Agreed. And I paid less than that for the same model from a main Honda dealer, so worth shopping around bricks and mortar, not just the internet.

Rotary, by a country mile.

Unless you cut the lawn about twice a week you'd need a rotary to back the cylinder up, as unless their blades are v sharp (and they are hard to sharpen) they start folding long grass rather than cutting it.

A rotary with a rear roller does everything a cylinder does, and some stuff it doesn't. And one without a rear roller does a perfectly good job unless you're utterly anal about your lawn.

I'll agree with Johnnytheboy above: rotary mower for your every day lawn.

Cylinder mowers are great if your lawn is top quality, perfectly flat, is composed of bents and fescues that can cope with a short cut, is well fertilised, aerated and irrigated and you don't mind mowing two to three times a week in the main growing season. They also need to be sharp and regularly adjusted to maintain the scissor like cut.

Rotary mowers are better for cutting heights above 1", which is where your average lawn consisting of rye and meadow grasses needs to be, can cope better with bumps and hollows, give nearly as good a cut when sharp but are more forgiving when they aren't. There's no blade adjustment to carry out, and if you hit any stones lurking on the grass it's not the end of the world.

I normally use a cylinder mower, but I still keep a flymo as backup in case wet weather means I miss a cut. I'm cutting every two to three days at the moment, and brushing or raking the lawn beforehand to lift the grass blades. I do sometime question whether it's worth it

Another expensive thread...

Having bent the crank on my Mountfield yesterday (which was on it's last legs anyway) I'm now browsing the Honda site gradually talking myself into debt!

Tbh I don't really see the need to buy new for domestic purposes. Lawnmower technology hasn't changed much over the years, and often the older ones are often more solidly built. Pick up a second hand one that's been looked after and it'll keep going.

My Atco was built in the late '50s and I can't fault it. Cost me about £40 iirc. Starts first time every time and produces a lovely cut.

Granted, some of the newer cylinder mowers now come with built in rakes behind the front roller, changeable front roller/wheels and scarifying cartridges, but if you don't need those then you're paying a lot of money for some shiny paintwork.

I'd spend the difference on grass seed, fertiliser and autumn scarifier hire and have a far better lawn for it.

Having said that, a nice shiny new mower does look and I can't say I haven't been tempted on occasions

Too many "what mower" threads on PH bumping the prices up

Hadn't realised the Honda mowers were showing such strong second hand prices. I'd been keeping an eye on Hayter rotaries recently, which seem to be good value, and pretty reliable from what I recall of my parent's and grandparent's ones in the past.

I used to use them in the past and never had a bad word to say about them. They did a great job on a non domestic lawn with very heavy traffic. I'd have no qualms about using them again, and nearly did get them over this year - it's only my stubborn determination to do it myself that means I don't.

I knew I'd spoken too soon, not been able to get the piece of crap to start since I wrote this! Just about to be donated to the local dump!

You get what you pay for, Honda are the best! Honda all day long.

Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda
Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda
Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda
Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda
Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda Honda

all together now ..........................

I think a petrol powered lawnmower is overkill for cleaning your wheels, frankly.