At Lawn Manual we test lawn mowers, leaf blowers and string trimmers then compare and review them to give you buying advice. Find your new lawn mower, leaf blower or grass trimmer today by picking one of the guides below.

Featured Lawn Mower Reviews

Choose By Mowing Speed

Quick facts to help you picture how many acres your lawn is:

• A football field including end zones is 1.32 acres
• An Olympic swimming pool is 1/3 of an acre
• A basketball court is 1/9 of an acre
• A tennis court is 1/16 of an acre.

We will call anything smaller than a tennis court a small lawn. A medium lawn is a tennis court up to 1/2 acre. Anything bigger than 1/2 acre is a huge lawn.

Compare Gas and Electric Power

Most people think batteries are still crap. Not true. The battery powered lawn mowers we tested cut grass for about 30 – 60 mins completing a 1/2 acre lawn.

• See best electric mowers here.
• See a breakdown of the best battery powered and corded below.

Gas powered lawn mowers are great too. They have more power to deal with longer, thicker grass with ease – but you have to deal with maintenance and them being loud.

Let’s look at the pros and cons of each type of lawn mower.

9 Most Trusted Lawn Mower Brands

Is buying based on brand overrated?

• Honda is the best?
• Briggs & Stratton is the best?
• John Deere makes the best riding mowers?

Seriously…What is the best brand and the best lawn mower of each brand?

We go into detail in our testing and tell you.

Do you have a brand you already trust in the lawn care sector? Here are 9 of the most popular and trusted lawn mower brands for you to choose from:

Honda – Honda makes small engines for other companies to use on their lawn mowers and they also make their own brand. Honda lawn mowers were first made in the late 60s – some of those mowers still work today. Enough said. Honda is known as the most reliable and durable lawn mower.

See Best Honda →

John Deere – A brand and company as American as Coca Cola and Nike. Their iconic green riding mowers are the most popular – and for good reason. John Deere listens to their customers – farmers and residential home owners – and makes their mowers to your needs.

Toro – Toro is a lawn mower brand as popular as John Deere. They are much loved in the golf course industry for their lawn care and irrigation products.

See Best Toro →

Troy Bilt – Troy Bilt is one of the original garden equipment companies and has been around since the 30s. These days they are a brand under the MTD Products (Stanley Black & Decker) umbrella.

Greenworks – A Chinese brand that only does electric power equipment. Their popular battery powered lawn mower has all the features you’ll need.

See Best Greenworks →

Craftsman – One of the most well-known brands of lawn and garden equipment at one point. Craftsman has since been acquired by Stanley Black & Decker and introduced as their budget/affordable brand (while DeWalt is their pro brand). They have many gas mowers and riding mowers on offer.

EGO – Like Greenworks EGO is an all electric brand made in a Chinese factory. They have the most popular battery powered lawn mowers know for their 1 hour+ run time.

See Best EGO →

Husqvarna – A popular Swedish brand known for their chainsaws they also make popular walk-behind and riding mowers.

See Best Husqvarna →

Cub Cadet – Known for their riding and zero turn mowers for professionals. Cub Cadet have long been the mower of choice for golf course and sporting groundskeepers. If you have a lawn care business or 1acre+ lawn you’ll want to see what Cub Cadet is selling.

Choose One of the Top Sellers

A top seller is a good buy because as time goes by they are most likely to be the best available. It is like how when you go to a movie a good bet will be to see a popular movie because they are popular for a reason. Same thing with lawn mowers.

After many hours of use it is obvious the corded electric lawn mowers are not what you want. The cord is too annoying and limiting. So although they still sell well we are only recommending the battery powered electric lawn mower below. Along with the best gas powered.

Things We Consider in Our Lawn Mower Reviews 

A lawn mower is simple: A sharp blade turning fast. The blade is powered by a small gas engine or induction motor. That is powered by gasoline, a battery or via electric cord into your home’s electricity.

Choosing a lawn mower is easiest when you decide whether you want gas or electric – and what your budget is. Battery powered self propelled mowers are quickly taking over the market for their ease of use.

