Recommend me a mower for under £2k

[davidd]

Morning,

We have about 2/3 of an acre of grass, not hilly but quite a few dips and lumps.

For the past few years I've used a succession of old and a bit shot countax mowers on it, which when they are working are fine but as they have all been old they have always needed a fair bit of work every year, hydrostatic drives breaking, electrics going wrong, I'm bored with this.

I've decided it is time to buy a more modern mower. I'd love a robot but we have a river, dogs and dog poo and sometimes we leave quite a lot of the grass to grow wild for a few months and I don't think a robot would cope with that when the time came to cut it.

So back to ride ons.

I was looking at a mountfield https://www.mountfieldlawnmowers.co.uk/2t2010483-m...

It has a smaller deck than we've had before which I think will cut better over the undulations, no hydrostatic and a munching plug which I'm sure is a good idea.

Before I rush off and buy one I wondered if.

Anyone has this mower and is it any good?
Anyone got a better idea (no more old countax!)

Thanks

D

[Jobbo]

I bought a new ride-on two years ago, an Al-ko T22 Premium with 105.4cm cutting deck. I think we have a similar area of lawn though it's not particularly bumpy. I'd not want to go as small as 84cm for a cutting deck; the 25% difference is all time saved. Having said that, £2k would get you a good robot mower and that saves a lot more time; if it hadn't been for the innate desire to get a ride-on I think that would have been the better option.

Generally I don't bother with the collection box and just mulch. If you are willing to do the same you may well find you can find a better mulching only mower for your budget too.

[Rosscow]

I have a slightly smaller area than you and haven't regretted getting rid of my ride on mower. Found it more of a pain than it was worth.

I bought a Toro Timemaster twin blade and love it:

https://www.toro.com/en-gb/product/21816

[Portofino]

I ve a Lawnflite Pro 553hws It s a beast but in a good way.

[davidd]

Rosscow said:

I have a slightly smaller area than you and haven't regretted getting rid of my ride on mower. Found it more of a pain than it was worth.

I bought a Toro Timemaster twin blade and love it:

https://www.toro.com/en-gb/product/21816

Interesting option, not sure I'd want to do all the walking though!

[Rosscow]

Portofino said:

I ve a Lawnflite Pro 553hws It s a beast but in a good way.

That's a pretty small cut for 2/3 acre. Nice mower though!

[Snow and Rocks]

Probably not what you want to hear but I was in a similar situation a few years back and was pretty disappointed with what you got for that sort of money.

The choice was either pro grade small machines (21 inch cut of so) which were nicely made but far too small or domestic grade ride ons which seemed to be made of cheese with lots of plastic and wafer thin pressed steel decks.

I ended up going for a used pro grade walk behind that's been brilliant - 48 inch cut, big twin cylinder Kawasaki engine that will happily plough through waist deep grass and scrub without bogging down, seriously heavy duty with a proper thick fabricated deck.

In domestic use it should last forever and was slightly under your budget. Similar models from Scag I believe if you wanted to phone round dealers to see what they have?

[Portofino]

Rosscow said:

That's a pretty small cut for 2/3 acre. Nice mower though!

True, I’ve a smaller patch but see that the OP fancies a ride on anyway.

Buying mowers is like buying cars, We all love doing the research on specs & getting the best power etc etc lol!

[Night Owl]

davidd said:

Morning,

We have about 2/3 of an acre of grass, not hilly but quite a few dips and lumps.

For the past few years I've used a succession of old and a bit shot countax mowers on it, which when they are working are fine but as they have all been old they have always needed a fair bit of work every year, hydrostatic drives breaking, electrics going wrong, I'm bored with this.

I've decided it is time to buy a more modern mower. I'd love a robot but we have a river, dogs and dog poo and sometimes we leave quite a lot of the grass to grow wild for a few months and I don't think a robot would cope with that when the time came to cut it.

So back to ride ons.

I was looking at a mountfield https://www.mountfieldlawnmowers.co.uk/2t2010483-m...

It has a smaller deck than we've had before which I think will cut better over the undulations, no hydrostatic and a munching plug which I'm sure is a good idea.

