New mower recommendations

[Pushkin]

What can the PW massif come up with for best buy self propelled mower around about £200 t0 £250.  My old one is having a bit of a terminal episode just now.  Needs to be able to deal with 1/3 of an acre minimum, mixed lawn and scrubland.  I'm attracted to the Mountfield SP185 but have read some not so good review comments on it.  What do you think lads and lasses?

[Saltings]

most these days are copies of  a briggs / honda under licence   despite name  clones       built to last a few years       before the deck rots  out       i would look and touch  cheap **** feels as such   buy an older flymower   petrol driven   go anywhere up hill down dale all day    if yours is running like a bag of ****     black smoke  you need a £3.50 carb diaphragm kit      a 5 min fix       a philips screwdriver and a 1/2" spanner  so many tutorials on you tube  or pm me

[vmaxphil]

Honda all day long 

[ditchman]

for the money you want to spend ...it will have to be 2nd hand for a decent mower..........

[Walker570]

2 minutes ago, ditchman said:

for the money you want to spend ...it will have to be 2nd hand for a decent mower..........

Yes agree. Better to spend a bit more and buy something better.  14 years ago I went looking for a ride on to cut the orchard and woodland walk ways plus two small lawns at the house. I found a Kubota and also found that it had been pre owned by a farmer I knew who always looked after his kit.  Apart from a few welding repairs on the bed and new blades etc., that mower never failes to start and do the job.  OK I have lose to 3 1/2 acres but you should still look to buy just a bit bigger than you realy need.

Kubota/ Stig or Honda first choice for me.

I'm a Kubota fan I musr say as I also have a 7001 tractor made in 1977 which still runs like a Swiss watch and is my very best friend.

[London Best]

A decent self propelled will cost 3 or 4 times your suggested budget.

[discobob]

I went to buy a lawn mower years ago - a Viking - as the one we had had conked out but when I got there the place had stopped selling them and I came away with a Hayter roller mower - and I realised after a short while that they had spelt the name wrong as I Hayted (see what I done). Anyway, a few years ago I found one on Market Place for pittance (a Viking) locally and I bought it - no basket. Eventually found a basket on eBay. I think it is now something like 15 years old - and is absolutely brilliant. The Hayter hasn't been used in years now.

Trouble is VIKING have been consumed by Stihl and I can't see equivalent designs - however there is a Viking MB505 for sale on the bay for £150 if it is anywhere near you - fantastic pickup - wet or dry

[ditchman]

its all down to maintenance...........my Hayter ride on is 20 years old...i bought it for £280 quid....it was a bit untidy....new blade and a new pulley ..fuel filter...good clean and it is like new.............

steer away from electric start mowers.....the batteries always fail eventually.........and always hose out the underside of the cutting table after use

as said previous get something with a honda engine or well known engine...........the Briggs and stratton engines are fine now....the older models were a nuisance

for £300 quid you should get a really good trade in self propelled walk behind...........

[discobob]

7 minutes ago, ditchman said:

its all down to maintenance...........my Hayter ride on

It was from new that I developed my "dislike" - I had to empty the basket 4 times on our back lawn - not because the basket was full but because it started throwing it out into the body and throwing it everywhere. When damp you could easily double that. If you ran over the area again to pick up the grass that had spewed out - you picked next to nothing up.

The Viking is one pass - empty at the end (and boy - does it compact the grass into the basket) and picking up anything with another pass is easy - Indeed my wife got passed a lawnmower from one of her clients and she insisted we use it (she doesn't like the viking as it is too big and she can't start it) - this wasn't too bad but there was quite a bit of dropped grass so I ran over it again with the Green Monster and got all that up so we are back to using that.

It is a real shame that they don't make these anymore 😞

 

[ditchman]

1 minute ago, discobob said:

It was from new that I developed my "dislike" - I had to empty the basket 4 times on our back lawn - not because the basket was full but because it started throwing it out into the body and throwing it everywhere. When damp you could easily double that. If you ran over the area again to pick up the grass that had spewed out - you picked next to nothing up.

The Viking is one pass - empty at the end (and boy - does it compact the grass into the basket) and picking up anything with another pass is easy - Indeed my wife got passed a lawnmower from one of her clients and she insisted we use it (she doesn't like the viking as it is too big and she can't start it) - this wasn't too bad but there was quite a bit of dropped grass so I ran over it again with the Green Monster and got all that up so we are back to using that.

It is a real shame that they don't make these anymore 😞

 

my hayter werent very good at picking up until i changed the blade for a high lift blade.....made all the difference...i love to use it sucking up the leaves and mulching them in the autumn

[discobob]

2 minutes ago, ditchman said:

my hayter werent very good at picking up until i changed the blade for a high lift blade.....made all the difference...i love to use it sucking up the leaves and mulching them in the autumn

Perhaps that is what we needed on it - it is still sat in the shed so may have a try at that - Thanks Ditchy 👍

[Pushkin]

Excellent folks.  If nothing else you can always get good advice from the massif.  The Mountfield I have read more on and its back in favour again.  However, I have since added a Webb Mower, the WER18 which is  nearer the £300:00 pound mark.  So far I'm not having any luck looking for an older GWC mower but imagine they ae a bit like busses: None when you want one but the moment you dont........

Saltings, I'm off to troll over you tube to see if my Briggs and Stratton motor problems are dealt with.

