New lawn mower advice...

Kainz · 5 Jun 2018 at 17:52

Hey all,

I require a lawn mower for a small garden. In the past my father has always stuck with Flymo, despite me knowing they're absolutely useless these days. I purchased a Flymo Glider 330 'Hover' mower last May (stupidest purchase ever by yours truly...) and just a month ago in April the drive belt shredded itself. I thought mowers were still direct drive so my dad and I were surprised.

Bought a geniune flymo belt replacement, installed it perfectly and managed just one successful mow of the lawn. The second mow today saw the belt shred itself again. Upon inspecting the mower, the motor had not slipped on it's 4 screw mounts, which suggests the belt was just useless.

I had read about flymo drive belts being of poor quality but took the risk anyway. I am at a loss about what to do now. I've got a year old mower that my dad and I have no confidence in.

I don't know what the state of mowers is like these days but I could do with help finding something suitable. We would like an electric mower with grass collection and something that doesn't rely on a belt - is there such a thing?

Kainz · 5 Jun 2018 at 18:49

Ok. After discussing this with my father as I had mentioned the Bosch Rotak series - he's instead started looking at petrol mowers like the Mountfield HP164 since our budget is £150 tops. Petrol is overkill for our garden but it means no wires at least.

PlacidCasual · 5 Jun 2018 at 19:43

I have had a Flymo with collection which was hard work (not one of the original little ones) I now have a Suffolk Punch petrol mower with driven wheels, much better. No cord bigger collection less effort. But probably out of your budget.

bazzabear · 5 Jun 2018 at 19:53

I had a wheeled Flymo which I persevered with for years despite it having several design faults.

When I moved house, changed to a Bosch Rotak, and it's a massive improvement. Lighter, more powerful, much better design.

I would have though if your lawn is small then a petrol one is a bit of a waste. And I imagine much more involving to maintain.

Kainz · 5 Jun 2018 at 20:03

bazzabear said:
I had a wheeled Flymo which I persevered with for years despite it having several design faults.

When I moved house, changed to a Bosch Rotak, and it's a massive improvement. Lighter, more powerful, much better design.

I would have though if your lawn is small then a petrol one is a bit of a waste. And I imagine much more involving to maintain.

Any idea if that Rotak is a belt driven machine? Having spoken with my father he has stated that the garden is 60ft. I don't spend much time in it unlike he does

Minstadave · 5 Jun 2018 at 20:17

Consider stretching the budget and going LiON, I just bought a £200 Greenworks 40V mower and its fantastic. Easily as good as my wired Rotak.

Kainz · 5 Jun 2018 at 20:30

Minstadave said:
Consider stretching the budget and going LiON, I just bought a £200 Greenworks 40V mower and its fantastic.

Hmm I am not a fan of cordless appliances I confess. Surely the power draw on a cordless lawn mower will be high, therefore requiring the battery be recharged a great deal. Over time the capacity of said battery will dwindle and a replacement would be costly I'd imagine?

RedMogg · 5 Jun 2018 at 20:46

Tesco Direct have some outstanding deals on various mowers (wired, cordless and petrol) at the moment - HUKD site have a full breakdown:
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/50...wn-mower-35-more-in-post-tesco-direct-2949876

Minstadave · 5 Jun 2018 at 21:43

Kainz said:
Hmm I am not a fan of cordless appliances I confess. Surely the power draw on a cordless lawn mower will be high, therefore requiring the battery be recharged a great deal. Over time the capacity of said battery will dwindle and a replacement would be costly I'd imagine?

I'm not certain, LiON doesn't fall in capacity much over time and you get 2 batteries with the deal I mentioned. We only have a smallish garden so I don't even use one battery doing our lawn. Using one battery partially once a week means it'll be years until it gets anywhere near performance degradation becomes an issue (most LiON battery backs will last 100s of full power cycles).

Performance wise it seems to give the same performance of my wired Rotak (although I've not tried it on really long wet grass yet) without the fuss of a cable and portability (will be using it our allotment too).

