Lawn Mowers?
Posted by: Paul Hutchings on 15 April 2005
My grandad needs a new lawn mower.
The basic criteria are:
a) light/easy to manouver
b) covers a fairly wide area easily - more to do with effort/age than garden size
c) easy to use
d) safe, preferably no blades or electricity
My grandad is 83 and whilst he's quite spritely and can do the garden my worry is getting him something electric where he can slice through the cable.
I'm thinking a Flymo as there's no blade and you don't have to worry about going in straight lines AIUI, OK it's electric but I think we just have to make damned sure he uses a circuit breaker? Not having a garden of my own to maintain I know jack shit about mowers other than they have blades or use a bit of plastic cord at high rpm to cut the grass.
Any suggestions would be appreciated
thanks,
Paul
The basic criteria are:
a) light/easy to manouver
b) covers a fairly wide area easily - more to do with effort/age than garden size
c) easy to use
d) safe, preferably no blades or electricity
My grandad is 83 and whilst he's quite spritely and can do the garden my worry is getting him something electric where he can slice through the cable.
I'm thinking a Flymo as there's no blade and you don't have to worry about going in straight lines AIUI, OK it's electric but I think we just have to make damned sure he uses a circuit breaker? Not having a garden of my own to maintain I know jack shit about mowers other than they have blades or use a bit of plastic cord at high rpm to cut the grass.
Any suggestions would be appreciated
thanks,
Paul
Posted on: 16 April 2005 by Chunny Nochubb
Paul
Just like with Hifi the first question is what is he using at the moment?
I suppose it is a tradional push lawnmower with a rotating cylinder blade arrangement and a roller at the back.
If he has a lawn that looks like a bowling green, he will be very dissapointed with the finish from a hover mower.
You can get rotary lawnmowers on wheels with a roller on the back to produce the stripes but these also do not give as good a finish as a cylinder.
All electric mowers are a pain in the neck, but the secret is to mow away from the cable. It gets worse if you have a lawn with lots of obstacles such as trees and island beds to mow round.
Some rotary mowers come with baskets to collect the trimmings and these can also make very good leaf collecting devices in the autumn.
The larger the lawn the larger the blade or cylinder required, in order to minimise the amount of time you have to trundle around, but the larger the mower the heavier and less manouverable it is.
In general the more expensive mowers are better built and have a greater range of adjustment both in cutting height and handle height.
I have always used electric and have had the same wheeled rotary mower for the last 16 yearand the only maintenance required is to change the blade. It does a good job on a largish lawns which are very bumpy.
You can get petrol versions of all of these mowers and these are more expensive than the electric and are supposed to be serviced once a year.
Just like with Hifi the first question is what is he using at the moment?
I suppose it is a tradional push lawnmower with a rotating cylinder blade arrangement and a roller at the back.
If he has a lawn that looks like a bowling green, he will be very dissapointed with the finish from a hover mower.
You can get rotary lawnmowers on wheels with a roller on the back to produce the stripes but these also do not give as good a finish as a cylinder.
All electric mowers are a pain in the neck, but the secret is to mow away from the cable. It gets worse if you have a lawn with lots of obstacles such as trees and island beds to mow round.
Some rotary mowers come with baskets to collect the trimmings and these can also make very good leaf collecting devices in the autumn.
The larger the lawn the larger the blade or cylinder required, in order to minimise the amount of time you have to trundle around, but the larger the mower the heavier and less manouverable it is.
In general the more expensive mowers are better built and have a greater range of adjustment both in cutting height and handle height.
I have always used electric and have had the same wheeled rotary mower for the last 16 yearand the only maintenance required is to change the blade. It does a good job on a largish lawns which are very bumpy.
You can get petrol versions of all of these mowers and these are more expensive than the electric and are supposed to be serviced once a year.
Posted on: 16 April 2005 by long-time-dead
Paul
Electric flymos are light and convenient. You are quite correct to worry about the risk of cutting the cable. If you worry about the cable - forget petrol.
