Which Lawn Mower??

[tikka.223]

Any recommendations for petrol lawnmower with 20 inch+ cut and self propelled. Mulch and side discharge options as well. Lawn size around 1600-1800m2.

Price around £400

TIA

[Dave at kelton]

I have a qualcast which has been fine

[oowee]

Get a bigger mower. That's a lot of lawn. Lawn here is @ 4000 m2 and takes 4 hours with a 48" ride on and a 21" walk behind. 

[figgy]

Big cylinder mower if you like walking. Or as above a sit on used 

[vmaxphil]

Look at Honda had mine for 15 years now and just changed the deck due to rust starts second pull after winter with no cleaning inbetween 

[JohnfromUK]

1 hour ago, vmaxphil said:

Look at Honda had mine for 15 years now and just changed the deck due to rust starts second pull after winter with no cleaning inbetween 

I have been very pleased with Honda as well.  First one (professional 21" wheeled) did 13 years (then stolen!), second (professional 21" roller) has done over 10 years now.  Well made, good starter always.  Gets less use these days as I have an old Wheel Horse (came from a skip!) ride on for the big areas, but still used for the 'fiddly bits'.  I have about 3000 sq m.

Edited May 12, 2019 by JohnfromUK

[manthing]

I feel such a fraud, our garden is about 550m2 and I use the farm ride on. Does that count as a self propelled 😂😂

[cuffy]

If you're collecting the cuttings , get a ride on .

 Try local papers for cheap used ones . Now's the time that people find there mower won't start or needs belts , mostly quick & cheap to fix .

[Benthejockey]

Ride ons are great IF you've got room to get to the edges and to back in and out of the corners and you've not got any low trees or anything in the way. I used a viking roller mower the other day on FIL's postage stamp of a lawn and it was amazing. Felt like it was running away with me on their tiny garden, tempted to try and acquire it off them for our lawn which is about .7 of an acre.

[oowee]

This is the one you want. Better than my Honda. Just let them in. 

 

 

[kennett]

My Viking has been excellent, gets very little love other than a quick shine up with a grinder in the spring and it starts first pull every time. It wasn't stupidly priced either 

[McSpredder]

We moved recently to a place with a larger garden, didn’t want to spend big money for a ride-on machine, so bought a Mountfield self-propelled pedestrian mower  from Screwfix (about £240), cut a few meandering paths through the half-acre of grass at the back of the house, and left the rest to grow.   

Some people need closely-cut grass for bowls or croquet, some admire the appearance of a manicured lawn, and maybe some actually enjoy mowing, but none of the above apply for us, so we have allowed the area to revert to nature.  

Barn owls do a few circuits most mornings and evenings, and occasionally we see one fly away carrying a vole.   At the moment we have a resident brown hare, and there must be leverets among the tussocks, because she rarely leaves the garden and defends her patch fiercely (charges towards any jackdaw that has alighted, and a when a barn owl dared to approach her last week  she chased it away down the lane for about 60 yards).   Cheap entertainment for us watching the wildlife, cheap mower, low fuel cost as it is only used ½ hour per week.

Not sure whether we can claim to be doing our bit for the planet by re-wilding, perhaps more accurate to describe us as miserly and idle.

[SuperGoose75]

I have just spent the amount of money you specified with all the requirements you stated on a ''Gardencare'' 20'' deck with a Briggs and Stratton engine.

After previously using/getting loan off a McCullough also with a B&S engine this is a far Superior machine that is built for work. Really a joy to use and so easy stared with no priming/chokes or anything. Pull the starter cord and away you go.

I was considering a Morrison (Contractor) but it is twice the price but that thing is really built for work.It was just not practical for my needs being pretty heavy.The Honda Issy range are pretty  small and for anything with 20'' deck or more are big money.

Just on the Gardencare it also comes with 21'' deck but with same engine as the 20''. 20'' are the most popular and they are flying out the door . Other models have rollers instead of back wheels and also push button starting options.

[discobob]

Viking for me, I have managed to scrape together an MB 555 (I think) - I bought the main part a couple of years ago on Facebook for £50, and then was able to get the grass catcher locally for £20. Self propelled when you pull the lever or light enough to push without. I knocks our Hayter into a cocked hat. Picks up the grass like a Dyson unlike the Haytor that spewed it out when only a third full.

It can be a hard job to empty the grass catcher because it packs it in so tight - but luckily the lid of the catcher flips up. This is from a machine that is at least 12 years old. The only thing that has needed to be done with it was a new magneto (£20)

I was originally going to buy a viking when the previous one died but the place I went to had stopped selling them - so I got the Hayter (with roller) and hated it every time I used it - quite heavy and unwieldy and only picks up about a quarter of the Hayter.

I believe that Stihl and Viking Lawnmowers are the same but different colours - both under the same umbrella

[RockySpears]

On 11/05/2019 at 22:53, oowee said:

That's a lot of lawn. Lawn here is @ 4000 m2 and takes 4 hours with a 48" ride on and a 21" walk behind. 

  It is, and nearly all of the time is NOT "cutting" the grass, it is emptying the grass box and turning around at the edge.

You can use the calc below to tell the kid it is only 20mins though and you'll give them a fiver.  With a 48 incher it is just 5mins

With a 20" diameter cut (0.5m) this will cut about 1.5m2 per meter walked

Waking at 1.5m per sec. ( ~3mph) it takes just over 1000 seconds to do 1600m2.

That is just less than 20 mins.

 

RS

[oowee]

26 minutes ago, RockySpears said:

  It is, and nearly all of the time is NOT "cutting" the grass, it is emptying the grass box and turning around at the edge.

