Recommend a ride on mower

thefareast

Hi,

My current mower is starting to fail a bit, it's 20 years old so can't complain, I have no idea what is considered a good or bad mower now so need recommendations.

Looking to get a bagged ride on, budget is 5k. I have to cut a couple of places and there is probably the guts of an acre between them, sometimes the grass can get long so something that wouldn't get clogged easy would be a plus. I would service it and change belts myself so anything that is easy enough to maintain would be another plus.

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

eusap

I have a Castlegarden 220 which is very good and powerful, never skips a beat. I have changed belts etc.... which was easy enough. Have you considered getting a Robot mower?

_Brian

Honestly the important points in buying equipment like that is the engine.

If you buy Briggs & Stratton or a Honda powered unit you can’t go far wrong.

After that I’d be thinking of mulching capability, hydrostatic drive.

if your mowing in a number of places a robot won’t be suitable for it all. You could consider it for some and perhaps that would allow a smaller mower be purchased.

castlegarden are a fine make, my ride on is castlegarden with a B&S engine and over 20+ years it’s been fantastic. Original deck, original battery and I’ve changed two belts and a pulley in that time. I service myself, mower has never been away for a repair since purchasing new.

MIKEKC

Any harm to ask how much it cost new

ppn

A lot of the used machines have Kohler engines? Any good?

Anyone recommend a used Husqvarna or Jonsered ride on mower?

leex

0.75 acres here and have recently purchased a Castelgarden XDC180HD. It cost about 2900euro before trade-in of old mower. Very happy with it so far. We had another smaller Castelgarden for 13 years before this - no issues with it which is why we went for same brand again.

Castelgarden is just one brand manaufactured by Stiga group - so if you see a Stiga, Alpina, Castelgarden, Mountfield or Atco with same spec it is likely the same mower with a different colour or different shaped bonnet on it.

All the mowers below appear to be the same with just different colours - warranty, price and supplied accessories (mulcher, trailer hitch, charger etc) may vary depending on where you price them.

https://www.castelgarden.com/int/2t2630473-c20-xdc-180-hd.html

https://www.stiga.com/int/2t2630481-st1-estate-2398-hw.html

https://www.mountfieldlawnmowers.co.uk/2t2630483-m21-1638h-twin.html

https://www.alpina-garden.com/int/2t2630404-a20-at4-98-hwa.html

https://www.atco.co.uk/2t2630447-at1-gt-38h-twin.html

blackbox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117618650#Comment_117618650

Kawasaki engines are also excellent.

The engine will, most likely, be the last part to fail.

If the area is suitable, I would seriously consider a robot - similar money, but it does all the work.

ec_pc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117735756#Comment_117735756

We have a Husqvarana CTH ride on we bought new in 2017. Can honestly say it has never missed a beat apart from one slow puncture and a flat battery. Ours has the Kohler engine which seems to be bullet proof. Everything is still original including the deck, just 1 replacement drive belt and 2 replacement blade belts. Blade belts easy to do, drive belt is a bit of a pain, but easily done in 30 minutes.

I service it every year, always keep it inside and never leave it out in the rain, so no rust etc on it. We also bought a trailer for it at the time which is really useful for hauling stuff around the place. I was thinking or changing, but hard to justify the cost of upgrading when there is nothing wrong with it.