Mountfield Electress 34 Li Cordless Lawn Mower Review

The Mountfield Electress 34 Li Cordless lawn mower is ideal if you want a no-nonsense, well-built cordless lawn mower that will trim your urban garden lawn quickly and efficiently. It's perfect for your average-sized suburban garden and good for a little bit more if you have a larger outdoor space. 

Mountfield suggests it's an ideal choice for gardens up to 250m2, so it was more than capable of tackling my own 30m2 lawn for the first cut of spring and beyond.

The grass had been left to its own devices for a good while and was heading to well over 12 inches in a few parts, but the main area was nearer six inches in patches. As the first test was the first cut of spring I made sure that there were a few dry days before deciding to cut. But, to give the Electress 34 Li a real test, I performed two more cuts two weeks apart; one in damp conditions, the other dry.   

Here I share the results and reveal why the Mountfield Electress 34 Li cordless lawn mower could be one of the best cordless lawn mowers around for small gardens.

First Impressions of the Mountfield Electress 34 Li

I couldn’t wait for delivery day to arrive, but I had no idea what size the Electress 34 Li was going to be. Is it going to fit down the hall? Or was I going to have to use the side access gate? 

There were no problems. The box measured 71 x 42 x 43cm and weighed in at 13kg, so it was pretty easy to manoeuvre through the house, out the back door and into the garden ready to be unpacked.

What I liked about the packaging was that it was low key with simple black print on standard brown cardboard making it obvious that it was environmentally-friendly and of course recyclable. I was just hoping that the packaging inside the box was recyclable as well. 

After gently running a knife along the strong packing tape it was time to reveal what was inside. Neatly packaged in – we are pleased to say – recyclable plastic, all the components were strategically placed and ready to emerge from the box without any hassle.

In my excitement I did struggle to get the handle out as it was attached to the main body of the mower, which was hidden under the grass collector. So I needed to put it to one side and remove the grass collector before I could get the mower out. But no harm done.    

The main body of the mower felt strong and sturdy and looked good in its Mountfield red, grey and black, and the hefty battery charger with its duo of Lithium-ion batteries gave the impression that this is a lawnmower that means business. 

Assembly Took Less than Five Minutes

With few components to put together getting the Electress 34 Li ready for action was pretty straightforward. A quick glance at the instructions confirmed where everything should go. 

Starting with the bottom half of the handle there were two predefined positions to choose from. One more upright than the other, but both worked perfectly well. But the design means you can think outside the box and adjust a little higher or a little lower to suit your needs. 

Deep notches made sure that the handle fitted securely to the body. The quick release handles needed a bit of tweaking to get right, but once sorted they were easy to operate if you wanted to change positions.

The top part of the handle was a little more difficult to fit. An extra pair of hands would definitely make it much easier and quicker to screw into place. There’s a bit of flexibility in the positioning, allowing you to adjust the height. But in reality there’s not a lot to play with due to the length of the cord, but it doesn’t affect how you use the mower. 

Even without the extra pair of hands it still took less than five minutes to put together. All that was left to do was slip on the grass collector and charge up the batteries. 

Testing out the Battery Life

As a cordless mower, this Mountfield model doesn’t rely on your electric supply and long, ungainly cords. The kit comes with a couple of chunky, partly charged Lithium-ion batteries and a battery charger — which will need your electric supply. 

I decided to fully charge before fitting to make sure that I got the maximum mows out of them when I added them. This took 60 minutes for all four bars to go green.

Obviously it will take longer when the batteries are out of power — around 140 minutes according to Mountfield. But it makes sense to charge them up before they run out of juice, so you are always ready for your new mowing session.

The batteries are really easy to install — you literally plug in via the hidden compartment and you are ready to go. 

How long does a full charge last? Mountfield quotes around 30 minutes depending on conditions. They are definitely underselling themselves here. I did three mowing sessions – around 40-45 minutes in total – and there were still two out of four bars showing on the battery. 

How did I know? Tap the button on the battery and it lits the bars up for a few seconds. Simple but a really useful feature. So I reckon there’s at least an hour's worth of mowing time on full charge. 

Taking the Mountfield Electress 34 Li For a Spin

A lift and push start powered up the motor — no throaty roars here, but a smooth and reasonably quiet hum tells you that the Mountfield is ready for action. 

The Electress 34 Li is lightweight and easy to manoeuvre – a couple of traits you need in any mower – which made cutting grass a pretty painless experience. I would have liked to have seen a chunkier grip for more comfort, but the handle did its job OK.

The 34cm cutting width is pretty standard for this size and type of mower; an ideal choice for smaller gardens. I decided not to hold back and went straight for the lowest cutting height of the six – 25mm – to see how the Electress 34 Li would cope with the longer grass. There was a noticeable slow down, but it still ploughed on through for a decent cut. 

But, that’s what the other heights are there for. For longer grass simply switch heights via the easy to use handle, which you can do in mid mow without stopping if you need.

The wheels neatly line up with the outer edge of the mower blade cover meaning you can get pretty close to walls and patio edges, but you‘re still going to need to get out your shears or strimmer to finish the job. 

The fold down grass collector is sturdy and simple to attach – like most mowers – and offers 35 litres which is adequate for a single mow. But as it fills it struggles to keep the grass in the collector leaving loose grass on the lawn. Obviously, to remedy this, all you need to do is empty it and start again — I only needed to do this once for each cut. 

After a hard half hour’s work, it's always a good idea to give your mower a clean. A circuit breaker next to the batteries makes sure that you can do this safely, while the mower design makes it quick and easy to get rid any grass. 

Finally, one thing I would have liked to have seen was a foldable handle for better storage. It’s OK if you have a large shed, but the handle length means you need to do a bit of maneuvering to ensure it fits in a smaller shed. (I have a 7x5 foot shed.) You can remove the top half of the handle via the quick release handles, but who wants to do that every time you use the mower? 

About our Review — and Reviewer

Steven Jenkins is Homebuilding & Renovating's Content Editor, specialising in DIY content. He has over 20 years of experience as an editor, writer, and reviewer, and is at his happiest giving the lowdown on how to achieve your DIY dreams and make your home and garden the best it can be.

Currently residing in sunny Bournemouth, he lives in a Victorian semi and is part-way through a long renovation — of both house and garden. The latter includes a suburban lawn that is slowly recovering from years of kids' playtime and finally getting the love and attention it deserves. 

We are not given any compensation by Mountfield for our reviews, but may be allowed to keep the product, meaning we can test it over a greater length of time, and update this review if required.