On 27/08/2020 14:21, Stephen wrote:
Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I
keep thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda
is £400 and I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will
get used each year.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable
mowers now. Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last
chance to buy a petrol one!

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
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A lot depends on the size and issues of your lawn (do you let it grow
long, for example).

If you find your mains electric inadequate it could be that it is a
rather poor model, or that you are asking too much of it which suggests
petrol might be the way to go.

Modern batteries are becoming a match for i/c engines for smaller
hand-held tools. But typically, mains tools will at least match the
performance of battery ones.

Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I
keep thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda
is £400 and I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will
get used each year.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable
mowers now. Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last
chance to buy a petrol one!

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
https://piaohong.s3-us-west-2.amazon...net/index.html

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:21:50 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Stephen
wrote:

Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass

Not sure you are advised to mow 'wet grass' with any domestic mower?

and long grass will stall the motor.

Quite?


keep thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda
is £400 and I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will
get used each year.

Cable electric are probably simpler (maintenance wise) in the long
term over petrol engine models.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable
mowers now.

And have been for a while now. ;-)

Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too.

And all sorts of garden / power tools.

It might be my last
chance to buy a petrol one!

;-)

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing

This will depend on all sorts of variables, including how often you
use them, how hard you use them, how you charge them and how you store
them.

and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?

That one is a 'piece of string' question. You can get cheap mowers
that are trying to do too much with low spec motors and batteries up
to 'quality' / branded kit that you have to pay handsomely for.

You might start by considering how long it typically takes you when
the mower isn't struggling then check to see how that compares with
the advertised run time of a battery mower that fits you budget
(allowing some leeway for marketing and battery aging).

Cheers, T i m

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:21:50 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Stephen
wrote:


I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?

I don't imagine that most of them are designed to have their batteries
changed, or not at the cheaper end of the market.
(Bought a cheap Mountfield from B&Q 13 years ago and I just needed to
pay £35 to get it fixed because the carburettor had rusted and the
rust had blocked the fuel line. With an additive in the fuel to stop
the rusting it's good to go for another 13+ years now.)

On 27/08/2020 14:30, newshound wrote:

A lot depends on the size and issues of your lawn (do you let it grow
long, for example).


+1
My petrol mower cuts long wet grass at the beginning of the grass
cutting season - which last year ended in early December and this year
started in early February

A friend has a battery powered mower which cost nearly 3x the price of
my petrol mower and although it works very well it is restricted to a
maximum of dry medium height grass. The batteries have lasted 3 to 4
years but the charger did fail in a fairly dramatic way with a blackened
circuit board and a few black remains of components. The replacement
charger was around £40.




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

Peter Johnson wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:21:50 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Stephen
wrote:


I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?

I don't imagine that most of them are designed to have their batteries
changed, or not at the cheaper end of the market.

All of them have removable batteries, but if you buy at the Lidl end of the
spectrum you might not be able to source replacements. Many of them are on
Makita/Ryobi/etc battery systems like other power tools. The fancier ones
are higher voltage and do their own thing.

Even if you can't buy replacements, all of the batteries can likely be
recelled - they're probably just 18650s inside.

Theo

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 13:39:59 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

snip

My biggest bugbear - irrespective of power source - is stopping to empty
the grass box every 2 passes of the lawn.

Something I belive may be close to your heart, I see they are setting
pigs loose in areas of the country that were originally 'managed' by
such animals in any case, because it's easier and more productive at
returning the habituate to what was good and supported good diversity
than anything we can do manually (or afford to do manually). ;-)

In the same way fallen trees or stuff that might be cleared is often
left to provide habitat etc.

Cheers, T i m

On 27/08/2020 14:21, Stephen wrote:
Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I
keep thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda
is £400 and I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will
get used each year.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable
mowers now. Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last
chance to buy a petrol one!

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
https://piaohong.s3-us-west-2.amazon...net/index.html

I replaced my old self-propelled corded mower three months ago with a
self-propelled battery mower (Mountfield). This was mainly because I had
changed the layout of the garden over several years and I got fed up
with having to keep stepping over the cable or moving it. I've only had
to cut the grass a couple of times because of the drought we've had here
and the mower performed well. There's only around 100 - 120m^2 of lawn
left, and a single charge handles that ok.

