Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.

Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.


How long is a piece of string? Ultimately size is related to the amount of
grass you have to cut.

Personally I wouldn't bother with self propelled on a 16"/41cm mower.

Tim

--
Trolls and troll feeders go in my killfile

On Monday, July 11, 2016 at 10:51:01 PM UTC+1, Tim+ wrote:
Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.


How long is a piece of string? Ultimately size is related to the amount of
grass you have to cut.

Personally I wouldn't bother with self propelled on a 16"/41cm mower.

Tim

--
Trolls and troll feeders go in my killfile

I think mine is a 53cm cut. It is driven, but it drives slower that I would cut it so I often just push it, but having the drive mechanism makes it harder to push.
My lawn is a reasonable size so the wide cut is good. I would rather have no drive, but if there was no drive, my wife would not like it.

On 11/07/2016 22:36, Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.

I have the larger width, it is harder to get in and out of the barn
where it lives, but does a nice job, mine is push powered as I like to
trot around at speed, my son has the same model but his has power
assisted drive, it engages the drive as you push forward and removes the
effort of pushing a heavy mower. We have both had self propelled in the
past but didnt like the slow speed.

Most of the newer mowers I come across are poor at picking up the
cuttings if the grass has any length or is more than slightly damp they clog

--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
National collections of Clematis viticella & Lapageria rosea

In article ,
lid says...

Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

Depends on the size of your lawn and how strong your arms/back are; on
the wider machine you'll notice the extra weight when turning it at the
end of each row.

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

I would always go for self-propelled. Compared with most men I have a
short stride but I haven't found single speed ones too fast for me.

Janet

On 11/07/2016 22:36, Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it?

About 5cm ;-)

(you knew someone was going to say that!)

Which width is best to go for?

41 is a good general purpose mower and will cope with most situations,
but its a bit small for larger lawns.

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

I don't know, since my old Hayter 16" is a push mower and its the only
one I have used extensively. Personally I have never missed self drive
on it, since its very light and easy to push. However I can see it would
be more desirable on a larger mower.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 12/07/2016 01:15, John Rumm wrote:
On 11/07/2016 22:36, Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it?

About 5cm ;-)


I usually overlap the strips I am mowing by around 5 cms. Otherwise, I
miss bits. So the effective cutting width is 36cms, compared to 41cms.

Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.


Just a couple of other things you might like to think about.

Deck material. Steel decks will rust eventually, a good plastic/GRP deck
will last until you do something really stupid. ;-) Mine is 25 yrs old and
still going strong.

Rear roller. Not just good for putting stripes on the lawn but also makes
it easier to mow over the edges of the lawn as it's easier to stop the
mower tipping and scalping the grass.

Horse power. The B&S 3.5 Hp engine is pretty ubiquitous on 16" mowers and
does a pretty good job. That said, I was using a 5 hp Honda engined mower
yesterday and the extra oomph was nice for longer grass. Personally think
that cold starting isn't as good with the Honda engine.

Tim

--
Trolls AND TROLL FEEDERS all go in my kill file

I used to have a battery self propelled one and it was way too fast.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.


How long is a piece of string? Ultimately size is related to the amount of
grass you have to cut.

Personally I wouldn't bother with self propelled on a 16"/41cm mower.

Tim

--
Trolls and troll feeders go in my killfile

Stephen a écrit :
The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

We tried hovers, push electric, petrol and finally the self-propelled.
The area and growth was just too much for any of them, but what we
found with the self-propelled one was that its drive wheels would slip
on any but the shortest and dryest grass. It was not help at all, when
it was most needed.

We moved onto a ride on small tractor style which has been absolutely
brilliant. Overkill if you only have a small space to do, but quick,
easy and reliable for anything bigger.

On 12/07/2016 09:11, Tim+ wrote:
Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.


Just a couple of other things you might like to think about.

Deck material. Steel decks will rust eventually, a good plastic/GRP deck
will last until you do something really stupid. ;-) Mine is 25 yrs old and
still going strong.

With emphasis on the "good"... My Hayter has what appears to be an Ali
deck, but the lower rear section is actually plastic. This is fine
except for one design feature, where the rear axle is fixed to this with
a couple of plates screwed over a notch in the plastic. Eventually the
plastic cracks, and the rear axle falls off! I am on my third or
possibly fourth rear plastic bit in 25 years...

