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Cylinder mower buying guide

Updated: October 2026

You already mow a small, fairly level lawn most weeks, and the amazon.co.uk list mixes a hand reel at about £57.95 with battery kits and Gardena titles that say cordless. This cylinder mower buying guide orders the decisions: how often you will cut, what is in the carton, then width, the grass box, and whether a rear roller is named. Pounds, stars, and specification clashes stay on the [cylinder mower comparison](/hub/lawn-and-garden-equipment/cylinder-mower). Peter F. read those listings on 22 October 2026. This was not a mow test. A qualifying purchase through our links can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

You already mow a small, fairly level lawn most weeks, and the amazon.co.uk list mixes a hand reel at about £57.95 with battery kits and Gardena titles that say cordless.

Our top picks

Gardena Gardena Classic 330

Best overall

Gardena Gardena Classic 330
8.8/10about £124.29
View offer
Gardena Gardena Comfort 330

Best value

Gardena Gardena Comfort 330
8.8/10about £101.95
View offer
Einhell Einhell GE-HM 18/38 Li

Alternative

Einhell Einhell GE-HM 18/38 Li
8.0/10about £129.95
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.Start with the lawn, not the brand
  2. 2.Hand push, kit, or solo body
  3. 3.Width, box, and roller
  4. 4.Numbers to leave as a conflict

Start with the lawn, not the brand

A cylinder mower cuts like scissors: blades on a spinning reel meet a fixed bottom blade. The Royal Horticultural Society calls that the fine cut for an ornamental lawn, and says a sharp rotary or a hover suits most domestic gardens. If you cannot mow at least weekly while the grass is growing, a reel is a poor only mower. Ordinary UK lawns are about 13–25 mm in summer and up to about 40 mm in spring and autumn. Fine lawns are about 6–13 mm. Never take more than about a third of the height in one pass. A reel can scalp a hollow, so a flat lawn matters more than the brand. If that is not your garden, cylinder mower vs rotary mower is the honest exit.

Hand push, kit, or solo body

Most of this set is a manual push reel. The Ark Mat at about £57.95 and the Gardena hand mowers, from the Comfort 330 at about £101.95 up to the Fiskars StaySharp Max at about £288.27, have no motor. The Fiskars bullets put the weight at 23.5 kg against a 20 kg specification line, so the lift indoors is part of the price. The Wild Edge WRLM20 at about £135.38 and the Yard Force LM C38A at about £189.99 are kits, each with a 20 V 4.0 Ah pack and a charger. The packs are not interchangeable, and you still walk the mower. The Einhell GE-HM 18/38 Li at about £129.95 is the solo body, without battery and charger. Add a Power X-Change pack you do not already own before you compare it with a kit. On the Comfort 330, Comfort 400 and Plus 400, cordless means no cable, not a battery in the box.
Gardena Gardena Classic 330

Testsieger

Gardena Gardena Classic 330
8.8/10about £124.29
View offer

Width, box, and roller

Cutting width runs from 300 mm on the Ark Mat to 46 cm on the Fiskars. The 33 cm Comfort 330 and Classic 330 state up to 150 m². Gardena’s UK page for the Comfort 330 prints ±20 per cent on that figure. The Classic 400 states 200 m² at 40 cm. The Comfort 400 and the Plus 400 state 250 m². The Einhell highlight says up to 400 m² at 38 cm. BBC Gardeners’ World’s ceiling of about 250 m² for a push cylinder is their rule of thumb, not a test of these listings. The Ark Mat title names an 18 litre bag. The Comfort 330 and Classic 330 say without a catcher. The Fiskars catcher, article 1000592, is sold separately. A rear roller is named on the Ark Mat title and in the Yard Force bullets only. The Ark Mat style name still says Rotary.

Numbers to leave as a conflict

Some specification cells fight the bullets. The Classic 330 lines say a 12 mm minimum and a 16 cm maximum. The Plus 400 prints 0.04 mm, which the bullets use as a blade gap, not as the length of grass left. Gram weights of 37 g and 400 g are not credible. The Yard Force bullets say 14–43 mm and the specification says 14–43 cm. The Einhell agrees with itself at 14, 23, 32 and 38 mm. A GS mark on the Fiskars page is German, not a UK approval. If a cell and a bullet disagree, leave the clash on the comparison.

Common questions

Do I need a cylinder mower if the lawn is ordinary and bumpy?
Probably not as your only mower. The RHS points most domestic lawns towards a rotary or a hover, and a cylinder towards a very fine ornamental cut on ground you can keep level and short. A bump that a reel will scalp is a reason to leave this category. Sorting the comparison by price will not turn a reel into a rough-grass tool.
What should I decide before the cutting width?
Decide whether you will mow little and often on a flat lawn, then whether you want a hand reel, a 20 V kit with the pack in the box, or an 18 V body that still needs a battery. Width, the grass box, and a named roller come after that.
Why does a Gardena title say cordless when the specification says manual?
On the Comfort 330, Comfort 400 and Plus 400, cordless in the title means there is no cable. The power source is hand-powered. It is not the same offer as the Wild Edge or Yard Force kit, which include a 20 V 4.0 Ah battery and a charger. Read the power cell before you compare those shelf prices.
Is the Einhell price a complete kit?
No. The GE-HM 18/38 Li at about £129.95 is listed without a battery and charger. The bullets say it can also be pushed with no pack fitted, and that a Power X-Change 18 V pack fits. Add the cost of a pack if you do not already own one before you compare it with either 20 V kit in this set.
Which numbers on the listing should I ignore?
Leave gram weights of 37 g and 400 g, a 0.04 mm figure that is a blade gap rather than a cutting height, and centimetre cells that contradict millimetre bullets. The Comfort 330’s 12–42 mm, and the Einhell’s four millimetre steps, are the lines that agree with themselves.

Related pages

Best cylinder mower

How to stripe a lawn with a cylinder mower

Cylinder mower

How to use a cylinder mower without a bad first cut

Cylinder mower vs rotary mower: which fits the week

Sources

Public UK sources and the amazon.co.uk listings for this set. Retrieved 22 October 2026.

  1. RHS: lawn mowing (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  2. RHS: how to mow a lawn (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  3. Noise Emission in the Environment by Equipment for use Outdoors Regulations 2001, Schedule 3 (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  4. GOV.UK: noise nuisances, how councils deal with complaints (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  5. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 22 (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  6. GOV.UK: Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  7. Gardena UK: Comfort 330 manual cylinder mower (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  8. Gardena UK: Classic 330 cylinder mower (retrieved 22.10.2026)