New Mower - Petrol or Cordless

[8ob]

Flails are great for paddocks etc or knocking off tufts/molehills and generally getting a bit of grass into a mowable condition, overkill for the average back garden size lawn. If we are talking postage stamp size lawn a corded or cordless will probably do, if its a mornings work you are getting into self propelled petrol mower territory.

Bob

 

[slim_boy_fat]

What I've never managed to find out about those is they state a "lawn size" but what happens when it's bigger than that? For example we have 4.5 acres of lawn and none of it is flat, some of it is a gentle slope, some goes to >1in1.

Does the maximum area mean it can't mow more than that (as in it doesn't have the capacity to learn it) or that it can't keep on top of it?

On board battery capacity?

 

[sako243]

Spluge 5 k on the dogs danglies Husquvana and find out….Id suspect your right with “cant keep on top of it” with battery run time

£5k got me the New Holland 1220 I posted above, the front weights (rare find as they were the proper ones), the flail and a far more versatile implement than a robotic mower.

 

[Shox Dr]

Son bought a battery mower, he only has a small garden back and front. It lasted a week. Underpowered and ate batteries.

Just as our mountfield was dying, I found a Einhell powered mower on the side of the road on an outside corner, in the middle of nowhere. Ive had it 10yrs now, and its still going strong.

A place we stopped at for a few days had 2 large automowers, the bloke loved them to bits, nothing stopped them, far from cheap in the thousands. But saved him 3-4hours a week cutting grass

 

[J1nx]

What I've never managed to find out about those is they state a "lawn size" but what happens when it's bigger than that? For example we have 4.5 acres of lawn and none of it is flat, some of it is a gentle slope, some goes to >1in1.

Does the maximum area mean it can't mow more than that (as in it doesn't have the capacity to learn it) or that it can't keep on top of it?

They are for formal lawns only presently, or at least mine is, I have a local guy doing commercial robotics but the price is prohibitive to most. I use ours on one lawn only but I can only get the small tractor on there anyway, the larger tractor with flail would ruin the ‘lawns’, I tend to only use the tractors in the fields or arena.
I leave the loader on mine so no front weight needed but it does hinder manoeuvres.

The robot will mow more than stated but I guess the rating allows sensible duty time. Mine only needs a hour or so a day and it charges reasonably quickly. The battery lasts for a couple hours at a time if I manually send it out so I’d guess 4 mows a day are possible if you wanted to run it flat out.
Mines rated for 1000M2 but I’d guess it could do 50% extra or just add another would probably be a better bet.

Edit: If your really interested in a robot for your 4+ acres of rough-ish ground, this is the guy to talk to.. https://irusmowers.co.uk/

 

[sako243]

They are for formal lawns only presently, or at least mine is, I have a local guy doing commercial robotics but the price is prohibitive to most. I use ours on one lawn only but I can only get the small tractor on there anyway, the larger tractor with flail would ruin the ‘lawns’, I tend to only use the tractors in the fields or arena.
I leave the loader on mine so no front weight needed but it does hinder manoeuvres.

The robot will mow more than stated but I guess the rating allows sensible duty time. Mine only needs a hour or so a day and it charges reasonably quickly. The battery lasts for a couple hours at a time if I manually send it out so I’d guess 4 mows a day are possible if you wanted to run it flat out.
Mines rated for 1000M2 but I’d guess it could do 50% extra or just add another would probably be a better bet.

Edit: If your really interested in a robot for your 4+ acres of rough-ish ground, this is the guy to talk to.. https://irusmowers.co.uk/

Define "formal" lawns - do you mean manicured? It's not quite that stage but given it's three lawns surrounding a Victorian mansion I'd probably put them into the "formal" category. There's not much top-soil and previous owners have let maintenance slip to a certain extent.

I wouldn't define the 1220 as large - it's a bit longer than the John Deere ride-on it replaced but is the same width more or less (4ft). The only times it damages the lawn is if I'm rushing / not paying attention or haven't adjusted the flail correctly so the skids dig in. It actually makes less of a mess than the ride-on did because the rear tyres are 4x the size (certainly double the width) so despite being a double the weight it's got far less ground pressure and being 4WD doesn't skid as much on the slopes.

I'm not particularly interested in a remote control bank mower - I know they exist. The only thing that would benefit me really is an autonomous mower as it could go out mowing more regularly than I could. Although having said that cutting 4ft in a pass at a reasonable pace it only takes about 2-3h to mow all the 4.5 acres. The biggest downside is when the grass is damp (always a possibility in Wales) where the front and rear wheels pass over the grass doesn't have quite enough time to spring back up before the flail hits it. If it's been mown regularly or it's dry then it's not an issue. Usually only an issue in the spring for the first month or so with the long growth and damper conditions.

