Home & Garden Buying a lawn mower

[JADED]

My christmas present was a rover i5500.
It's much better than the old masport mower it has replaced.

 

[PunyHumans!!!]

I've got a big lawn area, mostly buffalo, and started off with a reel mower with all the best intentions. Apart from being easy to damage the cylindrical blades, if you get slack or busy and the lawn gets a bit long, it's a mission to cut with a reel. I ended up with a Victa rotary, much easier to live with and a fair bit cheaper too. 4 blades and ball bearing wheels is a plus, and though I have to push it, it's more controllable in some instances than a big reel mower, for me anyway.

Briggs and Stratton's seem good enough, I've been told the new ones are not really rebuild-able any more, but a complete new motor is pretty cheap.

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I think if people are going to use reel mowers then they need to put in the time and effort to maintain their lawn and also their machine as well (keeping blades sharp, chains oiled and grease points greased up), particularly when growing buffalo which can be extremely thick and spongey and thus affects the handling of the mower which has a propensity to slide sideways across thatchy areas.

Mowing weekly is essential and the results from all that efforts show up. If you have your lawn levels right etc then reel mowers are awesome. Personally I could never go back to a rotary mower (well, I use one for the shitty verge I have..)

Agreed, reel mowers can be a bitch to control...when I first used one I wasn't used to controlling the clutch and would find my arms nearly yanked out of their sockets as it took off.

 

[cammo84]

Agreed, reel mowers can be a bitch to control...when I first used one I wasn't used to controlling the clutch and would find my arms nearly yanked out of their sockets as it took off.

That was the hardest thing to get used to for me too, the thing nearly got away from me a few times! It takes quite a while to get accustomed to them to the point where you're doing really neat stripes. The first bunch of times they were all over the place for me.

 

[PunyHumans!!!]

I was only in my new job for three days and just got started with the reel mower (having only been used to ride on's) and made a bit of a mess with the striping where I didn't overlap properly and it looked s**t, the grass been really green made it stand out unfortunately. The lawn was nice too. Boss said my mowing wasn't up to scratch but I quickly picked up the knack. It's not too hard with practice.

 

[sandeano]

Just a note about the benefits of cylinder mowers is that in summer time they are far less likely to suck up the dry sand/soil. Rotary mowers, through centrifugal force, have a strong tendency to do this.

 

[Boomerfan99]

All, thinking about buying a batter lawn mower. I had a 2 stroke and has massive issues with it. Any suggesttions on brands?

 

[Fossie 32]

I had one with swivel wheels on the front which I liked Big Bob I think

 

[Admiral Byng]

All, thinking about buying a batter lawn mower. I had a 2 stroke and has massive issues with it. Any suggesttions on brands?

Anything with a Honda or Briggs & Stratton motor on it.

 

[PoppedCorn]

Agreed
My snipper is a Honda 4 stroke and my ride on is a briggs 4 stroke

 

[cammo84]

All, thinking about buying a batter lawn mower. I had a 2 stroke and has massive issues with it. Any suggesttions on brands?

Honda if your budget allows. Anything Briggs and Stratton powered is usually pretty good. Victa, Rover and Masport make decent mowers.

 

[Scotland]

I had an old lawn mower my uncle fixed up and gave me when I first moved out. Worked fine for years until eventually it fell apart and it was no longer a matter of replacing the start string or spark plug.

Currently have a little Victa cut and catch mower with a 4 stroke Briggs and Stratton engine which was $400 from memory. Have had it for about 5 years with no issues. Starts first or second pull even in Winter. Only have a small lawn area now (15-20 sqm maybe) so if I was in the market I'd probably get something like this (https://www.ryobi.com.au/outdoor/pr...0?list=current_category&list_name=lawn-mowers). For a bigger area I'd stick with petrol as most people don't have 36/48V battery tools and everyone I have known with an electric mower has run over the cable.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

All, thinking about buying a batter lawn mower. I had a 2 stroke and has massive issues with it. Any suggesttions on brands?

I use Hondas and mow close to 2000 lawns a year before they die....should last a lifetime if you can afford it.

 

[Hawk Dork]

I got a biggs and stratton on a rover with a mulching tube to do my palm fronds
It works well

 

[Papa G]

I use Hondas and mow close to 2000 lawns a year before they die....should last a lifetime if you can afford it.

Yep had a Honda for 4 Stroke 30 odd years, passed down from the Old man. Brilliant engine, hardly ever serviced it. On got rid of it because it saw a bit of weather and all the other parts were starting to decay. Had a hand be down 2 Stroke Victa from the Father in law. Reckon I've had to service it 4 times in 5 years. So I reckon if you want a long lasting mower, spend the extra bucks on a Honda.