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Lawn Mower advice
carver81
Posts: 2
Hi I am just getting into gardening, I have cut a few lawns, with my electric flymo but I am looking to buy a petrol lawn mower
I have been asked to mow 3 lawns every fortnight so need to upgrade
so I have a few questions any help would be appreciated
firstly my budget is around 200 is that ok?
which is better 2 stroke or 4 stroke
which is cheaper?
are battery mowers any good?
what is fuel consumption on a petrol mower?
again like I said I am just getting started in the gardening world so any help will do:)
0
Posts
The vast majority of petrol mowers are 4 stroke. 2 stroke is a pain in the proverbial, having to worry about fuel / oil mix etc. I can't say I've ever thought about fuel consumption, but I have a total of about 300 square yards to mow, mow typically every week to 10 days through the summer, and don't get through more than a couple of gallons per season.
My neighbour has just bought a GTech battery mower and loves it. It's much lighter than her old petrol mower so far easier for her to handle. It was however £300.
I've had a lot of trouble with lower priced petrol mowers and would personally avoid them. If you can stretch the budget I would recommend looking at the Honda range.
What you haven't stated is the area of lawn you need to mow. Typically a battery mower is only good for about 40 minutes mowing before needing to recharge. That takes up to 5 hours and a spare battery would be around £70.
I bought the biggest baddest mower I could afford as I have a huge area to mow and I'm feeble. I didn't want a ride on because it was another vehicle to maintain.....however!
I recommend buying one that you can get parts and repair for. There are several threads on here by people who've bought "a bargain" only to regret it when the thing broke down. Briggs Stratton engines seem to be a favourite for reliability.
If you buy cheap, you get cheap. Don't buy the highest spec in some piece of c**p but maybe go for a slightly lower spec in something reliable and with good reviews. Quite often, if you read reviews, you'll see the same problem cropping up time and again. Wheel fell off, case cracked.... Trust someone who has paid hard earned money for the thing rather than the sales bumpf!
ps mine's a John Deere and I looove her.
Ok thanks for the advice guys, looks like il have to stretch my budget a little bit but will save money in the long run, the areas I am mowing are around 16-30 square meters
16-30 square metres is pretty small. 30 square metres is only an area 6 metres by 5 metres, or roughly 20 feet by 16 feet in old money. You aren't going to need, or want, anything too large for areas like that. If you can get something with a rear roller, rather than a wheel at each corner, it will be easier to mow right up to the edges if there are flower borders to contend with.