Lawnmower recommendations

thumpingrug

I suspect I'm opening a bit of a can of worms here...

Having had a new turf lawn laid in August its quadrupled our grassed area and I now realise that the crappy old mower that we inherited with this house two years ago is actually not up to the job.

The garden isn't large but I do want a grasscutter that will collect the cuttings as I go and Im not overly keen on having a petrol engine.  So its electric, cordless, via battery or even a push jobbie.

Ive looked at a few on t'internet and they all look a bit plastic and flimsy.  

So, good people, what are you using to cut your bushy lawns?

 

Electro_Ham

Spear & Jackson. About 10 years old now. Electric corded.

Teetonetal

how about a robot?

Dominic

a contractor

Roland

How big is your lawn? There are metrics somewhere about suitability of different mower types based on the area to be cut.

mgaw

i will ask the bloke who cuts my grass

Foster

Petrol, V12. If the grass doesn't look like someone has attacked the ground with a machete then you've done it wrong.

Iamnobody

If you can find an old electric  Mountfield Princess jump on it. Mine’s a metal deck one that looks very much like a petrol mower.

I do not exaggerate (well maybe a bit) when I say it’s built like a tank!

I’ve abused it for the last three years at my place - it’s been pushed over tree stumps, rocks shit 70’s crazy paving has eaten stones rocks and twigs as well as mowing the bumpy lawn but keeps going. I’d have totalled a plastic Argos job every year I’m convinced. 

It weighs a tonne as well do you get a bit of a workout!

That said, if you have smallish nice flat lawn with little obstacles I’m sure you probably don’t need something quite as robust. 

Sporky

Iamnobody said:

If you can find an old electric  Mountfield Princess jump on it. 

I've got one of those. 

I use a strimmer. 

boogieman

We’ve got a Bosch Rotrack, or some name like that. It works fine. Has a big grass box and a roller on the back, so you can do stripes if you’re bothered, which I’m not. We had a Flymo before that. It was crap. 

paulnb57

I resisted a petrol mower for years, then bought a cheapy, no more extension leads to unravel and clean off after use, no stalling when you havent been able to mow due to the weather and its got a bit long and thick.
Peteol push along with a wheel at each corner....
Remove mower from shed, pull start, mow, put it away, I never did a thing to it except add fuel..lasted four years (£35 a year, plus fuel), gift it to the repair shop (for parts) when it dies..repeat.....
I can mow the lawn with a petrol quicker than sorting the electric leads.....

axisus

I had a bunch of flymo types over the years - all rubbish. I bought a relatively cheap lawnmower from B&Q some years ago and it is superb. It runs on wheels and the blade is a whopping great bit of metal (none of this plastic or cord rubbish) measuring about 10" long x 2" wide. 

breezytele

Try searching for an old Ransomes Ajax....
 the ‘Bentley’ of pushed cylinder mowers.

Works best on a truly flat turf with fine grasses, but they have a good roller and make fine stripes. It would be a bit of a work out on a larger area though

For a larger lawn, I’d reconsider a petrol mower, but either way, a cylinder cutter works best

randella

boogieman said:

We’ve got a Bosch Rotrack, or some name like that. It works fine. Has a big grass box and a roller on the back, so you can do stripes if you’re bothered, which I’m not. We had a Flymo before that. It was crap. 

I have a similar model, without the roller - just a wheel at each corner.  It *looks* flimsy but it also means it's very light.  It also puts a bit of stripe in the lawn.  It cuts well and collects pretty much everything.

It's also lasted a long time, it must be ten years old now.  I inherited it from a friend - it's not actually as flimsy as it looks.

Fretwired

I have a Honda petrol - it's 15 years old and works a treat. Rock solid. Just change the spark plug and air filter every 6 years.

I gave up on electric mowers .. long cable runs are a pain.

Snap

have a mountfield petrol, 140cc. Hassle free mowing. Before that, electric, Bosch Rotrack, which was alright, but had to replace or repair the cable so many times, as I kept cutting it. The petrol is a lot easier to use too. And more to the point, you can rev it, and it smells good, and puts out great gouts of smoke when you haven't used it for a while.

The smell of a petrol mower and fresh cut grass is the whiff of spring/summer

paulnb57

Snap said:

The smell of a petrol mower and fresh cut grass is the whiff of spring/summer

Wisdom!

(Except its all year round this far South!)

Jalapeno

Fretwired said:

I have a Honda petrol - it's 15 years old and works a treat. Rock solid. Just change the spark plug and air filter every 6 years.

I gave up on electric mowers .. long cable runs are a pain.

This.  If not a Honda, then Honda engined mower.

Only reason for an electric mower is if you have a VERY, very small lawn.

Rocker

Honda petrol engine is the only way to go. No cables or batteries to be recharged/recycled.

thumpingrug

Ok Chaps, thanks for your input.  The garden is on the small side but longer than the standard length of cable on the Bosch cheapo plastic mower thing that I found in the shed that came with the house.  It also dent cut well, has no collection box and just spays grass everwhere.  I had avoided petrol as i assumed lots of maintenance but it would appear not so i may look again.  I had also discounted flymo's as i wanted something that will cut nicely and ive never seen a fly do that.  Cheers again.

Roland

Jalapeno said:

Fretwired said:

I have a Honda petrol - it's 15 years old and works a treat. Rock solid. Just change the spark plug and air filter every 6 years.

I gave up on electric mowers .. long cable runs are a pain.

This.  If not a Honda, then Honda engined mower.

Only reason for an electric mower is if you have a VERY, very small lawn.

Rocker said:

Honda petrol engine is the only way to go. No cables or batteries to be recharged/recycled.

This, and for the same reasons. Over lunch my wife and I were discussing how long we’ve had our mower. It’s something approaching 20 years. No cables to look after. Change the plug, air filter, and oil every few years. Starts on the first pull of the starter cable, or second pull if it’s not been used all winter.

Cost per year is low. That’s the reason contract gardeners use them.