--

Jeff

On 27/08/2020 15:29, T i m wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 13:39:59 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

snip

My biggest bugbear - irrespective of power source - is stopping to empty
the grass box every 2 passes of the lawn.

Something I belive may be close to your heart, I see they are setting
pigs loose in areas of the country that were originally 'managed' by
such animals in any case, because it's easier and more productive at
returning the habituate to what was good and supported good diversity
than anything we can do manually (or afford to do manually). ;-)

In the same way fallen trees or stuff that might be cleared is often
left to provide habitat etc.

Cheers, T i m

Wild boar are not so welcome not far away from me in the Forest of Dean.

On 27/08/2020 14:39, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:21:50 +0100, Stephen wrote:

Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I keep
thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda is £400 and
I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will get used each year.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable mowers now.
Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last chance to
buy a petrol one!

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?

My biggest bugbear - irrespective of power source - is stopping to empty
the grass box every 2 passes of the lawn.


Buy a sheep

On 27/08/2020 14:21, Stephen wrote:
Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I
keep thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda
is £400 and I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will
get used each year.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable
mowers now. Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last
chance to buy a petrol one!

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
https://piaohong.s3-us-west-2.amazon...net/index.html


I would be tempted by one of the robotic lawn mowers. There are now
some that are less expensive. You probably have to set them off quite
often as the ones I have seen don't pick up the grass.


--
Michael Chare

I had an old atco battery mower many years ago, although it was better than
a thrashing mains model it ate batteries which in those days were of course
lead acid.
I know my gardener uses petrol, he simply says, if you want it to mow
anything get a petrol mower before they ban them for the emissions many
give out, same goes for strimmers, and other gardening devices.
Brian

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

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"newshound" wrote in message
...
On 27/08/2020 14:21, Stephen wrote:
Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I
keep thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda
is £400 and I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will
get used each year.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable
mowers now. Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last
chance to buy a petrol one!

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
https://piaohong.s3-us-west-2.amazon...net/index.html

A lot depends on the size and issues of your lawn (do you let it grow
long, for example).

If you find your mains electric inadequate it could be that it is a rather
poor model, or that you are asking too much of it which suggests petrol
might be the way to go.

Modern batteries are becoming a match for i/c engines for smaller
hand-held tools. But typically, mains tools will at least match the
performance of battery ones.

Is it a cylinder type? Can it cut paper if you have turn it by hand? Often
a stone can move the all impotant bottom blade and the "scissor action" is
ruined.

But what will the performance be like in 2 years time? Poor enought to
warrant a new battery - or will you put up with deminished performance.

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 15:09:48 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 15:29:57 +0100, T i m wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 13:39:59 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

snip

My biggest bugbear - irrespective of power source - is stopping to empty
the grass box every 2 passes of the lawn.

Something I belive may be close to your heart, I see they are setting
pigs loose in areas of the country that were originally 'managed' by
such animals in any case, because it's easier and more productive at
returning the habituate to what was good and supported good diversity
than anything we can do manually (or afford to do manually). ;-)

In the same way fallen trees or stuff that might be cleared is often
left to provide habitat etc.

Cheers, T i m

Not quite sure why you feel it's close to my heart ... ****ed if I want
to be a farmer. It's ****ing hard work even now with the machinery

Ah, sorry, I thought that was also part of your day. ;-)

I guess there is a massive difference between 'playing with' that sort
of kit (as a collector / restorer) than 'having to keep it running all
hours'. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 16:15:24 +0100, newshound
wrote:

On 27/08/2020 15:29, T i m wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 13:39:59 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

snip

My biggest bugbear - irrespective of power source - is stopping to empty
the grass box every 2 passes of the lawn.

Something I belive may be close to your heart, I see they are setting
pigs loose in areas of the country that were originally 'managed' by
such animals in any case, because it's easier and more productive at
returning the habituate to what was good and supported good diversity
than anything we can do manually (or afford to do manually). ;-)

In the same way fallen trees or stuff that might be cleared is often
left to provide habitat etc.