You can alleviate this risk be making a holster for him to wear, passing the cable through a loop under the armpit. The cable will therefore pass behing him and off the grass. An RCD breaker is 100% essential and should be for EVERYONE.
Please do not take this the wrong way, but it might be best to let him potter around the flower beds and visit him for an hour or so each week. You can cut the grass for him (safely) and spend some quality time with a person that has ben totally essential to your very existence.
Do not forget your forebearers - without them, you would be nothing.
Electric flymos are light and convenient. You are quite correct to worry about the risk of cutting the cable. If you worry about the cable - forget petrol.
You can alleviate this risk be making a holster for him to wear, passing the cable through a loop under the armpit. The cable will therefore pass behing him and off the grass. An RCD breaker is 100% essential and should be for EVERYONE.
Please do not take this the wrong way, but it might be best to let him potter around the flower beds and visit him for an hour or so each week. You can cut the grass for him (safely) and spend some quality time with a person that has ben totally essential to your very existence.
Do not forget your forebearers - without them, you would be nothing.
Posted on: 16 April 2005 by Steve2701
quote:d) safe, preferably no blades or electricity
Sorry.. are you certain 'No Blades'??
Would the teeth of a sheep or goat do??
Seriously, if your looking to do it safely, Flymo do plastic bladed hover type mowers that are good, and if run through an rcd plug / socket may do the job required.
Posted on: 16 April 2005 by Bob McC
quote:Seriously, if your looking to do it safely, Flymo do plastic bladed hover type mowers that are good
They'll still take the skin off your toes if you're mowing in your slippers though!
Bob
Posted on: 16 April 2005 by Steve G
Whatever you do don't get him a petrol mower. He'd never survive trying to start the thing.
Posted on: 16 April 2005 by Martin D
We've got one of these its amazingly easy to start, even a girl could start one, sorry but you know what i mean.
Martin
Martin
Posted on: 16 April 2005 by count.d
Honda are the only petrol rotary mower I'd recommend, all the others are cheap plastic toys that don't do the job they're designed for.
Heavier petrol cylinder mowers would be too much effort for your grandad.
RCD circuit breakers are a complete waste of time and money. They don't serve any purpose. I have three in a box and not in a socket.
Heavier petrol cylinder mowers would be too much effort for your grandad.
RCD circuit breakers are a complete waste of time and money. They don't serve any purpose. I have three in a box and not in a socket.
Posted on: 17 April 2005 by Paul Hutchings
Thanks All.
Does anyone know if a "strimmer" style Flymo can cut through the power cord if it's run over it?
Just to clarify things a little, at the moment my grandad uses an old heavy push mower as he prefers the job it does the the electric bladed mower that he has sat in the shed. As he's getting older though he's finding it harder to push (it does weigh a bloody ton!) and the blade is only about a foot wide. The spare electric one is quite puny and seems to clog/stall the moment it hits anything other than very short grass.
I don't have a problem with doing the job for him, but it seems a shame to try and stop him doing something he enjoys doing whilst he is able to do it because of me getting overly paranoid about safety. That said, I do worry about the combination of old age, blades and power cords so if I can minimize the chances of said cord getting sliced..
cheers,
Paul
Does anyone know if a "strimmer" style Flymo can cut through the power cord if it's run over it?
Just to clarify things a little, at the moment my grandad uses an old heavy push mower as he prefers the job it does the the electric bladed mower that he has sat in the shed. As he's getting older though he's finding it harder to push (it does weigh a bloody ton!) and the blade is only about a foot wide. The spare electric one is quite puny and seems to clog/stall the moment it hits anything other than very short grass.
I don't have a problem with doing the job for him, but it seems a shame to try and stop him doing something he enjoys doing whilst he is able to do it because of me getting overly paranoid about safety. That said, I do worry about the combination of old age, blades and power cords so if I can minimize the chances of said cord getting sliced..
cheers,
Paul
Posted on: 17 April 2005 by Berlin Fritz
You can do a brilliiant short back & sides with it, I heard Our Mick saved a fortune with his wife and kids haircuts !
