How we research and score robot mowers
The sources we use, the seven criteria behind every score, and what our ratings can and cannot tell you.
Our goal is to tell you which robot mower fits your yard, with evidence you can check yourself.
What our research is, and is not
We are a research site, not a test lab. We do not claim hands-on testing we have not done. When we describe how a mower performs, we say where that information comes from.
Our sources
- The maker's own documents: manuals, spec sheets, product pages, warranty terms and support articles.
- Independent measurements: published lab tests and measurements from reputable reviewers, cited by name.
- Owner experience: patterns in what owners report on forums, Reddit, Facebook groups and YouTube. We quote owners only briefly, credit them and link the original post, and we look for problems that many people report, not single complaints.
- Safety and recall information from regulators where it exists.
Each specification on RobotMowers is stored with a link to its source. When a maker does not publish a number, we show "Not published" instead of guessing.
How scores work
Every mower gets a score from 0 to 10 for each of these criteria. The overall rating is the weighted average of the criteria we could score:
| Criterion | Weight | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Cutting performance | 20% | Cutting width and height range, blade system, edge cutting and how owners describe the finish. |
| Navigation | 20% | How it maps and positions itself (wire, RTK, LiDAR, camera), how it copes with trees and buildings, and obstacle detection. |
| Terrain | 15% | Rated slope, drive system, bumps, wet grass and narrow passages between zones. |
| Coverage | 10% | The largest lawn the maker supports, runtime per charge, charging time and multi-zone support. |
| Ease of use | 10% | Installation and mapping effort, the app, scheduling, noise and weather handling. |
| Reliability | 10% | Warranty length and recurring failures reported by owners. |
| Value | 15% | What it offers for its usual price compared with similar models. |
Scores compare mowers with each other at the time we publish them. As new models arrive, the same mower can drop in a list without getting worse.
Keeping it current
We review our main pages regularly and when a model, price or firmware changes. The "Updated" date on an article shows the last real content change, not a cosmetic edit.
Corrections
If you spot an error, please tell us. We fix confirmed mistakes promptly and note significant corrections on the page.