Best robot mowers under £1,000

Under £1,000 there are two routes. A boundary-wire mower gives you the most lawn for the money and needs no signal of any kind, but you lay and peg a wire around the edge first. A wire-free mower at this price is usually rated for a smaller lawn, and the way it navigates decides whether it needs Wi-Fi or a phone signal at the grass. The "Mows without Wi-Fi" column shows which.

Look at the running cost as well as the price. One or two cheaper wire-free models need a paid 4G plan if your Wi-Fi doesn't reach the lawn, and over five years that can cost more than the gap to the next model up. Every mower page shows its 5-year cost. If you only want the lowest price, see the cheapest robot mowers.

Spec scores, not hands-on tests (how we score). For your own lawn, try the garden-fit tool.

* Hours of mowing saved a year on a lawn of the rated size, mown weekly April to October at about 600 m² an hour, less 10 minutes a week of robot upkeep. Above about 2,000 m² most people use a ride-on, which is faster, so we count those lawns at ride-on speed. Why a robot mower?