Hawksmoor 36V Brushless Cordless Lawnmower review: An impressive budget buy for medium gardens
I didn't expect much from this £250 cordless mower, but it's really impressed me
The Hawksmoor 36V Brushless Cordless Lawnmower delivers a strong cutting performance, impressive battery life and useful features, including a rear roller and a generous 40-litre grass collector. Whilst it's not the most compact model and lacks a mulching mode, those are easy compromises to make considering the price.
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Excellent value for money
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Powerful and efficient brushless motor
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Good battery life
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Six cutting heights with simple central adjustment
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Large 40-litre grass collection box
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Built-in rear roller
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No mulching function
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Slightly larger than some competing cordless mowers
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In the age of the best robot lawn mowers, it's easy to forget that cordless and petrol models still have plenty to offer. Robot mowers are of course hard to beat when it comes to convenience, but there's something very satisfying about mowing the lawn yourself. They also cost a fraction of the price of most robot mowers, especially if you can find one that delivers without costing the earth.
The latest model to impress me is the Hawksmoor 36V Brushless Cordless Lawnmower, and after spending some time with it, I believe it could be one of the best value cordless mowers around.
Price and availability
Priced at £249.99 and available exclusively from Toolstation, the Hawksmoor 36V Brushless Cordless Lawnmower sits firmly in the affordable end of the best cordless mower market.
Unboxing and set up
The mower arrived in a fairly substantial box, but most of it came pre-built, so all I had to do was attach and secure the handle using the locking knobs and washers. I then clipped on the grass collection box and charged the two included 18V batteries before inserting them. They already had some charge straight out of the box, so they only needed a quick top-up before I was ready to start.
Before setting off, you'll also want to choose your cutting height. There are six positions ranging from 25mm to 75mm, all adjusted using a single central lever. I started in the middle at setting three, as I could easily tweak it depending on how my lawn looked after the first pass.
Design and features
The Hawksmoor has a durable polypropylene deck that makes it lightweight enough to push around the garden whilst still feeling stable. Two large rear wheels make it much easier to take on uneven ground, and the foldable handle is useful for storing. Like most quality mowers, the handle can also be adjusted to suit your height.
Power comes from a 36V battery system, made up of two 18V batteries, paired with an efficient brushless motor. Being cordless also means you're free to move around the garden without dragging an extension lead behind you. The batteries also have LED lights that are red whilst charging and switch to green when they're fully charged, so you know when they're ready.
Grass clippings are collected in a generous 40-litre collection box, and there's also a built-in rear roller that leaves attractive lawn stripes. The only notable omission is a dedicated mulching mode, but that's unlikely to be a dealbreaker for most people.
At 12.3kg, the Hawksmoor isn't the lightest cordless mower on the market, but it's by no means the heaviest either. For a mower with this level of power and a 40-litre grass box, the weight feels perfectly reasonable and never became an issue whilst mowing.
Performance
After several weeks of use, I came away very impressed with the Hawksmoor 36V Brushless Cordless Lawnmower. It's not the most compact model available, but the adjustable handle made it comfortable to manoeuvre and the controls were simple to use. Starting and stopping the mower was very easy, and once I got going, it was immediately obvious that the brushless motor had plenty of power in reserve.
Battery life was another pleasant surprise. After the initial charge, I managed around four to five mows of my medium-sized garden before needing to recharge the batteries. Once depleted, they took roughly two hours to charge back to full, which is a respectable turnaround.
Performance also remained consistent, and the motor never felt like it was struggling, even when tackling thicker patches of grass. The large collection box also meant I only needed to empty it once at the end of each mow rather than stopping halfway through, which has often been the case with smaller mowers I've tested.
Verdict
The Hawksmoor 36V Brushless Cordless Lawnmower proves you don't have to spend a fortune to get a capable cordless mower. It delivers strong cutting performance, impressive battery life and useful features, including a rear roller and a generous 40-litre grass collector. Whilst it's not the most compact model on the market and lacks a mulching mode, those are easy compromises to make considering the price.
Alternatives to consider
If you're considering alternatives, the Gtech CLM50 is another excellent cordless mower that offers similar performance, dimensions and pricing.
If you have a larger garden, I'd recommend taking a look at the Husqvarna LC 251iS. Its spacious 65-litre grass collector makes it better suited to larger lawns, and because it runs on Husqvarna's 36V battery platform, it's an especially good option if you already own other Husqvarna cordless garden tools.