Keep it coming folks

[ditchman]

30 minutes ago, Pushkin said:

Excellent folks.  If nothing else you can always get good advice from the massif.  The Mountfield I have read more on and its back in favour again.  However, I have since added a Webb Mower, the WER18 which is  nearer the £300:00 pound mark.  So far I'm not having any luck looking for an older GWC mower but imagine they ae a bit like busses: None when you want one but the moment you dont........

Saltings, I'm off to troll over you tube to see if my Briggs and Stratton motor problems are dealt with.

Keep it coming folks

older briggs and stratton problem are usually carberatta problems....they need cleaning and resetting.....

[muncher]

I’ve just bought a self propelled mover from Aldi £179 Briggs and Stratton engine cuts a dream, sold my Cheap one that I bought new and worked fine for 7 years. We buy hondas at work and they burn out just as fast as any other make these days. I think tool station has one for sale that looks identical to mine for £160. Can’t go wrong at that money. 

[ninjaferret]

HONDA

[sandspider]

I'm toying with the idea of a robotic mower! Neighbour has one, and it seems to do a decent job of a pretty bumpy lawn. Cost £400 ish I think, so less than a decent ride on...

[Walker570]

20year old Kubota still doing it's job.

[adzyvilla]

I've just bought (this week) a stihl RM248 online from world of power for £233. Replacing my 30+ year old Atco Admiral wasn't an easy task, but I think this could be a worthy successor. They do a self propelled model (the 248t) for about £40 more. The blurb says its good for 1200sq meters, so would probably do what you need. I have only used it once but its impressed me so far.

[ditchman]

1 hour ago, Walker570 said:

20year old Kubota still doing it's job.

are you growing criket bats ?........or draining the swamp ?

[Walker570]

Neither.  I had three small fields remaining from what my father had when he passed on. Total acreage 10 acres. I tried to take hay of it for thye first couple of years without a huge amount of success but on visiting the Royal Show twenty odd years ago and seeing the layout of the poplar trees and how fast they would produce a wood. I decided to plant up. I have a Holding Number so could do this under the then FWGS.  It is now stunning and everyone who visits just walk around open mouthed.  Many other species have grown wild and I also planted about a hundred conifirs to supply accomodation for the little birds who like that sort of thing.  I have feeders throughout and the birds cost me about a 25kg bag of peanuts a month. It is considered a tree rat free zone.  I also dug out two small ponds which now host newts and frogs as well as a family of moorhens this year.  Just a joy to just sit down there and watch the wildlife.

[johnphilip]

We have had our Mountfield  for 3 years now got it from screwfix , can't remember  price around£ 300 . Does all we need. 

[ditchman]

52 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Neither.  I had three small fields remaining from what my father had when he passed on. Total acreage 10 acres. I tried to take hay of it for thye first couple of years without a huge amount of success but on visiting the Royal Show twenty odd years ago and seeing the layout of the poplar trees and how fast they would produce a wood. I decided to plant up. I have a Holding Number so could do this under the then FWGS.  It is now stunning and everyone who visits just walk around open mouthed.  Many other species have grown wild and I also planted about a hundred conifirs to supply accomodation for the little birds who like that sort of thing.  I have feeders throughout and the birds cost me about a 25kg bag of peanuts a month. It is considered a tree rat free zone.  I also dug out two small ponds which now host newts and frogs as well as a family of moorhens this year.  Just a joy to just sit down there and watch the wildlife.

you aint gort any bloody moles then........................................yet    

[Dougy]

There's one of these on an auction site, i was looking at old mowers the other day on there.  

 

Allett Webb Atco Balmoral 14s Petrol Cylinder Self-propelled Lawnmower

[Pushkin]

Hi Folks, thanks for all the advice.  I had another look at my old mower and couldn't even get it to turn with the pull start.  It did turn when I used my hands to turn the blade around.  Plug out cleaned up and re-gapped. Turned with the pull start no problem. Eventually got it to start but it was like those old war films where they lay down a smoke trail - Bet that pleased the neighbours.. So obviously burning oil.  Stopped the mower and the smoke, got out my syphon and drained all the oil out of the engine, nice colour but darker than it should be. Checked the air filter and it was actually pretty clean so quick squeeze but no excess oil?  Re-filled the oil in the engine, put the filter back on and started it up. 30 seconds still Smokey then just cleared up.  I have now cut all my grass quickly and effectively.  But hey, I'm not daft pennies are in the bank for a new mower (self propelled) because I think the old one has done really well by me for about 20 years and I cant complain at that.  Briggs and Stratton 35 silver streak with a Fymo badge on the front (Made by Electrolux) and sold through Homebase for £110 or thereabouts.

So the hunt continues  for my best buy on a self powered petrol mower as above.  Anyone had one of these Webb machines.

Pushkin

[oowee]

7 hours ago, sandspider said:

I'm toying with the idea of a robotic mower! Neighbour has one, and it seems to do a decent job of a pretty bumpy lawn. Cost £400 ish I think, so less than a decent ride on...

I have a Honda ride on and a self powered honda wrx for the lawns here. Fed up of spending 6 hours a week cutting and can't afford the time taken out of my leisure so bought a Husqvarna robot, it's life changing. No more concerns about what to do with a mountain of grass when I get back from a break. The thing will work day and night if asked. Saves a small fortune in fuel and never complains. Named him Hector.