 

[ukracer]

it depends on your garden size

for speed of cut and get on with other things its petrol, for a small garden id stick to a hover mower pull out and plug it in

hover mower with a metal blade conversion then its rake up the grass. im not a lover of the hover and its grass collection

i have one and i hate the thing so dont use it

I have a ryobi with the old style battery.
It's perfect for what I need now.
Although it's uesrs old and left out in the rain it still cuts year after year.
I do have a petrol but it's not been out last year or this year yet.

 

[Agrismith]

Define "formal" lawns - do you mean manicured? It's not quite that stage but given it's three lawns surrounding a Victorian mansion I'd probably put them into the "formal" category. There's not much top-soil and previous owners have let maintenance slip to a certain extent.

I wouldn't define the 1220 as large - it's a bit longer than the John Deere ride-on it replaced but is the same width more or less (4ft). The only times it damages the lawn is if I'm rushing / not paying attention or haven't adjusted the flail correctly so the skids dig in. It actually makes less of a mess than the ride-on did because the rear tyres are 4x the size (certainly double the width) so despite being a double the weight it's got far less ground pressure and being 4WD doesn't skid as much on the slopes.
I'm not particularly interested in a remote control bank mower - I know they exist. The only thing that would benefit me really is an autonomous mower as it could go out mowing more regularly than I could. Although having said that cutting 4ft in a pass at a reasonable pace it only takes about 2-3h to mow all the 4.5 acres. The biggest downside is when the grass is damp (always a possibility in Wales) where the front and rear wheels pass over the grass doesn't have quite enough time to spring back up before the flail hits it. If it's been mown regularly or it's dry then it's not an issue. Usually only an issue in the spring for the first month or so with the long growth and damper conditions.

But the robotic mowers keep you dry. I use to get sent photos from a friend mowing in the chucking rain sat in the pickup. Lot of money but definitely a good toy especially the ones that have a 3 point linkage and pro so essentially a tracked tractor

 

[daedalusminos]

What I've never managed to find out about those is they state a "lawn size" but what happens when it's bigger than that? For example we have 4.5 acres of lawn and none of it is flat, some of it is a gentle slope, some goes to >1in1.

The Flymo s are sold in 200, 350, 500 and 800m² cutting areas. The actual mower hardware is identical, the main difference other than number of stakes and boundary wire is firmware, the smaller the area, the Les time the mower is allowed to work per day.

With the Flymo there is no learning, it just randomly moves over the lawn

 

[Blobber]

Do the robotic mowers stop and pick up the doggie poopers you missed or do they just splatter it about?

 

[Smouser]

I have got the dual battery Makita battery mower.

It works fine for my very small lawn but it is not nearly as powerful as a petrol mower.
As most of my cordless tools are Makita, I always have charged batteries to hand.

I would only recommend it for light-duty/small lawns.

 

[Shox Dr]

Do the robotic mowers stop and pick up the doggie poopers you missed or do they just splatter it about?

Blather it everywhere. The bloke I spoke to had two Rotties. He picked most up, the rest was on the mowers

 

[Smouser]

Blather it everywhere. The bloke I spoke to had to Rotties. He picked most up, the rest was on the mowers

Lawnmower and fertilizer spreader in one!

 

[J1nx]

Define "formal" lawns - do you mean manicured? It's not quite that stage but given it's three lawns surrounding a Victorian mansion I'd probably put them into the "formal" category. There's not much top-soil and previous owners have let maintenance slip to a certain extent.

I wouldn't define the 1220 as large - it's a bit longer than the John Deere ride-on it replaced but is the same width more or less (4ft). The only times it damages the lawn is if I'm rushing / not paying attention or haven't adjusted the flail correctly so the skids dig in. It actually makes less of a mess than the ride-on did because the rear tyres are 4x the size (certainly double the width) so despite being a double the weight it's got far less ground pressure and being 4WD doesn't skid as much on the slopes.

I'm not particularly interested in a remote control bank mower - I know they exist. The only thing that would benefit me really is an autonomous mower as it could go out mowing more regularly than I could. Although having said that cutting 4ft in a pass at a reasonable pace it only takes about 2-3h to mow all the 4.5 acres. The biggest downside is when the grass is damp (always a possibility in Wales) where the front and rear wheels pass over the grass doesn't have quite enough time to spring back up before the flail hits it. If it's been mown regularly or it's dry then it's not an issue. Usually only an issue in the spring for the first month or so with the long growth and damper conditions.

