I recently replaced my Flymo Hover mower with this Challenge 1000 Watt Electric Rotary Mower from Argos because I wanted a small lawn mower which wouldn't cost the earth, but had a grass collection box on the back. I only have a small area to mow but I was finding raking up all the grass hard work. My ideal price range was around £50 - £60 so I was pretty pleased to bag this on offer from Argos for only £35.

Getting this out of the box, I initially felt a bit concerned that I'd spent too little and that this was one of those "reduced for a reason" kind of purchases. I'd read good reviews on the internet before buying, but my first impressions in person with this weren't good. This has a bit of a cheap, plasticky look and feel to it for starters, and for seconds I found getting the handle put together a bit of a chore. I had some difficulty getting one of the screws in, where I had to really jam the handle bar down into the slot on the mower to line up the hole in the bottom of the bar with the hole for the screw in the mower. This was not easy to do both physically and visually - I couldn't actually see where the screw hole was once I'd pushed the handle bar into the mower, I had to just guess until I got it lined up and (finally) screwed together.

Once assembled, this mower proved those positive reviews true though. I have used this a few times now, and it's considerably easier to mow with than my old hover mower was. The wheels on this are quite thin and light, but they support the weight of the mower easily and efficiently. Moving around corners isn't easy with any lawn mower, but with this particular model it isn't over difficult and the wheels do seem to help a little. Moving the mower back and forth is made noticeably easier by the wheels.

The blades cut extremely close, which won't be to everyone's taste. I've got the mower on the factory settings still because I didn't feel the need to change the cutting height, but there is a small difference between the three settings on offer (only a small difference). If you can imagine what a lawn looks like after a number 2 crewcut, you can imagine just how close this lawn mower cuts. It makes life easier in the summer when the grass just won't stop growing, but it won't give you a lawn worth throwing a party on.

I've had a couple of jams from bits of wood or the grass box getting too full, and they've all been easily dealt with by me just releasing the power switch, turning the mower on it's side and giving it a bang to dislodge the blockage, then resuming mowing again right away. It's easy to find and remove any blockages with this mower as the blades are totally exposed underneath - there are no fiddly covers in the way around the edging or anything.

The grass box isn't as sturdy as I would have expected it to be, but it's done the job just fine so I can't really complain. It just sits on the back of the mower and is held on using the hinged back of the mower. It isn't very stable, and you've only got to bang into it with your foot to knock it off, but while I'm actually mowing it stays put (possibly due to grass fairies or something because I really don't understand how!).

All in all this is a bargain buy if you've got a small garden. The grass box only holds 30l and the blades aren't designed for dealing with anything fancy, so if you want something more from your mower than a rush job, look higher up the price range. I'm quite happy with my rush job though, especially now there's no raking up to do afterwards.