The Best Robot Lawn Mowers

Maybe you’re not ready to give up control of your mowing, but you’re sick of pushing that mower around. The Mowrator S1 is a slightly crazy remote control mower that just might be what you need. I thought the S1 sounded like a daft idea, but this remote control lawnmower turned out to be far more fun than I expected. If you loved playing with RC cars in your youth, you’ll get some nostalgic joy from cutting grass with this beast of a mower, and it is oddly satisfying to mow the lawn this way. I tested the Four Wheel Drive model, which can handle varied terrain, but there are also cheaper two-wheel drive models available for smaller, less challenging lawns.

The S1 is incredibly heavy. Seriously, get some help lifting it out of the box. Setup is quick and easy, just screw the wheels on, plug in the battery, and fire up the remote control console. I expected the Mowrator to be slow, but this thing has some serious va-va-voom. It’s fast and responsive, handling much like a giant RC car, and that’s exactly how the control console feels, too, with two joysticks for easy control and a wee touchscreen to tweak settings. With plenty of cutting width and a gearstick to choose your preferred height, it’s quick and easy to mow your lawn. I’m able to drive it through my side gate and along the path to mow my front lawn, too.

On the downside, it is not autonomous. To fire it up, you hold down both shoulder triggers and tap the start button onscreen. Let go of the triggers, and it stops automatically. I had to turn the sonar alerts off, as it was refusing to mow the edges of my lawn, but it does detect obstacles reliably and cuts off for safety. The S1 warns you to be safe every time you start it up, but I have concerns about it being dangerous in the wrong hands. It always stopped when it detected an obstacle during my testing, but sometimes only after it collided with something. It’s heavy, too, so drivers will need to concentrate. While the Mowrator doesn’t allow for the laziness of an automatic mower, I was pleasantly surprised by how fun it was to use, and even felt a little disappointed when the job was done. It’s an odd device, and it’s pricey, but for the first time in forever, I’m looking forward to mowing my lawn again.