To be honest Ed, you sound like a quite unique situation, very large domestic but too small for real agriculture gear to be practical. It sounds to me you have thought it through and have a decent setup as is, it’s what those garden tractors were designed for

For the OP I’d still suggest at least investigating a robotic mower, if the lawn is a ‘normal’ flat-ish domestic/sub-urban lawn, sub 2000M2 then they have a place, obviously, due to all the new models coming out.
If I really stick to the OPs question then I personally would opt for a battery mower, over a similar petrol.

 

[Erie Fred]

Define "formal" lawns - do you mean manicured? It's not quite that stage but given it's three lawns surrounding a Victorian mansion I'd probably put them into the "formal" category. There's not much top-soil and previous owners have let maintenance slip to a certain extent.

WZ1000 Commercial Zero Turn Mower | Wide Area Mower | Lastec Mowers

Built in the USA, the WZ1000 commercial zero turn mower is the world’s largest zero turn mower with a massive 120" cutting width, five 25” flex decks for superior cut quality, and zero turn maneuverability.

www.lastec.com

 

[sako243]

WZ1000 Commercial Zero Turn Mower | Wide Area Mower | Lastec Mowers

Built in the USA, the WZ1000 commercial zero turn mower is the world’s largest zero turn mower with a massive 120" cutting width, five 25” flex decks for superior cut quality, and zero turn maneuverability.

www.lastec.com

That's a mower not a formal lawn...

 

[MikeBs]

Had a Loncin engine on something else, was a brute to start. Rope eventually broke so took it off and there was a stud holding the rest of the assembly behind it. Just get a socket to fit and spin it round, just remember to spin the right way. Simples really don't know why you would want to keep the rope pull as well

Once its warm, it’s an easy start, but I don’t have the arm I had when younger to start a cold engine.
Hence I wanted to keep the pull start so I didn’t need to carry the drill all the time.
I cut an old 1/4” drive socket in half and welded the drive part to the starting shaft.
Then cut a 12mm hole through the rope pull so I could get a 1/4” extension to attach to the welded socket end.
I put the bits you use to put a lamp cord on a pottery vase, through the rope pull, so that it pivoted on that. I ground the threads off on the section that it ran on to give it a smooth section to turn around.
I ordered a straight ratchet thing and welded it to the 1/4” extension and can now use this with a drill to start the mower.
The straight ratchet part is so when the engine starts, it doesn’t rip the drill out of my hand. I just pull the whole thing out and start mowing.

 

[addjunkie]

Define "formal" lawns - do you mean manicured? It's not quite that stage but given it's three lawns surrounding a Victorian mansion I'd probably put them into the "formal" category. There's not much top-soil and previous owners have let maintenance slip to a certain extent.

I wouldn't define the 1220 as large - it's a bit longer than the John Deere ride-on it replaced but is the same width more or less (4ft). The only times it damages the lawn is if I'm rushing / not paying attention or haven't adjusted the flail correctly so the skids dig in. It actually makes less of a mess than the ride-on did because the rear tyres are 4x the size (certainly double the width) so despite being a double the weight it's got far less ground pressure and being 4WD doesn't skid as much on the slopes.

I'm not particularly interested in a remote control bank mower - I know they exist. The only thing that would benefit me really is an autonomous mower as it could go out mowing more regularly than I could. Although having said that cutting 4ft in a pass at a reasonable pace it only takes about 2-3h to mow all the 4.5 acres. The biggest downside is when the grass is damp (always a possibility in Wales) where the front and rear wheels pass over the grass doesn't have quite enough time to spring back up before the flail hits it. If it's been mown regularly or it's dry then it's not an issue. Usually only an issue in the spring for the first month or so with the long growth and damper conditions.

You need a new tractor with a front pto, then itll get cut before the tyres flatten it…only joking..once your grass improves with regular cutting again, bit of harrowing, rolling etc. Buy a finishing mower for the back end, or an old gang mower. Place near us, started with a tractor and flails etc hes now cutting it after a few years with a suzuki jimny and a gang mower on the back….looks grand, its about 15 acre. His horses live in a stable, and only graze about an acre paddock at the side.

Ive flail for the tractor and quad, tractor gives a far better cut with hammer flails, but the quad one does far less damage if grounds damp, which a fair bit of mine is, jury’s still out on the benefits of the y flails.

Cutting fields doesnt bother me, its gardening does my head in. But the cost of two quality auto mowers will pay a man to do it as a business expense a fair bit, when Im past doing it myself.

 

[skotl]

For anything other than a small garden I'd definitely go petrol

Bought a Husqvarna with a Honda engine seven years ago and it's been flawless: https://www.lawnmowersdirect.co.uk/product/husqvarna-lc153v-petrol-lawnmower/

 

[Erie Fred]

That's a mower not a formal lawn...

Website says they are used on many golf courses.....Can be equipped with baggers as well.

VAROOM VAROOM !