Before I rush off and buy one I wondered if.

Anyone has this mower and is it any good?
Anyone got a better idea (no more old countax!)

Thanks

D

I used to do groundskeeping at various golf courses in the US in the summers during my college years. The only brands you ever see there are Honda and Toro.

I use Honda myself.

[davidd]

Night Owl said:

I used to do groundskeeping at various golf courses in the US in the summers during my college years. The only brands you ever see there are Honda and Toro.

I use Honda myself.

I'd like a Honda, but will be over budget sadly.

[Hobo]

I have a similar sized garden, and would honestly never consider a ride on as its just not worth it IMO. A decent rotary mower will deal with a garden that size in under an hour, and be a far better cut than the ride on, and even leave fancy stripes if you want that.

I've previously had cylinder mowers, mainly Allett, but they won't deal with longer grass or wet grass well, so when I moved house to the current one I changed to a rotary. Initially I purchased a second hand Hayter Harrier (p/x'd an Allett in against it), which was fine for a while but was only a 48, so ended up wanting something a little wider (and started having issues with it).

I ended up with a Weibang Legacy 56 Pro, as per here; https://www.justlawnmowers.co.uk/weibang-legacy-56...

Its a proper mower. Heavy enough, bullettproof build quaility, and an amazing cut. It has a substantial rear roller so leaves great stripes as well, and destroys longer and wet grass without an issue.

I would thoroughly recommend it.

[Metric Max]

In 2008 I bought a new Mountfield 1436m. In 2 years of ownership it spent more time at the dealer than with me.
After the 2 years I traded it for a new Westwood T1600 with the Kawasaki FS 481V engine
The grass collector is great, the engine also.
Fortunately I am able to do all maintenace myself which has included replacing all the sh*t chinese bearings with German ones and replacing the transmission.
My 1973 Wheelhorse on the other hand just keeps going......

[davidd]

Hobo said:

I have a similar sized garden, and would honestly never consider a ride on as its just not worth it IMO. A decent rotary mower will deal with a garden that size in under an hour, and be a far better cut than the ride on, and even leave fancy stripes if you want that.

I've previously had cylinder mowers, mainly Allett, but they won't deal with longer grass or wet grass well, so when I moved house to the current one I changed to a rotary. Initially I purchased a second hand Hayter Harrier (p/x'd an Allett in against it), which was fine for a while but was only a 48, so ended up wanting something a little wider (and started having issues with it).

I ended up with a Weibang Legacy 56 Pro, as per here; https://www.justlawnmowers.co.uk/weibang-legacy-56...

Its a proper mower. Heavy enough, bullettproof build quaility, and an amazing cut. It has a substantial rear roller so leaves great stripes as well, and destroys longer and wet grass without an issue.

I would thoroughly recommend it.

Interesting, thanks. A countax with a 42" cut and a grassbox with over 300ltrs takes an hour to do it. There is no way I could do it with a walk along and a small grassbox in that time.

It does look like a great mower though.

[Watcher of the skies]

Hobo said:

I have a similar sized garden, and would honestly never consider a ride on as its just not worth it IMO. A decent rotary mower will deal with a garden that size in under an hour, and be a far better cut than the ride on, and even leave fancy stripes if you want that.

I've previously had cylinder mowers, mainly Allett, but they won't deal with longer grass or wet grass well, so when I moved house to the current one I changed to a rotary. Initially I purchased a second hand Hayter Harrier (p/x'd an Allett in against it), which was fine for a while but was only a 48, so ended up wanting something a little wider (and started having issues with it).

I ended up with a Weibang Legacy 56 Pro, as per here; https://www.justlawnmowers.co.uk/weibang-legacy-56...

Its a proper mower. Heavy enough, bullettproof build quaility, and an amazing cut. It has a substantial rear roller so leaves great stripes as well, and destroys longer and wet grass without an issue.

I would thoroughly recommend it.

Isn't that just a Chinese ripoff Hayter 56?
The Hayter is cheaper - that's what I would go for.