Cheers, T i m

Wild boar are not so welcome not far away from me in the Forest of Dean.

No, so I understand, digging up lawns and the like?

However, maybe that should be how it is, they were probably here
before we were, like the elephants roaming though farms in Africa when
they have done so for millions of years before 'man' stuck himself in
the way. ;-(

That's real nature, not what we think it should be pruned into. ;-(

The funny thing is, we are at last realising what needs to be done and
going back to planting wild meadows, allowing margins and passageways
for wild animals etc ... like we had the right to take them away in
the first place.

The stupidity of it all is we are doing it all at our own cost, with
floods etc where previously the likes of beaver would have applied
some management of / to wetlands and flood planes.

Cheers, T i m

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 15:30:50 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 16:15:24 +0100, newshound wrote:

On 27/08/2020 15:29, T i m wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 13:39:59 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

snip

My biggest bugbear - irrespective of power source - is stopping to
empty the grass box every 2 passes of the lawn.

Something I belive may be close to your heart, I see they are setting
pigs loose in areas of the country that were originally 'managed' by
such animals in any case, because it's easier and more productive at
returning the habituate to what was good and supported good diversity
than anything we can do manually (or afford to do manually). ;-)

In the same way fallen trees or stuff that might be cleared is often
left to provide habitat etc.

Cheers, T i m

Wild boar are not so welcome not far away from me in the Forest of Dean.

Is that because they **** off dog walkers ? Sounds like a good reason to
have a lot more of them.

And they taste nice

The pigs I'm guessing. ;-)

Smiles aside for a second (and I'm asking you this because I consider
you a reasonable and sensible guy), do you ever consider what goes on
in the background (and again, assuming you don't work on a pig /
livestock farm etc), just to provide something on your plate,
something you don't actually need?

Thoughts around things like this (not nice but no 'intentional'
cruelty involved):

https://ibb.co/HHW5HxN (sad picture)
https://ibb.co/Cmh7zL8 (description)

I guess many assume (or prefer to imagine to block out the reality)
these animals just frolic round a meadow for a long and healthy lives
to then give themselves up to somehow (painlessly and magically) end
up on our plates?

If say we only ate lemming or salmon as they die in their spawning
grounds then I guess that would be ok (unless in so doing it
interrupted some other animals feeding or nutrition cycle etc) then
that might be ok?

Cheers, T i m

On 27/08/2020 17:17, JohnP wrote:


But what will the performance be like in 2 years time? Poor enought to
warrant a new battery - or will you put up with deminished performance.

If I remember I'll post a reply in August 2022.

--

Jeff

On 27/08/2020 14:21, Stephen wrote:
Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I
keep thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda
is £400 and I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will
get used each year.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable
mowers now. Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last
chance to buy a petrol one!

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
https://piaohong.s3-us-west-2.amazon...net/index.html

You don't need to buy a Honda mower for £400. You can get a perfectly
adequate Mountfield mower for far less than half of that - look out for
offers at Screwfix etc. Just make sure it's got a Briggs and Stratton
engine - they last for ever even if you neglect them mercilessly.

If you're not too fussy, you can pick up a reasonable petrol mower at a
car boot sale, or even at a tip shop - my local tip sells them. I paid
£40 for a Mountfield mower with a B&S engine at a car boot sale about 10
years ago, and it's still going strong.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 16:54:02 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 17:48:50 +0100, T i m wrote:

Smiles aside for a second (and I'm asking you this because I consider
you a reasonable and sensible guy), do you ever consider what goes on in
the background (and again, assuming you don't work on a pig / livestock
farm etc), just to provide something on your plate, something you don't
actually need?

Do I consider ? Not really.

Ok, you along with the majority atm no doubt.

Am I aware ? Well several forced viewings of "The Animals Film" as a 6th
former left me in no doubt.

Ok.

In unrelated news, todays dinner is ribeye
steak, gastro chips, onion rings egg and beans with a drop of Malbec.

Ok?

My Dad grew up (not in the UK) making damn sure he never farmed.

