Replacement lawn mower

[Slarti]

Well I hit a large stick that was hiding in the grass with my old Hayter Harrier 41 and managed to break 2 parts that are no longer available and so have a late mower.

Oh bugger!


It is quite a long time since I purchased a mower, so I was wondering if anybody had any thoughts on the current market.

FYI
Even with the Hayter and the grass under control it took me nearly an hour to cut all of the lawns.
Lawn is a bit of an exaggeration, meadow would be closer to the mark for much of it.
I do want self propelled
I am not sure if electric have come on enough to be worth thinking about.
I do want the cuttings collected
I liked having the roller at the rear to give a bit of a stripe, but if the more reliable mowers have wheels all round, so be it.

Anything else I should be considering?

Slarti

[kiloran]

Don't have any recommendation of current mowers (my Mountfield with BS engine is still going strong after 26 years), but I do feel a roller makes it easier to manoeuvre the mower over lawn edges.

--kiloran

[Howard]

I have a Honda which is now nearly 20 years old. It has a roller at the back and produces a nice striped finish. Its engine is quiet and it usually starts on first "pull". Faultless performance so far. Only drawback was that it was quite expensive to buy.

The finished result is a very attractive large lawn and I get compliments from the guys from Lawnmaster who come twice a year. In fact they were quite upset with me when I dug up some grass to extend my patio.

If it needed replacement I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Honda.

Good luck with your purchase.

Howard

[bungeejumper]

We were in the same position last year - almost literally. I was mowing up some twigs that the wife had cut, and one of them came straight up through the top of the apron, or whatever it's called. It transpired that our 15 year old Flymo Quicksilver had been running on rust for longer than we had supposed.

Like Slarti, there are parts of our grassed areas where a £1,000 lawnmower shouldn't be expected to go. Rocks, kerbstones, all kinds of stuff. So we passed up the chance to buy a Honda and went for a self-propelled Webb 46SPHW with a 140cc Briggs & Stratton, and with larger back wheels. Which apparently makes them better over rough ground. Our local Countrywide store was doing a price (£215) that we couldn't refuse, and now that the chain is going bust it might be worth looking again. (Screwfix also have them @ around £270. Alternatively, any sign of a bank holiday discount from B&Q?)

The big advantage of this particular Webb is that the petrol tank is finally big enough. (Those tiny tanks you so often get are deliberately designed to run the machine for only 40 minutes - so as to force the operator to take an Elf & Safety break. Or so they tell me.) But then, we opted for a 140cc engine rather than the usual 125cc. If you're buying any mower online, make quite sure which engine you're getting, because the listings can get quite confusing.

But whichever mower you get, do make sure that its cutting height is low enough. Nowadays, many/most mowers have single-lever height adjustment, which adjusts all four wheels simultaneously, and the downside of that is that you can no longer have the front wheels super-low, as we sometimes wanted to do. Even at its lowest setting, our Web is not exactly bowling-green-razoring equipment. But it's doing a good job, and we're happy with it.

BJ

[tjh290633]

My Hayter Harrier expired after 22 years and the mower man's qadvice was to go to the local DIY store where they had push models with a Briggs and Stratton motor for 125 quid. I ended up with a self propelled Champion, with an Italian motor. It went well, but failed after 9 years with ignition problems. Son of mower man now runs the business and he sold me an older Champion with a B and S motor, for the price of a service. On the principle that my lawn mowing days are limited, it may well see me out.

I suggest that you find the cheapest mower to meet your needs with a Briggs & Stratton motor. They don't need much looking after, and you can throw it away if and when it fails.

TJH

[Slarti]

As we are looking to mover to a house with a smaller garden (well SWMBO is) she is suggesting that this might see us through ower mowing days
http://www.mowdirect.co.uk/einhell-gc-p ... mower.html

I haven't seen any negative comments about it and I am weakening, for a quiet life.
I can actually get it for about £25 less than that, though I would have to do some self assembly, which always worries me, knowing my skills. Or lack thereof

Slarti

[bungeejumper]

As we are looking to mover to a house with a smaller garden (well SWMBO is) she is suggesting that this might see us through ower mowing days
http://www.mowdirect.co.uk/einhell-gc-p ... mower.html

I think Einhell are quite well thought of - we did a lot of researching during our own mower search, and the bigger ones were in the final cut. (So to speak.)

The concern to me would be whether a 99cc engine with a 16 inch cutting width would be enough to cover your 'meadow' needs from now until the time you sell the house! You're going to want that lawn to look immaculate while you've got the viewers in, and you'd be kicking yourself if you were looking at a lot more work (more walking, see?) and possibly a less good finish for the sake of saving fifty quid or so.

