Whether you are looking for that perfect Wimbledon finish or just a clean and tidy area of lawn for the children to play on choosing the right lawn mower is critical to making this happen with the minimum of effort. Your first major decision should be whether to opt for a petrol or electric mower as this will largely govern what range you have before you. That said there is a third alternative in the form of a battery powered mower. It is just that in their current stage of evolution they can not match the performance of their powered, electrical or petrol, cousins. The one exception is perhaps the robot mower but more of this later.
Electric lawnmowers available in a wide range of guises and are typically cheaper quieter and easier to lift around and store than petrol powered lawn mowers. The chief downside is the cable or flex attached to them. Length of flex varies from 10 to 15 metres typically, this of course this can always be boosted by an extension cable. It is the operation that you need to have a hard look at your gardening style and layout of garden. If your garden is huge, 130 square metres plus, or remote from any power outlet then look to petrol. Likewise if it has a very complex design with multiple pots, trees, ornaments and such then you may be wise to thing again about electric before you destroy the whole lot in a bout of knitting. If however you have a smaller simpler garden then an electric mower may be advised if the thought of maintenance leaves you cold. Are you likely to run over your own flex in a moment of absent mindedness. This can be dangerous so answer truthfully.
With a view to making this decision have a look at the below table which shows your lawnmower type options for both
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Petrol Lawn Mowers |
Electric Lawn Mowers |
Most choice available in |
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Cylinder Mower |
Cylinder Mower |
Petrol Mowers |
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Rotary Mower |
Rotary Mower |
Petrol mowers |
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Hover Mower |
Hover Mower |
Electric Mowers |
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Ride on |
N/A |
Petrol Mowers |
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These represent the crème de la crème of mowers but as such are not really suitable for anything except perfect lawns that are going to have a good deal of attention paid to them. Cylinder mowers is in reference to their cutting action. A rotating cylinder of blades skim a central long cutting blade giving providing an action that is more akin to a pair of scissors. This ensures that each blade of grass is cut to the same length
In operation the cylinder mower will be easy and smooth but a central feature of these mowers is the integral roller. This makes it heavy so if your storage place requires lifting it up a flight of steps then think again. The roller however is one of the key elements of this lawnmower. It carefully aligns each freshly cut blade of grass in the same direction. When this is couple to a mowing action where you walk backwards and forwards across your lawn you will achieve the famous striped pattern that adorns the finest lawns and sports pitches. It is worth noting thought that the purchase of a cylinder mower will not on it’s own provide you with said bowling green finish. Such immaculate lawn surfaces are the result of painstaking ongoing treatment that involves flattening, feeding, levelling and the like.
Obviously the first choice of any toy obsessed bloke in fact any bloke full stop and they really are that fun. Ride on mowers start to make sense if your lawn exceeds to more than 1300 square meters. Before taking the not so inconsiderable plunge some other factors need to be examined.
Security is a major factor for these items as they often go into four figure prices and have a ready re sale market. And we all thought secure off street parking was the preserve of cars
Secondly is the layout of the garden. Ride on mowers are at their best when cutting long strips from a fairly uniform lawn. Even thought the current models available today have amazingly small turning circles for their size they will not be suited to an intricate or complex and planting ridden lawn. That said uniform flower boarders that would seem to present a ‘tightrope’ like riding challenge are easily dispatched with an off set cutting platform. This is where the cutting area below the tractor is offset and extends out beyond the wheels to one side. You can cut boarders without going to close. Also worth noting is the camber or gradient that each machine is safe working on if you are a hill dweller.
Finally view these machines as small tractors and makes it clearer the sort of maintenance schedule that you will be looking at. If this will really spoil your enjoyment of a ride on mower or you simply wont do it then better look elsewhere.
If however you are competitive by nature then stuff the lawn and race the lawnmower http://www.floridalawnracing.com/
Rotary
Mower
Usually the choice of the gardener who occasionally has to cope with sections of overgrown lawn as these mowers take long and rough grass in their stride. The finish is not on a par with cylinder mowers but with the addition of a rear roller can achieve the desirable striped effect.
