New house and now have a small/medium garden to mow.
Are Flymos that bad?
Or is a Bosch better.
What are you mowing?

Depends how small, but I’d say go petrol. Electric ones are a pain and sound whiney.

Buy petrol
Never look back. Cables are just a huge pain.

Bosch electric for a small/medium garden.

Electric is you care about the planet….

Lawnmower-trackworld. I need to jump on board. Out flymo has just died but it was always fine for out little patch of green. Could just about now it all standing in one spot.

About to move and new house has a much bigger garden. Must be over 300 square meters. Any suggestions on a suitable mower for that? Also, how difficult is it to make a stripy lawn? Always fancied one of those.

As T1000. Petrol mowers are pretty rubbish for the environment.

Bosch electric, loads better than flymo or qualcast. I’ve had all three.

If petrol, get a Honda for reliability

Have flymo – it’s a hateful thing. Looking at the Hayter electric mowers, just for that touch of class… (-:

Bosch Rotak

Old Flymo with a metal blade lasted 20 years, no problem. New Flymo with a plastic blade just didn’t cut grass effectively. Bosch electric is fine.

Bosch electric for a small/medium garden.

+1

Agree with greybeard re flymo blades. If to get a flymo then get one with a metal blade. Much better.

I asked this same question back in April. The General consensus was a Honda Izy, and, budget permitting, that’s what I would’ve bought. Sadly, my budget was MUCH less, so I ended up with Bosch Rotak for £20. it’s fine, yes the cable is a pain, but it’s MUCH quieter than a petrol, which means I can mow in the morning without irritating anyone.

My garden is around 230sqm and whilst the cable is a pain, it’s more a first-world-problem than anything else.

Went from Flymo to Bosch. It’s loads better. The rear roller gives stripes very easily, which is great if your lawn allows for a regular mowing pattern.

Bosch Rotak. Even if a small garden I’d go big width though.

I’ve never known anyone with a petrol mower who hasnt had issues.

We have a Mountfield Princess. Mountfield are famous for their petrol mowers and we had an old one. Replaced it with a 16″ electric with rear roller and collection box and it is fine for our 200 square metres of lawn. The cable isn’t a problem provided you have a long one and keep it on one side and mow across from this side.

Just making this decision for our 70sqm lawn and have decided on a Bosch rotak, just undecided on which model/how wide, probably 34cm.

Large lawn petrol, but for a small lawn Bosch is all you need, it’s lightweight, cuts amazing close to the edge of the mower and the finish is impressive, ok it feels lightweight and a bit flimsy, but so far it’s not let me down, if you don’t like cables the rechargeable one is good. Invest in a spare battery, not cheap!

I swapped from a flymo five years ago and it was the best decision I ever made.

Petrol wise if you don’t want to spend Honda prices, have a look at the mountfield range with the Honda engine, we used to use them at work (x parkie) and would easily run 8 hours and lighter to throw about than the Honda’s.

Battery powered Bosch. It’s a great bit of kit and well worth the money.

Apparently a sit-on lawnmower is one of the key indicators of your success in life.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11274239/Am-I-a-failure-because-dont-own-a-fancy-lawnmower.html

+1 for the Bosch Rotak. We have a small/medium garden and it’s been great for the last 4 years of regular mowing.

What’s a small, medium or large lawn?

My small/medium garden won’t be needing a petrol or a sit down mower.

Looks like the Bosch Rotak takes the win.
Ta

Another Rotaker here. Two years with no negative comments so far.

I’m on my 4th Rotak. Great when they work, but the motors do burn out quicker than expected. The newer models (2013+ model?) are IMO less well built. Getting the bucket on/off is more fiddly and it sometimes splits apart.

Trouble is there’s not much else out there to compare more favourably.

Interested in the figures indicating that electric is more environmentally friendly than petrol. Could you point me at any.

Apparently more petrol is spilled in the us by people filling mowers every year than the Exxon Valdez disaster. Read that somewhere, be interesting if its true. And that’s before you even turn it on and its inefficient engine starts polluting.

UCLA quoting the environmental protection agency so make of that what you will:

EPA estimates that gas mowers represent 5% of U.S. air pollution, using 800 million gallons of gas per year. A new gas powered lawn mower operating for one hour produces as much volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides as 8 new cars each being driven for one hour at 55 mph.
EPA also estimates that over 17 million gallons of fuel, mostly gasoline, are spilled while refueling lawn equipment each year—more than all of the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez in the Gulf of Alaska. One gas mower spews 88 lbs of CO2 and 34 lbs of other pollutants into the air every year.

Let’s face a large area of manicured lawn is hardly a good choice environmentally speaking anyway.

What about a manual mower? Think you can get cheap qualcast, and likely to be many old ones about. Much more satisfying mowing the lawn with your own effort moving the blades.

Definitely the best option from a ecological perspective, and if 2nd hand it might even be british made.

As above. SOAP’s garden doesn’t look much bigger than mine and I’ve been quite happy to use a push mower for the 20 years we’ve lived there.

In the true stw spirit of suggesting something that’s traditional but actually not as practical I feel I should speak up for the petrol cylinder mower. Had years of good service from a 16″ qualcast. It’s a pain if you miss three weeks plus as you have to do a few passes but the rest of the time it’s v satisfying

And the average us lawnmower is?

You do realise that new 2 strokes were banned and the new 4 strokes are on set emissions ?

Oh and daffy- glad your not my neighbour. Your electric mower isnt as quiet as you think, its just a different tone.
As per pedlad , 4 stroke 16 inch qualcast cylinder mower , makes a grand job

Its about 20 years old , its lifecycle emissions from creation to destruction probably less than those who use the disposable electrics every couple of years.

300sqm I’d probably want a 17″ petrol mower. A roller honda would be best, stripes are easy… run the mower 2-3 times around the edge of the lawn, then start running it up and down. Stripes shall appear 🙂

For the OPs demands I’d just get any 16-18″ electric. Bosch seem reliable enough. But do get a wheeled mower with a bag, neater job than a flymo.

So this thread is making me sad about buying a petrol mower but I hate cables.. Any one had any experience with cordless?

I’ve been looking as well but I can’t see a self propelled mower with a roller for the stripes in electric for competitive money. I’d Luke to go electric but there only seem to be petrol ones to suit my need.

What have you been looking at onza?

only seem to be petrol ones to suit my need.

You may need to compromise a bit if you want an eco friendly solution. Does it need to be self propelled for instance?

That size? I’d just use a manual. Means you can do it any time morning noon or night and not disturb the whole neighbourhood. Plus, by the time you fart about unreeling/reeling cables or filling petrol (after realising it’s jellified over winter, your plugs are corroded or you simply forgot to get more after last time) and such you could be just about done.