Another thought - do check out the reviews for the ease of emptying the grassbox. You're going to be doing a lot of that, and some of them can be downright cussed, especially with wet grass. But don't worry about DIY skills - you'll probably need to do nothing more than fit the handle and perhaps pour the oil in.

BJ

[Slarti]

You're going to want that lawn to look immaculate while you've got the viewers in

The only way that is going to happen is to have it taken up and a new one laid


Slarti

[Nimrod103]

For the size of lawn, and the long grass you mention, I would have thought a petrol mower was essential. You don't want trailing wires, and the battery models are expensive, and I doubt they would be man enough for the job (can I still say that?).

For reasons I won't bore you with I have dealt with several cheap to medium petrol mowers recently, in various states of servicibility. In general I have found that engines are very good, reliable and last a long time (Briggs & Stratton and Ryobi, for instance). Not much to go wrong, except dirt or deposits in the carburettor*. The Chinese must manufacture them by the million.
The problems come with how robust the general construction is. I have seen very poor lifting mechanisms on some Mountfield models, and the cheapest base plates occasionally made of plastic, which seems a very bad idea. I would definitely have a motorized one, pushing is a PITA, and anyway the models with rollers will be heavy and will be motorized anyway. For long and wet/sticky grass you will need to be able to lift the blade quite high, so as to get a good air flow to lift the grass into the collecting box. Many cheaper models have a fixed choke, these will not have a throttle. In my experience, these types are good only for normal lawns - you cannot get the extra oomph for tackling really long grass.

*You can buy a new mower for about 3 times the cost of servicing, so many people seem to throw mowers away when all they need is the carburettor taking apart and cleaning. If you are mechanically minded and want to save a fortune, talk to the operators at your local tip/recycling centre.

[redsturgeon]

As we are looking to mover to a house with a smaller garden (well SWMBO is) she is suggesting that this might see us through ower mowing days
http://www.mowdirect.co.uk/einhell-gc-p ... mower.html

I haven't seen any negative comments about it and I am weakening, for a quiet life.
I can actually get it for about £25 less than that, though I would have to do some self assembly, which always worries me, knowing my skills. Or lack thereof

Slarti

I've not heard of them before but a look on Trustpilot suggest they should be avoided

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.einhell.com

John

[stevensfo]

The problems come with how robust the general construction is. I have seen very poor lifting mechanisms on some Mountfield models, and the cheapest base plates occasionally made of plastic, which seems a very bad idea.

Agree. Our old lawnmower finally started to fall apart and the Honda motor then started to fall through the centre mount. Needless to say, the actual motor was still going strong.
I have a Biggs and Stratton now but it's not quite as reliable as the Honda.

Most of our lawn is on a level below the house. We have some grass close to the house for which we use a cheap electric mower, but when that gives up the ghost I plan to get a Ryobi or Makita 18v or 36v mower. Since starting to use their battery tools, I'll never touch a cabled one again!

Steve

[Slarti]

Quick update on this.

It arrived yesterday lunch time and by the time I had assembled it I couldn't be bothered to go and get petrol to try it out.

This morning I put oil in (there were traces of it having had oil in previously) went and got petrol and filled it up. The tank is way bigger than on my old one and easier to get at.

Pressed the priming button a few times and it started 2nd pull.

You've got to give it a try so, having set it to the 2nd lowest hight, I did the little front lawn, the one that is most lawn like and am pleased with the result.

But once you start
So I also did the "lawn" under the trees and it coped with it no trouble. Well other than the fact that it is very humid out there and the mower only has 2 speeds. Stop and go, with go being faster than the old mower went. But I can push it manually fairly easily.

Now I've got to do a tip trip so will be back later.

Slarti

[bungeejumper]

This morning I put oil in (there were traces of it having had oil in previously) went and got petrol and filled it up.

Yes, they'd have fired up the engine in the factory, hence the signs of previous oil. And then drained it, perhaps because of shipping regulations (or to keep the shipping weight down?) I've had that on a Chinese-engined mower, whereas my current (American built) Briggs & Stratton was ready to go, straight out o the box.

The tank is way bigger than on my old one and easier to get at.

Yes, it's good to see that the tiny tanks of old are no longer compulsory. Have fun with your new toy.

BJ

[sg31]

If you have a reasonably large lawn getting rid of grass cuttings can be a problem. A machine capable of mulching is well worth considering. It will chop the grass several times before it is deposited back into the lawn to rot down and feed the lawn. I've had one now for several years and wouldn't buy anything else.

