Discussion
Im thinking I need one of these, I have grass on all 4 sides of the current house and its a pain having to drag the petrol mower around and empty the grass box every 5 minutes.
So, my question is:
How many people have one of these little toys tucked away in the garage?
How much is the minimum amount of grass 'required' before you can convince SWMBO that a ride-on is a necessity?
Do they cut as short as a typical rotary petrol mower?
Are they reliable, and are there any outstanding or particularly cr@p makes?
If I ever do manage to convince her, then I'd only be able to look at cheap 2nd hand machine, so is it going to be worth the risk?
So, my question is:
How many people have one of these little toys tucked away in the garage?
How much is the minimum amount of grass 'required' before you can convince SWMBO that a ride-on is a necessity?
Do they cut as short as a typical rotary petrol mower?
Are they reliable, and are there any outstanding or particularly cr@p makes?
If I ever do manage to convince her, then I'd only be able to look at cheap 2nd hand machine, so is it going to be worth the risk?
Best advice would be not to buy a cheap one. If you can't buy a decent new one then spend the money on a decent 2nd Hand one. I would class one of the B&Q / Homebase type ones as cheap and something like a John Deere as good.
I have 5 acres of grass so over the earlier years bought a "budget" mower 2 or 3 times
My John Deere is still going strong after about 5 years although most of the work is now done with a Ransomes triple cylinder beastie.
It's hard to give an estimate of what point they become worthwhile, but I recon you will cut a flat area the size of a tennis court in about 5 mins with a decent ride-on, obviously depending on how much fussy bits you need to accomodate. It's also worth making the obvious point that the wider the cutting deck the quicker you will cut the area.
I have 5 acres of grass so over the earlier years bought a "budget" mower 2 or 3 times
My John Deere is still going strong after about 5 years although most of the work is now done with a Ransomes triple cylinder beastie.
It's hard to give an estimate of what point they become worthwhile, but I recon you will cut a flat area the size of a tennis court in about 5 mins with a decent ride-on, obviously depending on how much fussy bits you need to accomodate. It's also worth making the obvious point that the wider the cutting deck the quicker you will cut the area.
I have owned a number of differing mowers over the years. Doing about 100hrs a year on a 42" cut.
They can cost a fortune in maintenance and parts, I know mine costs more in parts alown for a standard service then my MK4 TDI Golf.
IE
Countax C600H
Blades+engine oil+hydro oil+air filter+oil filter+spark plugs=£95 ish
Golf TDI
Sump plug+engine oil+oil filter+air filter+fuel filter+pollen filter=£85 ish
While the amount of use it gets (service every 50hrs) will make a difference to your running costs its something to bear in mind. Also the amount of non service parts it gets though is a source of shear amazement to me.
If buying a second hand one I would say get something old and John Deere and it might actually last.
What are you currently cutting the grass with, and how long does it take? Is collection a must?
They can cost a fortune in maintenance and parts, I know mine costs more in parts alown for a standard service then my MK4 TDI Golf.
IE
Countax C600H
Blades+engine oil+hydro oil+air filter+oil filter+spark plugs=£95 ish
Golf TDI
Sump plug+engine oil+oil filter+air filter+fuel filter+pollen filter=£85 ish
While the amount of use it gets (service every 50hrs) will make a difference to your running costs its something to bear in mind. Also the amount of non service parts it gets though is a source of shear amazement to me.
If buying a second hand one I would say get something old and John Deere and it might actually last.
What are you currently cutting the grass with, and how long does it take? Is collection a must?
A911DOM said:
Im thinking I need one of these, I have grass on all 4 sides of the current house and its a pain having to drag the petrol mower around and empty the grass box every 5 minutes.
So, my question is:
How many people have one of these little toys tucked away in the garage?
How much is the minimum amount of grass 'required' before you can convince SWMBO that a ride-on is a necessity?
Do they cut as short as a typical rotary petrol mower?
Are they reliable, and are there any outstanding or particularly cr@p makes?
If I ever do manage to convince her, then I'd only be able to look at cheap 2nd hand machine, so is it going to be worth the risk?
I have a Countax A20/50 and it's a fantastic bit of kit.So, my question is:
How many people have one of these little toys tucked away in the garage?
How much is the minimum amount of grass 'required' before you can convince SWMBO that a ride-on is a necessity?
