).

Vision (cameras)

Camera-only mowers recognise grass, edges and obstacles visually. Better models build a map and mow in lines; simpler ones follow the lawn edge and mow at random.

Works well: small to medium lawns with clear edges, such as a lawn bordered by a patio, path, fence or wall. There's nothing to site, no signal to worry about, and nothing to renew.

Struggles: lawns that blend into rough grass, meadow, gravel or a neighbour's lawn with no clear line between them, and poor light. Bosch, for example, says its Bosch VISIMOW18V works only in daylight and needs defined borders or non-grass strips to recognise the edge.

Examples: the eufy E15, TerraMow V series and LawnMaster OcuMow 18.

LiDAR

LiDAR mowers scan their surroundings with a laser and position themselves against fixed features: walls, fences, sheds, tree trunks and the house. No satellites, no base station and no mobile signal are needed for positioning.

Works well: the typical UK suburban garden, surrounded by buildings and fences, with mature trees. These are exactly the conditions that trouble RTK.

Struggles: large, open lawns where the nearest fixed feature is a long way off, and areas where the surroundings change a lot (though most systems cope with seasonal changes like leaves). Manufacturers' passage and range figures are usually measured in ideal conditions.

Examples: the Segway Navimow i2 LiDAR, Dreame A1 Pro and Ecovacs GOAT O1200 LiDAR PRO.

Hybrid

Hybrid mowers combine two or more of the above, typically network RTK for open areas with LiDAR or cameras for shade and obstacles. On paper, it's the most robust approach, and nearly all premium wire-free mowers now use some version of it.

The label covers a lot of ground, though. Some "hybrids" use the camera only to avoid obstacles and still depend on RTK for position. Others genuinely fuse three positioning systems. And versions within one range can differ: Mammotion's Mammotion LUBA mini 2 AWD 1000 pairs cameras with network RTK, while the 1500 uses LiDAR and cameras with no RTK. Our model pages list exactly what each version uses.

Examples: the Mammotion LUBA 3 AWD, Segway Navimow X4, Segway Navimow H2, Worx Landroid Vision Cloud 4WD, Kress EyePilot and Husqvarna's Husqvarna Automower 410VE NERA.

Which navigation suits your garden

Stand in your garden and look up. Then look around.

• Mostly open sky, good phone signal everywhere on the lawn: network RTK is simple and good value. RTK with your own base works too.
• Open sky, but weak or no phone signal: RTK with your own base station, or LiDAR. Avoid models that depend on 4G for positioning.
• Lawn hemmed in by the house, walls and mature trees: LiDAR or a hybrid that includes LiDAR or vision positioning. Pure RTK may lose its fix in the most shaded corners.
• Small lawn with obvious edges: vision is often enough and usually cheapest.
• A mix of open and shaded areas: hybrid, because it can switch methods as it moves around.
• Very heavy shade throughout, or a garden you don't want to depend on any signal: consider a wired mower. Wire still works everywhere.

Our guides to RTK, vision and LiDAR and to network RTK and 4G in the UK go into more depth, and our perimeter wire vs wire-free guide sets out the wider trade-off.

Slopes, passages and multiple lawns

Wire-free mowers include some of the most capable machines on slopes. All-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive models such as the Mammotion LUBA mini 2 AWD and Segway Navimow X4 are rated for 80% and 84% respectively. Treat any rating as a best case; wet grass reduces grip. Our slopes guide explains what the percentages mean.

Mapping several lawns is easier without a wire: you draw each zone and link them with a virtual path. Check the narrowest point on each path, and remember that an RTK mower passing down a narrow side return between two houses may lose accuracy even if it physically fits. LiDAR and vision models generally handle side returns better.

Installation and setup

Setting up a wire-free mower is usually a job of an hour or two:

1. Site the charging station on level ground at the edge of the lawn, within reach of a mains socket. For RTK models, a clear view of the sky here helps.
2. Mount the base station if your mower uses one: high, with open sky, and within the range the manual gives.
3. Connect the mower to the app and update its software.
4. Map the lawn by driving the mower around the boundary with your phone, or by letting it map automatically if it can.
5. Add no-go areas and paths for beds, ponds, play equipment and routes between lawns.

Take your time over the boundary. Leaving a small margin from walls and drops, and running the edge over a flush path or mowing strip where you can, gives better results than trying to mow right up to every obstacle. Our installation guide covers both wired and wire-free setups.

Security and running costs

Wire-free mowers generally have better theft protection than wired ones. Many are locked to your account and, with 4G, report their location if they leave the garden. Check whether 4G is built in or an add-on, how long data is included, and what the renewal costs; our model pages record what each manufacturer states.

Beyond that, running costs are similar to any robot mower: blades, a little electricity and, for some brands, dealer servicing to keep an extended warranty valid. Our running-costs calculator estimates a yearly figure for each model, and our theft and security guide covers alarms, tracking and insurance.

How we chose these picks

We compared every current wire-free mower sold in the UK on its navigation type and how that suits typical UK gardens, rated area against price, slope rating, 4G and subscription terms, and the length and conditions of the UK warranty. We favoured models that are current and have a published UK price. We haven't tested these mowers, and the picks are desk-based. For the full list across wired and wire-free models, see our guide to the best robot lawn mowers, and for the method behind our scores, see how we score.