Electric lawn mowers are the most affordable and popular mower type for domestic use. If you’re considering buying a corded electric mower for your garden, you’ll probably want to know what makes them better – and worse – than other mower types.
Read on for my list of the pros and cons of corded electric mowers.
✅ Key Takeaways:
The advantages of electric lawn mowers are that they’re affordable, easy to use, a more environmentally-friendly choice, fast and powerful, quieter to operate, not limited by a battery, and ideal for small lawns.
The disadvantages of electric reel mowers are that they’re restricted by a cord, they have specific safety concerns and can’t be used in wet weather, and they’re not ideal for remote spaces or larger gardens.
Table of Contents
✅ Electric Lawn Mower Pros
Here are some of the biggest benefits of electric mowers compared to other mower types:
💰 They’re Affordable
Electric mowers are the most affordable powered mower type.
The average cost of an electric lawn mower is £75-£180. Prices start at as little as £60 for a small electric mower for smaller lawns, and you don’t have to spend any more than £100 on a quality mower of this kind.
If your budget is small but you’re still looking for a powerful, reliable lawn mower, electric mowers are an excellent option for you.
The only cheaper option for home lawn mowing is the manual mower. But manual mowers require extra physical pushing effort because they don’t have an electric motor, so they’re not for everyone.
♻️ They’re Easy To Use
Gone are the days when our only option was to use petrol (gas-powered) mowers with their notoriously user-unfriendly startup and operation.
Corded electric lawn mowers are quick and easy to get started, requiring none of the hassle and upkeep of a petrol mower.
Simply unravel the lead and plug it into your outdoor power socket (or a socket that’s nearest to the space you’re mowing), then switch the mower on with the press of a button.
There’s no cord to crank, no gears to navigate, and no fuel or oil to keep an eye on. You only need to adjust the mowing height (if necessary) and start mowing.
Hyundai HYM3800E Corded Electric Rotary Lawnmower
Brand: Hyundai
Price: ££
Power source: Electric corded
Cutting width: 38cm
- Cut height range: 20-70mm
Weight:13.79 kilograms
Grass box capacity: 40 litres
Dimensions (DxWxH): 42 x 37 x 107cm
Power: 1600 W
🛠 They’re Low-Maintenance
Maintaining an electric lawn mower is easy, too.
Electric mowers run off electricity, not petrol, so you don’t have to worry about changing the oil, topping up the petrol, or servicing the mower as you would with a gas-powered mower.
The biggest maintenance job is sharpening the blades, which you’d have to do for any mower and, with normal use, is only required once a year.
You should also give the mower a quick clean-down after every use to remove any grass from the blades and chassis, but again, this is easy work that applies to owning any mower – not just electric mowers.
💪 They’re Powerful And Fast
Conventional corded electric lawn mowers use a powerful rotary blade that cuts through terrain of most heights and thicknesses, making it a good option for quick and easy at-home lawn mowing.
If you’re prone to leaving your lawn to grow too long between cuts, an electric mower should be powerful enough to tackle the longer grass. The mowers have a motor power as high as 1,700 watts, so they’re equipped to deal with the occasional mini jungle when necessary.
Electric mowers are more powerful than cordless (battery-powered) mowers because they take their power straight from the source. They don’t have to conserve power since it’s always available on demand.
🎧 They’re Quieter To Operate
While a corded electric mower isn’t the quietest mower type out there (that award goes to the super-silent manual reel mower), it’s still much quieter than any gas-powered model you’ll find on the market today.
Electric mowers produce a volume of around 75 decibels, which is about as loud as a washing machine – but around 20 decibels lower than their gas-powered counterparts.
If you don’t want to disturb your neighbours – especially if you have a small lawn and your neighbours are in close proximity – an electric mower is a less aggressively noisy mower choice.
🔋 They’re Not Limited By A Battery
Electric lawn mowers are powered in real time by an electricity supply. So, providing the mower is plugged in, you’ll be able to continue mowing your lawn for as long as the job takes.
This makes the electric mower superior to the battery-powered mower, which has a limited battery life and can usually only be used for 25-35 minutes before the battery needs to be charged.
With an electric lawn mower, on the other hand, you can keep going for as long as needed to get the job done, so there’s no need to rush – ideal if you’re a perfectionist and you like to take your time or you have an unusual lawn shape with a lot of obstacles that take a while to navigate.
🤏 They’re Ideal For Small Lawns
Because of their fast and easy use, quieter operation, and powerful motors, and minimal maintenance, electric mowers offer the ideal solution for someone who just wants the quickest and most efficient way to cut their small lawn.
A corded mower doesn’t require the faff and hassle of a gas mower, and there are models in all sizes – including smaller mowers with narrower cutting widths that are designed for getting into small spaces and have a small turning point, making it easy to turn after every lap in a small garden.
Most electric mowers have a 10-metre cord, regardless of their size, which is plenty long enough to reach all four corners of a small garden.
