Budget petrol lawnmower that does it all

[bigbob77]

We have a garden that's approx 100 square meters, so not that big - but just big enough that the cable of an electric lawnmower is annoying.

I currently use a Bosch Rotak 43 Ergoflex which is perfect for my needs - other than the cable which pisses me off! I've already run over it once and nearly killed myself, and I'm stupid enough to do it again so I'd rather get rid of it.

There is a slope in our garden but self-propelled shouldn't be needed as it's not that big.

My needs are:
1) Can cope with slightly damp grass - I'm in Scotland so 'damp' is the best I can hope for
2) Can cope with long grass - when it won't stop raining for weeks and it grows too long
3) Big enough that I can do the whole garden quickly
4) Small enough that it can navigate around curved edges in our front garden
5) Cuts right up to the sides because I hate strimmers even more than lawnmower cables!
6) Leaves stripes in the lawn like the Bosch does

... And a budget of £200!

I'm OK with buying used, but don't know what to look out for. Everyone hails Honda as the best - but I've seen some £200 used Honda mowers that were ancient rust-buckets.

Can I find what I want without tripling my budget?

[trickywoo]

Cutting to the edge I can't see happening.

Proper stripes means a rear roller which seems to limit your options to nil for a new machine.

I can recommend this for everything else http://www.mowdirect.co.uk/oleo-mac-g48-tk-comfort...

I think you'll only get what you want used and likely have to be a regular trawl of ebay within the distance you are happy to drive.

I'd avoid anything without a manual choke and give it a good test run before you buy. If it runs without surging or smoking and isn't rusty you should be OK.

[Willy Nilly]

I bought one of these http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/sovereign-...la-159790309456|crid:82031059936|nw:g|rnd:1986638287694682702|dvc:c|adp:1o3&gclid=CMT4zuuwvswCFdUW0wodkaYI8A the other week, used it on sunday for the first time and it's chuffin great!

[Welshbeef]

I've a (think it's 21") 5.5hp 4 wheels and not self propelled (I enjoy pushing it /therapeutic) we have a mossy ish lawn in parts and given its giving full power all the time this seems to do the job.

I'd not get smaller personally - time to cut the lawn is just over the hour non stop then edging following that if I've the time. Smaller would take too long and IMHO it needs the bigger unit, I think you can get a 6.5hp version too.
My engine is a Briggs and Straton so parts easily available but to be fair all its needed is a new cord.

I'd love a nice brand new Honda at what £1.2k but my second hand (American make cannot recall what it is but oddly it was shipped over so the previous owner told me when they emigrated here) gets the job done. Think I should give it a service a little treat.

[BlueHave]

Willy Nilly said:

I bought one of these http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/sovereign-...la-159790309456|crid:82031059936|nw:g|rnd:1986638287694682702|dvc:c|adp:1o3&gclid=CMT4zuuwvswCFdUW0wodkaYI8A the other week, used it on sunday for the first time and it's chuffin great!

If you get a season out of that you will be lucky. I work with a guy who had about 3 of these within a month. He took it back and the manager basically told him they were a heap of st.

Would be better getting a decent second hand Honda or proper Mountfield ( not the cheap licensed ones they sell in B&Q).

[Buzz84]

BlueHave said:

Willy Nilly said:

I bought one of these http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/sovereign-...la-159790309456|crid:82031059936|nw:g|rnd:1986638287694682702|dvc:c|adp:1o3&gclid=CMT4zuuwvswCFdUW0wodkaYI8A the other week, used it on sunday for the first time and it's chuffin great!

If you get a season out of that you will be lucky. I work with a guy who had about 3 of these within a month. He took it back and the manager basically told him they were a heap of st.

Would be better getting a decent second hand Honda or proper Mountfield ( not the cheap licensed ones they sell in B&Q).

And on the other hand, my dad has had a sovereign for several years and it's been faultless, in fact the other day I used it and noticed on the data plate that sovereign are made by husqvarna who I seem to believe are highly rated.

After using his I have just got a used Honda HR194 self propelled for my garden off eBay and it's great, the guy I got it from sells them as a job and said they normally go for £250-300 as used.