Fritz Von Greenz Meanz Heinz ? or Fritz
Fritz Von Greenz Meanz Heinz ? or Fritz
Posted on: 17 April 2005 by David McN
Woolf electric; can not beat them. Very simple to use and very reliable. Has an arrangement to help keep the cable in the right place. The down side is that it will be about 50% more than a flymo or qualcast. So long as there is a contact breaker on the mains plug no problem with cutting the cable. David
Posted on: 17 April 2005 by BigH47
Are there no re-chargeable cordless ones out there?
If not perhaps a marketing opportunity?
Howard
If not perhaps a marketing opportunity?
Howard
Posted on: 17 April 2005 by Mick P
Paul
Electric mowers are the most convenient to use, so get him one.
You can buy special springy coiled cable which is impossible to cut through with a flymo and therefore safe.
Regards
Mick
Electric mowers are the most convenient to use, so get him one.
You can buy special springy coiled cable which is impossible to cut through with a flymo and therefore safe.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 17 April 2005 by Nime
Try browsing for <cordless lawnmowers>.
Cables are absolutely lethal.
Recoil starting petrol motors are difficult to start. Particularly Briggs and Stratton. Which I would never touch again even with a bargepole.
Having spent decades cutting my own lawns (as they grew ever larger with each house move) I would be very wary of electric power cables.
Hover mowers without wheels are worse than chainsaws. I met a high-rise steel erector once who had just lost most of his toes on his own lawn. Steel toe-caps should not be compulsory.
Rechargeable batteries get better all the time. See what you can find in a quality (named)cordless. He will thank you for it. Even if it's a rotary rather than a cylinder. At least he will be free to cut his own grass. Get him a spare battery so he can be charging while he's charging round himelf.
Nime
Cables are absolutely lethal.
Recoil starting petrol motors are difficult to start. Particularly Briggs and Stratton. Which I would never touch again even with a bargepole.
Having spent decades cutting my own lawns (as they grew ever larger with each house move) I would be very wary of electric power cables.
Hover mowers without wheels are worse than chainsaws. I met a high-rise steel erector once who had just lost most of his toes on his own lawn. Steel toe-caps should not be compulsory.
Rechargeable batteries get better all the time. See what you can find in a quality (named)cordless. He will thank you for it. Even if it's a rotary rather than a cylinder. At least he will be free to cut his own grass. Get him a spare battery so he can be charging while he's charging round himelf.
Nime
Posted on: 17 April 2005 by BigH47
Heres one ENVIROMOWER ECO 500.
or
Draper Cordless 380Mm
Howard
or
Draper Cordless 380Mm
Howard
Posted on: 17 April 2005 by oldie
Paul,
For my two pennth, In all seriousness, whilst the advice given is all very good and well meaning, but all of the mowers mentioned have there own dangers,it goes with the job.At 83 and still gardening you may have a problem persuading him,but my advice in the circumstances would be, to get someone a bit younger in to give him a hand,he may resent it a first ,but after a short while having somebody to chat with whilst pottering in his garden is the best way of keeping both mentally and phyisically active.We did this with a very dear neigbour of the same age, when we lived in the Midlands and it brought a new incentive for him to work in his garden,Ohhhhhhhhh did I forget to mention the helper at the time was me.In the not to distant future I'm hopeing to repeat the exercise,but in reverse.
Best of luck,
oldie.
For my two pennth, In all seriousness, whilst the advice given is all very good and well meaning, but all of the mowers mentioned have there own dangers,it goes with the job.At 83 and still gardening you may have a problem persuading him,but my advice in the circumstances would be, to get someone a bit younger in to give him a hand,he may resent it a first ,but after a short while having somebody to chat with whilst pottering in his garden is the best way of keeping both mentally and phyisically active.We did this with a very dear neigbour of the same age, when we lived in the Midlands and it brought a new incentive for him to work in his garden,Ohhhhhhhhh did I forget to mention the helper at the time was me.In the not to distant future I'm hopeing to repeat the exercise,but in reverse.
Best of luck,
oldie.