Was that something that 'most people' went into then, for him to make
such a statement?

He
actually did quite well renting out farming machinery.

Yeah, the capital cost of some of this stuff is very high and if you
only need to use it a couple of times a year and have it take up
valuable space in between, renting makes sense.

Seeing my Grandad remove a chickens head on the gatepost left me in no
doubts where chicken comes from ...

No, I had no doubt that you knew where such things come from, I just
wondered if you thought anything about the process. You have already
answered that (thanks).

(A friend of mine "moved to the country" to have his 4 kids ... last time
we stayed, the 14 year old girl was explaining how she had to wring a
chickens neck after her dad "made a right horlicks of it" ....)

This is the thing ... I'm not saying that people (including children)
can be de-sensitise to such things and for those people that choose
to eat meat it's just as well there are such people out there to do
that bit for them.

For me it's the dichotomy / disconnection for say caring for a horse
or pet dog or even livestock (that you are only going to kill anyway)?

What is it that allows someone to jump in and stop someone being cruel
to a cat, dog, donkey or horse but allows them to be cruel to a sow,
make chick, dairy cow or male dairy calf (ignoring pate on ducks and
geese etc).

I 'get' *that* they differentiate on the grounds of 'livestock', but
not how they can, other than some form of conditioning?

Give a child an apple and a chicken and it would typically play /
interact with the chicken and eat the apple. Give a lion cub the same
and it would do the opposite.

Cheers, T i m

Jethro_uk Wrote in message:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 17:48:50 +0100, T i m wrote:

Smiles aside for a second (and I'm asking you this because I consider
you a reasonable and sensible guy), do you ever consider what goes on in
the background (and again, assuming you don't work on a pig / livestock
farm etc), just to provide something on your plate, something you don't
actually need?

Do I consider ? Not really.

Am I aware ? Well several forced viewings of "The Animals Film" as a 6th
former left me in no doubt. In unrelated news, todays dinner is ribeye
steak, gastro chips, onion rings egg and beans with a drop of Malbec.

My Dad grew up (not in the UK) making damn sure he never farmed. He
actually did quite well renting out farming machinery.

Seeing my Grandad remove a chickens head on the gatepost left me in no
doubts where chicken comes from ...

(A friend of mine "moved to the country" to have his 4 kids ... last time
we stayed, the 14 year old girl was explaining how she had to wring a
chickens neck after her dad "made a right horlicks of it" ....)



Well said :-D:-D:-D
--
Jimk


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On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 16:17:41 GMT, JohnP wrote:




But what will the performance be like in 2 years time? Poor enought to
warrant a new battery - or will you put up with deminished performance.

Depends on the quality of the battery and charger, how many charge /
discharged cycles it has been though and to what depth for each, how
the battery has been stored and the load it was put to when in use.

Cheers, T i m

On 27/08/2020 14:21, Stephen wrote:

Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I
keep thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda
is £400 and I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will
get used each year.


Yup, BTDTGTTS

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable
mowers now. Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last
chance to buy a petrol one!

You could probably get a decent enough one with a Brigs & Straten
engine. They seem pretty dependable.

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?

A good few hundred cycles on decent batteries.

Here is a good look at the kind of performance you will get from a
decent machine with 36V/40V batteries[1].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZpYv1MdQs0

[1] in the power tool world 18V and 20V refer to the same battery
voltages - just counted at different parts of the charge cycle.


--
Cheers,

John.

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

On 27/08/2020 14:42, T i m wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:21:50 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Stephen
wrote:

Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass

Not sure you are advised to mow 'wet grass' with any domestic mower?

and long grass will stall the motor.

You might start by considering how long it typically takes you when
the mower isn't struggling then check to see how that compares with
the advertised run time of a battery mower that fits you budget
(allowing some leeway for marketing and battery aging).

Yup IME even my petrol mowers[1] don't work well on wet grass - and will
struggle with the first cut of the season if its long and wet.
Collection and clogging being the normal problem.

About the only mowers I have heard good results for on collection of wet
grass are Contax ride ons with the rotary brush sweeper collector.

