TOP 5 Best Lawn Mowers

There’s something Zen about spending an hour or two each week pushing the mower around the yard on a sunny day. The drone of the motor drowns out your thoughts as you work on a task with a clearly defined objective: Making your lawn look its best.


Of course, the deciding factor between an almost meditative experience and one filled with frustration is often the quality of the lawn mower you have.

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Starting off with the best overall lawn mower we have the Honda HRX217VKA Lawn Mower. Before we get into the nuts and bolts of the Honda 21-inch Variable Speed 4-in-1 Gas Walk Behind Self Propelled Lawn Mower, we should point out that the model numbers HRX217VKA and HRX217K5VKA are used interchangeably by Honda to refer to this lawn mower and there do not appear to be any differences between the two.

That said, the best adjective to describe the HRX217VKA is “powerful.” The 190cc engine allows you to mow at a decent clip and it starts more easily and runs more efficiently than most side-valve engines.

Also, the rear-wheel drive makes it so you can mow inclines and hills effortlessly. There are more features than we have space to cover here but we would be remiss if we didn’t touch on the "Versamow" system.

This system allows you to choose how much grass is mulched and how much is bagged depending on your yard’s conditions. It also lets you shred leaves so you no longer need to use your leaf blower.

The Honda HRX217VKA is at or near the top of all of the expert best lawn mower lists, including Popular Mechanics, Top Ten Reviews and Lawn Mower Review.

The testers at Consumer Reports gave this model top ratings for handling, bagging and mulching and “very good” ratings for ease of use and side discharging. Additionally, the reviewer estimated the breakage rate by the fourth year of ownership to be 16%, which is well below any of the other mowers they tested.

The reviewer at The Wirecutter said: “This Honda is in a class of its own.” He was impressed with how the mower cut grass into smaller pieces with its double-blade design. He also found the Versamow system incredibly helpful.

However, the reviewer said that it was tedious to adjust each wheel when he wanted to change the cutting height. About 86% of the buyers who reviewed the Honda HRX217VKA on Home Depot's website gave it four or five stars.

Handyman left the most helpful review after using his mower for one year. He noted that it’s the best mower he’s ever owned because of the adjustable speeds for the self-propel controller. He goes top speed and has to walk briskly to keep up.

Other buyers remark that the mower cuts well after just one pass and doesn’t leave stragglers, clumps or lines. One buyer was impressed with how it could even handle unkempt grass over six inches high.

Next up we have the best electric lawn mower which goes to the EGO Cordless Battery Push Mower. EGO has two 21-inch deck, 56-volt lithium-ion cordless battery mowers that are quite popular and share a number of similarities: the LM2101 and the LM2102SP.

The major differences between the two are that the LM2102SP is self-propelled, has a larger-capacity 7.5Ah battery and it costs $100 more. For the purposes of this review, we’re going to focus on the features they share in common.

The EGO 21-inch handles side discharge, bagging and mulching. It is designed for use in all weather and even features LED headlights for when mowing in heavily-shaded areas or after dark. There are six deck heights to pick from and adjustments are made with a single lever.

EGO backs the quality of their mowers with a five-year limited warranty. The EGO LM2101 is the highest-rated electric-battery mower on Consumer Reports by far. Its lowest category rating is for its bagging for which it is rated “good".

Despite testing the push option, the reviewer found this mower was easy to operate and had effortless handling. However, they found the 40-minute battery runtime to be fairly short - a common issue with cordless electric mowers.

Techaeris tested the EGO LM2102SP and found the battery lasted 60 minutes, which was long enough to finish the reviewer’s 1/3-acre lawn. He estimated that the yearly cost to operate the EGO would be $1.

More than 1,100 buyers have left five-star reviews of the LM2101 on Home Depot's website. Austing wrote a review after a year-and-a-half of ownership and was impressed with how lightweight and quiet it is.

He shared a story of hitting a metal pipe in his yard with the mower. It damaged the electronics and EGO sent him a brand new mower to replace it. Buyers also appreciate that the battery only takes about 40 minutes to recharge from dead.

Next we have the best corded electric lawn mower which goes to the Greenworks 20-inch 12 Amp Corded Lawn Mower. The Greenworks 20-inch 12 Amp Corded Lawn Mower has a lot of features that can make your mowing experience enjoyable.

Since it is corded, you don’t need to stop to recharge a battery or gas up. It’s a three-in-one that has mulching, side discharge and rear bagging capabilities. There are seven cutting height positions ranging from 1.5 to 3.75 inches and you can adjust the height with a single lever.

Additionally, the 10-inch rear wheels, 7-inch front wheels and 56-pound size make it easy to push around the yard. For the past three years, we have used the Greenworks 22502 Corded Lawn Mower on our ¼-acre lawn.

