Petrol Lawn mower, £250 budget. Possible?

[BlueHave]

Halmyre said:

Alucidnation said:

Get anything with a Honda engine.

B&S engines are crap and nothing but trouble.

? my B&S engine gets treated like a red-headed stepchild and never gives trouble. I might give it a treat and check the oil level next time.

Didn't B&S get done for fiddling the output of their engines a few years ago.

[Craikeybaby]

I got a cheap no name mower with a B&S engine for £99 from Screwfix a few years back and it is still going strong. I think hte self propelled version was £149, although I think it would be overkill for your lawn.

[Gareth1974]

TheAngryDog said:

Re Costco membership, sadly not, would love it if I could get it.

Have you tried applying? As far as I can see they try to make it sound like an exclusive club (as a marketing gimmick I reckon), but in reality their membership criteria is so broad that almost everyone can get in.

[anonymous-user]

BlueHave said:

The problem is that some of those cheap Mountfield lawnmowers they sell in Screwfix etc for £150 aren't really Mountfield.
They are cheap generic petrol mowers with the Mountfield name licensed to be stuck on the front.

Same with Qualcast petrol mowers they sell in the DIY sheds. Qualcast was sold to Bosch who then licensed the name to a company who buy a mower from China in a desired colour and stick the name on it. Qualcast as it originally was is no more but Hayter bought all the tooling apparently.

Look at the MacAlister 1600w in B&Q and the Qualcast 1600w from Argos, exactly the same mower in a different colour and name.

Only way to get a 'proper' Mountfield, Hayter or Honda is to spend £400+.

Ah Lawnmower snobbery!

I had a Hayter for over a decade and for half of that it needed easy start to get it going. Eventually it stopped working altogether so I got one of the generic Mountfields you speak of. Starts first pull and cuts the grass, what more could you want?

OP, for those bushes and strimming, may I recommend the petrol multi-tool( also from Screwfix? Cheap and very useful, comes with a strimmer, brush cutter, hedge cutter and chainsaw attachments. Proper 2 stroke man cutting!

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttk587gdo-25-4cc-p...

Electric garden machinery is for women.

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 1st August 12:35

[monoloco]

sjg said:

I have this, or whatever the equivalent was a couple of years ago - the cheapest steel deck, B&S engined, self-propelled Mountfield from Screwfix.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/mountfield-sp185-45cm-12...

It's fine.

Another vote for the cheapo Mountfield from Screwfix -I've got this and its absolutely fine -easy to start, easy to use and cuts well. Bought it as a replacement for the equivalent model (SP180) which had given 7 years of hard service until it finally broke the self-propel mechanism and I couldn't be arsed to fix it -easier to buy a new one, but the old one is still going strong (in push mode!) on my mates allotment.

[SilverSixer]

I bought a non-self propelled Honda Izy for about £200 new, 7 years ago. Starts first time every time even after wintering in the shed. Not even bothered replacing oil, air filter or spark plug yet. Brilliant.

Lidl have got some petrol mowers this week with B&S engines for £140. They look fine to me, I'd probably get one if I was in the market right now.

[8-P]

I got a 20 year old Mountfield Empress with Briggs and Stratton Engine and rear roller for £10 at the tip. Put some fuel in it, it started first time so changed oil, spark, sharpened blade and been using it for the last 2 years without fault, it even starts easily first time. My dads got the same mower, he got it from new and its been faultless.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_t...

[petop]

I bought this early in June and used it a few times and no issues. Easy to start and really easy to use.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MBH2I8M/ref...

[boyse7en]

An alternative choice - I bought a Toro (with B&S engine) as it has an aluminium deck rather than steel.

If you buy a steel one, you'll probably find the engine far outlasts the deck unless you are keen on cleaning the mower properly every time.

[BlueHave]

8-P said:

I got a 20 year old Mountfield Empress with Briggs and Stratton Engine and rear roller for £10 at the tip. Put some fuel in it, it started first time so changed oil, spark, sharpened blade and been using it for the last 2 years without fault, it even starts easily first time. My dads got the same mower, he got it from new and its been faultless.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_t...

