Cordless Lawnmower Review: Gtech CLM50 Insights

Design and Features

• Single cutting blade
• Comfy foam wrapped handlebar
• Doesn’t stand up on its end easily

My first impression of the CLM50 was good. A handsomely designed mower that looks a little bit like a Formula 1 car, it’s miles away from some bulky and bland mowers.

The CLM50 runs on Gtech’s 48 Volt battery system with a capacity of 2.0 Ah. It might not sound like much, but it has a 40-minute runtime, which is better than a lot of the competition. There’s a handy battery charge level indicator on it, and the charger is just as impressive. It can take a dead battery back to 100% in just 60 minutes.

It’s good to see a large safety key on top of the mower body that should stop curious children from using the mower. Like a key in a car, you need to insert and turn it to switch on the mower.

You can change cutting heights from 30 – 80 mm with a big chunky handle. The deck is sprung as well, which makes it much easier to adjust. Another impressive feature is the large capacity 50 litre grass collection box, a semi-rigid fabric bag that also has a full indicator flap.

This mower has a 42cm cut width, which is ideal for medium-sized gardens. It means fewer passes over the lawn to get an even finish, but at the expense of not quite fitting between shrubs and into tight corners.

Something quite different about Gtech’s lawnmower is the blade. Unlike most rotary mowers that use a knife with blades on both ends, the CLM50 has an “Omniblade”, or a single cutting blade that’s weighted on the other end. The point being that it uses less energy and increases the mower’s efficiency.

When it comes to storing the mower away, an all-important feature is sadly missing. Although I could prop it up on its end, I would prefer it if this mower was designed to be stowed away upright as it takes up far less space. For more ideas, take a look at our guide to cordless lawnmowers.

Performance

• Fast, effortless setup
• Powerful, low noise performance
• Fast 60 minute recharge

The first thing you need to do with any cordless lawnmower is get set up for its first use, however, that’s not the case with the Gtech CLM50. The handle is already attached, which saves time and fiddling around. All I needed to do was extend the handle, do up the cam bolts in the middle, and it was ready for work.

To help stretch the battery life, the onboard motor can sense resistance. The motor only revs up to full power if it feels like it’s pushing through long or tough grass. This feature works well; it ramps up quickly enough to tackle big clumps of grass without needing to mow over the same spot twice.

The mowing heights of 30 – 80 mm are fine if you like longer grass, but this mower won’t produce bowling green short grass- the sweet spot between 20-25 mm. Something I really like about this mower is the lack of noise. Running at less than 80 dB, it’s ideal for mowing without annoying the neighbours too much.

My initial concerns around the Omniblade, the single cutting blade underneath the deck, were happily proved wrong. The quality of cut is excellent, and having only one carbon steel blade to sharpen should save time and effort in the future. Overall, it’s one of the better premium cordless electric lawnmowers I’ve had the chance to test this year.

Should you buy it?