Manual push mowers?

Author
Discussion

ambuletz

Original Poster:

11,284 posts

196 months

Wednesday 16th April
quotequote all
For those who use them, which ones are worth getting?

Bit fed up of electric mowers dying out after afew years. Back garden isn't very big, a square patch that's around 6m x 6m.
Mower has to be fairly light/easy to push.

From what I've read the push mowers are best used regularly, every 2-4 weeks, which to me seems fine if they're easy to use.
We have an electric grass trimmer/edger which we can use to cut down to a manageable length if something happens that we haven't cut the grass in afew months.
Reviews of all types of mowers seem rather varied, many of the negative ones are people complaining about it not cutting longer grass and having difficulty pushing.

from everything I've read and watched Enhell HM-400 seems to be a good bet (Bezos link)

OzzyR1

6,108 posts

247 months

Wednesday 16th April
quotequote all
No input on push mowers, but rather than buying a new electric perhaps go to a local car boot sale.

Few years ago in a previous house I had a grass bank with a 45 degree slope that needed mowing - picked up a Flymo in decent nick at a car boot for £20.

andy118run

937 posts

221 months

Wednesday 16th April
quotequote all
I downgraded to a manual push mower a few years ago, having previously used electric, and occasionally used my mum's petrol mower.

No regrets, dead easy to use, and the lawn looks ok, though not exactly immaculate.

The one you link looks fine, very similar looking to mine. Think I got mine at Argus for a similar, maybe less price.

Simpo Two

89,122 posts

280 months

Wednesday 16th April
quotequote all
I bought an 18" model from B&Q a few years ago for £40; looks very much like the Einhell you linked to. Yes you have to push them, but overall easier to use than electric as you don't waste time wrangling cables. Like any mower, little and often is better than hacking it once a month, and cut it when the grass is dry.

Paul Drawmer

5,042 posts

282 months

Thursday 17th April
quotequote all
Soon after we moved into this house we bought a smallest model honda izzy mower.

It's perfect for a small lawn. Because there's no self propell mech it's light and easy to move about. It's over ten years old now and once it failed to start 1st time, but that was my fault for mucking about with it.

It just works well.

spikeyhead

18,872 posts

212 months

Thursday 17th April
quotequote all
I bought one of these from screwfix ten years ago

https://www.screwfix.com/p/webb-46cm-contactless-h...

Works very well, though I now have a 700 sqm lawn it's been mostly replaced by a robot. Before that it would only take 20 minutes to cut 200 sqm of lawn

Rough101

2,714 posts

90 months

Thursday 17th April
quotequote all
I bought a 60 year old Ransomes Ajax, it had become too heavy for the previous owner who had received it as a wedding gift.

I repainted the side panels and grass box, bought new decals and all I do is backlap the blades and grease annually. It weighs a lot!

It beats faffing about with cords or petroleum engines, and it’s built like a steam locomotive, should outlast me for the £60 I paid.

I do keep an old Flymo as well, for when the grass gets overlong and is still wet, gets used twice a year.


InitialDave

13,325 posts

134 months

Thursday 17th April
quotequote all
Brill are decent quality for what's available new.

Crudeoink

1,077 posts

74 months

Thursday 17th April
quotequote all
ambuletz said:
For those who use them, which ones are worth getting?

Bit fed up of electric mowers dying out after afew years. Back garden isn't very big, a square patch that's around 6m x 6m.
Mower has to be fairly light/easy to push.

From what I've read the push mowers are best used regularly, every 2-4 weeks, which to me seems fine if they're easy to use.
We have an electric grass trimmer/edger which we can use to cut down to a manageable length if something happens that we haven't cut the grass in afew months.
Reviews of all types of mowers seem rather varied, many of the negative ones are people complaining about it not cutting longer grass and having difficulty pushing.

from everything I've read and watched Enhell HM-400 seems to be a good bet (Bezos link)
We had a Bosch one as only a small lawn to mow. Generally its OK but whenever we went away on holiday for 2 weeks and came back the grass was so long it was a major PITA to mow with the push mower. You ideally need to keep the blades sharp and using valve grinding paste and turning the mechanism backwards with a drill gets them nice and sharp. Honestly though for the convinience just buy a cheap flymo. The push mowers arent great at 'picking up' grasss so lots ends up just on the floor after a mow which gets blown about etc too

Jeremy-75qq8

1,400 posts

107 months

Thursday 17th April
quotequote all
If you are in Surrey area message me and collect a free electric lawn mower

ALPandy90

108 posts

76 months

Thursday 17th April
quotequote all
ambuletz said:
For those who use them, which ones are worth getting?

Bit fed up of electric mowers dying out after afew years. Back garden isn't very big, a square patch that's around 6m x 6m.
Mower has to be fairly light/easy to push.

From what I've read the push mowers are best used regularly, every 2-4 weeks, which to me seems fine if they're easy to use.
We have an electric grass trimmer/edger which we can use to cut down to a manageable length if something happens that we haven't cut the grass in afew months.
Reviews of all types of mowers seem rather varied, many of the negative ones are people complaining about it not cutting longer grass and having difficulty pushing.

from everything I've read and watched Enhell HM-400 seems to be a good bet (Bezos link)
I bought a Gardena brand mower during the first covid lockdown as the council had stopped collecting garden waste and the dump was shut. It doesnt collect the clippings, it mulches them small enough to leave on the lawn.

Overall, the lawn looked amazing. Ideally though, you want the grass short and want to keep it short to keep things easy. I found myself mowing 3-4 times a week back then to keep on top of it. Only took about ten minutes after work, and helped me get my daily steps in so I didn't mind.

TVR Sagaris

1,080 posts

247 months

Thursday 17th April
quotequote all
Crudeoink said:
We had a Bosch one as only a small lawn to mow. Generally its OK but whenever we went away on holiday for 2 weeks and came back the grass was so long it was a major PITA to mow with the push mower. You ideally need to keep the blades sharp and using valve grinding paste and turning the mechanism backwards with a drill gets them nice and sharp. Honestly though for the convinience just buy a cheap flymo. The push mowers arent great at 'picking up' grasss so lots ends up just on the floor after a mow which gets blown about etc too
This is the problem. I had an Einhell for a while in a rented house (although I think it was a slightly different model to the one in the OP) and it was OK if awkward to use when the grass was short and dry. Anything other than that and it was rubbish. A cheap electric mower had no problems, in contrast.

vladcjelli

3,262 posts

173 months

Thursday 17th April
quotequote all
I got a Webb a couple (maybe a few) years ago.

Works fine on nice flat, smooth lawns, doesn’t on bumpy rough stuff.

As above, keep the grass short and it flies through the job. Any length and it starts to struggle.