Mowers again - to ride or not?

[Workshy Fop]

Got 26m x 16m of grass. Dry and short it takes an hour for the main bit +15 or so for the fiddly bits. Wet and neglected for 2 weeks is 2 hours+ - I'm emptying the grass collector 6+ times, though I do plan to reduce the grass area to about 20x16m in the next year.

So what should I get? My basic £170 Mountfield SP is getting through it but is struggling.
Needs to be a collector, mulching doesn't work here en Ecosse.

[Phooey]

You need one of these -

cwin said:

Phooey said:

cwin said:

Do you use that to cut your grass?

lol,it doesn't take long,but maneuvering around the trees is a pain........

[renmure]

Workshy Fop said:

Needs to be a collector, mulching doesn't work here en Ecosse.

Works fine for me in Ecosse, particularly if you get a proper mulching mower which is designed to, err, mulch, rather than a collecting mower with a bung to shove in the collecting hole. The difference here is huge.. dedicated mulching mowers are like a big blender with a deeper cutting deck and blades designed to cut flat rather than to cut and throw the grass towards a collection tube. http://www.mowwithus.com/mulching_explained.html Done properly with the right machine, you end up with green dust and you can use it in the wet (which is handy in Ecosse)

My grass area is beyond the stage where collecting could be a possibility but even so. Go see / try a proper mulcher before dismissing them and save yourself loads of time and hassle.

[Workshy Fop]

Thanks for the link. I'd assumed mulching wouldn't work on wet grass and would choke the lawn. Emptying the collector is a right pain and the compost heap is the size of a Mini and growing!

[Busamav]

Workshy Fop said:

Thanks for the link. I'd assumed mulching wouldn't work on wet grass and would choke the lawn. Emptying the collector is a right pain and the compost heap is the size of a Mini and growing!

Mulching is superb ,I couldnt be without a mulching mower now , as mentioned above it needs to be a proper mulching deck for the best results.

I spent 2 summers cursing the collected cuttings and the hassle involved , we needed a skip every year to take them away too.

[JustinP1]

Workshy Fop said:

Got 26m x 16m of grass. Dry and short it takes an hour for the main bit +15 or so for the fiddly bits. Wet and neglected for 2 weeks is 2 hours+ - I'm emptying the grass collector 6+ times, though I do plan to reduce the grass area to about 20x16m in the next year.

So what should I get? My basic £170 Mountfield SP is getting through it but is struggling.
Needs to be a collector, mulching doesn't work here en Ecosse.

Have you seen a Robomow?

I kid you not. The Saturday afternoons watching a yellow robot mowing my lawn, drink in hand are priceless.

It is a mulching mower, but not as you know it as instead of a big blade, it is three small ones and the pieces are literally a few millimetres. I've had mine 5 years and I'll never look back.

The second thing is because it is almost no effort to cut the lawn, you never end up leaving it more than a week so the lawn ends up looking better for it too.

[Workshy Fop]

Hadn't considered one of these, assumed they were a bit of a gimmick, but one of the smaller ones could do the main part. I take it they like flat regular lawns?

It seems wrong somehow though. Like the episode of Father Ted where Mrs Doyle gets a tea maker to take the misery out of making tea. Well maybe I like the misery she says

[JustinP1]

Workshy Fop said:

Hadn't considered one of these, assumed they were a bit of a gimmick, but one of the smaller ones could do the main part. I take it they like flat regular lawns?

It seems wrong somehow though. Like the episode of Father Ted where Mrs Doyle gets a tea maker to take the misery out of making tea. Well maybe I like the misery she says

Flat and regular is the easiest, but it doesn't need to be. They can get up and down a reasonable incline, and although mine came with flat tyres for nice looking lawns you can also get pimply 'off road' tyres for them.

They come with pegs and a load of wire. All you do is lay the wire out 15 cm in from the perimeter of where you want it to mow. So, if you have a lake, you put it around it! You peg the wire down taught, and (although I didn't believe it would) in a few weeks it is invisible under the grass layer over the top.

You put it down, press go, and it first uses GPS to get a bearing, drives to the edge, goes all the way around the outside then stops and does zig-zig lines across the lawn for the amount of time you set.

It looks a bit random to start with, but it is a program to simply ensure that everywhere has been done once, and a lot of spots 2 or three times. I've gone through a lot of lawnmowers, petrol, electric, hand, cylinder etc and can honestly say this gets the best cut and leaves the lawn the healthiest.

[The Nur]

Lawnmower robot?

Want.

[ToyotaJim]

The Husqvarna ones are the daddy - but not cheap... http://www.husqvarna.com/uk/landowner/products/rob...

[Fume troll]

Another Scottish mulcher here! Stiga 4wd Park.

Cheers,

FT.

[Workshy Fop]

Still on the quest for a mower. This is looking favourite now.

http://cheapmowers.com/acatalog/Hayter_R53S_Lawnmo...

3 year warranty, auto-drive and crank protection thingy is swinging it. Not sure I want the added complexity of an electric start system. Would it have a pull-start too? I know someone on another thread broke the deck on the ally version of the same mower. Any recommendations ~<£500 - need about a 21'' really.

The Robomow's intriguing but would be a hassle to create a weatherproof area to keep the charging station.

[Fume troll]

Yeah, it'll have a pull start too. For that size I'd be getting one like this: http://www.mowersplus.co.uk/productDetails.asp?pro...

Cheers,

FT.

[Workshy Fop]

Hand propelled! The next one up is front wheel drive which is unusual! Did you mean the £500 one? No collection by the look of it. Looks robust but only 1cm up on what I have.

[Fume troll]

Sorry yeah, the FWD one. I've got one that I use for wee bits. You've gone off the mulching idea then?

Cheers,

FT.

[Workshy Fop]

Definitely need mulching to tame the compost heap but not sure if a pure mulcher is the way to go.

Just spotted this Husky - £100 cheaper than the one Queenie uses. Has a 5.5hp Honda too.

http://www.gardenmachinerydirect.co.uk/husqvarna_p...

[JustinP1]

Workshy Fop said:

The Robomow's intriguing but would be a hassle to create a weatherproof area to keep the charging station.

I just pick mine up, put it in the shed and plug it in. Most of the weight it in the battery pack which just lifts out, and I can carry the battery in one hand and the body in the other from the carry handle. And no, I am far from HeMan.

Takes maybe a minute tops, to save many minutes more mowing...

[Handbag]

Fume troll said:

Yeah, it'll have a pull start too. For that size I'd be getting one like this: http://www.mowersplus.co.uk/productDetails.asp?pro...

Cheers,

FT.

I bought a self propelled FWD Mountfield multiclip 501 from B&Q 2 weeks ago, think it was £289. It looks identical to the Stiga other than badge and colour.
http://reviews.diy.com/2191-en_gb/10278540/reviews...
I've only used it once so early days to give a verdict, but it seems to cut well, no obvious clumps of grass anywhere and it took 1/2 hour to cut the lawn instead of the usual 2+ hours with the old grass collecting mower