Do they cut as short as a typical rotary petrol mower?
Are they reliable, and are there any outstanding or particularly cr@p makes?
If I ever do manage to convince her, then I'd only be able to look at cheap 2nd hand machine, so is it going to be worth the risk?
Yes, they can cut very short but you need to be careful as with the speed you can top a lot of grass very quickly.
Get a decent brand engine, B&S, Honda etc then yes, they are reliable.
Second hand is fine as long as it's been looked after and serviced - just like a car.
Re brands, depends on what you want. I went for Countax as it uses a good engine, all of my local garden machinery places sell them and they have a PTO. The PTO is great for powered sweepers, chippers/shredders etc.
http://www.countax.co.uk/TractorRange/index.php?tr...
If you have particularly bumpy ground I would reccomend one with wheels on the mower deck - the Husqvarna I use doesn't and you can see all the parts of the grass it cuts low (and high) just due to the wheelbase on these things.
Also mine is one of these you need to get off your arse to empty. On reflection I would have held out for one that you can empty from your seat.
Also mine is one of these you need to get off your arse to empty. On reflection I would have held out for one that you can empty from your seat.
We have a 42" countax to do about an acre of lawn .
You need to decide what you want , if you want stripes onm the lawn you need a roller .
What will you do with the cuttings ?
It is a big problem for a large lawn , we first off tip them in a corner and I slowly lose them in the large recycle bins , compost some , then burn the rest at the end of the year .
Ideally , I would like a countax with a collector and a mulching deck too.
I like stripes and patterns
You need to decide what you want , if you want stripes onm the lawn you need a roller .
What will you do with the cuttings ?
It is a big problem for a large lawn , we first off tip them in a corner and I slowly lose them in the large recycle bins , compost some , then burn the rest at the end of the year .
Ideally , I would like a countax with a collector and a mulching deck too.
I like stripes and patterns
I went for a Stiga park Pro out front ride on this year, with the pro mulching deck, electric cutter hight adjustment and power steering. Best bit of kit I have ever purchased****. I like the way the turn from the center as it makes cutting the lawns so much quicker. I still use a 8 foot tractor mounted mower for doing the large (5 acre) grass area but would recomend a Stiga over anything I have ever owned.
Edit to add... got it off ebay , 22 hours is all it had done, was in a real remote location and he forgot to put a reserve on it. bargin.
Edit to add... got it off ebay , 22 hours is all it had done, was in a real remote location and he forgot to put a reserve on it. bargin.
Edited by marc.l on Thursday 22 October 23:45
I have a Hayter 10/30 . I think Hayter is a good make but its a smaller machine than the contax type ( I think ) I only have about half an acre of grass . It took me about 4 - 5 hours to cut with my walk behind mower depending on time of year it now takes about an hour and a half .
I picked the Hayter because it has Collect , mulch and side discharge settings , so i can take it to our paddock and cut long rough grass or not collect if conditions are Ok . The only issue is the collection is poor if the grass is damp , you need to balance speed and length of cut . I have not sent it away for service and its easy to drop the deck to check everything so its cost me nothing in the tree years so far . I found following newish ones on Ebay they all made new money anyway so bought at a dealer in the end . Should have done it years ago .
10/30 = 10hp 30 inch cut
Hope that helps .
I picked the Hayter because it has Collect , mulch and side discharge settings , so i can take it to our paddock and cut long rough grass or not collect if conditions are Ok . The only issue is the collection is poor if the grass is damp , you need to balance speed and length of cut . I have not sent it away for service and its easy to drop the deck to check everything so its cost me nothing in the tree years so far . I found following newish ones on Ebay they all made new money anyway so bought at a dealer in the end . Should have done it years ago .
10/30 = 10hp 30 inch cut
Hope that helps .
I used to work for Ransomes, who make some fantastic bits of kit, but I've some questions for you. I presume when you say ride-on, you're thinking of the typical tractor mower...
... rather than something like this:
What quality lawn do you have? Is it lumpy, or a flat, well established old lawn? If it's flat, or gently undulating, then a cylinder should give better finish than your walk-behind rotary.
