The complete guide
Choosing a Cordless Lawn Mower, A Practical Buyer's Guide
The problem with the old mower in the shed
Most people do not hate mowing. They hate the fifteen minutes before mowing. The petrol can is empty, or the fuel in it has gone stale over winter. The cord needs four pulls, then six, then you check the spark plug. By the time the engine catches you are already annoyed, and the neighbours have heard all of it.
A cordless mower takes that whole routine out. Charge a battery, slide it in, turn a key, press the control. There is no fuel to store, no oil to check, no exhaust blowing back at you on a still afternoon. For an average suburban lawn, that change is bigger than the spec sheet makes it sound.
This guide walks through how a 40V brushless lawn mower kit actually works in a backyard, who it fits, and what to look at before you spend the money.
How a battery mower makes its power
Two numbers matter, and they do different jobs.
Voltage, in this case 40V, is about how hard the motor can push. Higher voltage platforms generally cut through thicker grass without bogging down. Amp hours, the Ah figure on the battery, is about how long it can push for. A 4Ah pack holds roughly twice the energy of a 2Ah pack, which is why Greenworks rates this mower at about 325 square metres with a 2Ah battery and about 650 square metres with the 4Ah pack included in this kit.
Those coverage figures are honest averages, not promises. Thick kikuyu in October after rain will drain a battery faster than a dry, well-kept couch lawn in February. If your lawn sits near the top of the range, a second battery is the simple fix, and because the 40V packs are shared across the Greenworks range, that spare also runs a trimmer or blower.
The brushless motor is the other half of the story. Older motors used carbon brushes pressing on a spinning contact, which wears, heats up and wastes energy as friction. A brushless motor switches power electronically instead. The practical result is more cutting power from the same battery, better speed under load, less noise, and a motor that generally outlives the brushed kind. That is why brushless has become the mark of a serious cordless tool rather than a budget one.
Cutting width, and why bigger is not always better
This mower cuts a 45cm path. On paper, a wider deck sounds better, because fewer passes means a faster mow. In practice the right width depends on your yard's shape as much as its size.
A 45cm deck is a good middle ground. It clears a medium lawn in a reasonable number of passes but still turns tidily around a hills hoist, a garden bed or a narrow side path. Wide decks over 50cm start to feel clumsy in gardens with lots of edges, and they are heavier to lift and store. Narrow decks under 35cm are nimble but turn a decent lawn into a long job.
As a rough test, walk your lawn and count the obstacles. Lots of curves, trees and beds favour a mid-size deck. One big open rectangle favours a wider one.
Three ways to deal with clippings
The 3-in-1 deck is one of the more genuinely useful features here, because grass does not behave the same way all year.
Mulching chops the clippings small and drops them back into the turf, where they break down and return nitrogen to the soil. It is the best mode for regular mowing through the growing season, and it means you never stop to empty anything. The rule that makes mulching work is simple. Only take off about a third of the blade height at a time. Mow a bit more often and the clippings disappear into the lawn. Leave it three weeks and you will get clumps.
Rear bagging sends everything into the 50L grass box. Use it when the lawn has got ahead of you, when you are about to have people over, or when you are trying to lift seed heads and weed heads off the lawn rather than spread them around.
Rear discharge spreads the clippings out behind the mower without bagging them. This is the one for long or slightly damp grass that would pack solid in a catcher. It leaves more visible clippings on top, but it keeps the mower moving instead of clogging.
Having all three is what makes a mower like this work across spring flush, dry summer and patchy winter growth.
Setting the cutting height
Seven positions, from 19mm to 76mm, cover nearly every common home lawn situation.
Low settings suit fine, dense grasses on level ground. Couch and kikuyu can be kept tight, and the lawn looks sharp. The catch is that low cutting exposes soil to sun, dries it out faster and shows every bump in the ground.
Higher settings are the safer default for most people. Longer leaf shades the soil, holds moisture, crowds out weeds and keeps roots deeper. Buffalo lawns in particular do not like being scalped, and shaded lawns under trees need the extra leaf area to gather what light they get. Through a hot, dry stretch, raising the deck a notch or two is one of the cheapest things you can do for your lawn's health.
A good habit is to drop the height slightly in spring when growth is fast, raise it through summer, then settle somewhere in the middle for autumn.
Weight, storage and the things you notice later
At 21kg without the battery, this mower is in the normal range for a steel-bladed push mower of this size. It is not featherweight, but it is manageable for most adults on flat ground, and the weight helps it track straight rather than skip across the turf.
The handle folds, which matters more than people expect. A mower that stands upright in a corner takes a fraction of the floor space of one parked flat, and in a shared garage that difference is the one you live with every week. Folded, the unit is compact enough to tuck beside shelving.
The security starter key is worth a mention too. The mower will not start without it, so pulling the key when you finish means nobody can set the blade spinning by accident. If there are kids or curious visitors around your shed, drop the key in a drawer rather than leaving it in the machine.
Looking after it
Battery mowers need far less maintenance than petrol ones, but they are not maintenance free.
After each mow, remove the battery and the key, then clear the grass packed under the deck. A brush or a wooden scraper does the job. Packed clippings hold moisture against the metal and slowly rob the deck of airflow, which hurts both cut quality and bagging.
Keep the blade sharp. A dull alloy steel blade tears the grass instead of slicing it, and torn tips brown off within a day or two. If your lawn looks slightly grey or ragged a day after mowing, the blade is usually the reason. Sharpen or replace it with the battery and key removed, following the manual.
Store the battery somewhere dry and moderate. Extreme heat and hard frost both shorten lithium battery life. A shelf inside the garage is better than the boot of a car or an uninsulated metal shed in summer.
Who this mower suits
This is a good fit if your lawn is a typical suburban block in the few hundred square metre range, reasonably level, with grass you mow every week or two in the growing season. It also suits anyone already running Greenworks 40V tools, since the battery is shared.
It is less of a fit for very large properties well over 650 square metres on a single charge, for steep blocks, or for rough paddock-style ground where a heavier self-propelled or ride-on machine earns its keep. It is a push mower, so you supply the forward motion.
The short version
A 46cm cordless lawn mower with a brushless 40V motor does the same job as a small petrol mower with none of the fuss. You get a 45cm cut, seven heights from 19mm to 76mm, a 50L catcher, and the choice to mulch, bag or discharge depending on the week. The kit arrives with a 4Ah battery and fast charger, rated for around 650 square metres on a charge.
Measure your lawn, look at how many obstacles you mow around, and be honest about whether you will mow often enough to mulch. If the answers point to a medium, mostly level yard, this is the right class of machine, and you will never buy another can of petrol for it.