Our Highlights from GroundsFest 2026

For anyone working in the groundcare, landscaping or garden machinery industries, GroundsFest has quickly established itself as one of the most important dates in the calendar.

Held at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire on 16th and 17th September, this year’s event brought together hundreds of leading brands, dealers and industry professionals for two days of machinery demonstrations, product launches, networking and, of course, the opportunity to get a closer look at some of the equipment set to shape the industry over the coming months.

Our team attended across both days of GroundsFest 2026, catching up with familiar faces, meeting plenty of new ones, and getting an early look at some very exciting machinery.

For me personally, Thursday was my first ever visit to GroundsFest – and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

A Different Kind of Trade Show

One of the things that immediately stood out about GroundsFest was the setting.

Rather than spending the entire day walking around a conventional indoor exhibition hall, much of the show takes place outdoors at Stoneleigh Park. With machinery displayed and demonstrated in a more natural environment, it felt particularly appropriate for an industry built around working outside.

It also created a relaxed atmosphere in which to catch up with manufacturer representatives and other dealers – some of whom we speak to regularly but rarely get the opportunity to meet in person.

And, naturally, no trade show would be complete without a few freebies.

I came away particularly pleased with a Husqvarna toy leaf blower, which will soon be finding a new home with my godson, while STIGA supplied a very useful travel cup.

EGO, meanwhile, may have won the award for best refreshments with scones, cream and jam available on their stand.

Freebies and food aside, though, there was plenty of serious machinery to see.

And amongst everything on display, three new machines particularly caught our attention.

Segway Navimow H5 Pro – Taking Robotic Mowing Right to the Edge

One of the most interesting launches at GroundsFest was the new Segway Navimow H5 Pro, which received its official UK reveal at the show ahead of its arrival in 2027.

Robotic lawnmowers have developed remarkably quickly over the last few years. Boundary-wire-free navigation has already removed one of the traditional inconveniences of robotic mowing, but there remains another familiar problem: edges.

However accurately a robotic mower navigates a lawn, its cutting system is normally positioned underneath the body of the machine. Physical restrictions therefore prevent the blade from reaching certain boundaries, potentially leaving a strip of grass requiring manual trimming.

The H5 Pro has been designed to tackle precisely that.

Its new EdgeMaestro™ extendable robotic arm allows the cutting system to move beyond its conventional position beneath the mower, helping it reach right up to lawn edges.

Although the H5 Pro at GroundsFest was displayed statically rather than mowing, we were able to see the mechanism in action as the edging arm extended from the machine before retracting back underneath it.

It’s a simple idea to observe, but potentially a very significant development for robotic mowing.

The technology works alongside Segway Navimow’s new EdgeSense™ 2.0 system, which is designed to identify different types of boundaries and adapt the mower’s behaviour accordingly.

And the innovations don’t stop there.

The H5 Pro also features Xero-Turn™ all-wheel drive, while its Tri-Fusion positioning combines LiDAR, NRTK satellite positioning and vision-based navigation.

Segway Navimow says the four-wheel-drive system will allow the mower to tackle gradients of up to 80%, while 360° VisionFence™ and thermal sensing technology are designed to identify obstacles and small animals, including hedgehogs.

We already stock an extensive selection of Segway Navimow robotic lawnmowers, so we’ll be watching developments around the H5 Pro very closely ahead of its expected launch next year. You can take a closer look at the Segway Navimow H5 Pro on our website, where we’ll be adding further model information, specifications, pricing and availability as they’re confirmed.

Based on what we saw at GroundsFest, the battle to eliminate that final bit of manual trimming from robotic lawncare is certainly getting interesting.

WEIBANG Goes Bigger with the Velocity 100 TRFP

At the other end of the mowing spectrum was another machine that caught our attention – the new WEIBANG Velocity 100 TRFP Remote Flail Mower.

While robotic lawnmowers are concerned with maintaining lawns neatly and autonomously, flail mowers are designed for altogether tougher assignments.

Long grass, weeds, scrub and heavily overgrown ground are exactly the sorts of environments where these machines come into their own.

We’re already familiar with the capabilities of WEIBANG’s Velocity range. Existing models include the WEIBANG Velocity 68 TFP Tracked Flail Mower, which combines a pivoting flail deck and tracked drive system with the ability to operate as a walk-behind, stand-on or remotely controlled machine.

At GroundsFest, however, we got a look at the considerably larger Velocity 100 TRFP.

With remote-controlled machinery becoming increasingly important for professional groundcare, machines such as this offer some interesting possibilities.

Remote operation can allow the user to remain away from the cutting deck and vegetation being tackled, while tracked machines can provide the traction required for challenging and uneven terrain.