How big is it? 1/2, 3/4, 1 acre? How long does it take to cut? Anything over half an acre would start to get into ride-on territory in my book, but at that level, I'd look at a small ride-on, and not a tractor. If it's in the 1-acre territory, then even with a tractor mower, you'll be going up and down for ages with a standard 40" deck. The downside of getting ride-on cylinder like the Ransomes shown here, is that even second hand, you're looking at £1.5-2k for a decent secondhand one. This isn't a cheap solution, so you need to work out if it'll be worth freeing up an hour or so of your time, once a week in summer. The benefit of something like this is that the cutting width, which is wider than a typical ride-on rotary, easily 2x wider. The negative to something like this, is that a cylinder doesn't usually come with grass collectors, whereas tractor mowers with a rotary cutting deck, can come with large grass collectors on the back.
... rather than something like this:
What quality lawn do you have? Is it lumpy, or a flat, well established old lawn? If it's flat, or gently undulating, then a cylinder should give better finish than your walk-behind rotary.
How big is it? 1/2, 3/4, 1 acre? How long does it take to cut? Anything over half an acre would start to get into ride-on territory in my book, but at that level, I'd look at a small ride-on, and not a tractor. If it's in the 1-acre territory, then even with a tractor mower, you'll be going up and down for ages with a standard 40" deck. The downside of getting ride-on cylinder like the Ransomes shown here, is that even second hand, you're looking at £1.5-2k for a decent secondhand one. This isn't a cheap solution, so you need to work out if it'll be worth freeing up an hour or so of your time, once a week in summer. The benefit of something like this is that the cutting width, which is wider than a typical ride-on rotary, easily 2x wider. The negative to something like this, is that a cylinder doesn't usually come with grass collectors, whereas tractor mowers with a rotary cutting deck, can come with large grass collectors on the back.
My parentals have had a 28" Snapper for about 10 years now; it was bought secondhand, and beyond changing the oil/servicing and giving it the occasional new sparkplug, the only bits that have worn out and needed replacing have been 1 cutting blade drive belt(tenner) and a couple of clutch rings(~£15 each). To be honest it's a bit excessive; it's only used to cut about a 1/3 of an acre, but it's twice as quick as doing it with the walk-behind mower. Frankly, I'm surprised it's been as reliable as it has; B&S don't have a good reputation for durability(although better than Tecumseh), but this one just keeps going.
One of these is almost the main reason I go to see my grandparents each summer. They have about an acre of lawn to cut and its great fun. Make sure you can empty the bag fro the seat and the hole from the cutting blade to the bag is a decent size as they can clog if the grass is in anyway wet .
There is a lot to be said for electric cutting height adjusters and emptying - it does make the job more pleasurable and fun.
Go for the biggest deck you can whilst still being able to fit down any paths etc you might have. Also, consider the type of deck you want (discharge, mulcher) and if you want a sweeper.
We get a lot of rain in this country and the advantage of a powered sweeper is that you can still cut the grass regardless of the weather, great for picking up leaves too.
It is a great joy in life to be able to biff up and down the lawn leaving lovely stripes on a summers afternoon, beer in one hand, wheel in the other.
Go for the biggest deck you can whilst still being able to fit down any paths etc you might have. Also, consider the type of deck you want (discharge, mulcher) and if you want a sweeper.
We get a lot of rain in this country and the advantage of a powered sweeper is that you can still cut the grass regardless of the weather, great for picking up leaves too.
It is a great joy in life to be able to biff up and down the lawn leaving lovely stripes on a summers afternoon, beer in one hand, wheel in the other.
I reckon we have 3/4 to 1 acre - 45 mins with a 42" cut, a few trees to get round and the area split into two sections of grass.
Next door have a bit less area, with a push-along mower they're out there ALL afternoon, cutting half the width at a slower speed.
Ours is a countax c600h (very low hours 12 month old machine off ebay for £2k).
Seems well built, honda engine, but hydrostatic gearbox apparently isn't that long-lasting.
Good fun, does do excellent stripes as it has a brush sweeper arrangement (powered grass collector) to collect the grass - some makes have hoover-type collection which won't work on damp english grass. You can get a mulch deck instead which chops the cuttings up very fine then fires them back onto the grass as fertiliser. Not sure how good they are at stripes though. The collector collects autumn leaves too, but doing leaves the collector will fill up within yards. Power take off on the back for a chipper, will tow trailers as well. Electric deck height and electric grass tipping just look like more to go wrong to be honest, and don't whatever you do buy the ones they sell in B&Q - absolute garbage! John Deere, Countax/Westwood, Hayter, Honda etc - stick to brand names.
