Reviews for the season at hand

Hand the worst job in your backyard to a machine

We test the expensive machines that take the worst jobs in your backyard. A robotic pool cleaner and a remote control slope mower have almost nothing in common as hardware. They solve the same problem: a job that is miserable, dangerous or both, and a homeowner who would rather buy their way out of it.

Start with the pool comparison Our testing method

Turn the dial

Spring

Opening season: the ranked comparison, and what the money actually buys as you climb the range.
Above ground pools: why the same machine behaves differently in a soft walled pool.
Before you buy: what a pool costs to run in a year, so the machine is judged against the right number.
First cut on the bank: how steep the ground really is, and the two answers that cost nothing.

Summer

Full duty: individual machines reviewed one at a time, drawbacks included.
Cordless or corded: the trade the battery makes, told without the marketing.
Saltwater pools: the case against treating saltwater as its own product category.
Growing season: slope ratings decoded, and which machine suits which kind of rough ground.

Fall

Close down cleaning: which type of vacuum suits the job, before any ranking.
Inground pools: waterline, wall and slope, the three places cheap machines quit.
Season totals: where the yearly money really goes, with every figure dated.

Winter

Off season research: a flagship machine reviewed in full, including why we do not recommend it.
Read the verdicts: the reviews hub, where each machine is taken on its own terms.
How we test: the method every page on this site is held to.
Nothing to mow: the category explained and compared, including why so few people have ever seen one.

Departments

The Pool

Robot cleaners judged on what they finish, not what the box claims.

Read the department

The Verdicts

One machine at a time, including the ones we end up advising against.

Read the department

Slopes & Rough Ground

The ground a riding mower should not be on, and what to send up it instead.

Read the department

Verified and dated Every price carries the date we checked it, and the build refuses to ship a stale one.

Counsel, not hype Every machine gets drawbacks. A review with no drawbacks is a sales page.

We say when we cannot earn Where we have no affiliate link for a product, the page says so instead of hiding it.

Standing references

A rectangular backyard swimming pool with still, dark water, bordered by stone coping and a wide mown lawn, with trees and a mountain ridge behind it in early morning light — Both halves of this site in one frame. The water is one job and the grass is another, they share no hardware at all, and what they have in common is the owner standing between them on a Saturday morning.

What this site is for

These machines cost between one and four thousand dollars. At that price the honest questions are not the ones a manufacturer answers on its own product page: what does it fail at, what does the return actually cost you if it goes wrong, and is the cheaper class of machine genuinely enough. Those are the questions we build pages around.

We are still early. The pool side is live and the slope mower side follows. Rather than fill this page with categories that do not exist yet, we would rather it stayed short and true.

How we are paid

Some links to manufacturers are affiliate links, so a purchase made through one can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. We do not take payment for a ranking, a score or a verdict, and we do not run sponsored reviews. The full disclosure explains exactly how it works.