Which petrol mower?

fox2319

I borrowed one of these a couple of weeks back and it tackled 3 weeks growth in our garden in around 30 mins! I'm looking into buying a petrol lawnmower but was wanting to know the best one I could get for not a lot money.

I've seen a couple in Argos at £100 and £110. Both are McCulloch but the cheaper one is rotary, the more expensive is a cylinder. Anybody got any advice on which would be better or what to look for elsewhere?

Thanks

Jeff

Pretani

always compare argos products with other stores in the imediate area. They are prone to set certain products higher than local competators, while being cheaper at other things.

misgrace

If you can afford it, go for a Honda petrol, they are the best of the lot.

We did always use mountfield, then our old one conked out,after approx 10 years, so we bought another Mountfield at B&Q on special offer.

It was a nightmare, took it the place to get fix, as your not supposed to take them back to the shop, but they have places where you take it to get repaid, free with the warrenty.

The man at the repair shop, said he had loads of them coming through from B&Q, and they were inferior, so we took it back to B&Q, they didnt bat an eye, as they have loads returned.
It seems that this batch was made in foreign places, and they were karp.:rolleyes:

When we priced up the Honda, they were quite expensive, but guy at repair shop said they were the best.

We got ours for the best price at 'Screwfix', and it was the self propelled one, and even I can use it, and I'm only little.:D

McCullock is a decent make, and personally I would pay extra for the self propelled, but shop around, and there should be discount days coming from B&Q there usually is around this time, lol and they sell McCullock.
Even if you bought homebases own make, or focus, they are fairly cheap now, with a warranty, its well worth it.

But look at the Hondas.:D

Once you have used a petrol mower, you will never go back to electric.

philgee

I have a MTD/Lawflite. Bought it at the county show 3 years ago - managed to negotiate a substantial discount I can wholly recommend it as a make, plus there's a dealer near me for servicing and spares and very obliging and reasonable when it comes to blade sharpening.

Can't comment on other makes as never owned another petrol mower, but McCulloch is owned by Electrolux (IIRC).

I also own a very old push cylinder mower which I use on my front lawn.

It depends on what sort of lawn you have as to whether to buy a cylinder or rotary. If you have a very level lawn with fine grasses then go cylinder, otherwise go rotary.

Inactive

misgrace wrote: »

If you can afford it, go for a Honda petrol, they are the best of the lot.
.

Indeed, money well spent, not the cheapest, but certainly the best.;)

dld2s

As has been said, anything with a Honda engine, I used to work in the grounds part of my employers and we always had the least amount of trouble with mowers with a honda engine, nearly forgot to add, we still use mowers with Honda engines

Ebe_Scrooge

Agreed, Honda engines have a very good reputation. Mine was a B&Q own-branded model, but it had a Briggs & Stratton engine. I can't fault it - every spring, after being stored in a damp garage, it starts first time. I do look after it though - before putting it away for the winter, give it a good clean, empty out the petrol, change the oil, fill the cylinder bore with oil and spray the whole thing liberally with WD40. Sound a faff, but it's only 1/2 an hour's work once a year, and as I said it always starts first time.

In general, rotary mowers will be better for long grass and rough or uneven laws - i.e. your average lawn that has kids playing on it. Cylinder mowers will give a far better finish, but if your lawn is at all uneven you'll end up scalping the tops off all the bumps. So for your average family lawn, a rotary is better.

It's also worth paying a bit extra for one that is self-propelled ( I don't mean a ride-on tractor machine, just a normal push-along one that has powered wheels ). Any petrol mower is going to be fairly heavy compared to an electric, and you'll find a powered one a lot easier to use.

Having said all that, petrol is the way to go for anything bigger than a handkerchief sized lawn, I would never use an electric one again. No wires to worry about, and it'll cope with long grass easily.

flang

Briggs and Stratton engines seem to be good value for money.
We have had one for years and its still going strong.

fox2319

Ta for all the replies. It looks like I'll be getting a rotary as our 'lawn' (front garden) is not exactly even and has got some bumps where we took a kids playframe and around 40 Leylandii (or however you spell them) out. I'll hold on for a few weeks and see what I can get in the sale with either a Honda or B&S engine. Presumably it's best to go for one with an aluminium / steel deck.

Does this one look ok?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7070655/c_1/1|category_root|Garden+and+DIY|10198728/c_2/2|cat_10198728|Lawnmowers|10198943/c_3/3|cat_10198943|Petrol+mowers|10198951.htm

It's a flymo but has a B&S engine and costs £120

Bigbaldgit

Go for it. The Argos one looks good to me.

I have one similar which is about 7 years old. It's a Flymo rotary. I was disappointed when I got it home (from Argos) becuase the engine was made by "Tecumseh" and I thought it would be cheap and nasty but I've been proven wrong - it's an great engine.

8 years one it always starts on the 3rd pull and is very simple to use. I sharpen the blade each spring with a file and away we go. I've only changed the oil once (year 6) although I don't recommend being this lax.

The one you show looks like the height of cut is easily adjustable and this is a big plus, mine is a real fiddle and I have to take the wheels off to raise or lower them.

Briggs and Stratton are good engines.

One thing to bear in mind is that in a few weeks Summer will be officially over and places like Argos will be desperate to shift this stock. I bought mine around Sept/Oct years ago for £65 and it was money very well spent.

Good luck

fox2319

Last one (promise). I've seen a Sovereign at Homebase with a Briggs and Stratton engine. Cost is £125 but they've currently got a 10% discount on everything.

Any opinions? Here's a link (hopefully)

http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=20001&partNumber=182005&c_3=3|cat_10482735|Petrol+mowers|10482742&c_2=2|cat_10308073|Lawnmowers|10482735&c_1=1|category_root|Gardening|10308073