Spec me a petrol lawnmower

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I've just done the first cut on the grass today since we moved in at the end of last year. It was quite overgrown, but not too crazy. My current 1700w Titan electric lawnmower was absolutely awful. It is anyway, but my old garden was tiny so it didn't matter to much.

The grass was the tiniest bit damp where the sun doesn't get to that part of the garden, and I mean the tiniest bit. If it's like that, it just won't put it into the basket, it gets stuck. Also, if the grass is even slightly thick or long, the motor just bogs down almost to a stop, sometimes it does stop. It took me 5+ hours to cut the grass in the end. And that was using a bush Wacker strimmer with metal blades to cut thicker grass, so the lawnmower could do the rest!

So, I'm looking for recommendations on a petrol mower, as I have absolutely no clue on what to look for. The garden is pretty big, but, as much as I want one, I don't think it warrants a ride on mower!

 

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There is a decent mounfield self propelled on offer at Screwfix that may be worth a look.

If that's the SP185, there are quite a few reviews from people that have had them a while saying how crap they are. That was a worry I had buying a newer one, as a lot of things tend to be made pretty crap compared to older ones.

 

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How big is your garden and what is it like? It'll really depend, if its fairly big then you'll want a nice wide self propelled one.

If its more than 1/2 an acre i'd seriously consider a robot mower or a ride on if you want to be old skool.

To be fair i'd get a robot mower no matter what the size but i'm a bit biased as i've had one for 7 years now and would never ever be without one again.

It's mostly flat, except for a small part on one side that gently slopes down. No lumps and bumps really.

It's not 1/2 acre but I'd say it's getting close to it.

Can a robot handle longer grass though? Because If I have to buy a mower to do the first long cut I may as well just get the exercise.

What is a good robomower, I'll have a look anyway.

 

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It won't do really long grass but it'll do several weeks uncut, it'll just take a while to tame it down.

I've got a Husqvarna, they've been in the game the longest. They're not the flashiest feature wise or the cheapest but their quality is very good.

It depends how you value your own time really, i've got 1/2 an acre and it used to take me 3+ hours to mow it with a push along petrol mower and then 45+ minutes with a ride on mower. The robot free's up all that time every week, i've got a young daughter so to me the extra hours a week not mowing the grass is far more valuable to spend with her rather than pushing a mower round the garden!

Plus not having to spend anything on petrol, oil, sparkplugs etc for servicing over all the years has saved me a lot so worth factoring that into it.

Great, thanks. I'll have a look at that.

It took me 5+ hours the other day, mainly because the mower just couldn't handle the long grass for the first cut.

It's certainly not something I enjoy doing, I'd rather be working on my cars in my free time so there is that I guess.

What does it do with the cut grass?

 

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I try to get the first cut in by the end of February or a couple of sunny days sees my grass shoot up from what my ride-on will handle to needing the petrol line trimmer to knock it down.

And if you have any significant sloping grass areas that require a ride-on, get agri pattern rear tyres fitted from new.

That was my mistake, not doing it sooner. But it has been so wet from constant rain. I also knew If I even attempted it with my current mower it would have been just as frustrating.

 

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Best bet is to watch a few videos, this one covers most of it i think

As it cuts every day (or night) the clippings are so small they just fall through and actually feed the lawn so you don't have to collect anything, its a win win.

Thank you, I'll watch that in a bit. Not cleaning up sounds even better! I tend to leave a little layer anyway for the birds as they take bits away for their nests, and bugs like to sit in piles, so I they collect them too.