Worx WG749E review: All the mower you need for a bigger garden

For all the convenience of cordless mowers, there are still sectors of the market where petrol rules supreme. Looking for a big mower for an equally big garden, one with a cutting width of over 45cm? Go for petrol. Looking for something that can tackle rough, tough areas of grass without a pause? Think petrol. How about a mower for professional use, with a self-drive motor to cover sports fields, large lawns or parks? Again, petrol is the way to go. Some of the best lawn mowers on the market are petrol mowers.

Only, things are changing. As you will have noticed, petrol isn’t getting any cheaper and there are a lot of people looking for a more eco-friendly alternative. At the same time, we’re also seeing cordless mowers that can match a petrol mower on nearly every count. Two years ago I tested the Husqvarna LC 347iVX – a superb pro-quality cordless mower with tons of power and a 46cm cutting deck – and came away hugely impressed. And now we have the new Worx WG749E, which is almost as impressive and costs a whole lot less.

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Worx WG749E review: What do you get for the money?

This is a big, chunky mower weighing roughly 30kg with a sizable 46cm cutting deck. It’s powered by two 20V 4.0A PowerShare Pro batteries, which Worx has paired with a brushless motor for improved energy efficiency and cutting performance. It’s self-propelled via a rear-wheel drive system, and offers a range of cutting heights from 20mm up to 80mm. And, as it’s going to chomp through a lot of grass in little time, you get a 55L grass collection bag to stick on the back – or you can use the bundled mulch plug and save yourself the bother of emptying.

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The mower comes ready-assembled and all you need to do, once you’ve extracted it from the box, is hold the quick-release levers on the handle, then pull it up and into the most comfortable position. The handle feels incredibly robust, with two sturdy aluminium arms, and the same goes for the mower as a whole.

While it can’t match the Husqvarna’s sleek and shiny, orange steel chassis for style, the WG749E’s tough composite plastics feel ready to take a real beating and every mechanism is smooth and well-engineered. What’s more, the handle folds back flat over the body for easier carrying in a car or van or storage. This feels like a pro-level mower, yet it’s not too expensive for enthusiastic amateur gardeners – if they need this kind of power.

Worx WG749E review: Is it difficult to use?

Make no mistake. This is a big and heavy mower. Simply getting it out of the box takes work and you won’t want to heft it around too much, even given the solid carrying handles at the front and back. But get it on a large, flat patch of grass and you won’t want anything smaller. Push down the power button and grab the front, black control bar and the mower kicks into life. Grab the orange bar at the back and squeeze that, and the mower pushes forward until you let it go. There’s a throttle control on the handle and you’ll need it, as at full speed the mower moves at a fair old lick.

I used it for the first cut of the year in my horrible, heavily sloped back garden, and it was pretty much unstoppable. I turned off self-drive on the downward runs and turned it back on at the bottom of the hill and it trundled up the slope without a hint of hesitation.

Like any self-drive mower, it takes getting used to, and it’s best to start slow and get a feel for the speeds and steering; it can’t turn on a sixpence like a smaller rotary mower. But, when you have a lot of lawn to mow, the Worx WG749E will help you get it done faster and it won’t let much get in its way.

Worx also gets some extra credit for its simple cutting height selection. There’s a handle on the body of the mower with a button underneath. Click the button in, raise or lower the mower, release the button and it settles into the nearest 10mm height. This takes very little time and effort.

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Worx WG749E review: How well does it mow the lawn?

The Worx WG749E excels on large patches of flat lawn. Even on the lower cutting heights it doesn’t choke or clog, and it leaves a nice, clean strip of lawn behind it. In fact, the sheer weight probably helps get a good result, although it’s a shame there’s no rear roller for fans of the striped effect.

And was it fazed by the long grass or by patches of denser vegetation? Nope. Even in my accursed back garden, it chewed through everything that came in front of it and left a relatively neat strip of lawn in its wake. I set a medium cutting height for the roughest areas and even here I got clean-looking results.

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Of course, the one area where petrol mowers still pull ahead is that you can keep them going all day long, provided you have the fuel. The WG749E lasts around forty minutes on its two 20V 4A batteries, possibly more if you don’t hit the self-drive so hard, and they take roughly two-and-a-half hours to charge. Bear in mind, though, that this will still get you through a sizable lawn or two, and you can always get a spare set if you need to mow for longer.

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Worx WG749E review: Should I buy it?

Let’s be clear: a mower like this isn’t for everyone. It’s too big, too heavy and too powerful for the average suburban garden. However, if you need a bigger mower, the WG749E is an excellent buy. It’s not prohibitively expensive by large cordless or petrol mower standards and it has the build quality and the performance to handle heavy workloads.

Most importantly, it’s a mower that will save you time and effort, so that you spend less time mowing that enormous lawn, and more time doing what you enjoy.