[1] Old manual 3.5hp 14" petrol Hayter, and 13.5HP 36" ride on.


--
Cheers,

John.

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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 27/08/2020 14:39, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:21:50 +0100, Stephen wrote:

Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I keep
thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda is £400 and
I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will get used each year.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable mowers now.
Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last chance to
buy a petrol one!

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?

My biggest bugbear - irrespective of power source - is stopping to empty
the grass box every 2 passes of the lawn.

Well you could cut'n'drop, so grass all over the place, but no
collection, or mulch. Mulching is ok in theory, but in practice means
cutting several times a week in the peak growing season, and you will
use more petrol on each cut.


--
Cheers,

John.

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

On 27/08/2020 18:28, John Rumm wrote:
[1] Old manual 3.5hp 14" petrol Hayter


I've picked 3 of these up off freecycle in the last year, one B&S
sidevalve one with good steel deck I use for picking up hedge cuttings
and thus reducing their volume, one nearly new mountfield with OHV
engine and plastic deck I cut my lawn with (about 10 minutes every few
weeks) the other side valve B&S which had a badly rust perforated steel
deck I patched up and modified with a piece of tube to shred a clump of
bamboo for a neighbour who had given up taking it to the green waste
site during the lockdown and it had all sprouted where it lay.

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 18:23:42 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

You could probably get a decent enough one with a Brigs & Straten
engine. They seem pretty dependable.

If Briggs & Stratton survive the pandemic. Filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy in July.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 18:12:46 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 18:20:23 +0100, T i m wrote:

Give a child an apple and a chicken and it would typically play /
interact with the chicken and eat the apple. Give a lion cub the same
and it would do the opposite.

Or not.

Typically, yes. ;-)

A while back, there was a BBC docu on the Nile, and the camera crew setup
some trapcams in Idi Amins old summer house that's been deserted since
1979. Over the 3 days there, nothing ate anything else.

?

There was some
footage of a leopard that prowled around a baby warthog that got
separated from it's mother but did nothing - just entered and left the
room.

Yes, I have seen that before (on TV) and mainly with female predators
and the young of what would normally be their prey. It's as if the
maternal instinct takes over from their prey drive.

As the narrator (rather OTT ...) noted, it was almost like there was a
sacred truce in the area.

Quite, and I think there can be, even between the creatures that some
just see as 'meat'. eg, Even animals having the ability to show
compassion.

(For lolz, one of the first cams they setup was mangled by a hyena ...)

I think they are one of the first animals I *wouldn't* trust my young
with. ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3we3Yqcer0

Cheers, T i m

On 27/08/2020 16:30, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 16:15:24 +0100, newshound wrote:

On 27/08/2020 15:29, T i m wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 13:39:59 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

snip

My biggest bugbear - irrespective of power source - is stopping to
empty the grass box every 2 passes of the lawn.

Something I belive may be close to your heart, I see they are setting
pigs loose in areas of the country that were originally 'managed' by
such animals in any case, because it's easier and more productive at
returning the habituate to what was good and supported good diversity
than anything we can do manually (or afford to do manually). ;-)

In the same way fallen trees or stuff that might be cleared is often
left to provide habitat etc.

Cheers, T i m

Wild boar are not so welcome not far away from me in the Forest of Dean.

Is that because they **** off dog walkers ? Sounds like a good reason to
have a lot more of them.

And they taste nice

Yes to both, but they also destroy gardens and allotments.

Stephen wrote:
Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I
keep thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda
is £400 and I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will
get used each year.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable
mowers now. Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last
chance to buy a petrol one!

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?


These links provided as an indication of the absurdity
of BE for mowers. This was the larges battery pack on offer
for this sort of thing as of last year.

https://www.globalindustrial.ca/p/ou...attery-charger

"RUN TIME 60 minutes" === with the one provided battery 56V 7.5Ah

The battery is 30-40% of the purchase price of the mower. Since my runtime
for the yard is 90 minutes, I would need two batteries (so would purchase
this one).

https://www.amazon.com/EGO-56V-BA420.../dp/B07PY6CCNT

That battery pack is also used in a snow blower. The snow
blower takes *two* of those batteries, and will process
snow at a depth of 8" to 10" or so. Still not enough for
all situations. And if you've ever used a snow blower not
matched to the snow depth, you'll know what that means.

