Best cordless lawn mower under £1,000

The Greenworks Cordless Lawnmower comes with two batteries, one in the machine and one on charge. You'll get about 250m² cutting time from each battery, so with both on a full charge (which takes about two hours), you should be able to tackle 500m² - just for reference, a doubles tennis court is about 260m².

The blade height is adjustable from 25mm to 80mm, and you can either gather clippings in the 50L bag or mulch the clippings into tiny pieces to add nutrients to your lawn. It is a bit heavier than expected, which can make it tricky to mow lawns with shapes or flower beds, and it doesn't perform so well on wild, uneven landscapes.

Like most cordless mowers, it can be easily folded for storage.

Customer review: "Great grass cutting on a large, sloping garden. Battery operation makes it much easier than a lawn mower with a cable. Needs both batteries to complete but no hassle."

If you prefer to take a more laid-back approach to your lawn-cutting duties, the Flymo EasiLife could be just what you need. This robotic lawn cutter will happily potter about keeping your lawn in shape on a pre-determined schedule while you get on with living your life.

You do have to go through a set-up procedure, which can be a bit time-consuming, but once that's done, you can leave it to toddle about its business. It'll cut up to 800m² on one charge, so it should have plenty of juice to do the average lawn on a daily basis.

After it cuts the grass, it mulches it into tiny pieces to be redistributed over your lawn, so there's not even a grass collecting bag to empty.

Customer review: "This robotic mower has taken the work out of mowing the lawn. I haven't had to do it myself for the past 12 months!"

One of the selling points of the Murray 44cm cordless lawn mower is that it runs on two batteries. This gives you a stronger cut and a longer run time without having to swap over batteries. It comes with two Briggs and Stratton 18 V 5.0 Ah lithium-ion batteries and a dual charger, which is a bonus as these items can push up the price if you have to buy them separately.

Once you get going, the batteries will last about 30 minutes or cut approximately 640 m². There's no power assist on this one, but it is light and manoeuvrable, so for the price, it's easy to overlook that.

Customer review: "This is a great little mower, very lightweight and easy to use. As it's so maneuverable it actually cuts the grass in half the time it took with our old petrol mover."

The Bosch Cordless CityMower isn't the biggest or most powerful on our list, but that's a good thing in this case. There really is no point in getting a large, powerful mower if you only have a smaller patch of lawn to deal with. And this is where the Bosch scores. It's a lightweight, manoeuvrable mower ideal for tackling lawns of up to 300m². Height adjustment is easy, and thanks to the grass combs, it cuts closer to the edge.

The battery takes about two hours to fully charge and can be used on other Bosch products.

Customer review: "Very light to use and excellent battery life. No hesitation in recommending to family and friends."

The Lawnmaster is another machine that doesn't cost the earth and is suitable for the smaller lawn. You get two batteries, so you can always have one on charge standing by as you work.

Cutting height goes down as low as 20mm, and this one has a rear roller so that if you do a medium cut, you get a nice striped finish – very professional. Lawn cuttings can be mulched for reapplication to the lawn or collected in the 32L grass collection bag, which has a helpful indicator to tell you when the grass box is full.

Customer review: "Light, very easy to manoeuvre and a single battery did both my front and back lawns (of average size) despite the first mow after No Mow May."

Here's a Worx Landroid for those who would rather let the robotic mower get on with it while they go and do something less boring instead (70's TV kids will get that one!)

The Landroid comes in a number of different sizes; the one we've chosen is suitable for medium to larger lawns up to 500 m². Worx tells us that the AIA technology will adapt to the size and shape of your lawn and the growth rate of your grass. It comes pre-programmed with five auto schedules, but these can be easily adjusted to suit your own needs, and the Landroid is customisable with a number of add-on modules available separately.

Customer review: "It works perfectly. It's really, really good. Smart as well, rain sensors, upgradable extra modules, intuitive smartphone app, pin code and anti-theft lock options to mention but a few. It's also whisper quiet. My lawn's less than ten feet from my bedroom and I can barely hear it with the windows wide open.
The only significant downside is that it does take a lot of work to install correctly - and if you want to take full advantage of this machine, at the serious geek level, then Wi-Fi coverage of your lawn will be required,"

This bundle from Ryobi features the RY18LMX40A-0 18V ONE+ Cordless 40cm Brushless Lawnmower (that's a mouthful) and a powerful 5.0Ah battery. The mower has slots to accommodate two batteries, so you can buy a second one to increase your power and run times. Using one battery, you should be good for about 300m², and you have the option to collect the cuttings in the 50L grass box or mulch them for redistribution onto the lawn.

The blade height is easy to adjust (25-75mm), the telescopic handles make it comfortable to use no matter what height you are, and once you are finished, the handle folds down for easy storage.

Customer review: "Amazing piece of equipment. Been used to petrol lawnmowers for many years. The power of this little thing is amazing vs the battery life it uses."

Discover everything you need to know to make your outside space look fantastic, quickly and easily, with hundreds of simple ideas, designer tricks, affordable products and expert advice with a Modern Gardens Membership. Find out more about the benefits of being a Member now.