Ok, so I need to buy my first lawnmower. It’s for a rented house but the Landlord refuses to replace the broken one in the shed but when I buy (hopefully next year) then I’ll probably have a garden so it’s worthwhile getting something half decent for myself and taking it with me

Not a massive lawn and not in great condition either – lots of weeds and uneven.

So how much do I spend and what does STW recommend?

Get the next petrol Aldi one.

or

Vintage push along from a carboot.

£35 Job done.

http://www.diy.com/nav/garden/garden-power-tools/lawnmowers/cylinder_lawnmowers/B-and-Q-Hand-Push-Cylinder-Lawnmower-12698600

or even better….

I’ve used a very nice Honda petrol one, powered so you can even drink beer at the same time. Used to use a flymo, awful thing.

…deal ends today.

If you don’t need the garden I’d leave it until you get your own place – why spend your money looking after someone else’s garden?

b&q pushalong mower, cheap, cheerful (or get one from a car boot)

avoid cheap flymo type things. messy and slow

why spend your money looking after someone else’s garden

rental T&Cs, I’d guess

If you go electric then the Bosch Rotak range (as per Jamie’s post) are very good.

I’ve got one, seven years old now and still going strong.

The landlord should really provide one if they expect you to cut the grass.

The Bosch ones are surprisingly good

I’ve got one of these:

…which gives the best cut

rental T&Cs, I’d guess

but the Landlord refuses to replace the broken one in the shed

Never rented myself, but I don’t really think that is fair.

Have a look at all the dead Flymos at the local tip then buy something else.

Bare mindw With an uneven garden a push along cylinder variant as being recommended will be awful. Any bumps and it will bottom out and be a pig to use, I learnt the hard way

get a scythe, awesome tool. be careful though it’s addictive.

get a scythe, awesome tool. be careful though it’s addictive.

And the prize for “Most STW Post of the Day” goes to…

I paid full price for jamies one. Really happy with it.
Can stand it up to store unlike my petrol one.

“Can stand it up to store unlike my petrol one.”

what was your petrol one ?

turn the fuel off on my suzuki engined allen flymo and it hangs upright from the rafters of the shed

tenancy T&Cs stipulate I have to keep the garden neat (even though last tenant didn’t). Happily signed up to that as I’d seen a Flymo in the shed when I looked around. Of course, when I went to use it, I found it was bust.
The landlord is also the estate agent and letting agent and has grudingly offered only a push mower- because he’s an mean-minded idiot rather than a normal human being 😀

I might just take his offer of a push mower if the STW consensus says they’re good enough and see how it goes…

You’ve nothing to lose. If it’s crap you can always buy your own as you were planning to.

If it does the job then you’ve saved your money.

With an uneven garden a push along cylinder variant as being recommended will be awful. Any bumps and it will bottom out and be a pig to use…

Not necessarliy. I was told a similar thing but invested anyway. Got a Webb model the same as the one below (though I didn’t buy from them)…

http://www.tooled-up.com/product/webb-h18-contact-free-hand-push-cylinder-lawn-mower-450mm-cut-width/193113/

It cuts high enough to get through longer grass and helps it over undulations. It’s a wider cut than almost anything else I could find and is nice and light so easy(ish) to use, even pushing uphill. You can work up a real sweat and you know it’s doing you good as well as being reasonably peaceful by comparison to those bloody machine driven things.

One of my favourite purchases of recent times…