Here’s some things everybody ought to know before reading the lawn mower reviews here.

Terms you need to know:

• The Deck: This is the core of the mower. It’s what the wheels, blade and engine are attached to. You can usually adjust the height of the deck based on the height of the grass you’re cutting. It will be made of strong steel and come with a 10+ year warranty.
• Self Propelled: The best lawn mowers have a feature that attaches a belt to the engine and wheels via a pulley to help push the mower forward. Most people prefer rear-drive, and most mowers with this feature are more expensive. But it is worth it because you just walk-behind the mower without having to push it up hills or through tough/wet grass.
• Cutting Modes: Most mowers can do 3 different styles of grass cutting: (1) Bagging (2) Mulching (3) Side discharge. And you’ll be able to decide which one with a lever on the mower. Mowers without the bagging feature will be more affordable.

Here’s the features to know about:

1. Engine – As the size of lawn and thickness of grass increases gas mowers become more practical. They have more power to rotate bigger/heavier blades. Armed with a jerry can you can run the mower all day without fuss charging batteries. Honda and Briggs & Stratton make the most small engines for power equipment.
2. Motor – All the small lawn and some medium lawns will best be suited for electric battery powered lawn mowers. Their battery powers an induction motor for about 1 hour (depending on the battery size you use).
3. Electric Start – This is for the gas mowers, and comes at almost no extra cost versus the recoil start. You may enjoy the recoil, however?
4. Speed Control –  For self propelled mowers you will have an option for speed. Some mowers have 3 speeds some have 2 (fast and slower).
5. Blade Brake Clutch – The lawn mower safety feature. It’s a handle that you hold down while operating the mower. When you let it go a brake is engaged on the flywheel to stop the blades. Every mower has one these days. Don’t buy one that doesn’t.
6. Rear Wheel Drive – If you have a large yard, sloped yard or are just feeling like having an easier mow, then you’ll want self propelled rear wheel drive. It’s a drive belt connected to your rear wheels from the engine.
7. Rear Wheel Diameter – Mowers will often have larger rear wheels to make turning the mower easier.
8. Wash-out Port – This is a port that you can attach your garden hose to and will clean out all the grass from the underside of your deck and the blades.
9. Storage Options – If you have a crowded garage and need to store your mower you will want one with a foldable handle to make it fit into a tight spot.
10. Padded Handlebar – When you’re pushing a lawn mower around you don’t want a handlebar digging in to your hands. Look for one with padding – even better are ones that have bike style grips.

Why Buy a Lawn Mower? 

1. Save Time

Buying the best lawn mower for your lawn saves time.

Whether you are buying a robot mower to do the mowing without you even knowing or a gas powered mower – having one around actually saves you time.

Here’s how:

• You don’t have to call the lawn care company near you every time you see the grass is too high.
• You don’t have to deal with them cancelling and rescheduling if it rains or they get sick.
• A lawn mower is much faster than a weed whacker at mowing your small lawn.

2. Save Money

Buying your lawn mower and doing the work instead of hiring a lawn care services company will save you a lot of money over time.

A lawn care company will charge you $50 – $100 an hour and try to upsell you things like hedge trimming and garden edging.

Also if you see the lawn needs mowing you can quickly grab the mower from the shed or garage and do it as you please.

3. Increase Your Home’s Curb Appeal

Did you know you can sell your home for $10,000 more if you have a nice lawn and garden?

It’s true.

That means with a lawn mower and a few hours hard work in the garden you can increase your home’s curb appeal and thus value by 10x the price of a lawn mower (20x if you rent the lawn mower). And all your neighbours will be jealous.

Helpful Lawn Care & Lawn Mowing Articles

Do You Need More Help?

Thanks for visiting LawnManual.com. Our goal is to buy, test, review and recommend lawn mowers to save you time, hassle and money. If you have a question about your lawn mower or lawn and can’t find the answer – no worries – just send an email from the contacts page for a quick reply.