This is what my life has become - shoot me now.
My second secondhand petrol mower has lunched itself. I have to admit to myself that I'm just wasting my time and money and buying new is a regrettable next step.
Spec
- Needs a big deck - current 51cm on the outgoing petrol jobbie is a good size and I'd be reluctant to go smaller.
- Needs to be robust - my lawn is laughably called a garden if you squint in the right direction but it has aspects of field, hints of woods, with more than an aftertaste of moss.
- Did I say it had moss? I've slept on less comfy mattresses and if you stand still long enough and your feet sink without trace. There's a petrol scarifier waiting the kick the shit out of it once I've got it back in hand.
- It's not flat. At all.
- It needs to be self propelled. I'm old and it's lumpy.
- Garden is 'only' 800m2 but it's a bastard odd shape.
I'm mildly cordless leccy mower curious. Maybe better for my tinnitus, one less bastard carburettor to clean, slightly quieter to not annoy the paying guests in the self catering that keep me in food and water. Possibly more eco - maybe.
Has anyone gone leccy (not a robot - even the guy that sells robots thought it would be a challenge) with a garden other than a bowling green? If so what was it and has it worked?
ta
As horrifically scary as it might sound, there are entire forums for lawnmowerists - i'm pretty sure you can get battery powered mowers that will work for you, but they'd be the kind of people who could recommend you the right tool
Go buy a cheap Weibang petrol one. Rather good for less than Honda money. Battery stuff is fine for less challenging work but even the commercial stuff isn’t up to petrol performance yet. One of my customers has just agreed to buy a £30k John Deere ride on for me to use. Felt a bit odd justifying the expense when my van only cot £1500 :o/.
There are mowers out there but it can get pricey. Ego seem to be the go to superbrand. I have their smallest self propelled unit and it a bit of a beast. Also have the trimmer as well. Both have been excellent. The only downside is that cost of the batteries, £280 for a 7.5 Ah battery.
I picked up a new blade for my Husqvarna mower last week. The shop had four of these and four electric strimmers being collected by a contractor who was going all electric as I arrived.
I know you say "not a robot" but I was walking the dog near some rugby pitches a couple of weeks ago, and spotted a robot mower making its way back to a small shelter, presumably to recharge. Have to say it looked a bit pathetic in scale considering it was apparently tasked with looking after 4 pitches, but the club must have decided its up to the task. Sorry, didn't get the brand or model. I'll try and look next time I'm going by.
Just go and do a Scything course, get a scythe and a hay rake.
They work great need no fuel and take up less space than a mower.
We often mow wild flower meadows when it’s the right time of year and cut back over grown areas which are being managed for wild life.
You also need an open mind.
I keep considering it, but my old mountfield that I got for free a decade ago just keeps starting and working despite almost deliberate levels of regret. I serviced it a few years ago and I'm sure the oil that came out was more grass and soil than 20W50. The air filter is a greasy sponge that isn't really sealed against the intake anymore. The exhaust is this sort of rectangular piece of rust that somehow has retrained the shape of an exhaust despite clearly lacking the necessary integrity to remain there against the laws of nature.
The office park I used to work at had Shtil robot's patrolling the grounds cutting the grass, and that must have been a hundred acres of landscaping, ponds, trees, lakes, shrubs etc for them to navigate around.
it looked a bit pathetic in scale considering it was apparently tasked with looking after 4 pitches
Likewise, but I guess if you just leave it there 24/7/365 it doesn't really matter how slow it is, it only needs to do a lap every few weeks.
Get a robot one, it cuts whilst you do other things.
I got one for my mums garden 400m2, it was liberating knowing I didn't have to trudge around garden for hours on end.
Mark Lewis - probably on the Lewis Life YouTube channel - did a piece on using robot mowers to tame an unruly lawn and I'm sure he had a bigger version for tackling part of one of their fields
Get a robot one, it cuts whilst you do other things.
I got one for my mums garden 400m2, it was liberating knowing I didn't have to trudge around garden for hours on end.
It's tempting, it really is. And going around the house/business of a local guy who sells and repairs mowers who had one I was sold on the idea. And some models you can buy spiked wheels to get up banks easier. And the size of our lawn isn't an issue. But even the guy keen to sell me one was doubtful it would cope with the amount of banking and the quite spectacular depth of the moss currently. Long term project to see if the moss can be conquered so maybe the next mower after this could be a robot....
