Gardena SILENO city

The SILENO flex is Gardena's 2025 redesign for the US and, at $599, the cheapest wired mower here from a major brand. It fixes the biggest complaint about the older SILENO City and Life: cut height now runs 1 to 4 in instead of topping out at 2 in, so it finally suits cool-season American lawns. Coverage is up to 8,600 sq ft, slopes up to 35%, and a 10 in cut on an 18V 3.6Ah pack gives about 90 minutes of mowing per 60-minute charge. Navigation is boundary wire plus a guide wire, which is still the most precise way to keep a robot out of the flower beds and lets it thread narrow corridors. It mows in the rain (there is no rain sensor by design, only a frost sensor), is quiet at 60 dB, and is hose-washable. The trade-offs are Gardena's usual ones: the app is Bluetooth-only with roughly a 33 ft range, so no remote start, notifications or GPS, and obstacle handling is a bumper. Anti-theft is a PIN plus a lift alarm. Versus the Worx Landroid M (around $900 street) you get a taller cut and a lower price but lose Wi-Fi control; versus a wire-free Segway Navimow i105 at $999 you give up couch control for a system that never loses satellite lock. Best for small, complex lawns under 0.2 acre where a wire is acceptable and quiet matters.

Best for Small, wire-friendly lawns up to about 0.2 acre where a quiet, cheap mower with a tall cut range matters more than remote app control.

The SILENO minimo is Gardena's smallest, quietest mower and, at about $530 on Amazon, the cheapest way to get a European-built robot onto a tiny lawn. It is rated for 2,700 sq ft, climbs 35%, and at 57 dB is about as loud as a refrigerator, so nobody will notice it running at 2 am. Setup is boundary wire and a single guide wire; CorridorCut lets it pass through gaps down to about 24 in, and SensorControl adjusts how often it mows to how fast the grass is growing. It runs about 65 minutes per cycle on its 18V pack and recharges in 75. Now the limits: cut height maxes out at 1.8 in, which is too short for fescue or bluegrass and really aims it at Bermuda, zoysia and other warm-season grass; the app is Bluetooth-only with a 33 ft range, so no remote start or alerts; there is no rain sensor (it simply mows wet), no edge mode, and obstacle handling is a bumper. Gardena has shifted its US lineup to the SILENO flex ($599, 1 to 4 in cut, 8,600 sq ft), and the minimo appears to be selling down remaining Amazon stock, so treat it as a closeout buy rather than a long-term platform. Against a Worx Landroid S it is quieter and cheaper but far less connected. Best for a postage-stamp warm-season lawn where silence and price beat features.

Best for Tiny warm-season lawns where a near-silent, sub-$600 wired mower is more important than app features or a tall cut.

The SILENO life 750 is a wider cut than the city and minimo: an 8.7 in disc against the 6.3 in on the city and minimo, rated for 8,100 sq ft and 35% slopes, at about $715 on Amazon for the US-spec 15101-41. The larger deck is the whole argument. It covers the same 65-minute mowing cycle and 60-minute charge as the city but clears a lawn in fewer passes, and at 58 dB it is still quiet enough to run at night. Setup is boundary wire plus guide wire with CorridorCut for gaps down to about 24 in, SensorControl scales the schedule to growth, it mows in the rain by design (frost sensor only), and it rinses off with a hose. Anti-theft steps up from the city to a PIN plus an alarm. What has not changed is the 0.8 to 2.0 in cut range, which rules out fescue and bluegrass at a healthy height, and the Bluetooth-only app, which means walking within about 33 ft to change anything and no alerts when it gets stuck. Obstacle handling is a bumper unless you add Gardena's optional radar. Gardena's international site lists the life as a legacy model, and the 1000 size (15102-20, 10,800 sq ft) has no published US price, so treat the 750 as the last of the line. The $599 SILENO flex cuts wider still at 10 in and climbs steeper ground, so the life is the pick only when its lower price or quieter 58 dB matters more.

Best for Warm-season lawns up to about 0.2 acre that want a wide-cutting, quiet wired Gardena and can live with a Bluetooth-only app.

