 | Home > Off Topic > Another lawn mower thread... |
 
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| gabe3105 Member Since: 25 May 2015 Location: Grimsby Posts: 237  
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I know we've had a few threads already, but they all seem to be for cut and collect mowers....
I was originally looking for a specialist mulching mower and am interested to hear if anyone has one and what you think of it (makes and models please  )
Went into our local agri-machinery store on Saturday with a view to looking at some, and got my head turned by the Husqvarna robotic mowers they had - all their grass was done by these machines and it looked great condition. I have circa 1 acre which takes about 3 hours on the ride-on so anything which can save me that time and keep the lawn healthy would be great and would allow me to concentrate on other gardening tasks. So any robotic lawn mower owners here? Again, how do you rate them? It is a lot of money to shell out so want to make sure they aren't a fad Thanks in advance 
Gary |
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11th Jul 2016 10:19am |
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| gabe3105 Member Since: 25 May 2015 Location: Grimsby Posts: 237
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I would call it gently undulating - it's certainly not flat.
I get the impression they have come on a lot in recent years - some have inbuilt GPS so they know exactly which parts of the lawn they have covered and can sense tall grass and obstacles and go around as required 
Apparently the sales blurb says that they can deal with slopes of up to 24 degrees and because its quite small it will be able to follow the contours of the land better than my ride-on, which tends to struggle in some of the dips Unfortunately due to the lawn size my options are limited - there are only one or two that deal with that size and they tend to be expensive, so although I could probably save £200ish shopping online, I would rather pay a bit more for local customer support if anything goes t*ts up! It would be good to know if all these capabilities are just smooth sales pitch or whether they work in the real world - like I said, their grass was immaculate and they insisted it was all done by a robot |
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11th Jul 2016 11:33am |
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| RobKeay Member Since: 19 Jul 2009 Location: Stafford Posts: 1579 
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Quite a few customers of ours have them. They seem pretty good. I haven't heard any complaints. Our local dealer has had one out on the front for years. The lawn has trees growing in it and on a slope.
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11th Jul 2016 12:25pm |
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| gabe3105 Member Since: 25 May 2015 Location: Grimsby Posts: 237
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^^^ Sounds promising, thanks
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11th Jul 2016 2:47pm |
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| Ramsay Member Since: 30 Sep 2015 Location: Moffat, Dumfries & Galloway Posts: 627  
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Husqvarna were at Hampton Court flower show last week as was Honda. Honda was running one in a demo area with flowers, borders and slopes. It seemed to be detecting them and cutting very well. They had a couple of sizes which were up to 3/4 acre and 1 acre plus.
I was interested from the technology point of view. My small wild back garden takes about 5 minutes to do with the petrol strimmer. 1995 Defender 110 CSW 1971 SIIA Lightweight |
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11th Jul 2016 2:54pm |
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| ericvv Member Since: 02 Jun 2011 Location: Near the Jet d'Eau Posts: 5816  
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3 hours for 1 acre?
We have a large 26HP Husqvarna garden tractor with a 54" side throwing mowing deck, when it is dry (not unusual here   ) it takes me just 1.5 hours for more than 2 acres, almost 1 HA.
Isn't 1 acre already pretty large for an automatic system? Eric You never actually own a Defender. You merely look after it for the next generation. http://youtu.be/yVRlSsJwD0o https://youtu.be/vmPr3oTHndg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GtzTT9Pdl0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABqKPz28e6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLZ49Jce_n0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvAsz_ilQYU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8tMHiX9lSw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dxwjPuHIV7I https://vimeo.com/201482507 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSixqL0iyHw Last edited by ericvv on 11th Jul 2016 4:52pm. Edited 2 times in total |
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11th Jul 2016 4:36pm |
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| RRUK Site Supporter Member Since: 31 Mar 2010 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 2025
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I have a 1 acre paddock and I use a Countax 42" Deck with powered collector on the back. I can do it in one hour total.
I still wish I had a real tractor with a 3 gang drag mower to do it in ten minutes though!  Click image to enlarge 2016 D4 HSE 1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF 1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol |
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11th Jul 2016 4:45pm |
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| gabe3105 Member Since: 25 May 2015 Location: Grimsby Posts: 237
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Thanks Ramsay, good info
The 3 hours includes the front, so it is over 1 acre, and there are also some fiddly bits to do where manoeuvrability is fun and takes a bit of time. 3 hours also includes the time it takes to sort out the grass clippings which is a horrible job. And then there is the odd time when i lose control of it and crash into the swing which adds more time to straighten the steering again 
It's looking good for the robot so far, although it is at the limit of their capacity. The manoeuvrability of them, the lower risk of me decapitating myself on a low tree branch, and the lack of grass clippings to dispose of are all tempting me
Gang mower would be difficult to store! |
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11th Jul 2016 4:55pm |
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| languedoc Member Since: 13 May 2016 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 283 
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Less finesse but more speed with this bad boy
Click image to enlarge |
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11th Jul 2016 5:06pm |
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| RRUK Site Supporter Member Since: 31 Mar 2010 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 2025
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What's the deck width? 2016 D4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF 1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol |
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11th Jul 2016 5:31pm |
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| languedoc Member Since: 13 May 2016 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 283
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60 inches on mine. Pulled by my 500cc quad means you can mow the lawn at 40mph if you fancy!
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11th Jul 2016 6:08pm |
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| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 20359
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Better make sure you don't come off the back, or if you did or you'd be mown yourself.
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11th Jul 2016 6:19pm |
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| Rashers Member Since: 21 Jun 2015 Location: Norfolk Posts: 3498
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I have a Westwood ride-on (just like the Countax, made by the same people, but with a different bonnet and stickers). It is about twelve years old. I swapped the original cutter deck (46 Inch if I recall) for a 42 Inch mulching deck. Like most mulching systems, it is transformed by a metal plate screwed across the outlet for the cut grass. Interestingly, Countax no longer supply this deck. They do a larger 'High Grass' mulching deck for rougher cutting.
I really like the mulching deck and the idea of mulching. I would have bought a new Countax if they had still supplied this deck with new machines but......... 1) You cannot cut your grass too short. The idea of the mulching deck is that the grass once cut, stays in the cutting deck and is re-cut until it is small enough to be lost in the lawn. If the grass is cut too short, there is nowhere for the mulched grass to go and thus will not look good. 2) The mulching deck will get clogged up more than a standard deck and therefore you will spend more time cleaning than usual. This is especially true when the grass is wet / lush. 3) With a mulching deck, the grass needs cutting more often. You can also not be greedy by trying to cut a good depth as the mulching deck will be overwhelmed (see item No.1). A trick if the cut grass is left on the surface is to run over the area again with the cutter deck up high. This tends to spread the cuttings around. To sum them up. They are great when the grass is dry, you don't need to cut too much off and you have the time to run over the grass frequently. They are not great for the first few cuts of the season or when the grass is growing like mad (like it is at the moment in Norfolk whilst it is wet and warm). Even after all this, I really rate the mulcher. I also have an Ariens self propelled walk behind mower (they own Countax) which has a discharge, collected and mulch plug. This is also a good mower, but only for the edges or small areas. Definitely not good for one acre (unless you need to lose weight). |
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11th Jul 2016 7:29pm |
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| RobKeay Member Since: 19 Jul 2009 Location: Stafford Posts: 1579
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Need to be quick £350 on Amazon prime
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C70LUQ4/ref...Hxb7GPAX0W |
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12th Jul 2016 9:41am |
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