We particularly like how easy it is to adjust the blade height and it’s surprisingly light. There are just a couple negatives we have noticed. We live in the Pacific Northwest where mowing wet grass is unavoidable.

When the grass is wet, it doesn't feed into the bag of this mower easily. Also, we had to replace the cord after my teenager ran over it with the mower. So cord control is important and takes a little planning.

Your Best Digs rated the Greenworks 22502 as the best electric lawn mower. The reviewer found this push mower easy to manoeuver thanks to its lightweight design. He also liked that it was much quieter than the gas mowers he tested.

However, he noted that dumping the clippings was awkward since there was a crossbar in the way and he would have preferred it if the mower came with an extension cord. Greenworks offers the option of buying the mower with an extension cord for $30 extra.

Over 2,500 buyers have left four- or five-star reviews of the Greenworks 22502 on Amazon. The most helpful reviewer compared this model to a couple of Black and Decker electric mowers he had owned in the past.

He was much more satisfied with his Greenworks mower because it could handle wet grass and was easy to maneuver. Several buyers suggest coming up with a mowing pattern that moves away from the outlet and thus makes it harder for you to trip over the cord.

One buyer found that the motor would get dirty during use and recommended opening it up and cleaning it with compressed air.

Up next we have the best affordable lawn mower which goes to the Sun Joe MJ401E Mow Joe 14-inch 12 Amp Electric Lawn Mower.

When you first lay eyes on the Sun Joe MJ401E Mow Joe 14-inch 12 Amp Electric Lawn Mower, you may be struck by how small it is. At 29 pounds, it weighs almost half as much as the next lightest mower on our list.

This makes it easy to maneuver, but it does raise questions of durability. Fortunately, the Snow Joe + Sun Joe Company backs the quality of the mower with a full two-year warranty. With a 14-inch blade, this mower is meant for yards that are a ¼-acre or smaller and the 16-inch deck makes it easy to get into tight spots.

Top 5 Lawn Mowers recommends the Sun Joe MJ401E to people with a small yard who don’t want to spend a lot on a mower. The reviewer liked it overall for many of the same reason one might like any electric mower - no fossil fuels, lightweight, etc. - but he also noted that there were only three height positions with the lowest scraping the ground. Also, due to its 14-inch blade, it takes longer to mow a lawn.

Your Best Digs also recommends the Sun Joe mower, but the reviewer also added a number of caveats. He found it will get the job done if you prefer to only bag and just have $100 to spend. However, the clippings compartment filled up quickly for him. And the height adjuster felt flimsy and required adjustments on each wheel.

The Sun Joe MJ104E has more than 1,250 five-star reviews on Amazon. Buyer Jim has had his Mow Joe for more than a year and left it in the weather and abused it otherwise. He is happy with how it has performed.

He cautions against buying the 16-gauge extension cord recommended by Amazon. Instead, choose 12 gauge for 100 feet or more and 14 gauge for under 100 feet. Other buyers comment that the mower feels and looks like a toy.

It seems flimsy. But, they also found it could handle “child-swallowing” yard growth. Now for our last pick we have the best lawn mower for large yards which goes to the Toro Recycler 20333 Lawn Mower.

One of the coolest features of the Toro Recycler 22-inch Personal Pace Variable Speed Gas Walk Behind Self Propelled Lawn Mower that kept coming up in our research is the blade-brake clutch. This allows you to stop the blade without stopping the motor of the mower, which is helpful for moving debris out of the way.

The Recycler has a powerful 163cc engine that doesn’t require priming or choking to start and there’s no need for oil changes. There are nine cutting positions and Toro backs this mower with a three-year “guaranteed-to-start” warranty.

Consumer Reports recommends the Toro Recycler 20333 because of its “very good” ratings in ease of use, handling, side discharging and bagging as well as “excellent” mulching. The reviewer specifically liked the washout port for cleaning buildup under the sizable deck.

The Wirecutter used to list the 20333 as the “runner-up pick” but supplanted it with the 20340 because of the newer model’s upright storage. However, the reviewer still recommends the 20333 if the blade brake clutch is more important to you than compact storage.

More than 2,100 buyers on Home Depot's site recommend the Toro Recycler 20333. The most helpful reviewer found the powerful engine did an excellent job of chopping through foot-high grass and the rear wheel drive gave him power while turning.

He also mentioned that he could almost jog with it. Another buyer notes that his Toro still runs well after three years of questionable maintenance. He does note a couple negatives: It’s a bit louder than the Honda and if you go to fast, the mulch is not fine enough.

So that sums up our top lawn mowers. We hope you enjoyed.