UKC

Well why not? 

Looking to replace my petrol mower. 

After a self propelled petrol mower which will cope with a lumpy lawn and pick up clippings well. 

Veering towards Mountfield sp 185, any reason not to or alternatives. 

I know I have missed the aldi one and the 20% off weekend at b&q/screwfix. Doesn't that always happen. 

Second-hand Honda

All day long. We have an old one on our allotment and it gets daily abuse. It just eats everything. I often just ram it through overgrown brambles. Today cut my neighbours hedges, huge things with brambles, roses and all sorts. About 60m of them. Piled it all up in a long line and mowed over the lot of it with it for the compost. Eat the lot no probs. 

Edit: it was £70 second hand. I do frequently remove the blades and Dremel them sharp. 

I bought a Spear & Jackson self propelled from Argos at the start of the season. Picks up clippings nicely.  Briggs & Stratton engine and 3 year warranty.  Happy with it so far.

2nd hand Screwfix / Briggs & Stratton here . Does the job

To completely ignore your question in the best tradition of ukc, I switched from petrol to electric this year and there's no way I would go back. 

We have a very large garden and the lawns are big, lumpy, oddly shaped, often on steep gradients and have various rocks, tree roots, and lumps of concrete that leap out and attack passing mowers. With our mower (Ego 56V) I can do the whole garden on a single charge, it is lighter, quieter, self propelled (this can be a bit irritating admittedly), there's no need to make up 2-stroke, no unpleasant petrol fumes, no starter rips to pull, and no maintenance. It really is massively more pleasant. It even folds away and sits up on its end in the shed, so the footprint is about 2ftx1ft. 

Battery technology is finally getting there for mowers; the only unknown from my perspective is how long it will be before the battery loses capacity (our old petrol mower was 20 years old, but I doubt a battery model would still hold charge in 20 years time). I can also switch the battery across to the strimmer (and indeed pay yet more for various leaf blowers, pruning saws, and everything else should the urge take me and the CFO agree). 

I still have a 2 stroke Husqy hedge trimmer but suspect it is on borrowed time....

Happy mowing

b

Ben_b beat me to it.

I use a “Greenworks 40V” mower.  It’s a shameless Made in China rip-off from a corded Bosch model but with a battery and a DC motor.  With the mulch plug in it’s great; calm, quiet, no filthy unlegislated petrol exhaust, no pratting about filling Jerry cans and paying fuel duty.  No oil changes, no air filter to clean, no maladjusted carb to swear at.  Being much lighter than a petrol mower it copes much better with the bumps.

Fast forwards two years and I’ve acquired a strimmer, pole looper, chainsaw and hedge trimmer from the same system; I got most without batteries and share a few between them.

The switch to a battery electric chainsaw was fantastic.  

1967 Suffolk Punch, pick them up from ebay for about 20 quid. If you are mechanically minded, nearly the most fun you can have without your climbing shoes on.

I have a pair of them and with a little love will start first time every time.

Thanks all, great feedback. 

Will look at Honda, not convinced by second hand because:

Mowers take quite a battering and are usually only replaced at end of life. 

I live in the sticks, a couple of trips out to view and buy could well eat up most of a day and more fuel than a seasons mowing. Factor in hourly rate etc and you close to the cost of new.

I am very unconvinced by the battery vs petrol arguement, the tech needs another 10 years.

As for unregulated emissions, it is a gallon of fuel a year, easily saved by pumping my tyres up. 

My second hand mower was bought from a friend who’d moved from country to town and had only used it half a dozen times but I take your point.

I recommended it because I inherited my dad's, bought in the early 1980s if not earlier, and 1. given his lawn-mowing obsession it must have circumlawnmowed the earth, at the very least; 2. it still works fantastically, starts first time, needs very little maintenance. I took it once to a mower repair/general agricultural machinery guy in Four Marks for a replacement starter cord -- the original snapped after 30+ years -- and he nodded approvingly and burred, "They don't make them like they used to."

It's an HR-173, just for interest, one of these: https://www.celticmowers.com/NOW-SOLD---SECOND-HAND---HONDA-HR-173---17-SEL...  

Nice geeky thread in its praise (admittedly for me there's something of an emotional attachment): https://www.lawnmowerforum.com/showthread.php/4407-Honda-HR173

Another vote for a Honda and it's brilliant, although I think now in need of a bit of TLC to clean the filters and plug. Usually starts first pull.

No need to mess around mixing - the oil goes in one side, fuel in the top. Gets through <5l of unleaded a year, I think, for our lawn.

Mother-in-law has a Hayter with electric start, which is great, if somewhat heavy.

For the last 15years I have been using a lawnflight mower (383SP) which has a B&S engine.  For the odd thing that has needed replacing I've found spares (mower and engine) readily available, which has been really refreshing.

And to continue the geekery. 

Mulching facility, worth it or not? 

Very large is probably relative, my lawn takes 2l of petrol and an hour with a 22hp 102cm cut ride on

mountfield sp535 is the winner in most reviews I read.

I swapped an old ride on for a new one of those. 53cm blade, self propelled, hose attachment, mulching plug. Last night it tackled 8+ inch grass down to 1 inch in single pass. The self propelling is weak on anything but short level surface, but it does assist.

My only downside it the steel assembly. There is some rust after a few years. But it's probably firmer than and aluminium would be.

Defintitely.

Two uses. If you let it grow long you can mow on mulch and then mow again to collect clippings with fewer bag empties. I had to empty mine every strip last night, mulching would probably have been quicker.

Second, once you have it nice and short, the regular mulch mowing means no clippings to dispose of. Much quicker to mow the lawn, I can get mine down from 3 hours to 30 minutes.

Have a Mountfield SP165 (petrol, self propelled) that has been doing a good job for last couple of years.

Yep fair game!

My lawn took an hour with the push along plus about 20mins with the strimmer.

I can now get the whole thing done in under an hour (but with an enforced  cup of tea while the battery charges up after the strimming). I can do one or the other on a single charge but not both.

I am suspicious about batteries (and have avoided electric cars for this very reason) but do feel current tech is satisfactory for most domestic lawn mowing duties.

Enjoy the ride

b

I went for a Honda engined mountfield sp 535. The engine sounds great and if it had 2 fewer wheels, I would need to pass a test to ride it. 

Agree with Honda - brilliant engine. I mow a very steep section of grass and have cooked the engine (cam follower) twice due to not picking up oil so beware of steep inclines. Have bought an electric hover to do the steep bit (cable a pain in the a*se).

Honda, second hand if necessary as many others have said.

Professional gardener and landscaper and mine has lasted years of hard use, it'll be replaced by another honda when it does finally give out.

Nice, I've recommended this to a customer recently who didn't want to shell out for my own choice of mower. 

Yes mulching is far better for the lawn and means you don't have a pile of grass to do something with.

I'd also suggest looking at robot mowers. They are like the robot vacuum cleaners but for your lawn. That's what I'll be getting when I finish sorting out my garden