Lawnmower petrol or electric?

porto27

I know everyone says petrol is better but any reason not to buy electric? Have had problems with starting petrol ones before (trying not to be sexist here but am female) have a new garden with a square lawn of about 10m x 4m that I want to keep well...any lawnmower model recommendations gratefully received...

mrsbear

The thing with electric is the cable and the danger of mowing over it!

I'm female (with bad sciatica) and have no problems starting a petrol mower. It was my strong handsome boyfriend who couldn't! It just needs some practice and once you get the knack of it, it's no bother.

Best of luck

fryup

here's an alternative neither electric or petrol........a reel mower

bmaxi

If you're prepared to put up with the disadvantages of trailing flexes then, for a lawn that size, electric would be perfectly sufficient. They also have the advantage of being much lighter.
Bosch Rotak are pretty good for the price IMO, in the next month or so they'll probably be selling them off in the DIY chains.

Master and commander

well petrol mowers are better really. But you have to get a good quality mower. The crap the have in the likes of Woodies or B&Q will be hard to start and generally will fall apart. The best make is honda, without a shadow of a doubt but they are expensive. In short you get what you pay for.

Now since its only a tiny 10x4m lawn, i'd imagine that a good quality electric mower would suffice but a word of warning - get a good quality machine, the €50 bargain you see in a woodies type place will last about a week and thats no good. Stay away from those DIY type places. To get good advice from people who know what they are talking about you should go to a lawnmower specialist/dealer who supplies the professional trade (as opposed to spotty teenagers working part time in B&Q).

now in these places you should expect to pay more, but you have the assurance that what you are buying is good quality with good backup in case of a problem from people who are in the know. rathar than being fobbed off by some woodies manager who hasn't a clue about such things.

daheff

For a lawn that size i'd go with an electric mower -just make sure the cable is long enough!!

but something to take into consideration is the front garden (assuming you have one!)- how do you get to it? do you have a side gate or do you have to go through the house? If you have to go through the house then forget about a petrol mower (as they are quite heavy -so carrying it through would be a nightmare)


one compromise you could make (money permitting) is to get a battery mower (its cable free...but you have to charge the battery(s) up beforehand)....best of both worlds

porto27

Thanks for the replies guys, this site invaluable as always...

Have decided to take your advice and go to proper supplier and then take their advice on what to buy...

Mrs Bear - thanks for not lambasting me for the I'm female comment! Nothing like not being able to start a mower to make you feel like a right girl tho...always suspected it was a knack so good to know...:)

The Garden Shop

Hi Porto,
Everyone differs when it comes to lawnmowers.I went through them all over the years. My first was a push rotary lawn mower which did a really good job but took a lot of elbow grease to push, my area was a little too big for it...still have it though. Went to electric one which was also great but the cables were annoying...petrol one needs maintainance about once a year depending on usage but will last a lot longer than most electric ones.For the size that your plot is, a top spec electric mower or a standard petrol one sounds like 2 options for you. Hope you get one that works for you.

mrsbear

porto27 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys, this site invaluable as always...

Have decided to take your advice and go to proper supplier and then take their advice on what to buy...

Mrs Bear - thanks for not lambasting me for the I'm female comment! Nothing like not being able to start a mower to make you feel like a right girl tho...always suspected it was a knack so good to know...:)

Believe me I know, years of taunting from my dad but now I can taunt my bf :cool:

Master and commander

well another thing with a petrol mower is that it needs maintenance such as a yearly oil change and you must drain the fuel at the end of every season otherwise you will end up with a troublesome engine - due to the small size of your lawn, it just might not be worth the work of doing this maintenance.
A good quality electric mower will do the job just as good and needs none of the messy maintenance as with a petrol one.
Note - good quality is not the same as high spec. Alot of those "high spec" machines like black and decker and flymo are just full of silly gimmicks to try get you to buy them, but they are very light duty and will not stand the test of time and will accept no abuse. They are DIY consumer, use and throw away, rubbish.
As a good quality might I suggest Makita. Now they are a good bit more expensive than the likes of flymo or B&D they are pretty much bulletproof and will last years and will stand up to a certain amount of abuse. see website http://www.makitauk.com/products/front/?id=1264
I know this becasue I do a bit of building and carpentry and all my important power tools are Makita, and they are very strong and durable. I have a drill which is probably 20 years old and it has been dropped, kicked around, covered in grit and left out in the rain but itt has never missed a beat and is still going strong (except for new motor brushes, most drills never get past their first set). I have experimented with the DIY makes like black and decker and some ALDI stuff, and well, lets just say i dont have them anymore - they are just not up to the rouh and tumble.
To sum up, the extra expense of a quality mower is worth it and will work out cheaper in the long term as it will last indefinitly with minimal hassle.
As my dad used to say, a quality tool is only expensive on the day you buy it.
Hinting that a cheap tool will work out costing more becasue of breakdowns, lost time and ultimately the need to replace it after a short time