The cutting action of rotary mowers comes courtesy of s spinning blade. The larger petrol mowers normally employ metal blades with some of the smaller electric rotary mowers using plastic blades or lengths of nylon line. Plastic cutting edges have the advantage of not being as damaging should you accidentally mow something you shouldn’t, a power cable perhaps, but do break annoyingly frequently if you should come into contact with stones or twigs. Have a look at the general makeup of your lawn and if it has the likely hood of providing ‘foreign object damage’ then opt for the more substantial metal blade
The key issue regarding rotary mowers is that the gardener provides all the the drive so you have to push the thing round. No hover mower like cushioned ride to help you out. If you opt for a petrol and metal blade combination the rotary mover can become quite a weighty item.
Steering the rotary mower has become easier of late with either the front two wheels or in some cases all for wheels swivelling to provide greater manoeuvrability. This is a great advantage if you are faced with a complex lawn layout with multiple boarders to negotiate.
Similar in nature to a rotary mower the hover mower has the addition of a powerful fan mounted above the spinning blade. This in addition to the cowling cover for the blade produced a cushion of air that the entire mower floats on. Such floating properties negate the need for wheels. That said some now come with wheels at the front to aid moving the mower around when not in use. Hovering a set amount of distance from the ground is good for tackling undulations in a lawn where other mowers may chop into the earth. It is worth noting though that hover mowers do not like short harsh bumps as they tend to break the air cushion leaving you to drag the mower over them something that reminds you of the lack of wheels
The blade arrangement is similar again to rotary mowers in that the choice extends from metal through detachable plastic to Nylon cord. The same guidelines apply
A recent development to hover mowers is a grass collecting box that features on some models. This reduces rather than negates the need to rake up the grass cuttings as they do miss bits as they are flung out of the back. Much more convenient but in a strange way less satisfying as you no longer see those even lines of fresh cut grass trailing in your wake.
Finally an alternative to pushing the mower around has arrived. Imagine the sense of well-being as this lawnmower trundles past on it’s automatic way so quiet it barely sends a vibration through the cold beer that sits besides you. It is programmable too so it can run happily while you are out for the day or even at night.
So what is the concept? Basically it is a rotary mower in operation but powered by two onboard battery packs. These are good to keep the mower going while it cuts lawns up to 1500 m2 (16,000 ft2) Well the biggest one in the range does. An onboard processor drives the robot lawnmower and it cuts in a complex triangular pattern to achieve and even finish.
What about the obvious drawbacks that one imagines such as the machine running amok over your herbatious borders and children’s paddling pool before badly wounding your sleeping dog and making off down the street. Well this all seems to have been taken care of thanks to a combination of ultra sensitive bumper sensors and a perimeter wire. The former surround the mover and cause it to do an about turn should it come into contact with a discarded something or newly positioned pot. The perimeter wire is laid down around the lawn area and pinned down to be over time hidden. A small electrical current is passed along it that sets the mowers its hunting ground. Fantastic as it makes it virtually impossible for your neighbour to borrow it
Good for all lawns? Well the robot mower will not tackle the really tough long grass or steep inclines and it does take longer to achieve a lawn cut than a traditional mower. It also takes 8hrs to recharge should you have forgotten to prepare it.
A couple of useful extra features that the robot mower has is a programmable setting so that it can mow at a certain time each week. One of the models even has a docking station so the recharge is automatic. Secondly is a feature that mulches the cut grass and scatters it on the lawn to decompose. This is doubly useful as it preserves certain key nutrients and also dispenses with the need to empty grass cuttings.
Lear more form the company http://www.friendlyrobotics.com/robomo.htm
A back up how to choose guide
http://www.ehow.com/ehow/ehowDetails.jsp?id=4199
Interesting history lesson
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi884.htm
Great selection to Buy from here: Lawnmowers