You can use the calc below to tell the kid it is only 20mins though and you'll give them a fiver.  With a 48 incher it is just 5mins

With a 20" diameter cut (0.5m) this will cut about 1.5m2 per meter walked

Waking at 1.5m per sec. ( ~3mph) it takes just over 1000 seconds to do 1600m2.

That is just less than 20 mins.

 

RS

 if any kids pass my way i will try it lol. I mulch mine as i can't handle the grass clippings but it means I have to do it even more often. letting the sheep in did not work as a couple jumped out and ran into the garden. I spent the next 60 mins trying to round them up and out. 

[norfolk dumpling]

Husky every day. I've got half acre of grass and this machine has 23" cut, side shute, self propelled and soft start Honda engine. Even wife likes using it. 

[Cant hit them all]

honestly these are brilliant for the money engine have plenty of poke, fill the bag to the brim i cut lawns as part of my work doing and average of 4 hours in  actual mower running time every week for 3 years this one of these https://www.mowers-online.co.uk/lawn-care-garden-care/lawnmowers/petrol-lawnmower/self-propelled-petrol-lawnmower/4-wheel-mower/oleo-mac-g53tk-all-road-plus-4-self-propelled-petrol-lawn-mower?utm_source=google-product-search-us-en&utm_medium=product_search&utm_campaign=google-product-search-us-en&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItNeRta2e4gIVp7_tCh1cJwxjEAQYASABEgJHB_D_BwE

[blackbird]

I can only comment on Honda as it’s the only mower I have ever bought & after 20+ year of service it’s only been serviced a couple of times & had the pull cord replaced, starts 1st/2nd pull every time, fantastic mower.

Edited May 16, 2019 by blackbird

[Walker570]

On 11/05/2019 at 22:53, oowee said:

Get a bigger mower. That's a lot of lawn. Lawn here is @ 4000 m2 and takes 4 hours with a 48" ride on and a 21" walk behind. 

How long !!!   I can mow all the rides and walkways in my wood plus an orchard plus two lawns up by the house in 3 hrs or less.  Kubota 48inch ride on.

We are talking 40 yrds by 100yrds, I recon I could have that lown to one inch with my Kubota in less than an hour, easy peasy.

I do agree by bigger. The choice is also mitigated by how the lawn is laid out. Square no obstructions, or trees and flower beds all over it.  If the later then a zero turn is a good idea. 

Don't go buying one of these Chinese imports. My neighbour did that and it has been back for repairs more times than I have shot tree rats.  Honda, Kubota first on my list.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Walker570

[JohnfromUK]

2 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

How long !!!   I can mow all the rides and walkways in my wood plus an orchard plus two lawns up by the house in 3 hrs or less.  Kubota 48inch ride on.

We are talking 40 yrds by 100yrds, I recon I could have that lown to one inch with my Kubota in less than an hour, easy peasy.

I have to say that was rather my feeling.  My 42 year old Wheel Horse 42" tractor does about half an acre (about 2000 sq metres in 4 parts with quite a number of 'obstructions and fiddly bits') in about an hour, and that is not hurrying.

[oowee]

I wish I could do it quicker but 60 plus trees, waterfall, wild flower bank, flower beds, fruit cage, chicken runs, wood store, patio's, car park, french drains and strimming edges adds to the fiddly bit count. 

[JohnfromUK]

4 hours ago, oowee said:

I wish I could do it quicker but 60 plus trees, waterfall, wild flower bank, flower beds, fruit cage, chicken runs, wood store, patio's, car park, french drains and strimming edges adds to the fiddly bit count. 

Back in the 70s and 80s when my parents were alive and younger we had a huge garden my father had mostly created from a field.  About 3 acres in total, of which about 1/2 was lawn cut short with a cylinder mower, and the balance just 'grass', cut to about 2".  There were lots of beds of shrubs, fruit trees etc.  We had two cylinder mowers, both 1950s, a 36" cut Ransomes, Simms and Jefferies 'Mastiff' with a JAP engine and a 24" cut Dennis Brothers 'Z' type with a Blackburn engine.  I still have the latter - it is a beautiful piece of engineering.  It took two of us many hours a week in peak growing season, and both were immensely heavy and hard work.  The rougher grass was cut with a 36" Hayter.

[oowee]

9 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

Back in the 70s and 80s when my parents were alive and younger we had a huge garden my father had mostly created from a field.  About 3 acres in total, of which about 1/2 was lawn cut short with a cylinder mower, and the balance just 'grass', cut to about 2".  There were lots of beds of shrubs, fruit trees etc.  We had two cylinder mowers, both 1950s, a 36" cut Ransomes, Simms and Jefferies 'Mastiff' with a JAP engine and a 24" cut Dennis Brothers 'Z' type with a Blackburn engine.  I still have the latter - it is a beautiful piece of engineering.  It took two of us many hours a week in peak growing season, and both were immensely heavy and hard work.  The rougher grass was cut with a 36" Hayter.

Wow i dread to think of the work. I love mine when it's done but it is a pain to do it. I have a honda ride on which is good at mulching if i do it frequently. Part of the lawn was created from a field which I planted as an orchard. It's amazing that what was once rough meadow can become like a garden lawn if you keep cutting it although i used a topper on the back of the tractor for the first two years. I also do the common in front of the house so that the farmer does not put cattle on it. I tape down the sensor on the mower so that I can run it with the grass box off, and rear discharge the grass 🙂 I have tried letting the sheep in to the orchard part and the copse but they keep knocking over the electric fence to get at the rest of the grass.

The honda is very efficient and good at what it does but it certainly does not have any engineering character, if you get my drift.

 

[JohnfromUK]

9 minutes ago, oowee said:

but it certainly does not have any engineering character, if you get my drift.

My Dennis is like this and has character ...... by the hundredweight.  (This is not my actual machine, but a restored example)