I noticed a few decent petrol lawnmowers at my local tip that could probably be pulled round for pennies. Unfortnately in my council area the days of bunging the depot worker a tenner to take something are long gone.

[8-P]

BlueHave said:

I noticed a few decent petrol lawnmowers at my local tip that could probably be pulled round for pennies. Unfortnately in my council area the days of bunging the depot worker a tenner to take something are long gone.

Strange my tip seems to be happy to pretty much sell you anything, infact they have a significant display area of things you can buy!

There is a roaring trade on ebay of people selling fully serviced mowers that are probably pretty good. All probably bought from the tip or from ebay as not working and really very easy to get back together again. For many people if a petrol mower stops working, they ring up the garden machinary place who tell them it could be x y or z and could be £150 or more and then they just look online and buy new cheaper. So the old mower goes to the tip. Some people get rid of mowers because they are getting on a bit and look a bit tatty too.

[lost in espace]

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/sovereign-150cc-s...

£99 quid from Homebase, be quick.

[TheAngryDog]

So much choice lol. If I buy cheap I am told that I am guaranteed for it fail after 5 minutes (exaggeration).

If I buy expensive then I may have a mower that works until the end of time.

If I buy one with a steel deck it'll rust.

What's wrong with a plastic deck?

[TheAngryDog]

wormus said:

Ah Lawnmower snobbery!

I had a Hayter for over a decade and for half of that it needed easy start to get it going. Eventually it stopped working altogether so I got one of the generic Mountfields you speak of. Starts first pull and cuts the grass, what more could you want?

OP, for those bushes and strimming, may I recommend the petrol multi-tool( also from Screwfix? Cheap and very useful, comes with a strimmer, brush cutter, hedge cutter and chainsaw attachments. Proper 2 stroke man cutting!

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttk587gdo-25-4cc-p...

Electric garden machinery is for women.

Edited by wormus on Tuesday 1st August 12:35

My neighbours do all that. The tree at the bottom I need to deal with though as its broken and heading in my garden's direction.

[austinsmirk]

Alucidnation said:

Get anything with a Honda engine.

B&S engines are crap and nothing but trouble.

this ^

I learnt the hard way.

Now have a Honda Issy. it's spot on.

[David A]

The old mountfield is finally getting to the end of its days and I can't be arsed to fix all the bits that need fixing. Plus good excuse for a self propelled roller jobby.

Sorry for the thread hikack but what's the consensus on this :

https://www.mountfieldlawnmowers.co.uk/products/la...

[EggsBenedict]

Bought a 20" self propelled cobra from this place: http://www.swmowers.co.uk/lawnmowers

Probably use it for an area about twice the size of yours.

It's one of the self propelled jobbies with the B&S engine. This is its second season and it's excellent still. I'd happily recommend one of these.

Not sure if B&S have a different set of ranges depending on what spec or how far up the range of mower you buy, but I've never had a problem with them.

[Gareth1974]

David A said:

The old mountfield is finally getting to the end of its days and I can't be arsed to fix all the bits that need fixing. Plus good excuse for a self propelled roller jobby.

Sorry for the thread hikack but what's the consensus on this :

https://www.mountfieldlawnmowers.co.uk/products/la...

I've got one, can't fault it. Chose it for the Honda engine.

[TheAngryDog]

Thanks guys.

I need to make a decision soon as the grass is getting longer. I could leave it until the end of the month and hope my FiL cuts it again, but tbh that isn't really cricket lol.

Alternatively is it worth waiting to get a mower if I can borrow his for the next cut or two with "summer" coming to an end soon and the grass starts growing slower.

[The Mad Monk]

Composite Guru said:

If you have Costco membership and can push a little more then I can recommend this.

mtd-optima-140cc-18-46cm-self-propelled-rotary-petrol-lawn-mower-model-o46spbhw-186115

Good thing with Costco is that you get a no quibble 5 year guarantee with all of their stuff so it was a no brainer for me.

Pay £25 a year to buy stuff that is cheaper in Aldi?

No thanks.