Rear roller. Not just good for putting stripes on the lawn but also makes
it easier to mow over the edges of the lawn as it's easier to stop the
mower tipping and scalping the grass.

Horse power. The B&S 3.5 Hp engine is pretty ubiquitous on 16" mowers and
does a pretty good job. That said, I was using a 5 hp Honda engined mower
yesterday and the extra oomph was nice for longer grass. Personally think
that cold starting isn't as good with the Honda engine.

More power is important if you want to be able to mulch as well.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
On 12/07/2016 09:11, Tim+ wrote:
Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.


Just a couple of other things you might like to think about.

Deck material. Steel decks will rust eventually, a good plastic/GRP deck
will last until you do something really stupid. ;-) Mine is 25 yrs old and
still going strong.

With emphasis on the "good"... My Hayter has what appears to be an Ali
deck, but the lower rear section is actually plastic. This is fine
except for one design feature, where the rear axle is fixed to this with
a couple of plates screwed over a notch in the plastic. Eventually the
plastic cracks, and the rear axle falls off! I am on my third or
possibly fourth rear plastic bit in 25 years...

Well I've only known the deck on my old Qualcast Suffolk Turbo. The only
crack in 25 years was caused by a big stone being fired up from underneath
but there are no fatigue cracks anywhere and it's still structurally sound.

Tim
--
Trolls AND TROLL FEEDERS all go in my kill file

On 12/07/2016 09:11, Tim+ wrote:
Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.


Just a couple of other things you might like to think about.

Deck material. Steel decks will rust eventually, a good plastic/GRP deck
will last until you do something really stupid. ;-) Mine is 25 yrs old and
still going strong.

Rear roller. Not just good for putting stripes on the lawn but also makes
it easier to mow over the edges of the lawn as it's easier to stop the
mower tipping and scalping the grass.

Horse power. The B&S 3.5 Hp engine is pretty ubiquitous on 16" mowers and
does a pretty good job. That said, I was using a 5 hp Honda engined mower
yesterday and the extra oomph was nice for longer grass. Personally think
that cold starting isn't as good with the Honda engine.

Tim

The otehr issue is how flat the lawn is: Ours has a significant slope,
so takes quite some effort to push upward, especially if the grass is
long-ish. My strategy is to mow across the slope, starting at the top
and working down, but a decent self-powered one could be useful in this
sort of situation.

On Tue, 12 Jul 2016 11:48:36 +0100, GMM wrote:

On 12/07/2016 09:11, Tim+ wrote:
Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.


Just a couple of other things you might like to think about.

Deck material. Steel decks will rust eventually, a good plastic/GRP deck
will last until you do something really stupid. ;-) Mine is 25 yrs old and
still going strong.

Rear roller. Not just good for putting stripes on the lawn but also makes
it easier to mow over the edges of the lawn as it's easier to stop the
mower tipping and scalping the grass.

Horse power. The B&S 3.5 Hp engine is pretty ubiquitous on 16" mowers and
does a pretty good job. That said, I was using a 5 hp Honda engined mower
yesterday and the extra oomph was nice for longer grass. Personally think
that cold starting isn't as good with the Honda engine.

Tim

The otehr issue is how flat the lawn is: Ours has a significant slope,
so takes quite some effort to push upward, especially if the grass is
long-ish. My strategy is to mow across the slope, starting at the top
and working down, but a decent self-powered one could be useful in this
sort of situation.

Except that the driving mechanism seems only to be designed to cope
with flat lawns. I've got sloping grassy areas and have tried several
self propelled mowers; the drive mechanisms have all expired after a
couple of years, even the incredibly expensive, so called
professional, Stiga.

I've now changed to the cheap, throwaway electric mowers from
Aldi/Lidl. They are very light and easy to handle, cut adequately and
don't take much longer than the petrol mowers did. Need to get used to
cable handling, but it's not that difficult. Probably won't last more
than 2 years, but you can buy two of these for the cost of replacing
the drive in a petrol mower.

On 12/07/2016 12:34, Bill Taylor wrote:
On Tue, 12 Jul 2016 11:48:36 +0100, GMM wrote:

On 12/07/2016 09:11, Tim+ wrote:
Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?



