Bosch 06008A6078 Rotak 32-12 Lawnmover, Green

This mower is brilliant! Quiet, sharp cutting blades, collects almost all grass as it goes, it is fantastic. Had a hover mower which was OK for smaller area of grass but it blew grass all over the place when used on a larger area and spent as long clearing up after mowing as mowing itself. This mower looks small but its plenty powerful enough for my garden (around 100 sq m of grass) and creates a great effect, almost the kind of lines you get with a much more expensive mower. Its very easy to clean and store, it is small and light. Some comments about amount of assembly needed but its basically just fitting the handle! Pretty easy actually. If you're looking for a small, powerful mower which collects the grass as you go and leaves a great looking result, buy this one.

I've not had many mowers, but can compare this Bosch Rotak 32-12 to a Flymo hover mower and a petrol mower I've had. I prefer this Bosch mower, so the other two have been passed on.The Flymo I used to have was much more noisy, which wasn't great. This Bosch one is so much more quiet; I happily use this in the evening, knowing that it won't disturb the neighbours. Of course the petrol mower I had was more noisy again. The Flymo didn't work well around the edges of our lawn at all. Those hover mowers need grass underneath for the air to push it up and glide; go over the endge and it drops, digging its blade right into your lawn. This mower on wheels is much better for that. The Flymo also used to blow part of the grass sideways into the garden; this Bosch drops much less when going over the edge.This Bosch mower is lovely and light; people may call it 'flimsy' - to me it's conveniently light and manoeuvrable. The grass collection is really good: I've just cut the lawn which was still wet after two days of rain, but the grass still gets compacted really well. As far as the grass collection bin is concerned, I didn't think assembling it nor assembling the rest of the mower was difficult. Just take your time and get an extra pair of hands to help out if you think you need it. It only took me 10 minutes in total, on my own.You really can't beat this little mower for price either; I got mine on offer for £49.99 including shipping!

The Bosch Rotak is something I bought to replace my Flymo once that was damaged beyond use; as seems to be the case for a lot of people purchasing this model. What first attracted me was the price and the decent reviews that it was receiving, there is a roller on the back which was a bonus, something that most mowers in this price range do not tend to have, and the decent cutting width.The box that contained the mower was not too large or heavy and should be able to be carried/handled by anyone in reasonable health - the mower is lighter than most of its competitors which is a pro.Upon assembly (the most fiddly bit is the grass collection box) the unit is fairly compact, with the grass box attached by 2 light plastic catches located on the upper rear of the mower, the control arms are light metal, whilst they can take the weight of the mower I would not suggest putting a lot of weight against them.The controls of the mower are located at the handle; the activation button and the 'dead man's trigger' which is required to be held to keep the machine active for safety. Both controls are plastic and the trigger has more resistance that I had with the Flymo so that was uncomfortable after some time of use. I don't like the height of the bars and they stick out far from the motor unit so it can mean that you have an unnecessarily large turning circle if you have a lawn that goes to the corners.The cord that comes with it is plenty long enough and can cover a decent size garden, the wheels are plastic and I've had one come off whilst I was turning the mower to do the next length but is easily 'rammed' back onto the axel, but doesn't give me faith that the mechanism that holds the wheel on will have any longevity.The model can cut 3 different lengths, personally I found the longest and the medium setting to be fairly useless so have only used the shortest since I have bought it; this gives an adequate cut - but to be honest I preferred my previous mowers cut. This mower also has channels at the side of the mower meant to guide grass at the edge to the mower blade underneath (I think is meant to be the 'cut to the edge claim') but again they appear to be fairly ineffectual as I find myself using a trimmer for the edges of the lawn still to tidy them up.So the final cut (gettit ;) ) - Yes it's a fine cheap mower but I would not buy it again. If you have a garden you can whip around in 15mins or under regularly then this should be fine, it's not good on lawns with changes of slope (My garden is relatively small but has 2 levels and the ramp between them is never cut properly with the mower) and can struggle with some thick clumps. I found the push bars to be in an uncomfortable position (I am over 6ft in height) and found it to be awkward to manouver due to the handlebar's length from the cutting unit.I'm hoping I can use this for a couple of years to get some value from it but I would definitely buy something more capable in the future.

Impossible to assemble with just the horrible assembly instructions containing a handful of ridiculous diagrams. You will need the Youtube video to do it properly. When it arrived the lower arms could not be filled as the lower drill holes on the mower were too small ! Had to return the whole lot back to the manufacturer under a warranty repair order. It was quite a palaver and I'm just giving you a synopsis so you don't get bored. They sent a brand new replacement, a slightly different model (32 R), which was as cheap and cheerful as you could possibly get. After managing to assemble it eventually, the motor sounds like a small jet engine. Avoid. Just buy something else !