For contractors, estates and professional groundcare teams responsible for reclaiming seriously overgrown areas, it’s exactly the sort of machinery that demonstrates just how specialised modern vegetation management equipment has become.

You can take a closer look at the WEIBANG Velocity 100 TRFP Remote Flail Mower on our website, where we’ll be adding further details as they become available.

STIHL MSA 600 C – Serious Cordless Chainsaw Power

Another machine that was difficult to overlook was sitting on the STIHL stand.

Battery-powered garden machinery has been developing at an extraordinary rate, but the new STIHL MSA 600 C Cordless Chainsaw represents a particularly interesting step forward.

Designed for demanding professional forestry applications, the MSA 600 C is STIHL’s most powerful cordless chainsaw to date.

Its headline figure is a maximum mechanical output of 5.9 kW, with STIHL positioning the machine alongside petrol chainsaws in the 90 cc performance class.

Achieving that sort of performance from a cordless chainsaw requires some serious battery power, and the MSA 600 uses two batteries simultaneously.

It’s quite a sight in person.

While cordless chainsaws have long been an attractive option for pruning, garden maintenance and arborist work, machines like the MSA 600 demonstrate just how far battery technology is now pushing into jobs traditionally dominated by large petrol saws.

The saw also offers three operating modes – Performance, Endurance and Precision – allowing its characteristics to be adapted to the task at hand.

For professional users, the potential benefits of cordless technology are familiar: no direct exhaust emissions at the machine, reduced noise and no need to handle or mix fuel.

Until relatively recently, though, there were areas of professional forestry where battery machinery simply couldn’t provide the required level of performance.

The MSA 600 suggests that boundary is continuing to move.

As an authorised STIHL dealer, we’re particularly excited to see the MSA 600 C join STIHL’s growing range of professional cordless machinery. You can take a closer look at the STIHL MSA 600 C Cordless Chainsaw on our website, where we’ll be adding further details as they become available.

Catching Up with the Industry

Of course, GroundsFest isn’t solely about finding the newest or biggest machine on each stand.

One of the most enjoyable parts of attending was simply having the opportunity to catch up with people from across the industry.

While we’re regularly in contact with manufacturers and their representatives as part of our day-to-day business, we don’t often get the opportunity to catch up with other dealers and familiar faces from across the industry. GroundsFest provided the perfect opportunity to do exactly that.

GroundsFest provided plenty of opportunities to do exactly that – catching up with representatives we already knew, seeing other dealers we don’t often meet in person and being introduced to some new faces along the way.

With stands from the likes of STIHL, EGO, Kubota, Husqvarna, STIGA, WEIBANG, Segway Navimow and many more spread across the showground, there was certainly no shortage of people – or machinery – to see.

The Value of Seeing Machinery in Person

For us as a garden machinery dealer, shows such as GroundsFest also provide something that’s difficult to replicate through brochures, specifications and product announcements.

They let us actually see the machinery.

That’s particularly valuable when looking at genuinely new technology.

Reading that a robotic mower has an extendable cutting system is one thing; watching the H5 Pro’s EdgeMaestro arm physically extend and retract makes the concept immediately clearer.

Likewise, seeing the sheer scale of a professional machine such as the WEIBANG Velocity 100 TRFP or STIHL MSA 600 C provides context that a photograph or specification sheet doesn’t always convey.

It gives dealers an early opportunity to understand the products that customers may soon be asking us about – and to speak directly with the people behind them.

Another Enjoyable GroundsFest

With our team attending across both days, GroundsFest 2026 gave us an excellent opportunity to see what’s coming next from some of the biggest names in garden and groundcare machinery.

For me, it was also a very enjoyable introduction to the event.

The outdoor setting gives GroundsFest a different atmosphere to a conventional trade exhibition, while the combination of new machinery, demonstrations and opportunities to speak with people from throughout the industry makes for a worthwhile day out.

The Segway Navimow H5 Pro, WEIBANG Velocity 100 TRFP and STIHL MSA 600 C were three particular highlights, but just as valuable was the chance to catch up with old faces and meet some new ones.

And returning home with a travel cup, a toy leaf blower and having been fed scones along the way certainly didn’t hurt either.

We’ll be keeping a particularly close eye on the new machinery we saw as further specifications, UK availability and launch details are confirmed.

In the meantime, you can explore our existing ranges of robotic lawnmowers, flail mowers, chainsaws and cordless garden machinery here at Garden Machinery Direct – with products from many of the manufacturers we caught up with at GroundsFest available to order online today.

After a very enjoyable first visit, we’re already looking forward to seeing what GroundsFest has in store next time.