I've now changed to the cheap, throwaway electric mowers from
Aldi/Lidl. They are very light and easy to handle, cut adequately and
don't take much longer than the petrol mowers did. Need to get used to
cable handling, but it's not that difficult. Probably won't last more
than 2 years, but you can buy two of these for the cost of replacing
the drive in a petrol mower.


I have a 20 year old Hayter Harrier that is still working well. Its rear
roller drive still works perfectly. It make my sloping lawn a doddle to
cut giving the perfect speed (for me) up and down wet and dry. Okay it
did need a new drive belt a few years ago. The all aluminium deck has
one crack which was caused by a piece of wood jamming on the end of the
blade about 15 years ago.

I did cut a friends lawn for them whilst they were on holiday last year
with a front wheel propelled machine. What a disappointing experience
that was. Once the rear grass box is half full there is not enough
weight on the front wheels to give enough traction. Then I tried to mow
along a border lower than the lawn, hopeless! The wheel being set wider
than the deck made it impossible. The roller on my old Hayter lets me
overhand the lawn edge quite easily.

Mike

On Tue, 12 Jul 2016 15:51:46 +0100, Muddymike
wrote:

On 12/07/2016 12:34, Bill Taylor wrote:
On Tue, 12 Jul 2016 11:48:36 +0100, GMM wrote:

On 12/07/2016 09:11, Tim+ wrote:
Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?



I've now changed to the cheap, throwaway electric mowers from
Aldi/Lidl. They are very light and easy to handle, cut adequately and
don't take much longer than the petrol mowers did. Need to get used to
cable handling, but it's not that difficult. Probably won't last more
than 2 years, but you can buy two of these for the cost of replacing
the drive in a petrol mower.


I have a 20 year old Hayter Harrier that is still working well. Its rear
roller drive still works perfectly. It make my sloping lawn a doddle to
cut giving the perfect speed (for me) up and down wet and dry. Okay it
did need a new drive belt a few years ago. The all aluminium deck has
one crack which was caused by a piece of wood jamming on the end of the
blade about 15 years ago.

I did cut a friends lawn for them whilst they were on holiday last year
with a front wheel propelled machine. What a disappointing experience
that was. Once the rear grass box is half full there is not enough
weight on the front wheels to give enough traction. Then I tried to mow
along a border lower than the lawn, hopeless! The wheel being set wider
than the deck made it impossible. The roller on my old Hayter lets me
overhand the lawn edge quite easily.

Mike

I had a Hayter something rear roller drive about 25 years ago. It was
useless as the roller was smooth and wouldn't drive on wet grass.
Another insanely heavy machine that was very difficult to control in
the wet. Fortunately it got stolen and I bought something better.

Of course there are slopes and slopes, mine are 20-30 degrees.

There are also lawns and lawns, I just want mine to look tidy, but
other people want an immaculate mono-culture and the lawn mower
requirements will be different.

On 12/07/2016 08:01, GB wrote:
On 12/07/2016 01:15, John Rumm wrote:
On 11/07/2016 22:36, Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it?

About 5cm ;-)


I usually overlap the strips I am mowing by around 5 cms. Otherwise, I
miss bits. So the effective cutting width is 36cms, compared to 41cms.


A bigger overlap is also a fairly good way of cutting long or wet grass.

If the garden isn't too large I would go for the smaller blade model.
Probably they would have the same size/power of engine and the one
fitted with a smaller blade would handle difficult cutting better (start
of season long grass or cutting when still very wet)

--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 11/07/2016 22:50, Tim+ wrote:
Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.


How long is a piece of string? Ultimately size is related to the amount of
grass you have to cut.

Personally I wouldn't bother with self propelled on a 16"/41cm mower.

Tim


I bought a 41cm rotary lawn mower with a rear cylinder that I have to
push. Because the lawn is not flat I have have wondered whether I should
have bought the self propelled version.

I use a Flymo at a different location. The Flymo is much lighter to move
about in all directions.

--
Michael Chare

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

On 12/07/2016 16:18, Bill Taylor wrote:
On Tue, 12 Jul 2016 15:51:46 +0100, Muddymike
wrote:

On 12/07/2016 12:34, Bill Taylor wrote:
On Tue, 12 Jul 2016 11:48:36 +0100, GMM wrote:

On 12/07/2016 09:11, Tim+ wrote:
Stephen wrote:
Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?



