Enough that the deck is not flexing and the catcher actually fits. Beyond that, price on this shelf buys drive, mass and convenience rather than a better cut.
What more money reliably buys
A stiffer deck. A pressed steel or a thick moulded deck holds its shape under a blade that is throwing air; a thin one flexes, and a flexing deck loses the airflow that lifts grass before it is cut. This is the single most consequential difference between the bottom and the middle of the shelf, and no listing states it.
A drive. Self-propulsion appears part way up the range and is worth having on a slope or a heavy machine.
Height adjustment that works. The cheapest machines adjust each wheel separately, which means four operations and four chances to set one wrong. A central lever is a convenience that gets used; four wheel bolts are a convenience that does not.
A catcher that seats. A bag that does not sit properly spills at the join, and the machine then leaves a line of clippings along every pass. The fit is a build-quality matter and it is visible only in use.
What more money does not buy
Cut quality as a specification. Nothing in the safety standard behind these machines measures it, and no maker publishes a figure for it.
A larger stated area in any meaningful sense. That figure is an assumption, and it scales with what the maker decided rather than with the build.
A quieter machine, necessarily. The guaranteed sound power level is determined by the power source and the blade speed far more than by the price, and an expensive petrol mower is louder than a cheap mains one.
Where the real difference is on this shelf
Two places. The first is the pack, on cordless machines: the cheapest listing in a cordless family is very often the one supplied without a battery, and comparing its price with a complete kit compares cartons rather than machines. This site marks that in the row.
The second is parts availability, which nothing in a listing reveals. A blade for a machine from an established range remains orderable; for a one-season import it does not, and the blade shelf here shows which machines the aftermarket actually serves.
The questions that keep coming in
Are the very cheap mowers a false economy?
Not automatically. A small plastic-decked mains mower on a small flat lawn is a reasonable article and there is little in it to go wrong. The false economy is buying one for a lawn it was never meant for, where it labours and the deck flexes.
Do brand names matter on this shelf?
They matter for parts. A blade, a catcher or a wheel for a machine from an established range is a catalogue item years later; for an import sold under a name that appears for one season, it is not. That is a real cost and it arrives late.
Last reviewed 26 September 2026