[8-P]

Id really like a budget petrol mower with roller for the classic stripe, but they dont seem to exist. Best value for that seems to be on ebay

[MDMA .]

I have recently bought a Qualcast classic 35s. brilliant machine. paid 145.00 for it ( albeit from a friend who went up a size when moving house ). good ones come up for sale once in a while. October onwards is a good time to buy though
there is a dealer Bolton / Bury way who specializes in them. will try and find the link.

[Welshbeef]

BlueHave said:

If you get a season out of that you will be lucky. I work with a guy who had about 3 of these within a month. He took it back and the manager basically told him they were a heap of st.

Would be better getting a decent second hand Honda or proper Mountfield ( not the cheap licensed ones they sell in B&Q).

Don't hey come with a 2 year warranty?

Honda has 10years for personal user

[Condi]

Been very happy with the Hayter I bought off ebay for 50 quid. 30 quid more spent getting it serviced and set up correctly, and for 80 quid I have a well built top of the range machine with Honda engine. Its brilliant.

[Ken Figenus]

Got a self propelled Ryobi petrol from Screwfix - was £150 on a deal. Thought it worth a punt after a bit of research. Its on its third year now and still running fine. Have had to strip the carb a few times as there is no in-line filter. Also change the oil every year as it has no oil filter. Got it as the hand me down Honda hit a brick in the garden and bent the crank - 25 years running! Still haven't forgiven the mother in law for moving the brick!

[MG-FIDO]

Welshbeef said:

Don't hey come with a 2 year warranty?

Honda has 10years for personal user

No they don't, their Izy range have 5 years domestic, their professional stuff 7 years and their electrics 2.

[Welshbeef]

MG-FIDO said:

Welshbeef said:

Don't hey come with a 2 year warranty?

Honda has 10years for personal user

No they don't, their Izy range have 5 years domestic, their professional stuff 7 years and their electrics 2.

No they don't (and I got ten years wrong it was 7 personal and 1 professional)


http://www.honda.co.uk/lawn-and-garden/owners/warr...

[bigbob77]

Thanks for the suggestions

I was close to going for the Oleo Mac above... But instead have ended up with this:


Honda HRB423.

Good:
- £80
- Cut nicely on a trial run
- 17" so not too big to go around the details in my front garden
- Roller
- Starts on first pull, engine runs smoothly

Bad:
Self-propulsion is very weak. The roller does turn, but it only just pulls itself downhill

It will get new oil, spark plug, air filter and a sharpened blade this weekend. I'll see if I can figure out the drive issue - Google says that roller bearings a weak point for Honda. Not bothered anyway, it's a bit under 30kg which is no problem for the size of my garden.

[8-P]

ebay?

[bigbob77]

Gumtree. I called about a few Hondas before, but even 30 minutes after the adverts were placed they were all gone! Seems like any Honda under £150 is snapped up in seconds. This one was local so I got lucky. I think £80 is pretty good even without the drive, they seem to go spares/repair for about that price.

[Welshbeef]

Great find - and a bit of free exercise if you don't repair the roller.

[netherfield]

Re the roller, I have a 21" similar to yours, there was a recall on the roller drive mechanism, I wonder if yours didn't get done, never had a problem in 10 years since the repair.

[bigbob77]

Gave it a service last night...
Not sure when it was last serviced, but...

I'm sure oil isn't meant to be deep black with the consistency of thick treacle:


And the spark plug isn't meant to look like this (there was a thick layer of fuzzy soot on it, and rust):


Can you guess which is the old air filter?


Replaced all those, stuck on a new starter cord handle, sharpened the blade, sorted the air/fuel mix screw, cleaned out the carb float bowl and adjusted the governor lever to give me some more revs... I'm about £15 down so £95 in total but it now starts really easily, runs smoothly and sounds a lot better .
Just needs a proper clean now and it'll be good as new!

I could have spent the same on a brand new Tesco lawn mower... But this one gives me stripes and I bet it'll still last longer *cue imminent massive failure*

[8-P]

There are people that do this on ebay all the time, buy them, do a quick fix up and sell them as reconditioned listing the work done. Often theyve got 3 or 4 mowers listed, Im watching a Mountfield at the moment, Hondas all seem to go too high!