Yes, you 'need' one! Great fun.
Countax do a McClaren F1 edition with leather wheel and ally pedals in full racing colours - I couldn't get that one past the management despite numerous 'plus' points.
Next door have a bit less area, with a push-along mower they're out there ALL afternoon, cutting half the width at a slower speed.
Ours is a countax c600h (very low hours 12 month old machine off ebay for £2k).
Seems well built, honda engine, but hydrostatic gearbox apparently isn't that long-lasting.
Good fun, does do excellent stripes as it has a brush sweeper arrangement (powered grass collector) to collect the grass - some makes have hoover-type collection which won't work on damp english grass. You can get a mulch deck instead which chops the cuttings up very fine then fires them back onto the grass as fertiliser. Not sure how good they are at stripes though. The collector collects autumn leaves too, but doing leaves the collector will fill up within yards. Power take off on the back for a chipper, will tow trailers as well. Electric deck height and electric grass tipping just look like more to go wrong to be honest, and don't whatever you do buy the ones they sell in B&Q - absolute garbage! John Deere, Countax/Westwood, Hayter, Honda etc - stick to brand names.
Yes, you 'need' one! Great fun.
Countax do a McClaren F1 edition with leather wheel and ally pedals in full racing colours - I couldn't get that one past the management despite numerous 'plus' points.
A911DOM said:
How much is the minimum amount of grass 'required' before you can convince SWMBO that a ride-on is a necessity?
These days people seem to be able to justify them for postage stamp terraced gardens, IMHO an acre or so of lawn would be worth consideration, assuming you get an ikkle one. Like anything, buy cheap, buy twice, but there are secondhand bargains on the more serious stuff out there. If you're looking for something that collects then Westwood / Countax / Toro / Husq all worth consideration, if you're more inclined to mulch then Stiga / Kubota / Husq for a front cutter. There are John Deere / JCB and the like units, the cheaper of which are essentially rebadged Japanese or Italian machinery trading on the name, but they also do rather more hardcore machinery too which is still rebadged but closer to being mini-commercial than domestic.
For bigger areas, you are likely to destroy cheaper machines simply by working them harder than they were ever designed to be worked, at which point you ought to be considering more commercial units from Kubota, Iseki, Massey etc.
We have about 10 acres of garden grass which we cut with a Massey tractor fitted with a Ransomes cutting deck - monstrously powerful and totally unphased by length of grass, slopes, condition, but it would be utter utter overkill for a "normal" garden. One of the notable advantages of the sheer size and power is the pace at which one can cut - most of the domestic machines are comparably rather slow, whereas this will produce an excellent cut at twice the speed of those which, along with the width of cut really minimises time in the seat.
Edited by RedLeicester on Friday 23 October 12:24
Duke Thrust said:
There is a lot to be said for electric cutting height adjusters and emptying - it does make the job more pleasurable and fun.
Go for the biggest deck you can whilst still being able to fit down any paths etc you might have. Also, consider the type of deck you want (discharge, mulcher) and if you want a sweeper.
We get a lot of rain in this country and the advantage of a powered sweeper is that you can still cut the grass regardless of the weather, great for picking up leaves too.
It is a great joy in life to be able to biff up and down the lawn leaving lovely stripes on a summers afternoon, beer in one hand, wheel in the other.
Agree. I love ride-on lawnmowers. Too bad I don't have a lawn at the moment. Ha just noticed we're in the same location, can I come mow your lawn....!?Go for the biggest deck you can whilst still being able to fit down any paths etc you might have. Also, consider the type of deck you want (discharge, mulcher) and if you want a sweeper.
We get a lot of rain in this country and the advantage of a powered sweeper is that you can still cut the grass regardless of the weather, great for picking up leaves too.
It is a great joy in life to be able to biff up and down the lawn leaving lovely stripes on a summers afternoon, beer in one hand, wheel in the other.
We have a simplicity 42 inch (from memory) with a mulching deck and roller. Use it to cut about .75 acre had a 30inch collector before ended up with a grass mountain by the end of the season never again
And also a hayter 56 for the edges and other bits
Phib
And also a hayter 56 for the edges and other bits
Phib
Edited by phib on Saturday 24th October 16:04
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