A lot depends on the size and issues of your lawn (do you let it grow long, for example).
If you find your mains electric inadequate it could be that it is a rather poor model, or that you are asking too much of it which suggests petrol might be the way to go.
Modern batteries are becoming a match for i/c engines for smaller hand-held tools. But typically, mains tools will at least match the performance of battery ones.
My biggest bugbear - irrespective of power source - is stopping to empty the grass box every 2 passes of the lawn.
Not sure you are advised to mow 'wet grass' with any domestic mower?
Quite?
Cable electric are probably simpler (maintenance wise) in the long term over petrol engine models.
And have been for a while now. ;-)
And all sorts of garden / power tools.
;-)
This will depend on all sorts of variables, including how often you use them, how hard you use them, how you charge them and how you store them.
That one is a 'piece of string' question. You can get cheap mowers that are trying to do too much with low spec motors and batteries up to 'quality' / branded kit that you have to pay handsomely for.
You might start by considering how long it typically takes you when the mower isn't struggling then check to see how that compares with the advertised run time of a battery mower that fits you budget (allowing some leeway for marketing and battery aging).
Cheers, T i m
I don't imagine that most of them are designed to have their batteries changed, or not at the cheaper end of the market. (Bought a cheap Mountfield from B&Q 13 years ago and I just needed to pay £35 to get it fixed because the carburettor had rusted and the rust had blocked the fuel line. With an additive in the fuel to stop the rusting it's good to go for another 13+ years now.)
+1 My petrol mower cuts long wet grass at the beginning of the grass cutting season - which last year ended in early December and this year started in early February :)
A friend has a battery powered mower which cost nearly 3x the price of my petrol mower and although it works very well it is restricted to a maximum of dry medium height grass. The batteries have lasted 3 to 4 years but the charger did fail in a fairly dramatic way with a blackened circuit board and a few black remains of components. The replacement charger was around £40.
All of them have removable batteries, but if you buy at the Lidl end of the spectrum you might not be able to source replacements. Many of them are on Makita/Ryobi/etc battery systems like other power tools. The fancier ones are higher voltage and do their own thing.
Even if you can't buy replacements, all of the batteries can likely be recelled - they're probably just 18650s inside.
Theo
Something I belive may be close to your heart, I see they are setting pigs loose in areas of the country that were originally 'managed' by such animals in any case, because it's easier and more productive at returning the habituate to what was good and supported good diversity than anything we can do manually (or afford to do manually). ;-)
In the same way fallen trees or stuff that might be cleared is often left to provide habitat etc.
Cheers, T i m
I replaced my old self-propelled corded mower three months ago with a self-propelled battery mower (Mountfield). This was mainly because I had changed the layout of the garden over several years and I got fed up with having to keep stepping over the cable or moving it. I've only had to cut the grass a couple of times because of the drought we've had here and the mower performed well. There's only around 100 - 120m^2 of lawn left, and a single charge handles that ok.
Not quite sure why you feel it's close to my heart ... f***ed if I want to be a farmer. It's f****ng hard work even now with the machinery :)
Wild boar are not so welcome not far away from me in the Forest of Dean.
Is that because they piss off dog walkers ? Sounds like a good reason to have a lot more of them.
And they taste nice :)
Buy a sheep
I would be tempted by one of the robotic lawn mowers. There are now some that are less expensive. You probably have to set them off quite often as the ones I have seen don't pick up the grass.
I had an old atco battery mower many years ago, although it was better than a thrashing mains model it ate batteries which in those days were of course lead acid. I know my gardener uses petrol, he simply says, if you want it to mow anything get a petrol mower before they ban them for the emissions many give out, same goes for strimmers, and other gardening devices. Brian
You would have thought with the deluge of "smart" things, making one that could hold some clippings, dump them in a set location (which could have a charger attached) and pretty much keep the lawns cut all summer.
Well, I would have.
Obviously a really "smart" one would have solar panels too, so could work day and night.
Is it a cylinder type? Can it cut paper if you have turn it by hand? Often a stone can move the all impotant bottom blade and the "scissor action" is ruined.
But what will the performance be like in 2 years time? Poor enought to warrant a new battery - or will you put up with deminished performance.
Ah, sorry, I thought that was also part of your day. ;-)
I guess there is a massive difference between 'playing with' that sort of kit (as a collector / restorer) than 'having to keep it running all hours'. ;-(
Cheers, T i m
No, so I understand, digging up lawns and the like?
However, maybe that should be how it is, they were probably here before we were, like the elephants roaming though farms in Africa when they have done so for millions of years before 'man' stuck himself in the way. ;-(
That's real nature, not what we think it should be pruned into. ;-(
The funny thing is, we are at last realising what needs to be done and going back to planting wild meadows, allowing margins and passageways for wild animals etc ... like we had the right to take them away in the first place.
The stupidity of it all is we are doing it all at our own cost, with floods etc where previously the likes of beaver would have applied some management of / to wetlands and flood planes.
Cheers, T i m
The pigs I'm guessing. ;-)
Smiles aside for a second (and I'm asking you this because I consider you a reasonable and sensible guy), do you ever consider what goes on in the background (and again, assuming you don't work on a pig / livestock farm etc), just to provide something on your plate, something you don't actually need?
Thoughts around things like this (not nice but no 'intentional' cruelty involved):
I guess many assume (or prefer to imagine to block out the reality) these animals just frolic round a meadow for a long and healthy lives to then give themselves up to somehow (painlessly and magically) end up on our plates?
If say we only ate lemming or salmon as they die in their spawning grounds then I guess that would be ok (unless in so doing it interrupted some other animals feeding or nutrition cycle etc) then that might be ok?
Cheers, T i m
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