Cordless lawnmowers, anyone had one?

[hairy]

A quite expensive petrol Husqvarna one I looked at while ago was very robust and had a plastic deck so no rust there at least. I bought the smallest Honda Izzy petrol though which I thought would be too small but bigger is just too expensive, its lightness makes it a joy, and it will get to places I previously needed to strim. Much quicker and easier

 

[Richard_C]

Thanks all. Lots of good an thoughtful input which might be useful to others as well.

I was kind of hoping that a few people would say 'had a cordless, bit rubbish' which would have made my decision easier. It seems like battery is viable, but a careful look at reviews, run time etc. and the general state of my grass (my hayter is 4 wheel, not roller, much as I would like nice stripes nearby trees etc make the ground uneven) I think I would be on the margin for cutting in one go without a second battery. I like the look of Makita but current price with 2 sets (i.e. 4 - they use 18v in series for 36v) is fearsome. I'm sure, as some have said, that the margin is in the batteries - bare shell mowers are relatively cheap. Perfect if I already had big battery tools but I don't - my drills etc are 18v Bosch.

Looking back, mowers seem to last me 10-12 years so I need to think about what I will be wanting when I am 80 (if I am sufficiently compos mentis to even remember I have a lawn to cut). Realistically I am thinking about 5 years ahead and will worry after that. Corded electric just wouldn't work here - too much to get round and it would drive me mad.

I'm currently thinking about going down a size for lightness and ease, adds 10 mins to my cutting time perhaps but I have more time now, but sticking with petrol for the 'ooomph' to get through the tough bits - some areas get left for a few weeks because of spring bulbs. In 5 years it may be that almost everyone is using battery and the market has changed.

One of the problems is information overload. Makita alone have 21 variants of the same range - then there is AlKo, Cobra, Hayter, etc etc. Each has its own arcane numbering and naming scheme. When I was young, people had (and defended to the death) a choice of Webb or Atco, push or if you were posh petrol. Now there are hundreds. Relative to earnings they were very expensive. Now we have too many choices.

My plan is to stop thinking about it until Monday when I will decide and cast the dice.

Thanks again, a rich source of information.



Or (and hopefully not) decisivness will fail me, I will buy a fibreglass kit, bodge the holes in the deck, adjust the stick wedging the air intake open and file it all under "too difficult" until it breaks again. My wife grumbles that I am always fixing stuff long after it is sensible. Barbecues aren't designed to last 20 years....yes but look, if I bend a piece of aluminium and put it in here it will hold the burners up for another year or two ..... and there's nothing wrong with the oven door now I've drilled it to fit clips to stop the glass falling out..... etc.

 

[Spectric]

Become enviromentally aware and do a bit for the climate, get rid of the mower petrol or battery and get a couple of sheep so your grass is grazed and when the mowers are worn out rather than taking them to the dump you just get them sorted and put in your freezer.

 

[Richard_C]

and get a couple of sheep so your grass is grazed ....

Neighbours might grumble, not grass enough to feed the sheep for very long

A Baaaaaa'd idea round here.

 

[Spectric]

Well make it a communial sheep mower, now everyone can dump their powered mowers and more help for the climate.

 

[D_W]

Become enviromentally aware and do a bit for the climate, get rid of the mower petrol or battery and get a couple of sheep so your grass is grazed and when the mowers are worn out rather than taking them to the dump you just get them sorted and put in your freezer.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that the methane and escaping methane from the dropped poo, along with the footprint on providing other feed is greater than the impact of the gas in the mower in general.

Of course, there is my cylinder idea, but there are a lot of misconceptions about cylinder mowers. They are about as difficult to use if used regularly as a push mower (petrol) that's not self propelled. Certainly, you have to supply the energy to scissor the grass, but even on the large 20" scotts mower (which sets up and cuts quite well - a narrower mower is fine for someone who may be of less physical means - all the way down to 13-14"), the mower itself only weighs about 25 pounds, so it's half or less than petrol mowers and it's easier to maneuver. It does cut short of the outside of the wheels, though, so there's a 3-4" stripe of grass that will need a strimmer along fences, walls, etc.

When I used a petrol mower, I would try to cheat and lift the mower to get all of that (and only strimm from time to time - the mrs. didn't like the result), but find everything stays better if I use the strimmer, anyway. A 4" stripe here is easily taken care of by a battery powered trimmer.

 

[D_W]

Im guessing DW is talking about a “cylinder” push along mower? Sounds like a heart attack to me!

As mentioned above, they're about as much effort as a regular push mower, but easier to manipulate because they weigh so little. The effort when well set up to snip the grass is about the same as the effort to push the additional weight on a high quality petrol mower. If you let the grass grow very long, though, it can be more effort.

