lawnmower advice

Hello,

I bought a Bosch electric lawnmower around 2001-2002. It has an induction motor, so it's fairly quiet. I have only had to change the capacitor once. I have two grumbles with it: if the grass is slightly wet, it doesn't go into the collection basket very well. Perhaps this is a problem with all mowers? My other grumble is no matter which direction I go in, I always seem to get the cable in the way.

Tonight I got the wire caught on something and the mower has stopped working. I think the switch may have been pulled out of position. I will have a proper look when I have more time, but it has made me wonder whether it is time to look to upgrade.

My lawn is roughly 12m by 5.5m because at the moment it is all grass. I hope in time, there will be a smaller lawn, a greenhouse, raised beds, etc. but it is finding the time and the weather to do all that.

What do you think I should go with? No doubt electric is the cheapest to buy but what about that cable getting in he way! What is the trick with that? Could I consider a petrol model or isn't the lawn big enough for one of those? I'm thinking there would be no pesky cable then. I know there are rechargeable electric ones but I'm guessing they are expensive and presumably the batteries do not last forever?#

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen
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In a similar situation, I bought a second-hand petrol mower for about £30 at a car boot sale. Works a treat.

Reply to
Roger Mills

Try this:

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Reply to
Robert Harvey

In my previous house I had a petrol which I bought so I could use in the rain (fear of electrics) I did have an electric prior to that and found a pattern of cutting that eliminated getting the cable caught.

new house with small wall so had to lift the petrol mower over it, so back to electric, cheap lighweight with plastic blades , fekcin useless, metal blades I should have got.

My preference would be a cylinder push mower but it only takes a stone or two and the setting can be ruined. Only downside is if the grass gets too long but with regular cutting I enjoy using them.

Reply to
ss

I've got a Bosch battery mower and it is pretty excellent (with 2 batteries, one charging, the other in the mower). Powerful, grass does pick up pretty well into the box even when damp and light and no cables.

Reply to
Tim Watts

A more powerful petrol machine will do better at that, but there are limits. Don't forget that, thanks to cell phones and hybrid autos, batteries have gotten vastly better, so you may well find a cordless electric machine (make sure it has li-ion or something like it) that will suit your needs. If you're moderately handy, a used petrol one may serve, though they do need more care.

Reply to
Gary Woods

The big issue i have had with electric lawn mowers apart from mowing cables, is torque. These induction motors do not have a lot and hence when grass is wet they slow down and the grass then gums up the wrks big time.

I now employ a gardener with a petrol mower and strimmer and everything is fine. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

If you really want to use electric, put the cable over your shoulder and work away from the side where its layer down.

However as has been ssaid, uch like corded hedge trimmers the cable ends up getting shorter and shorter after every accident! Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

On 04 May 2016, Stephen grunted:

[...]

OK, you asked! Here's a bird's eye view of a hypothetical rectangular lawn which takes 6 swathes with the electric mower to cut, as indicated by the dashed rows. The mains socket or source of power is at the top left of the diagram.

Start mowing by the socket (*) and head down the first swathe dragging the cable behind you. At the end of the swathe, turn the mower anticlockwise by 180 degrees, and return up the lawn down the second swathe. You will be pushing the mower parallel to the cable which you've left lying down swathe 1, and which you're now also dragging directly behind you up swathe 2.

When you get to the top of swathe 2, you then turn CLOCKWISE by 180 degrees, and set off down swathe 3, etc etc.

The key to not tangling with the cable is always to cut *away* from the plug socket, and always to turn the mower in the correct direction!

Mains Socket [X] __________________________________ | (*)| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |__________________________________|

Reply to
Lobster

I got a hand push mower a few years ago, and it is easily the best mower I've had. Much easier than I thought it would be, and it's dead easy to get out and put away afterwards. Have to keep the blades oiled, though, otherwise it screeches a bit, which I find embarassing :-)

Reply to
Dan S. MacAbre

For my lawn (20m x 4m) I went with cheap petrol model a dozen years ago

- I wish I had done it a lot sooner.

Cuts long wet grass with ease. No more trailing cables. About 3x faster than with a previous hover mower

I do the edges with a rechargeable strimmer which does around

25m of edges in my garden after which the strimmer gets slower as the battery discharges and becomes less efficient. I suspect a battery in a lawnmower would be the same so maybe OK if the grass is kept short and dry but possibly not to good on longer damp grass.
Reply to
alan_m

Electric is cheap & light and requires little & simple servicing, but performance is invariably crappy, and there's always the damn cable. One noticeable upside is that their lightness means they can be used like giant strimmers on overgrown areas.

Never get one with plastic blades. Utterly useless. From only brief experience with them:

1) their main value is comedy 2) some brands of replacement blade fall off every minute, some don't 3) it's possible to make metal blades to fit

that's life

Whatever you get it may as well be used. A new mower has little advantage generally.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

..apart from not being utterly knackered.

Old petrol mowers may be hard to start, require significant maintenance and considerable sums spent to bring them up to the mark. Or may not.

YMMV

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Exactly how I do mine and it works flawlessly.

In addition I loop the cable over my shoulder from the front, behind my neck, over the other shoulder and down to the mower. Machine is a second hand 1970s flymo in blue and white livery with a direct drive brush motor. It has needed a little TLC over the years but on the odd occasions I purchase spares, the dealer says hang on to that machine, they don't make them like that any more and they are right.

I start in the corner furthest away from the shed in which it lives and end up with it outside the shed and the cable diagonally across the cut grass ready to unplug and coil up.

Reply to
Bob Minchin

I bought a S/H Honda mower about 18 years ago - but it was from a dealer, so was in decent nick, and was one of their decent models (plastic deck, stronger than their cheaper metal ones). The 300 quid price tag even S/H would probably put a lot of people off though. Still going strong - it's been a good investment.

Reply to
Clive George

+1 for plastic deck.

Bought a Qualcast rotary petrol mower about 25 years ago. One new air filter (as a special treat) and maybe 4 oil changes since then. Still running perfectly.

Don't be tempted by a four wheeled rotary mower though. A nightmare to handle at the lawn edges. Get one with a rear roller.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

ie don't buy one that's knackered. Thanks for stating the obvious, we never would have worked it out.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Ours is four wheeled rotary..

But then I'm not going for specially neat cut edges - and I've got a lot more middle than edges. I don't find the handling too hard - maybe if there was a sharp drop then it might be more interesting.

Reply to
Clive George

Maybe this is what he needs

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Reply to
bert

If he is going to consider cordless then there could well be a cordless version of the Bosch he already has.

I have a cordless Bosch Rotak and for the amount of grass we have( the missis seems to want more veg bed each year) it is fine. Getting for 5 years old now and battery still seems healthy but then I'm a once a week or less mower,others often cut more frequently. However you do pay a premium of £150+ over the cost of the corded ones. I do like its lightness and not having to bother about filling at petrol can.

G.Harman

Reply to
damduck-egg

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