[tjh290633]

If you have a reasonably large lawn getting rid of grass cuttings can be a problem. A machine capable of mulching is well worth considering. It will chop the grass several times before it is deposited back into the lawn to rot down and feed the lawn. I've had one now for several years and wouldn't buy anything else.

Why not just compost the cuttings, along with other vegetable waste? A couple of enclosures about 1 cu.m each will do the job and provide useful material to enrich your soil.

TJH

[sg31]

If you have a reasonably large lawn getting rid of grass cuttings can be a problem. A machine capable of mulching is well worth considering. It will chop the grass several times before it is deposited back into the lawn to rot down and feed the lawn. I've had one now for several years and wouldn't buy anything else.

Why not just compost the cuttings, along with other vegetable waste? A couple of enclosures about 1 cu.m each will do the job and provide useful material to enrich your soil.

TJH

I've got about an acre of grass. There are compost bins all over the garden set up by the previous owners. they also signed up to a garden waste collection service because they ran out of space. Grass collection outpaced composting by a large margin because large quantities of grass cuttings don't compost easily on their own. By mulching you return goodness to the soil, save work, space, time and money because you very rarely need to feed the grass.
In a smaller garden there are less cuttings but correspondingly less space for composting.

I'm not saying mulching is the only way but it works really well for me. Mulching machines can be had at a reasonable price so it's an option worthy of consideration.

[bungeejumper]

I've got about an acre of grass. There are compost bins all over the garden set up by the previous owners. they also signed up to a garden waste collection service because they ran out of space. Grass collection outpaced composting by a large margin because large quantities of grass cuttings don't compost easily on their own. By mulching you return goodness to the soil, save work, space, time and money because you very rarely need to feed the grass.

That's a really good description of the logic for mulching. As sg32 says, you can't simply compost a tonne of grass because it won't ferment without an equal amount (roughly) of other materials. (And if it does, oh lordy, you're going to have a fire risk on your hands. Spontaneous combustion is far from unknown. )

We have a mulching attachment on our Webb mower, which doesn't seem to do much more than fling the grass cuttings back into the blades for another chop. And TBH we never use it - not so much because it's a lengthy faff to fit it, but rather because we have some lawns where we wouldn't mind turning millions of bits of grass leaf back onto the surface, and others where we very much would!

You can't let the kids run around on a slippery lawn that's going to stain their clothes (and also invade the house afterwards). Well, we can't, anyway. So unless we were prepared to have two mowers, one for the "proper lawn" and another for the other grassed areas, mulching wouldn't work for us. What I do instead is to collect the grass from the "proper lawn" for the compost heap, and simply take the grassbox off for the other areas, where a single chop-down with sharp mower blades seems to degrade the mulch quite well enough.

All except for one lawn which has rampant speedwell (pretty, but virtually indestructible and immune to weedkillers). We collect the clippings and they go to the green recycling bins so that the council can cook them into oblivion with its anaerobic fast-breeder composters.

BJ

[Slarti]

If you have a reasonably large lawn getting rid of grass cuttings can be a problem. A machine capable of mulching is well worth considering. It will chop the grass several times before it is deposited back into the lawn to rot down and feed the lawn. I've had one now for several years and wouldn't buy anything else.

We've got friends who moved over to that system and my son can no longer attend any summer dos at their house as it sets his hay fever off something terrible

Slarti

[sg31]

If you have a reasonably large lawn getting rid of grass cuttings can be a problem. A machine capable of mulching is well worth considering. It will chop the grass several times before it is deposited back into the lawn to rot down and feed the lawn. I've had one now for several years and wouldn't buy anything else.

We've got friends who moved over to that system and my son can no longer attend any summer dos at their house as it sets his hay fever off something terrible

Slarti

I sympathise with your son because I suffer from hay fever caused by some tree pollen so I have some understanding of the problem. It sounds like your son suffers much more than I.

Mulching is the same as ordinary grass cutting but the grass goes through the blades a second time to produce finer clippings which then rot down in the soil. I'd be surprised if this increased pollen levels over and above that of ordinary grass cutting. Maybe you sons trigger isn't pollen but some other grass factor.

I'm certainly not an expert on the causes of hay fever..

[Slarti]

Mulching is the same as ordinary grass cutting but the grass goes through the blades a second time to produce finer clippings which then rot down in the soil. I'd be surprised if this increased pollen levels over and above that of ordinary grass cutting. Maybe you sons trigger isn't pollen but some other grass factor.

You know the smell of new mown grass?

Well it seems as if whatever chemical causes that smell is the trigger, but if the cuttings are not removed, the chemical is still given off for days.

He seems to take after both of his Grandmas, in the allergy situation as they both suffered from different ones. Mrs S and I don't. Mostly.

Slarti