A roll of artificial grass is one of the few garden purchases you live with for a decade or more. Once it’s down, swapping it out costs much the same as the original install. Which is why the few hours spent properly comparing samples up front saves so much regret later. Photos are useful for shortlisting, but the colour, softness, density, and realism of artificial grass change noticeably between the screen and your hand.
This guide is for anyone about to order samples or anyone who’s just had some land on the doorstep. We’ve been fitting artificial lawns across the UK and the customers who end up happiest are nearly always the ones who took time to test samples before committing.
What a Sample Actually Tells You (and What It Doesn’t)
A 10cm square of artificial grass tells you a surprising amount about the full roll colour realism, softness, pile density, backing quality, and how the fibres respond to touch and weight. What it can’t tell you is how the grass will look across an entire lawn (pattern repeats become visible at scale) or how it’ll wear over five years.
For the bits a sample does cover, it’s far more reliable than any photo. The light a sample reflects in your own garden is genuinely different to a showroom or curated website photography. Most cheap-looking artificial grass looks fine on a screen you only spot it when you hold it.
Get Clear on the Job Before You Order Samples
Before requesting any samples, spend ten minutes thinking about what the lawn actually has to do. The right grass for a low-traffic front garden is rarely the right grass for a family back lawn with two dogs. Ask yourself:
- Will children play on it most days?
- Will pets use it, and if so, what size?
- Is the area mostly shaded, mostly sunny, or a mix?
- Will heavy garden furniture sit on it year-round?
- Are you after a manicured look, a more natural meadow finish, or something in between?
The answers shape what to look for in samples. A high-density mid-pile grass works for a family garden. A taller, plusher pile suits an ornamental space. A shorter, denser pile is best for dog gardens. Knowing this up front lets you ask for the right shortlist instead of comparing products that aren’t actually suited to your project. Our guide on choosing the best artificial grass covers the product-level decisions in more detail if you want a deeper dive before ordering samples.
The Specifications to Look at When Your Samples Arrive
Every sample comes with a spec sheet and most people skip past it. Don’t. The four numbers worth understanding:
Pile height is the length of the blades in millimetres. 25–30mm reads as well-kept and short. 30–40mm is the sweet spot for most domestic gardens. Above 40mm looks plusher but flattens faster under traffic.
Face weight measures how much yarn is packed into a square metre. Higher (above 2200g/m²) means denser, more durable grass. Cheap grass often comes in around 1500–1800g/m² looks fine in a sample but thins quickly across a real lawn.
Stitch density tells you how tightly the fibres are stitched. Pull the sample fibres aside with your fingers; if you can easily see the backing, density is too low.
Backing type and drainage rate are listed on the back of the spec. Look for a permeable backing with drainage holes spaced every few centimetres. Drainage rates above 30 litres per square metre per minute are sensible for any lawn that’ll see pet use or heavy rainfall.
Six Quick Tests You Can Do at home
This is where samples earn their value. Each of these takes about a minute and tells you something photos never could.
The natural daylight test. Take the samples outside and look at them in actual daylight, not under a kitchen lightbulb or in a showroom. Step back a few feet. Good artificial grass shows a mix of green tones with a layer of brown thatch fibres underneath that brown layer is what stops it looking flat and plastic from a distance. Samples that look too uniform or too bright in real daylight will look the same once installed.
The hand test. Rub the fibres between your thumb and forefinger. Quality grass feels like grass slight give in the blades, no harsh edges, no slippery plastic feel. Press your palm flat against the surface. Premium grasses feel cool and soft. Cheap grasses feel hot, slick, or scratchy.
The weight test. Place a heavy book or brick on each sample and leave it for an hour. Lift it off and brush the fibres back upright with your hand. Good grass springs back almost completely within a few minutes. Cheap grass stays flat. This single test is the closest you’ll get to predicting how the lawn will look in your busiest spots after a year of use.
The water test. Hold the sample over a bowl or the kitchen sink and pour a small jug of water through it. Water should pass through cleanly and quickly with no pooling on the surface. Slow drainage on a sample means real-world drainage problems once installed especially in pet gardens or rainy spots.
The brush test. Run a stiff brush firmly across the pile against the natural grain. A small number of loose fibres in the brush is normal. A lot of loose fibres, or fibres pulling out at the base, points to poor manufacturing quality that’ll get worse with use.
The hot day test. On a warm sunny day, leave samples in direct sun for thirty minutes. Touch each one with the back of your hand. Some grasses heat up noticeably more than others usually the darker, denser ones. If you’ve got bare-footed kids or pets, this matters more than it might seem.
How to Compare Samples Side by Side
Comparing samples one at a time is almost useless your eye adjusts to whatever you’re looking at, and small differences disappear. The right way is to lay all your shortlisted samples next to each other on the actual ground where the lawn will go, in real daylight, ideally with a bit of space between them so each can be judged on its own.
Run through the six tests on each sample in turn, jotting one-word notes against each (softest, springs back fastest, drains best, looks most natural from a distance). Patterns emerge quickly. Usually one or two samples come out clearly ahead on most criteria. If two are close, the deciding factor is normally the one that fits the style of your garden best a more manicured look for modern gardens, a slightly tousled finish for cottage-style ones.
Red Flags in a Sample That Should Put You Off
A few warning signs are worth taking seriously:
- A strong chemical or plastic smell when you open the sample bag. Good artificial grass has very little odour. A strong smell suggests cheap manufacturing or uncertified materials.
- A very shiny or glossy surface in sunlight. Real grass doesn’t shine. Excessive sheen reads as plastic from any distance.
- A backing that bends easily or feels thin. Sample the backing too gently flex it between your hands. It should feel firm and substantial.
- Big visible gaps between stitches when you spread the pile. Means low density, which means the lawn will look thin from above.
- No specs sheet supplied with the sample. Reputable suppliers send the full specification of every sample. If a supplier can’t tell you face weight, pile height, drainage rate, and warranty, they probably don’t know.
Mistakes Buyers Make at the Sample Stage
Beyond the red flags, a few practical mistakes catch buyers out at the sample stage:
- Comparing too few samples. Three or four side-by-side is the sweet spot. One on its own gives you nothing to judge against.
- Judging in the wrong light. Showroom lighting, kitchen bulbs, and overcast skies all change the colour. Always judge in real outdoor daylight.
- Forgetting about width and batch. Once you choose a product, you’ll need to order the whole job from a single production batch to avoid colour mismatches. Our guide on why batch matching matters covers this in detail.
- Choosing on price alone at the sample stage. Cheap grass and expensive grass can look surprisingly similar in a 10cm square. Where they differ is durability over years, and that doesn’t show in a sample.
- Not asking about warranty. A 10-year UV warranty separates serious products from disposable ones. Always ask.
Ready to Order Your Samples?
A few hours of careful comparison before committing to a roll is the best investment you can make in the project. You’ll spot the cheap-looking products before spending money on them, and you’ll know exactly which one suits your garden.
If you’d like to feel some grass options for yourself, you can order a free sample pack and we’ll send a hand-picked selection in the post you choose the styles, pile heights, and price range, and we send what fits. No follow-up calls. If you’d rather have a professional come out and assess your specific garden, you can request a free quote and one of our team will measure up at no cost.
Whichever route works for you, give us a ring on 0800 246 1809 with any questions. We’ve been fitting artificial lawns since 2011, and we’d much rather help you choose right than fix something later.