🌍 They’re Better For The Environment
Unlike gas-powered mowers, corded electric mowers don’t release toxic fumes into the environment, while still offering a similar power output.
That means you can still quickly and efficiently mow your lawn without having to worry about polluting your neighbourhood with petrol emissions.
If you want to breathe cleaner air while you’re mowing your lawn, an electric lawn mower is the ideal solution.
📊Pros And Cons Of Corded Electric Mowers
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Environmentally friendly - no gas emissions | Need to be plugged in at all times |
| Quiet operation compared to gas-powered mowers | Power cord can be a hindrance and limit movement |
| Low maintenance and easy to start | Not ideal for large lawns |
| Lightweight and easy to maneuver | May not have as much cutting power as gas-powered mowers |
| No need to store fuel or perform oil changes | May not have as long of a lifespan as gas-powered mowers |
❌ Electric Lawn Mower Cons
Here are the setbacks of electric lawn mowers that you should know about:
🔌 They’re Restricted By A Cord
The biggest setback of electric lawn mowers is that they only work when they’re plugged in, and the 10-meter cord, while long enough for small lawns, won’t suffice for a bigger lawn.
You might have to get an extension cord to get right to every corner of your lawn with your mower. The longer the extension cord, the greater the distance the electricity has to travel to the mower, which will reduce the power to the mower’s engine and affect the quality of cut.
You won’t get this issue with cordless electric mowers and petrol gas-powered lawn mowers, which can be used as far away from an electric power source as needed, and will provide consistent motor power regardless of the mowing location.
😞 They’re Not As Powerful As Petrol Mowers
For most small-to-medium gardens in the UK, an electric mower will provide all the power you could need.
But it’s worth noting that this isn’t the most powerful mower type available today. The electric mower motors are no match for the beefy, robust engines in their gas-powered siblings, and generate less torque (the driving force behind the rotating blades).
With an electric mower, you’ll still enjoy faster and more powerful mowing compared to a manual push mower or a battery-powered motor, but if you want the quickest and most capable lawn mowing solution, you’ll need to upgrade to a petrol mower.
They’re Not Ideal For Remote Spaces Or Larger Gardens
As I mentioned earlier, electric lawn mowers have only one power source: mains electricity.
So, if you have a larger lawn or you want to mow in a remote space, this type of mower isn’t the best option for you.
I recommend upgrading to a petrol or gas mower if you have a big lawn, since gas lawn mowers aren’t tethered to a power supply and provide a speed and power that’s superior to all other mower types.
Or, if you need to mow an allotment, a garden across the road, or any other space that doesn’t have access to a power plug, consider cordless mowers, which use rechargeable lithium ion batteries and can be used anywhere (as long as they’re charged in advance).
👷🏽 They Have Specific Safety Concerns
Let us start by saying that electric lawn mowers, like all mower types, have to adhere to specific industry safety regulations and are therefore safe to use to mow your lawn.
However, using an electric lawn mower requires a more concentrated focus on your safety because you’re having to navigate something that no other mower type has: a power cord.
You’ll need to take extra care not to mow around the cord or get the cord tangled around your feet as you walk, which could cause you to trip.
This is especially important if you’re using an extension cable, which doesn’t have the thick plastic covering of a standard mower lead, so increases your risk of electrocution if you accidentally mow over it.
You’ll need to have your wits about you when mowing your lawn with an electric corded mower.
⛈ They Can’t Be Used In Wet Weather
Finally, electric lawn mowers shouldn’t be used in wet weather because of the safety risks of doing so – electricity and water don’t mix.
Mowing in damp conditions is never a good idea regardless of your mower type, but you could at least mow your lawn safely with push mower models or gas-powered mowers.
The same can’t be said for an electric lawn mower. Not only will you leave unsightly wheel ruts in your lawn and end up clogging your mower blades with clumps of wet grass; you’ll also put yourself at risk of electrocution.
Electric Vs Cordless Lawn Mowers
| Electric Corded Mowers | Cordless Mowers | |
|---|---|---|
| Power Source | Mains electricity | Battery |
| Mobility | Limited by cord length | Cordless and more mobile |
| Operation time | Unlimited | Limited by battery life |
| Battery lifespan | N/A | Limited by battery lifespan |
| Maintenance | Low | High (recharging battery) |
| Noise level | Relatively loud | Quieter |
🤔 Are Electric Lawn Mowers Worth It?
So, now you know the good features and the not-so-good features of an electric lawn mower – is this mower type worth it for you?
I think that yes, for most people, electric lawn mowers are ideal. They offer the perfect balance between a powerful performance and a relatively quiet, convenient operation. These mowers are the best choice for small gardens because they’re so quick and easy to use.
However, if you have a bigger garden or you don’t personally want the hassle of a cord, I recommend considering other mower types, like battery-powered mowers and petrol gas mowers. Not every situation calls for an electric corded mower, so do your research and compare the different mower types before you spend your money.