[renmure]

My only comment, after 20 odd years of mulching, is if you are going to mulch then get a proper, dedicated mulching deck (the deck is different, the blades are different, how the clippings are dealt with is different) rather than be led to believe that a collecting deck or a side discharge deck with a bung in the spout is the same thing.

One of the main reasons folk say that mulching wasn’t suitable for them is because their experience of it was from using the wrong tool.

Edited by renmure on Friday 30th January 10:59

[x404]

We've got a 30 year old Countax (hydrostatic) with a powered grass collector, and it's been pretty good, nothing major ever failed, but we've not used it much for the past 2 to 3 years, as we've found it easier to use a decent self-propelled walk behind mower. Plus, with the extreme summer heat, the grass died off for months saving hours of work a week. The Countax is just too big and overkill for our current plot and it's expensive to run and maintain.

A few years ago we got the biggest walk behind self propelled Mountfield we could find (53cm), and it's been great, it takes about 90 mins to do our main 1/3 acre area (but only half of that is a simple rectangle). It always starts instantly and has a decent B+S engine. I'll probably get the Countax serviced this year and sell it, as it's just not being used.

A neighbour had a mini ride-on (lawn rider?) with a manual transmission which he quickly fell out of love with, the tiny engine didn't have enough power to cut and drive, almost stalling when he engaged the blades and then after a few years the transaxle failed out of warranty, repair was too pricey, so he sold it for spares, replaced it with a walk behind Honda, which he uses about twice a week for his immaculate lawns!

Personally if I went for a new smaller ride-on I'd be looking for hydrostatic again, I think it's worth the premium, and probably a Honda - but good second hand as they are ruinously expensive new. But, currently our walk-behind Mountfield is excellent, leaves an crisp finish and easy to maintain - I sharpen the blade and change the oil once a year, doesn't need much more.

Edited by x404 on Thursday 29th January 17:11

[Hobo]

Watcher of the skies said:

Isn't that just a Chinese ripoff Hayter 56?
The Hayter is cheaper - that's what I would go for.

I could have bought either, and having had either I'd go for the Weibang every time.

[Hobo]

davidd said:

Interesting, thanks. A countax with a 42" cut and a grassbox with over 300ltrs takes an hour to do it. There is no way I could do it with a walk along and a small grassbox in that time.

It does look like a great mower though.

The 56 have a decent sized grassbox. I generally fill 2 boxes when cutting the lawn, and I cut it quite low.

If you've set your mind on a ride on then I'm not here to talk you out of it, but just saying for 2k this would be a multiple times better mower than a 2k ride on, and due to the width of it is simply flies through lawn in amazing time.

Best of luck with whatever you go for though.

[davidd]

Hobo said:

The 56 have a decent sized grassbox. I generally fill 2 boxes when cutting the lawn, and I cut it quite low.

If you've set your mind on a ride on then I'm not here to talk you out of it, but just saying for 2k this would be a multiple times better mower than a 2k ride on, and due to the width of it is simply flies through lawn in amazing time.

Best of luck with whatever you go for though.

I don't disagree that I'd get a better push along for the money. I can't see how you could cut 2/3 or an acre with a push along and only have to empty twice. Are you cutting daily

[Jobbo]

davidd said:

Hobo said:

The 56 have a decent sized grassbox. I generally fill 2 boxes when cutting the lawn, and I cut it quite low.

If you've set your mind on a ride on then I'm not here to talk you out of it, but just saying for 2k this would be a multiple times better mower than a 2k ride on, and due to the width of it is simply flies through lawn in amazing time.

Best of luck with whatever you go for though.

I don't disagree that I'd get a better push along for the money. I can't see how you could cut 2/3 or an acre with a push along and only have to empty twice. Are you cutting daily

Emptying the grass box twice for the whole lawn? I am guessing he has the same size garden but only a few square feet of grass in it! I tend to find my 300l grass box fills up in 2-3 up/down runs which is why I switched to mulching; the pile of clippings was quickly growing unruly.

I'd be inclined to go for something like this: https://www.radmoretucker.co.uk/shop/garden-machin... - 95cm deck but mulching or side discharge, the latter being useful for the area you leave to grow.