New Lawnmower?

[mike]

elderly but quite fit stepparent's cheap 3 year old battery powered lawnmower has died and he's looking for a suggestion for something that'll 'see him out'.  It's a big lawn (70x25m?), with some quite wet bits and some quite slopey bits and it's a steep gravel path to get to and from the shed.

I was thinking a wide (50cm+) self propelled petrol with key start, no roller, that could mulch *or* collect the grass.

Any suggestions for manufacturers to be looking at or definitely be avoiding? 

[Little Jim]

Depends on how rich he is (or how rich his Step Son is!) and how long he thinks he's got left grass cutting.  I have got a Honda mower that came with the house, so it is at least 20 years old as that is when we moved in and it was certainly not new then.  It still starts first pull every time and has the minimal possible maintenance.  I am pretty sure that Honda now do key start ones.  But they are certainly not cheap to buy.

[Regulator]

I'd recommend a trip down the A10 to Wrights Mower Centre.

You can then have a slice of pizza and a coffee at Hot Numbers afterwards as a reward. 

[Legs]

A pair of LawnMaster L12s?  We got one last summer and it's brilliant.

[mike]

I'd recommend a trip down the A10 to Wrights Mower Centre.

You can then have a slice of pizza and a coffee at Hot Numbers afterwards as a reward. 

good shout, did exactly that this morning and got a deal on a 'weibang' mower! (yes, partly because the name makes me chuckle)   Very good sausage sandwich @ hot numbers too.

@legs - they look fantastic but might attract attention from people passing by on the footpath behind the house...

[citoyen]

I’m also in the market for a new mower - after years of putting up with our crappy Flymo, I’ve had enough. Similar needs: garden has slopes and bumpy patches, and is quite big. Also gets a bit boggy in places in winter.

I’d love to get a robot mower but probably a bit too spendy. I don’t mind doing the lawn myself, just want something to make the job a bit less of a painful chore.

Any recommendations welcome.

Wrights would be a bit of a trek for us but there’s a decent looking mower specialist just the other side of Canterbury ( https://www.stuartjdaws.com/index.html ) so I think we’ll be paying them a visit.

They stock Weibang. Is this a particularly good make then? Never heard of them before.

They also do second hand so maybe they’ll have some good deals.

[mike]

Apparently they use the same motors as Hayter, feel quite well built, have variable speed which I thought made sense as aged parent gets older.  Also grey, not red or orange which most of them seem to be.

[citoyen]

Apparently they use the same motors as Hayter, feel quite well built, have variable speed which I thought made sense as aged parent gets older.  Also grey, not red or orange which most of them seem to be.

If we go down the self-propelled route, variable speed definitely sounds like a good idea for our garden, which has lots of tricky bits to navigate and tight corners.

Out of interest, what was the Weibang model you got? Have you used it yet?

Looking at the aforementioned local mower place, even the most basic variable speed Weibang model they stock, the Virtue 46SVP (at £500) is 2.7kw, 46cm blade and 55L clippings bag, compared to our Flymo's 1.8kw, 36cm and 26L.

I really haven't appreciated until now quite how crap our Flymo is! (Well, it's probably fine for a small garden with a flat, square lawn but really not up to the job for our garden. £500 feels like a lot to spend on a mower but it seems to be a reasonable ball park figure for something that will be capable of taking the pain out the job.)

[citoyen]

Just been looking at an EGO mower as well - battery power might make more sense long term than a petrol mower.

The one I'm looking at has "Bright LED headlamps for mowing at a time that suits you".

Yeah, think I'll give that one a miss, thanks. The temptation to mow the lawn after getting home late from the pub would be too much... guaranteed to end in tears.

[mike]

Out of interest, what was the Weibang model you got? Have you used it yet?

the 50 SVP.  Not used it yet, will deliver it this weekend and give it a go then, if it ever stops raining..