Actually the same guy thought the amount of bank mowing I've got could have contributed to my current knackered machine - I probably should have known that standard 4 stokes don't enjoy running on the piss for long periods...but gave it man with big machine levels of thinking. Actually another positive for a leccy self propelled if I can afford one with enough grunt.
get a scyth
Love the sentiment....but....I'm deeply cynical that time is my friend here. I have have a barely functioning life with multiple jobs and I struggle to have any me time for exercise and doing stuff I want to do already. I'm not confident a scythe is going to improve the situation. Having one to tackle unruly areas seems like good thing.
As horrifically scary as it might sound, there are entire forums for lawnmowerists
I've started down the rabbit hole....yes there is a world out there I was previously happy I didn't know anything about.
Ego and Greenworks seem to get good reviews as powerful consumer level machines. Oddly the number of 60 and 80 volt machines available in the UK seems to have drastically reduced. The 60 or 80 volt Greenworks machines seems to have reduced in availablity to just a couple of niche sites in the UK whilst still available in the US or EU. Not sure why....maybe the market for big powerful consumer level machines in the UK is not there with our mostly smaller gardens.
weve got a basic, but chunky "Lawn", and am very pleased with my 2x18V=36V Erbauer.
Big steel deck, does the job for me. I REALLY like the ease. No cables, no fuel, minimal noise.
I dont think it would stand up to the disasterzone your garden sounds like, but i would have no issue seriously considering a "proper" brand mower in battery. Hayter do a Battery option? Proper mower shops should let you test drive, surely?
I’ve got the makita 64v
its not self propelled but it’s half the weight of the petrol one
battery lasts as long as I want to mow
(about 20 minutes)
My experience:
Don't get a Worx one - it was utterly awful.
Makita 36v 47cm works really well on my lawn. I also do a patch in the orchard opposite my house (for yoga and picnics etc) and an elderly neighbour's verge (not a lot of actual lawn but really fiddly to do as it's slightly narrower than the mower). Much of it is gnarly grass rather than lawn - it did occasionally stall my previous petrol mower if I launched into the long stuff too quickly, and the Makita is not a lot different.
Hope that's helps, YMMV.
It's tempting, it really is. And going around the house/business of a local guy who sells and repairs mowers who had one I was sold on the idea. And some models you can buy spiked wheels to get up banks easier. And the size of our lawn isn't an issue. But even the guy keen to sell me one was doubtful it would cope with the amount of banking and the quite spectacular depth of the moss currently. Long term project to see if the moss can be conquered so maybe the next mower after this could be a robot....
Mums "grass" was a proper shit show of moss in places. I bought the previous generation of this https://uk.mammotion.com/products/luba-2-awd-robot-lawn-mower Dont know how steep you banks are but they claim can cope with 80% slope, coped fine with the slops at mums. You can always map it to avoid the slopes and manually cut if it doesnt cope.
The mower wasn't faultless it did have occasional wobbles where it would end up in garden border or it wouldn't dock to recharge properly, but the benefits far outweighed these minor niggles
Mums "grass" was a proper shit show of moss in places. I bought the previous generation of this
I feel I might need to take a photo of my 'grass' for context.
That looks nice and that incline (39 degrees) ability is impressive and would do everything my patch would throw at it (provided it didn't get beached on the moss). But the price.......I know my worth in life.....and quite simple as much as I value it, my time comes cheaper than mavin the mower's.
all change..
Mark Lewis - probably on the Lewis Life YouTube channel - did a piece on using robot mowers to tame an unruly lawn and I'm sure he had a bigger version for tackling part of one of their fields
Damn you!
I'm now robot curious! Which sounds weird.
Not a very STW thing to say, but I'm now wondering if I was wrong and a robot mower is what I "need"....argh
TBH I was sceptical about robot vacuums but bought one cheap back in the day fixed it and yep , if your room layout works they are definitely a worthwhile thing.
Can’t see why a robot lawnmower (or a swarm)wouldn’t work and I know people are loving their pool cleaning bots.
Bound to be buying advice on mumsnet 🙂
As an aside, I recently got a Hoe, as they seem to use them a lot more in Spain and it’s actually really good and once you got the hang it was surprising how much clearing of stuff you could do manually.
