lawn mowers, choosing whats best?

Phantom

Phantom

Phantom

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
9,804
Location
Southampton, Hampshire
hey people,

i need a lawn mower and having never bought one before i could do with some help. i was in B&Q the other day and thought about what i need as a basic requirement....

- it should be electric. petrol would be fun but has its problems
- it should be able to collect the grass cuttings

so now im left with a make to choose and whether it be a hover or wheel based one. i undsterstand the difference but is there a reason why someone would choose one over the other? what are the noise generated by each like? which is safer/easier to use. which cuts grass the best with minimal servicing?

I have a budget of £100 max. what do you good people suggest? :)
 
I bought their own version of a Flymo - blue and silver thing, performance pro I think.

How much lawn do you have? That is key to answering your question.
 
And Chickens. There was this story a few years ago about blokes in Vietnam (I think it was) using Chickens for sex and then beheading them at the point of orgasm (presumably to benefit from the contractions/convulsions)

Very odd.
 
Hover mowers are great if yout garden is your standard "postage stamp" size. Otherwise, IMO they are a pain in the but, though to be fair they are quite tough bits of equipment and need little maintenance. Petrol is the way to go if you have a big lawn, also helps you feel more manly when cutting the grass! Though, if your budget is 100 quid, I think you unlikely to get a metrol mower.
 
How big is your lawn?

A barrel mower will be better for the grass but might be a bit more expensive. We have a v small lawn, about 3m x 4m and so we just use a manual single barrel mower which is great.
 
VIRII said:
I bought their own version of a Flymo - blue and silver thing, performance pro I think.

How much lawn do you have? That is key to answering your question.
Click to expand...

quite a lot.. theres a front and a back. the back is quite large - cant remember off the top of my head exactly but its slightly larger than a 5-a-side football pitch (at a rough guess). its not big enough to have one of those lawn mowers you can drive though (which is a shame!)
 
Lawnmower chat Excellent.
Pulls up chair. :)

No real man owns a flymo :p they are for big Gayers, women and old people.
Real men own noisy smelly petrol mowers that cut nice lines in your lawn. :cool:
I have a Ratmower :p its ancient and of course a Briggs and Stratton. All the cowling has rotted away and i have a few bricks on it and boards etc bodged to keep it going. Saying that it's a first time starter and runs mint. I tweaked it when i first got it so that it over revs a tad and i stay on top of all mechanicalls.
I s'pose if you don't want a mans mower and want one of those leccy gayer models then one with wheels and a blade would be best then at least you will get the lines.

Personally i would spend the hundred quid on a second hand Briggs and Stratton. It will last you a life time, do a better job and you get to rev the bejesus out of it whenever you use it. Win win.
 
I would be going second hand, maybe an old 2 stroke victa with a penchant for being very loud and throwing blue plumes of smoke everywhere. It doesn't so much cut the grass as it does scare it into submission. It's Nazi Germany in mower form. :cool:
 
Mat said:
How big is your lawn?

A barrel mower will be better for the grass but might be a bit more expensive. We have a v small lawn, about 3m x 4m and so we just use a manual single barrel mower which is great.
Click to expand...


just got a confirmation... lawn is about 10m by 25m (excluding shrubbery borders and pond)


a barrel mower looks as though it crushes the grass as it mows... whats the point in that?
 
Its not even worth getting petrol for £100 you will just get cheap and nasty chinese engine.

Mountfield are pretty good electric lawnmowers, dont know if you can get them for less than £100. Try and get one with rollers. Any electric mower will struggle with long grass. Also avoid lawnmowers that come with plastic blades and make sure you buy an rcd.

I wouldnt get a flymo, they just arent good quality, my dad had one of the older huge ones. One day he was cutting the lawn and it caught fire :eek:
Got rid of that and bought honda, cuts amazingly with perfect lines but then again it should since it was £700
 
Supposed to create striped lawns.
For that size lawn I would use a petrol lawnmower. They can be had for £100-£150, come down a bit.
 
Phantom said:
just got a confirmation... lawn is about 10m by 25m (excluding shrubbery borders and pond)


a barrel mower looks as though it crushes the grass as it mows... whats the point in that?
Click to expand...

Barrel mowers cut the grass like a pair of scissors whereas flymos tend to smash their way through it. Theyre supposed to cut like scythes but inevitably they dont. If you can look at the grass ends after barrel vs flymo you would see the difference and its better for the grass.
 
I've got the same-ish size lawn to you. I've got the flymo vision one. Think it's the 850, might be 650 can't remember. It's not bad, does the job. costs about £80 from b & q.
 
Phantom said:
is that the barrel, hover or wheely one?
Click to expand...

Barrell mowers tend to come with a roller at the back for making stripes. Some hovers have them too iirc but theyre naff.
 
Briggs and crapham :p are ok but Honda are far superior engines. Try for a second hand Honda best places are farm auctions maybe ebay or Friday-ad etc
 
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I have quite a big backyard, in fact its huge lol and i bought a petrol lawnmower as the electric ones are simply utter rubbish tbh. Seems to do the job well enough and cost me about £90 last year but then it was on special from machine mart. It also has a honda engine.

Have had no problems with it since last year and i use it every weekend more or less.
 
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