Karcher LMO 18-36 Cordless Battery Lawn Mower Review

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Verdict

The Kärcher LMO 18-36 is a dependable and practical mower. It feels sturdy and the permanently attached handle doesn’t wobble around during use. The wide 36 cm cut width makes short work of smaller lawns, but it’s still narrow enough to fit into corners and through tight gaps. Although it only has four cutting heights, it’s a solid cordless mower option.

Well designed and comfortable

Easy to change cutting heights

Includes a mulching plug

Sluggish charging

Minimum cut height of 30 mm

Key Features

Review Price: £299.99

Adjustable cutting height

Cuts between 30mm and 70mm.

Mulching plug

Comes with a mulching plug, so cuttings can fertilise the lawn

Cordless

Runs off Karcher's 18V batteries

Introduction

Better known for its canary-yellow pressure washers, Karcher also makes a range of garden power tools that run on its reliable 18V battery system, including the Karcher LMO 18-36 Cordless Battery Lawn Mower that I have on review here.

Easy to handle and with some clever features, should this be your next buy for a small- to mid-sized garden? Read on to find out.

Design and Features

Comfortable soft grip handle

Mulching plug and safety key

Only four cutting heights

Something I immediately liked about Karcher LMO 18-36 Cordless Battery Lawn Mower is that the bottom half of the handle is already attached. Compared with many mowers I have reviewed, it feels solid straight out of the box. The top half has an ergonomic handle, curved to make it feel more comfortable. And, it has ambidextrous controls that suit right and left-handed gardeners.

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The battery slots into a neat housing on the front of the mower, also containing the safety key needed to operate the mower. It’s good that the battery itself displays the current charge level, but a shame that this isn’t visible when you’re mowing. Knowing when the battery is about to go flat is a bit of a guessing game.

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And this mower isn’t ideal if you really want to dial in a specific lawn height. The handsome T-shaped handle works well, and the cutting deck is sprung for easy changing, but there’s just four heights to choose from between 30mm and 70 mm. That’s a little high on the lowest setting if you want more of a bowling-green appearance to your lawn.

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There are two options for dealing with the grass clippings. You can collect them in the 45 litre fabric box on the back or insert the mulching plug and leave your clippings on the lawn for fertiliser.

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Weighing in at a touch over 13 kg, the Karcher LMO 18-36 Cordless Battery Lawn Mower is about right for a mower of this cutting width (36cm). It’s easy enough to carry over obstacles and up a few steps thanks to a big carry handle and decent weight distribution.

Performance

Easy to handle

Effective grass collection

Slow charging

Setting up the LMO 18-36 for its first cut is easy. The bottom half of the handle is already attached, so all I had to do was bolt on the top half before getting on with mowing.

Handling and manoeuvrability are good. The underside of the cutting deck has combs that help to pull grass into the blades, leaving a decent finish on the grass. I managed just under 25 minutes mowing before the battery needed a recharge.

Mowing on the lowest setting, 30mm, is a bit high if you’re aiming for a bowling-green-type finish, but it’s fine for everyday lawns. For something lower, take a look at the Stihl RMA 248.3 that gets all the way down to 20 mm.

The Karcher LMO 18-36 Cordless Lawn Mower is rated to mow up to 350m² on a single charge, enough for a medium-sized lawn. And that’s a good thing too, because charging the 5.0 Ah battery takes just over 90 minutes.

Sluggish charging aside, changing mowing heights is simple and the grass collection box works well. It even has a comfortable handle, and the mulching plug slots in easily. The only thing missing is a collection box full indicator found on a lot of other mowers.

Should you buy it?

You own other Karcher cordless tools

The batteries are interchangeable, so you can always have a fully charged one to hand. If you value build quality over features, this is an excellent choice.

You have a garden much bigger than 350 m²

The 90-minute charging time is a bit sluggish compared to the competition, so avoid this if you don’t like waiting for batteries to recharge.

Final Thoughts The Karcher LMO 18-36 Cordless Battery Lawn Mower is a solidly built mower that’s made to last. It might lack a charge level indicator or a huge range of cutting heights, but it’s a good choice for small-to-medium-sized gardens. If you have a larger garden or want more cutting height choices, read our guide to the best cordless lawn mowers .

How We Test We test every lawn mower we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.

Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy .

Used as our main lawn mower for the review period Used on a variety of grass lengths to see how well the mower cuts Tested to see how easy the mower is to push, turn and store

FAQs

Is the Karcher LMO 18-36 Cordless Battery Lawn Mower’s battery compatible with other Karcher tools? Yes, this lawn mower uses the same 18V battery type as the company’s other cordless tools.