When the snow blower uses *four* of those batteries, then
only Bill Gates will have one.

There aren't sufficient field reports for those yet,
as to failure rates. First we have to find enough rich people
to test those for us.

That's more of a power pack than most of them get.

My next door neighbor has a "lesser" BE mower, where the battery
pack is inside the housing and cannot be removed. He gets about
half the lawn done, before stopping for a recharge. And he finishes
the lawn the next day. I don't know where the lawn mower
sits while it recharges, somewhere in the back yard, in the
rain, or whatever... My neighbor got about four years out
of the previous BE mower, and he deserves some sort of award
for trying again.

Paul

John Rumm wrote:
On 27/08/2020 14:39, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:21:50 +0100, Stephen wrote:

Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I keep
thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda is £400 and
I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will get used each year.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable mowers now.
Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last chance to
buy a petrol one!

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?

My biggest bugbear - irrespective of power source - is stopping to empty
the grass box every 2 passes of the lawn.

Well you could cut'n'drop, so grass all over the place, but no
collection, or mulch. Mulching is ok in theory, but in practice means
cutting several times a week in the peak growing season, and you will
use more petrol on each cut.


Not a problem for robotic mowers. My sisters one goes out in the dark
sometimes. If so quiet theres no €œnuisance€� noise for neighbours to
complain about.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

Jethro_uk wrote:
I would be tempted by one of the robotic lawn mowers. There are now
some that are less expensive. You probably have to set them off quite
often as the ones I have seen don't pick up the grass.

You would have thought with the deluge of "smart" things, making one that
could hold some clippings, dump them in a set location (which could have
a charger attached) and pretty much keep the lawns cut all summer.

They chop the grass super-fine to mulch it back in, and they cut every day,
so in theory you don't get snowdrifts of cut grass that you do with a
regular mower. I haven't seen them in action to know how well it works out.

Theo

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:21:50 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Stephen wrote:

Hello, I have an electric mower but it's not very good: it gets
clogged up with wet grass and long grass will stall the motor. I
keep thinking I should treat myself to a petrol one but a honda
is £400 and I think is it worth it for the few weekends it will
get used each year.

Every now and then I look on web sites to see the prices and when
I was looking today, I saw that there are many rechargeable
mowers now. Thinking about the recent thread about electric cars,
it seems mowers are heading that way too. It might be my last
chance to buy a petrol one!

I wonder how long the batteries last before they need replacing
and how powerful these battery powered mowers are?

----Android NewsGroup Reader----
https://piaohong.s3-us-west-2.amazon...net/index.html

Chap next door bought a Mac Allister from B&Q, corded mains, about £70 3
years ago. Much to my annoyance it cut his fair-sized lawn very well. The
grass was about 6" long for the first cut and I though that there was no
chance - no problem, more like.
What ****ed me of was that I used to cut that grass - it's sports pitch seed
- and my Honda, at 3X+ the price, would have need 2 cuts and clearing out a
few times.
Looks as if your mower might be crap and it could be worth trying a Mac
Allister. I reckon that a cordless one won't hack it.
https://www.diy.com/departments/outd.../N-exwZ1z0s371
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

"Dave Liquorice" Wrote in message:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 18:23:42 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

You could probably get a decent enough one with a Brigs & Straten
engine. They seem pretty dependable.

If Briggs & Stratton survive the pandemic. Filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy in July.


I think he meant the engines...
--
Jimk


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 22:30:09 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Jimk
wrote:

"Dave Liquorice" Wrote in message:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 18:23:42 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

You could probably get a decent enough one with a Brigs & Straten
engine. They seem pretty dependable.

If Briggs & Stratton survive the pandemic. Filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy in July.


I think he meant the engines...

So Jimmy, 1) if B&S go to the wall, how could the OP buy a new mower
with a B&S engine? [1]

2) If B&S go to the wall, how reliable will the supply of spares be?