The cylinder types here are sold in a huge number of widths (prefer the wide one, but if I was older or smaller, the narrower types in 14/15 inches or so may be better - they'd be even easier to push).

My dad and his 5 brothers were charged with mowing two acres in their youth with two cylinder mowers. I'm sure they didn't know how to set them. He hates them, but was surprised how well they work if set up correctly. FIL, same - first reaction was "torture machine!". When FIL was visiting the first time, though, I encouraged him to run it a stripe and he ended up mowing my entire yard (1/4th acre, not big, but still about a half hour of walking and pushing).

the younger generation here appears to prefer mowing their lawn on an irregular basis, though, and neither the battery powered nor the cylinder mowers are great for that.

 

[D_W]

(separately, I learned how little most people probably use their cylinder mowers by the fact that the one way pinion gear inside the wheel will wear out over time as it's engages on the forward but not the reverse. On the reverse, a metal key rotates backwards and fails to engage, but when doing so, it does slowly wear the inside of the wheel. After 5 years, my pinion gears started to slip on the forward push - and the manufacturer provides no parts. I had to go back to who I suspected was the actual maker, and they have a single part for all of their mowers. If you have one of the mowers they make that doesn't use the same pinion, TS, you have to just buy another mower or you have to make and harden another key that's slightly longer (I could've done that).

The fact that the part is almost impossible to find suggests that people get a cylinder mower and then don't use it.

Sort of like woodworking tools in general!!

 

[D_W]

Total money spent on the cylinder type was $130 when new (fluctuates, though), $10 for lapping compound to sharpen and $20 for new pair of pinion and key over 5 years.

Have never forgotten to charge it or add gas!!

 

[Bristol_Rob]

I have the cordless Makita twin battery model.

I've nothing but positive things to say.

I mow every week so it never gets too tall and I've never had a problem.

Cut the cord and enjoy the freedom

 

[pe2dave]

Are you ignoring the weight of pushing around a petrol mower? You pay for the batteries but the gain is every time you use it, how light it is.
If you mowed more often with a lighter mower perhaps?
Agree on rough ground, a wheeled job would be advantageous.

 

[D_W]

self propelled petrol mowers are far more common than "u-push-it" types here. are they not common there? The only real issue with them is that they're bulky so when you start going around tree roots and such and they're still going on their own, you can be the guy hanging on to the end of a whip.

 

[hairy]

I wanted a push cylinder mower but most seemed to have wheels that don't look very grippy, so do they still work if the grass is damp?

 

[paulm]

I wanted a push cylinder mower but most seemed to have wheels that don't look very grippy, so do they still work if the grass is damp?

If you're pushing it then there is no need for the wheels to be grippy, you are providing the forwards propulsion not the wheels

If self propelled then a bit of grip will help of course, to avoid or reduce wheel spin and aid forwards propulsion.

 

[hairy]

Sorry I was meaning the ones where the wheels turn the blade cylinder, no motor.

 

[D_W]

I wanted a push cylinder mower but most seemed to have wheels that don't look very grippy, so do they still work if the grass is damp?

Yes, they work fine in damp grass. The tires on the "american" types are rubber and the handle is oriented so you're pushing forward and down.

You can mow in the rain with them without any issue, too - there's no under deck getting clogged with chewed up mulched pulp. The only time things get iffy is if you have certain dry grasses that are very fibrous (you can tackle those by taking less than a full width cut if needed.

(american types referring to the company and not the country).

 

[Crazy Dave]

Only cutting the grass when I was able to became problematic as the grass had grown so much it becomes an even more difficult task, even with a battery powered mower I was knackered after just getting it out of the shed so my solution was simple......
I purchased a Flymo robotic mower which after the initial shock of purchase price, I now realize it's the best mower I've ever owned. I've set it to cut the lawn twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday mornings at 8.00am, the lawn is always tidy apart from the 4inch deep jungle along the fence edges which is just a quick strim with a battery powered strimmer, no more weeds trying to get a foothold and the clippings get recycled back to feed the lawn.

My only regret is that I wish I had purchased a mower that cuts to the edge as some do, they have an offset blade assembly so can cut closer to the borders the Flymo has a central blade assembly so leaves fenced off edges untouched.

Easy life by name and it delivers.
The only maintenance required is to clean underneath from time to time and resharpening (on a wet stone) or replacing the blades.
Hope this helps.

 

[hairy]

American Lawn Mowers are available via amazon UK too, not heard of them before.

18" £519 (!) 16" £294, 14" 4 blade £184, 14" 5 blade £124. A wee bit more than in the USA it seems!

Usual UK selection with as far as I can see all plastic wheels are more often about £60 but look a bit rubbish.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/American-L...00004R9UK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8