FTAO (Land Rover) Tim

[mik]

Current (mains) mower and strimmer (in particular) are dogshit.

I need far more capable (petrol I believe) items. Home use every few weeks so pro tool's not required or worth it.

Several grass areas, one about 1.5x the size of a tennis court, others smaller with some trees to cut around. Some other grass areas that dont have loverly manicured lawns and are on slopes - will be roughly cut with a strimmer so dog eggs dont disappear and reappear on my shoes laterz.

1. Fancy self-propelled if I am going petrol. Think a Hyundai HMY460SP might be a fair balance of size and manouverability?
2. £90 cow horn strimmer false economy?
3. Best time to buy? Wait til winter really hits? Good sellerz?

[Orange Cola]

Mountfield do some decent self propelled mowers with a large grass box. Either that or ye olde faithful Honda Izzy.

Which reminds me, thread incoming on a separate topic.

[Mito Man]

Honda mower, stihl everything else.

[IanF]

Honda mower, stihl everything else.

Dammit, that’s what I’ve got... guess I’ve diw!

[Jobbo]

I assume the £90 strimmer is some sort or bargain 2-stroke. I bought one to attack overgrown areas when we moved here in 2007, used it once until I had vibration white finger then just used the Honda Izy on everything. Binned the strimmer this year because I couldn’t face using it again.

Hyundai sounds like a slightly cheaper Izy. Get the original in a winter sale for 25-30% off.

[dinny_g]

I know the forum convention is a Honda Mower but consider a Toro - mine’s 15 years old and still going strong.

Even lost a small part of the front axel and was sent a complete front wheels assembly for free from Toro in the States. Great customer service 14 years after purchase

For everything else, have a Landscape gardener mate and borrow his kit...

[evostick]

Current (mains) mower and strimmer (in particular) are dogshit.

I need far more capable (petrol I believe) items. Home use every few weeks so pro tool's not required or worth it.

Several grass areas, one about 1.5x the size of a tennis court, others smaller with some trees to cut around. Some other grass areas that dont have loverly manicured lawns and are on slopes - will be roughly cut with a strimmer so dog eggs dont disappear and reappear on my shoes laterz.

1. Fancy self-propelled if I am going petrol. Think a Hyundai HMY460SP might be a fair balance of size and manouverability?
2. £90 cow horn strimmer false economy?
3. Best time to buy? Wait til winter really hits? Good sellerz?

The hyundai is too small and too weak. I'd say minimum 46cm (18inches) or 21 inch as you've a fair amount to grass to cut. A decent mower is going to cost you more but you'll only have to buy it once. Unless some scrote nicks it of course. Battery mowers are still not quite up to it.

I don't really know much about cheap kit. Hondas own stuff remains faultless AFAIK. Weibang get very good reviews (might be a bit pricey) and I know Masport do good kit at the cheaper end... but, if I was buying a mower for domestic use I'd go to my local garden machinery dealer and let them sell me something. Then when it brakes you can just wheel it back into the showroom, covered in dog eggs and grass, and they have to make it work again.

Cheap strimmers are fucking horrible to use and unfixable when broken. Stihl, Husqvarna, Danarm, Tanaka all good. I've never broken a decent strimmer. They go on for ever.

Winter's a great time to buy used kit on ebay but it's a bit of a minefield. You're looking for the pride and joy of some old cunt who's been shipped off to a home and had his garage ransacked by his thieving relatives who don't know that his honda pro roller (which he's had serviced every year) cost a grand and a half. There's a few about.

Dealers will normally match online prices.

[Simon]

My parents have the top end self powered Mountfield with the Honda engine. It's been rock solid and deals with their garden gradient well.

[Rich B]

Self propelled is a must imo - it’s a piece of cake just trotting along behind it. The biggest issue I have with a big lawn is stopping to empty the grass every couple of lengths - but I’m lazy and leave it too long between mows.

[NotoriousREV]

Self propelled is a must imo - it’s a piece of cake just trotting along behind it. The biggest issue I have with a big lawn is stopping to empty the grass every couple of lengths - but I’m lazy and leave it too long between mows.

Same. I’ve got a 10 year old Mountfield with a Briggs & Stratton motor. I’ve never even checked the oil level. The electric start stopped working about 5 years ago but it always starts first pull. I had to replace the handle after it snapped earlier this year, otherwise it’s spot on. I should probably sharpen the blade at some point.

[Mito Man]

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.

[Ascender]

Honda engine FTW. The one here is about 18 years old now and still going strong.

[Jobbo]

I happened to use a £40 Aldi electric lawnmower recently - it was not very good at sucking the grass up to cut it, didn't cut it very short even on its lowest setting and the direct access through the rear hatch to the blade which takes a while to spin down was disconcerting. It didn't pack the grass clippings well into the collection box and the box kept coming off too.

Made me very happy with the Izy. It just works.

[mik]

Christmas update - just picked up a used Mountfield SP470 for £50 off gumtree.

Self-propelled 47cm cut, Briggs & Stratton engine of course, aluminium body/bed (?) Seems to run OK. Job jobbed (hopefully).

It won’t be used til next season - burn off the existing fuel and refil it with fresh soup in a few months?

Library image:

[Simon]

Library image:

I hate to be that guy, but I'm fairly sure that's not an image of a library.

[NotoriousREV]

Christmas update - just picked up a used Mountfield SP470 for £50 off gumtree.

Self-propelled 47cm cut, Briggs & Stratton engine of course, aluminium body/bed (?) Seems to run OK. Job jobbed (hopefully).

It won’t be used til next season - burn off the existing fuel and refil it with fresh soup in a few months?

Library image:

That’s exactly what I have. It does the job for me, although I lost a wheel trim a while back (probably whilst escaping from Paul Newman through the streets of SAN Francisco).

[mik]

That’s exactly what I have.

We’re identical mower twins!

[NotoriousREV]

Give the nubbin 5 pumps and it’ll fire up at the first pull

[scotta]

My mower has a briggs and stratton engine. I bought a gasket kit for the carb as it was a non runner when i aquired it for free from my cousin. Ive adjusted the carb return spring so that it now revs like a bastard if you want it to

[mik]

Rev's like a bastard? You cant say that about my identical mower twin....

I need to check the oil level and the air filterer etc.