Need a new mower and was thinking either petrol or cordless. I’ve narrowed it down to two options, petrol or cordless.

Cordless

Petrol

Budget is no more than £400. Like the idea of cordless, no fuel to buy/store, quieter etc etc but it’s long term and the maintenance/repair side of things that causes concern.

I’ve had the use of an old Harrier 48 pro, which will do my lawns in about 40minutes (including emptying the collection box) but I can’t afford a new one and the ones in budget look worse than the one I’ve been using, very old and knackered.

Some advice would be greatly appreciated.

Good question! I’ve been using a Mountfield petrol mower for a couple of years and the only problem it has had is the carb clogging up when left unused for more than a month (10 minute job stripping it down and cleaning), apart from that the power and cut is more than adequate (even with its Chinese engine).
The cordless Bosch looks as if it should be good with the 36v 4Ah battery it should also be nice and light, but I’d be worried about recharges half way through if I had a larger garden to cut. Would it be as powerful as a petrol? It’s a shame you can’t test one on your lawn.
Edit: how much are replacement/spare batteries for the Bosch?

The Bosch gets good reviews. Plasticky and lightweight materials but some find the lightweight a bonus. Spare battery would be about £80-90 and Bosch also do a range of strimmers, trimmers and blowers that use the same battery. Wish I could demo one for a few weeks.

Bought a mountfield petrol in 2005, I’ve done absolutely nothing to it, other than top up the oil and blade sharpening. It starts first time, every time. Cost me £115.

Mitsu – avoid carb varnishing by closing the fuel line tap to let the engine run dry. When it’s stuttering and about to die spray some carb cleaner into the air intake (remove filter first)

I’m a Honda fan myself.

In fact I just took delivery of a new large Honda mulching mower, to add to the roller one for the lawn and a Honda strimmer. Great engines imo.

Aye, my Mountfield has a Honda engine.

It sounds like the size of lawns you have will be more than one charge/battery. For this reason alone I would avoid the battery option and go with the petrol mower. It will be simpler and is easy to get serviced/repaired etc.

For smaller gardens the rechargeable stuff is fantastic and is getting better all the time and is probably the way to go, but it is an expensive way to get rid of the dragging cable.