Recently, and since my Covid jab, I've found the hitherto sweet sound of an IC lawnmower difficult to be near. Ear defenders don't work for me, so I've listed my petrol mowers on Ebay and begun the search for a cordless machine.
Preferably, it should be 16"-19" cut, self-propelled rotary without a roller, and cost less than £500.
I like the look of this
www.machinemart.co.uk/p/einhell-ge-cm-3647-s-hw-li-power-x-change-36v-/
I also like the way they sell it; with batteries and charger. It's nonsense to quote a price for a 'bare' machine in one place and then expect you to hunt around for batteries and charger elsewhere. After all, IC mowers were never sold without a fuel tank, were they?
Anyone, especially with experience of cordless mowers and/or changing from IC, care to comment?
TIA
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A son has a Bosch, mower and 2 batteries (£400+ 5 years ago ) and it struggles with the patch at the front & the reasonable sized rear garden.
The grass cutting problem will disappear soon
He has had a posh shed winched into place and the garden will be remodelled (covered with paving, gravel IIRC)
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Well, Which? (some people love it, some people don't) says
Bosch Rotak 43 Li Ergoflex review
£350.00Typical price
Test score 81%
Which? verdict: A great cordless mower
This is a great mower and a worthy Best Buy. It leaves an exceptionally neat finish on a family lawn and fills the grass collector to capacity before dropping any clippings. It has enough power to cope well with long or damp grass, but is still very light for a mower of this size, at around 14kg. As lawn mowers are currently selling in very high volumes, you may find it hard to purchase this model right now, however it is still part of the Bosch line up and should be more widely available soon.
Edit.
Just seen Falkirk Bairn's post above!
Which also speaks well of the StihlRMA339C. £365.
Last edited by: Duncan on Mon 3 May 21 at 11:52
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The Bosch is not self-propelled.
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"I also like the way they sell it; with batteries and charger. It's nonsense to quote a price for a 'bare' machine in one place and then expect you to hunt around for batteries and charger elsewhere. "
This depends on whether you have any other cordless tools you can share batteries and charger with as the batteries probably make up half the cost of the item. e.g. I have 8 tools from the Ryobi one+ range with just three batteries. So if I were looking for a lawn mower that's where I would start looking.
If you have any interest in other cordless tools it may be worth looking at what else is available in the chosen manufacturers range.
Last edited by: T junction on Mon 3 May 21 at 12:19
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Way back in the 1960's my Dad had a battery electric Atco. Full size cylinder cut with a roller. Powered by a large car type lead acid battery with an additional connection to give around 9volts for slow speed manoeuvring round flower beds. It would just about do our pretty large lawn on one charge and took a good 24-36 hours on the mains to restore it.
A 200ish Black and Decker battery electric - 12 v gell cell - I bought when we moved here lasted two seasons before being moved on. Only just enough juice for our hanky sized lawns front and read and it'd gag on anything wet or if the lawn had been left whilst we holidayed and got over long.
OP requests for it to be self propelled but I wonder how much self propulsion brings to the game with a wheeled rotary unless cutting a rough paddock. My mains Bosch Rotak, with roller, takes next to no effort to push.
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>>Way back in the 1960's my Dad had a battery electric Atco.
We had one more recently than that, maybe the 70s, and the groundskeepers at the girls' chool were still using them in the 00s. On the cricket & hockey pitches.
Great things.
I think that self-propelled is superb over larger lawns or longer grass. The roller defeats a lot of slippiness and leaves a nice pattern. Otherwise any light, wheeled thing will do. I prefer wheels rather than hover because it's easier to keep straight. And I obsess when I mow - straightest lines, shortest route, never crossing, neat curvers around garden beds and bushes etc. etc.
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>> OP requests for it to be self propelled but I wonder how much self propulsion
>> brings to the game with a wheeled rotary unless cutting a rough paddock. My mains
>> Bosch Rotak, with roller, takes next to no effort to push.
>>
One of the lawns I do is on a slope. I can't see myself pushing the mower with its 75 litre grass box full of damp grass up the hill. And no, going across the slope is not practical. 30 years ago I was using an FWD Al-Ko mower on the same bit of land. FWD and a full grass box are a poor combination on a slope. I need self propulsion, especially at my age.
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>>
>> If you have any interest in other cordless tools it may be worth looking at
>> what else is available in the chosen manufacturers range.
>>
Thanks, but it's not practical for me to consider changing power tools to dovetail with a mower purchase. The mower will live in a garage on a different property to where my Makita power tools live. It will surely be only a short time before the batteries of any equipment become obsolete, to be replaced with incompatible fairy-dust power cells or whatever. That's what happened to my Makitas anyway as the Ni-Cd batteries became NiMH and then Li-Po.
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Thanks for the replies everyone. The Einhell looked to be the best bet for me so the mower has been bought and tried and found to be a good addition to the stable. With new and freshly-charged 4Ah batteries, it will mow the flattish lawn or the slightly smaller awkward sloping lawn with 2 batteries adequately. With 4 batteries on board it turns into a beast and feels as if it will cope easily with a fortnight's lush summer growth. The mower went together easily and feels well made with a steel deck and a handy scraper to remove clag. The grass bag is fabric with a lightweight strip of material on top that purports to be a 'level indicator'. It's not, it's a 'bag full' indicator. The best bit is that the turbine-like noise is acceptable to my changed hearing. We'll see how the mower and batteries fare next year. I registered my purchase online to get extra warranty, so 3 years for the mower; 2 years for the batteries after registration.
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Recommend me a cordless mower please - Falkirk Bairn
