Stihl built its reputation on chainsaws, and that engineering culture carries straight into the lawn mower range. Pick up a Stihl mower and the first thing you notice is the weight, balance, and finish of a piece of professional kit, not a domestic appliance. The handles do not flex when you push. The deck does not rattle under the bag. The starter pulls clean on the first stroke even after a winter in the shed. The premium price has put off plenty of buyers who would rather spend half as much on a Flymo, but for the gardener who is going to own this mower for fifteen years, the cost per year is far lower than it looks. The question is not whether a Stihl is worth the money. It is which Stihl matches your garden.
The current mower range splits into three families. The RM petrol series is the traditional power option for medium and larger lawns. The RMA cordless series uses Stihl’s interchangeable AK and AP battery system, so the same battery powers the mower, hedge trimmer, strimmer and blower. The RMI series is the iMow robotic range, designed to be left running unattended on a schedule. Each family has clear strengths, and choosing the right one starts with measuring your lawn and counting the obstacles inside it.
RM 248 and RM 248 T: The Petrol Workhorses
The RM 248 is the entry-level petrol push mower in the current range, retailing around £369/$465 from authorised Stihl dealers. It has a 46cm (18 inch) cutting width, a sheet steel deck, single-point height adjustment from 20-100mm (0.8 to 4 inches), and a 55-litre grass box. The Kohler engine is rated for lawns up to 1,200 square metres on a full tank, which covers most suburban gardens with plenty of margin. At 30kg, it is the lightest petrol model in the range, easy to manoeuvre around flower beds and through narrow side gates.
Step up to the RM 248 T self-propelled version at around £449/$565 and the same mower becomes effortless on slopes and longer cuts. The self-propelled drive engages with a single bail lever and pulls the mower forward at a steady walking pace, leaving you to steer rather than push. The reason this is worth paying for is fatigue. On a 500 square metre lawn, a non-propelled mower means walking eight kilometres while pushing 30kg ahead of you. The self-propelled version turns the same job into walking exercise without the strain on your back, knees, and shoulders. If your lawn has any slope, or if you mow it weekly through summer, the £80/$100 upgrade pays for itself in physical wear and tear within the first season.
The 4-in-1 designation means the deck can mulch, side-discharge, rear-discharge, or collect into the bag, controlled by a single lever and a mulching plug supplied in the box. Mulching returns finely chopped clippings to the lawn, where they break down within a week and release roughly 30% of the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium the grass used to grow them, which is effectively a free feed across the season. Collecting is the traditional bag-it-and-bin-it approach, useful for the first cut after rain or when the grass has grown long. Side-discharge spreads cuttings out across the lawn surface and is the fastest option for cutting an overgrown lawn before going back over it with the collector.
RMA 248 and RMA 248.3: The Battery Alternatives
The RMA 248 cordless mower costs around £519/$655 as a bare unit, or £719/$905 with a single AK 30 battery and charger. It uses the same 46cm cutting width and seven cutting heights from 25 to 75mm (1 to 3 inches), with a 55-litre grass collector. On the supplied AK 30 battery it cuts roughly 250 square metres on a single charge. Charging time is 205 minutes, which is the practical limitation of single-battery operation. For lawns over 250 square metres you need a second battery, or the higher capacity AK 30 S that extends run time to around 350 square metres.
The headline appeal of the RMA range is the AK battery system. If you already own a Stihl AK strimmer or hedge trimmer, the same battery slots straight into the mower, so the marginal cost is just the mower body. If you do not, the platform investment makes more sense at the point you are buying multiple tools rather than just a mower. A bare unit price of £519/$655 looks expensive against a Honda or Mountfield petrol equivalent at the same money, but it is cheap once you factor in the second tool you would otherwise have bought standalone.
The RMA 248.3 is a 2024-2025 update with refined ergonomics, a quieter motor, and a slightly larger grass box. It is the model most retailers stock at the time of writing. Performance is essentially identical to the original RMA 248 for most lawns, but the noise difference is noticeable if you are mowing early on a Sunday morning. Stihl rates it at 80 decibels at the operator’s ear, compared with 95-98 decibels for an equivalent petrol model. That is the difference between a phone conversation being possible mid-mow and being completely impossible.
RMI iMow: The Hands-Off Option
If you want to stop thinking about mowing entirely, the iMow robotic range is where Stihl puts its premium engineering. The RMI 422 P starts around £1,499/$1,890 and handles lawns up to 800 square metres. It charges from a base station, mows in a random pattern, and returns to charge whenever the battery runs low. The RMI 632 P handles up to 3,000 square metres with multiple zones programmable through the iMow app, and retails closer to £3,500/$4,415. The advantage of the Stihl iMow over the budget robot mower market is build quality and dealer support. If something fails three years in, an authorised Stihl dealer fixes it, while many import brands are essentially disposable when out of warranty.
Robot mowers work best on relatively flat lawns without complex obstacle layouts. The boundary wire installation takes a half-day for a typical garden and limits where the machine will go. Children’s toys, garden hoses, and fallen sticks can confuse the navigation. The cutting principle is fundamentally different from a conventional mower because the iMow takes only a few millimetres off the top per pass and runs almost daily, keeping the lawn permanently at the same height. The result is a finer, denser sward than periodic mowing produces, but it requires you to let the robot do the work and resist the temptation to top it up with a push mower.
Which Stihl Actually Suits Your Garden
For a flat suburban lawn of 200 to 600 square metres, the RMA 248.3 battery model is the easiest recommendation. It starts instantly, runs quietly, and the AK battery system gives you the option of adding other tools cheaply over time. If the lawn has slopes, awkward edges, or extends beyond 600 square metres, the petrol RM 248 T is more practical because the self-propelled drive does the work and the full tank covers ground that would need a second battery on a cordless model.
For lawns above 1,200 square metres, step up to the RM 545 series or consider whether a ride-on mower would actually save you more time. For lawns under 200 square metres where you want professional finish quality, look at the cylinder RL 540 or one of the more compact RMA models. And for the gardener who wants to stop mowing altogether, the iMow range pays for itself in time and consistent presentation across a season. Stihl’s price premium against budget brands looks steep on day one. Counted across a decade of weekly use, it is one of the cheapest decisions in any garden. For more on comparing options, see our guides to why battery mowers have become the best choice for most gardens and why Honda lawn mowers last 20 years.
