Petrol or electric lawnmower?

ih8stress

Looking to get a new lawnmower this weekend.

Have seen this petrol one at B&Q (https://www.diy.com):

EAN: 0000005205363 for £79.98

or this electric one at Argos (https://www.argos.co.uk):

Item No: 730/3999 for £89.99


Never had a petrol one before but the reviews on it look very good. My one concern would be ease of use from a female perspective so any advice would be appreciated:) (especially from any females who have this one or similar).

thanks:)

olly300

The question can only really be answered by how big your garden is. If you got a big garden get a petrol one if you have a small one get an electric one.

mambury

We have a large garden so a petrol is the only choice for us. Ours is self propelled to make it much easier to use.... even without the self propelled bit its not too bad.... bit of a [EMAIL="bu@@er"]bu@@er[/EMAIL] up hil though.

Go to the garden centre / lawnmower place and ask to push them round a bit to see how it feels and then decide!

LJM

we have a petrol mower and much prefer it to electric

ukbill69

Petrol all the time, its easier to push and cuts anything and will last years.

Waterlily24

Petrol for us too.

ukjoel

We have a petrol which we use for our garden which is about 150 ft at the back and 30 ft at the front.
However over the years with putting in ponds, beds, raised beds, paths etc as well as kids trampolines, swings, slides its become more of an assault course than a pleasure to mow with the mountfield.

I wouldnt go back to electric cable though as its a nightmare to get to the far end and just annoying.

However at the boot sale this morning I was lucky enough to pick up the battery powered version of the electric one you listed for £30 with a spare battery as well so handed my money over and took the plunge. Will let you know how it runs but previous research suggest a real run time of about 30 minutes with a fully charged battery.

Other benefit is the wife can use it as its so much lighter than the petrol which should reduce the amount of moaning I get about the grass.

I have been considering a battery powered one for a couple of years but the high price and short life put me off.
They have now come down to about £100

mcgrow

Electric or battery will be cheaper to run, especially down the line, when petrol prices get steeper and steeper; but, as others have said, if an electric outlet is too far away and the property is vast, then petrol might be the better option.

ih8stress

Thank you to everyone for their comments so far :T(what a friendly forum - I'm not a 'gardener' so haven't ventured on here yet).

My garden is probably about 30ft long (hopeless at guessing sizes) and I use an extension cable with my present (flymo hover - never again!) mower.

Still umming and aahhing ....................... will keep you posted, thanks.:)

jcr16

we have both. our petrol is a very expensive good quality one, with a roller on the back to give perfect lines etc . it is self propelled. and cuts amazing. but i can't use it. even on hare setting it is far to powerful and heavy for me , i really struggle. i find it hard even pulling the start up cable thingy as my arm not long enough it seems or strong enough to give it a good enough yank to start it .hubby uses it fine., and hates the electric one.

i uses our little light weight electric one. yes it is awkward as we have a huge garden and i need a 50m extention lead. but it is a dream to use. and seeing as i'm the one who cuts the grass 99 % of time i'm so grateful we have it. it was just a cheap £80 one from argos about 4 years ago.

it all depends on your circumstances. hubby works full time and no way do i want him coming home from work and spending 2 hours cutting our lawn. me , a stay at home mummy, can do it through the day as i have the time. so for me the electric one is so much better.

morg_monster

with 30ft i wouldn't bother with a petrol one. We have a hover type one (but not a flymo) which we got off ebay for £8 for our 100ft garden (but probably only 2/3 of that is grass and its only about 4m wide). Its so nice and light and only takes about 10 mins to do the lawn. I would just think that with 30ft, the number of times you would have to turn it around to get the lawn done, it would be such a pain with the greater weight.