Sparx · 5 Jun 2018 at 23:12

I did the same ‘upgrade’ last year, my gardens just about big and long enough to justify a petrol. My electric mower was driving me mad.

Found this Einhell petrol mower for £139 from Toolstation it’s perfect and got good reviews. I would definitely recommend it, all round good spec for the price.

Fits your budget nicely too. It was the cheapest and best bang for buck petrol mower I could find when I did my research for buying myself.

https://www.toolstation.com/shop/La...52/Einhell+139cc+46cm+Petrol+Lawnmower/p30543

Bickaxe · 6 Jun 2018 at 08:08

We went the LiON route too.
Battery in and off you go. So much easier than messing about with cables. It is a pricey option though.
We have this one;
https://www.homebase.co.uk/ryobi-on...er-with-2-x-5-0ah-battery-rlm18x36250_p392488

We can do 3 cuts before swapping and charging. Grass area is approx 24m2.

james.miller · 6 Jun 2018 at 08:14

rotaks are belt driven but i dont think they are known for shredding belts?

Shoeyuk · 6 Jun 2018 at 08:24

I have a ryobi cordless and I can do the front and back garden on one battery charge and it came with two batteries.

Kainz · 6 Jun 2018 at 09:25

Thank you gents, looks like you've all given me enough information to go on.

I do think the LiON route is just well out of our price range and that Einhell Sparx mentioned looks quite tempting. I've been told by friends to look out for a machine that has a Briggs & Stratton engine but those seem out of our max £150 budget from the looks of things. I'll spend a few hours this morning looking around but that Einhell PM46 has my eye at the moment.

bettz · 6 Jun 2018 at 09:44

Kainz said:
Thank you gents, looks like you've all given me enough information to go on.

I do think the LiON route is just well out of our price range and that Einhell Sparx mentioned looks quite tempting. I've been told by friends to look out for a machine that has a Briggs & Stratton engine but those seem out of our max £150 budget from the looks of things. I'll spend a few hours this morning looking around but that Einhell PM46 has my eye at the moment.

If it helps eBay have 20% off code today from 4pm you have to change your account to show you live is the US,there's a post on hotdeals might save you some money

Kronos · 6 Jun 2018 at 11:27

Brilliant mowers except changing the depth of the blade is not the easiest but cuts really well. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0099LE...=9046887&hvtargid=pla-358744102716&th=1&psc=1

But after cutting through the cable twice I have moved to a cordless https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06Y1GCSTD/ref=pe_3187911_185740111_TE_item

Minstadave · 6 Jun 2018 at 11:38

Same for me, but that price is crazy compared to this:

Greenworks 40V Cordless Lawn Mower 35cm (14") with 2x 2Ah batteries and chager - 2501907UC

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0721LYLZK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_DL7fBbB8SYBTF

Which is just as good as my wired Rotak.

JAMAL · 6 Jun 2018 at 20:21

Another vote for li-on here I have a Ryobi and can mow my medium sized lawn 3 times on a charge with a 5amp hour battery

toprock · 7 Jun 2018 at 14:10

Over the years tried and owned many mowers, and also did a bit of landscape gardening with petrol mowers.

My favourite and current mower is a Bosch Ergoflex 34 paid around £99, but they do a 32 slightly narrower for £70 ish.

Cons :

Has a cable.

Pros :

The best mower i've used which gives an immaculate finish and a healthy lawn. The best hoover action i've come across in a mower, really picks up all the grass, as opposed to the flymos and many others which generally dump far too much. This gives great lawn health, reduces thatch, and gives an excellent finished look as leaves, twigs, everything is removed.

Lightweight

Cuts right up to the edge of the mower so easy to cut against sheds/garages etc

Stripes the lawn if thats to your liking

Does my medium sized lawn in two basket fills great at compacting the grass.

2 months of owneship and regular cutting with the Bosch has given me the best looking lawn i've owned.

Daaaavvveee · 7 Jun 2018 at 14:14

Have you thought about the Worx range? I have a battery powered strimmer to complement my petrol mower and its brilliant.