Answers on a postcard ... ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[1] And who do you think might bail out a company (as a going concern)
making IC engines with the world going electric?

T i m wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 22:30:09 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Jimk
wrote:

"Dave Liquorice" Wrote in message:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 18:23:42 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

You could probably get a decent enough one with a Brigs & Straten
engine. They seem pretty dependable.

If Briggs & Stratton survive the pandemic. Filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy in July.


I think he meant the engines...

So Jimmy, 1) if B&S go to the wall, how could the OP buy a new mower
with a B&S engine? [1]

2) If B&S go to the wall, how reliable will the supply of spares be?

Spares? Havent bought a B&S spare in the last 30 years for mine. I did
once treat it to a new spark plug but it was probably unnecessary. ;-)



Answers on a postcard ... ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[1] And who do you think might bail out a company (as a going concern)
making IC engines with the world going electric?

Robotic battery powered mowers seem to be the future.

Tim
--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 27/08/2020 23:36, T i m wrote:


So Jimmy, 1) if B&S go to the wall, how could the OP buy a new mower
with a B&S engine? [1]

The brand name will be sold off and will start appearing on Chinese made
engines.


2) If B&S go to the wall, how reliable will the supply of spares be?

If there are enough engines already out there third parties start
supplying compatible spares - often on these engines you just need a new
gasket set, spark plug or petrol hose.


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

On 27/08/2020 23:41, Tim+ wrote:

Robotic battery powered mowers seem to be the future.

Possibly only if you have a bowling green quality lawn!



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

On 27 Aug 2020 22:41:07 GMT, Tim+ wrote:

snip

2) If B&S go to the wall, how reliable will the supply of spares be?

Spares? Haven’t bought a B&S spare in the last 30 years for mine.

Yup, they can be pretty reliable and you may not need service parts if
you don't use it often / hard enough. Hold a spare for it and the
chances are you will never need it [1]. ;-)

I did
once treat it to a new spark plug but it was probably unnecessary. ;-)

And was a generic part in any case. ;-)

The point is, many people *do* consider things like access to spares
and customer support when buying new (especially) and when spending
any sort of real money.

snip

[1] And who do you think might bail out a company (as a going concern)
making IC engines with the world going electric?

Robotic battery powered mowers seem to be the future.

Electric certainly is and has been the case for domestic garden gear
for a long time now (mowers, hedge trimmers etc). Now many are going
battery-electric as people like to cut the cord (literally and
figuratively g), including professional climbing saws etc.

At the other end of the picture ... a mate gave me a couple of open
frame 3kW 4/ generators (where Honda or Honda clone engines seem to be
the default) because he does a lot of work for schools and they are
cutting down the noise levels that are acceptable during school hours
(so he had the get the quieter 'suitcase' type).

Many traditionally 2/ hand held tools (like strimmers) are going over
the 4/ style [2] engines because of noise and emissions.

Most RC models are electric now days.

Cheers, T i m

[1] I have a spare engine for my CB250 motorcycle for that reason. ;-)

[2] They have valves like a 4/ but use lubrication like a 2/.

On Fri, 28 Aug 2020 08:27:48 +0100, alan_m
wrote:

On 27/08/2020 23:36, T i m wrote:


So Jimmy, 1) if B&S go to the wall, how could the OP buy a new mower
with a B&S engine? [1]

The brand name will be sold off and will start appearing on Chinese made
engines.

People 'hope'.

2) If B&S go to the wall, how reliable will the supply of spares be?

If there are enough engines already out there third parties start
supplying compatible spares - often on these engines you just need a new
gasket set, spark plug or petrol hose.

Sure, but many won't buy something knowing that the people who made
and would support the engine don't exist as they did or are there to
offer warranty or customer support.

Of course, if 'clone' / Far East engines are fitted (with or without
the B&S badge) and the price reflects that, then fewer people may care
as they just become a disposable commodity.

However, if you were as company or business looking to equip a mobile
gardening workforce, such things might steer you to something Honda
powered?

Cheers, T i m