I've now changed to the cheap, throwaway electric mowers from
Aldi/Lidl. They are very light and easy to handle, cut adequately and
don't take much longer than the petrol mowers did. Need to get used to
cable handling, but it's not that difficult. Probably won't last more
than 2 years, but you can buy two of these for the cost of replacing
the drive in a petrol mower.


I have a 20 year old Hayter Harrier that is still working well. Its rear
roller drive still works perfectly. It make my sloping lawn a doddle to
cut giving the perfect speed (for me) up and down wet and dry. Okay it
did need a new drive belt a few years ago. The all aluminium deck has
one crack which was caused by a piece of wood jamming on the end of the
blade about 15 years ago.

I did cut a friends lawn for them whilst they were on holiday last year
with a front wheel propelled machine. What a disappointing experience
that was. Once the rear grass box is half full there is not enough
weight on the front wheels to give enough traction. Then I tried to mow
along a border lower than the lawn, hopeless! The wheel being set wider
than the deck made it impossible. The roller on my old Hayter lets me
overhand the lawn edge quite easily.

Mike

I had a Hayter something rear roller drive about 25 years ago. It was
useless as the roller was smooth and wouldn't drive on wet grass.
Another insanely heavy machine that was very difficult to control in
the wet. Fortunately it got stolen and I bought something better.

Of course there are slopes and slopes, mine are 20-30 degrees.

There are also lawns and lawns, I just want mine to look tidy, but
other people want an immaculate mono-culture and the lawn mower
requirements will be different.

That's odd, the roller on mine is ribbed and grips well even on wet
grass, perhaps they improved it between the two.

Mike

Bill Taylor wrote:
On Tue, 12 Jul 2016 11:48:36 +0100, wrote:


On 12/07/2016 09:11, Tim+ wrote:

wrote:

Hello,

Well my repairs to my lawnmower have not been particularly
long-lasting, so I am back looking for a new mower. I see that petrol
mowers come in 41cm or 46cm width of cut. That doesn't seem much of a
difference: is it? Which width is best to go for?

The reviews about self-propelled mowers seem contradictory. I think a
variable speed one would add more to the cost. Some reviewers say the
single speed ones are too fast; others say they are fine. What is the
reality in your experience?

Thanks,
Stephen.


Just a couple of other things you might like to think about.

Deck material. Steel decks will rust eventually, a good plastic/GRP deck
will last until you do something really stupid. ;-) Mine is 25 yrs old and
still going strong.

Rear roller. Not just good for putting stripes on the lawn but also makes
it easier to mow over the edges of the lawn as it's easier to stop the
mower tipping and scalping the grass.

Horse power. The B&S 3.5 Hp engine is pretty ubiquitous on 16" mowers and
does a pretty good job. That said, I was using a 5 hp Honda engined mower
yesterday and the extra oomph was nice for longer grass. Personally think
that cold starting isn't as good with the Honda engine.

Tim


The otehr issue is how flat the lawn is: Ours has a significant slope,
so takes quite some effort to push upward, especially if the grass is
long-ish. My strategy is to mow across the slope, starting at the top
and working down, but a decent self-powered one could be useful in this
sort of situation.

Except that the driving mechanism seems only to be designed to cope
with flat lawns. I've got sloping grassy areas and have tried several
self propelled mowers; the drive mechanisms have all expired after a
couple of years, even the incredibly expensive, so called
professional, Stiga.

I've now changed to the cheap, throwaway electric mowers from
Aldi/Lidl. They are very light and easy to handle, cut adequately and
don't take much longer than the petrol mowers did. Need to get used to
cable handling, but it's not that difficult. Probably won't last more
than 2 years, but you can buy two of these for the cost of replacing
the drive in a petrol mower.

My throwaway 15" electric mower has done 10 years and still works
perfectly! It is now replaced by a 28" ride on, as I hate cutting
grass. I made the mistake of buying an auto gearbox model, the gearbox
is crap, but it makes light work of cutting 8" grass!

Capitol wrote:
..

My throwaway 15" electric mower has done 10 years and still works
perfectly!

Does it burn fuel, make smoke and noise? If not, how can that be working
perfectly??

Man needs petrol powered toys. End of. ;-)

Tim


--
Trolls and troll feeders go in my killfile