Most buying advice treats a manufacturer’s specification as a fixed fact. While building this site’s dataset we found that it is not always that simple: the same model is sometimes given different figures in different places by the same manufacturer.
This is not a claim that anyone is being dishonest. Product pages, specification tables, regional sites, and support documentation are often maintained separately, and they drift. But if you are comparing models on a single number, it is worth knowing that the number may depend on which page you landed on.
What we found
Every disagreement we have recorded is shown below, with both figures and links to both sources. These are generated from our dataset, so this list reflects the current state of the records rather than a snapshot from when this was written.
How we handle it
Three rules, applied consistently:
We keep both figures. Neither is deleted, and the competing source is linked so you can check it yourself.
We use the more conservative figure for eligibility. When the selector decides whether a model suits your yard, it uses the lower of the two. A specification that might be right is not a basis for telling you a mower will handle a slope.
We flag the disagreement wherever the figure appears. On the model page, in comparisons, and in guides like this one.
What we do not do is pick a winner quietly. Choosing one figure and presenting it as settled would hide exactly the information a buyer needs.
A related distinction: specification versus marketing
Alongside outright contradictions, there is a softer version of the same problem: a figure that appears in promotional copy but not in any specification table.
We label those separately rather than treating them as equivalent to a spec sheet value, and the selector will not use them to include or exclude a model. The reasoning is set out in our methodology.
How to read a spec sheet with this in mind
Check more than one page. If a figure matters to your decision, look at both the product page and any support or specification documentation.
Prefer the specification table. Where a manufacturer publishes a formal spec sheet and a marketing page, the spec sheet is generally the more careful document.
Treat a large discrepancy as a question, not a range. If two official figures differ substantially, the useful conclusion is not “somewhere in between” — it is that the specification is unsettled and worth raising with the seller before you buy.
Watch for figures that describe different things. Some apparent contradictions are really two different measurements, such as a recommended area against a maximum. Where a manufacturer explains the difference, we record the explanation rather than treating it as a conflict.
You can see how thoroughly each model is documented, and what remains unverified, on any model page — or put two of them side by side with the comparison tool.
16 of the 19 models we track publish a slope rating we could verify , and 3 more state a figure only in marketing copy .