Lawnmowers

Slowly said:

It's the sportsmower version, lightweight, smaller engine, Rollers tend to be heavier, more luxurious and waft imperiously about the lawn, this nips about at higher revs.

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Slowly said:

Well, eagerly awaited update to the Sportsmower.com thread.

The Toolstation 40V arrived - smaller, lighter, less robust-feeling than the self-propelled Honda petrol one and smaller capacity collector thingy but Li batteries charged rapidly and it (just) cut all the grass on one battery - though there was the spare battery should it have been required. I doubt it has the power to act as a shredder / vacuum like the Honda did if your O.H. prunes bushes, pulls up weeds etc and dumps them on the lawn just after you've mown it - a strange female behaviour which warrants an entry in the rant thread but that's another matter.
(Mower) easy to push about, quiet, and, a big advantage if your shed is slowly filling with all those things which gravitate there, can be hung up as it doesn't contain petrol and oil. Also smugly satisfyingly green both in colour and emissions - though I'm not going as far as to wear sandals whilst mowing and I've not had a beard for more than 20 years, I can use it to offset the um, 400+gm of CO2 from the GS.

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cheshiremaserati said:

Havent gone through all the pages, but I did some research last year and happy to share. I have always been keen on cylinder mowers. I own both a cylinder and a Flymo. Both since the 1980's. The Flymo is used when the grass is too long (example after a holiday or being lazy and not cutting it in time in summer). It doesnt pick up the grass. But its effortless and makes a quick cut.

I am now on my second cylinder mower - petrol, with self propelled. I have stuck to Qualcast Suffolk 14" and 16" cut. The roller give a great striped lawn and has variable height adjustment for the depth of cut.

Start of spring I scarify the lawn with an electric lawnraker to get rid of dead grass and moss etc. It then gets put away for the rest of the year until the following April.

Last eyar my old Suffolk Punch had seen me spend £100 on repairs to fix the pawl mechanism on the starter pull cord. I then decided to change it and spoke to the Garden Centre to keep an eye out for a used part-ex Qualcast cylinder mower. In a fortnight a customer traded in his cylinder mower, they serviced it, sharpened the blades, serviced the engine changed the oil and set it all up for the cold start and clutch adjustment for the self propelling mechanism and put a 6 month warranty on it and asked for £270 for it versus a new one at £700+.

After haggling I paid £240 (they gave me nothing for my trade-in saying it would go to a local market and will fetch at best £10 which hardly covers their transport costs and seller's fee.

So my suggestion is to contact a few garden centres on a similar basis and get one that has been traded in and serviced and save £££'s over the cost of a new one. Buying a £5 off eBay is a risk - there is usually a reason why its bing sold for that amount despite claims of "cuts grass great".

Qualcast Suffolk is good and I recommend a cylinder mower every time - it cuts much like a pair of scissors and no rotary mower (petrol or electric) can ever get down to the level of cut that a cylinder mower can give. Self propelling is really useful and not having any electrical cables is total freedom from electrical risks if you cut the cable by mistake by running the mower over it - more common than you think!

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