The Landroid S is the entry point to the Worx wired family: the same bump-and-turn platform as the M and L, shrunk to a 7.1 in three-blade disc, a 20V 2.0Ah Power Share pack and a 1/8 acre (5,445 sq ft) rating. Worx lists it at $999.99, which is hard to justify next to its own M at $1,199.99 list, but the street story is different - it has carried a $749.99 list at Amazon and Woot, open-box units have cleared around $630, and third-party reviewers quote it near $600, so treat the Worx price as a ceiling. The box is the full install kit: 820 ft of wire and 340 pegs, which is far more wire than an eighth-acre lawn needs. Once pegged it behaves like its siblings - AIA navigation through narrow passages without a guide wire, the off-center Cut to Edge blade, a self-leveling floating disc, a rain sensor, and 59 dB running. The trade-offs are a 30% slope ceiling, a 2.4 in maximum cut height that is too low for tall fescue, a small 2.0Ah pack that means frequent dock trips, and no obstacle sensing beyond the bumper. Against the Gardena SILENO flex at $599 with a 35% rating you pay more for the Worx app and battery ecosystem; against a Segway Navimow i105N at $799 you keep the wire but skip the RTK antenna.

Best for Small, flat lawns under an eighth of an acre whose owner already has Worx 20V tools and will buy on a street-price deal rather than at list.

The NX100i is Yard Force's entry-level wired robot for US big-box shelves: $799 at yardforceusa.com, stocked at Home Depot and Lowe's, rated for 1/3 acre (14,520 sq ft) on a 28V pack that runs 80 to 90 minutes per charge. It cuts a narrow 7 in swath with a three-blade mulching disc across five height settings from 1.3 to 2.9 in, so it suits lawns kept short rather than a 3.5 in fescue cut. Yard Force claims 40% slopes, and the differentiator over most sub-$1,000 wired mowers is the iRadar ultrasonic sensor pair on the nose that slows and steers around furniture, pets and toys before the bumper touches them; a rain sensor, lift and tilt cutouts and a PIN lock are standard. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth feed the CloudHawk app for schedules, remote start and height changes, but there is no GPS, cellular or mapping - it mows in a random pattern inside the wire like any classic robot. One hands-on review called it small for its rating and found a full 1/3-acre lawn took two days of scheduled runs to finish, which is the trade-off for the 7 in deck; retail customer reviews mostly praise how easy it is to start and how compactly it stores. Against the Worx Landroid M WR147 ($902, 1/4 acre, 3-year warranty) the NX100i is cheaper, covers more and adds ultrasonic sensing, but gives up a year of coverage and Worx's cut-to-edge blade.

Best for A small, uncomplicated lawn up to 1/3 acre kept on the short side, for a buyer who wants the cheapest robot with real obstacle sensing.

The Landroid M is Worx's quarter-acre boundary-wire mower and, thanks to the 20V Power Share battery it shares with every other Worx tool, it is usually one of the cheapest ways into robot mowing that still comes with a real app. Worx lists it at $1,199.99, but it sells for around $900 on Amazon and Walmart has been clearing it below $800, so shop around. Setup is the classic wire job: 820 feet of wire and 340 pegs are in the box, and plan on an afternoon of pegging. Once running, the AIA algorithm handles narrow passages without a guide wire, the off-center blade genuinely cuts to the edge, the floating blade disc lifts over bumps, and at 59 dB it is quiet enough to run at night. The catch is what it lacks: no camera or ultrasonic sensor in the box, so it bumps into anything the wire does not exclude, and there is no GPS tracking unless you buy the Find My Landroid module. Against the Gardena SILENO flex at $599 you pay more for a 3.5 in top cut height and Wi-Fi control; against the wire-free Landroid Vision you save several hundred dollars but do the wire work yourself. Best for flat, fairly open yards under a quarter acre owned by someone who already has Worx batteries in the garage.

Best for Budget buyers with a flat, open lawn under a quarter acre who already own Worx 20V tools.