OTT -- Need opinions on Lawnmower

We have an ancient (stored for 7 years -- used for 6) side discharge Murray gas lawnmower. Nothing fancy, in fact it is in sore need of a throttle cable & a tune up. DH turned it off the entire summer by twisting the spark plug with a crescent wrench

I used to be the one mowing the lawn & I enjoyed it I refuse to use something that's substandard, smells of fumes, and is in terrible shape. Instead of having it fixed up, I would rather get a new rear discharge since it won't fit in our small shed with the side shute hooked up. I want a bag to pick up all the gunk in our yard with a mulcher blade like I used to do when it was in great shape (dog crap, sticks, old leaves -- oh and mowed grass ).

So that leaves me with a decision with what to do. Should I try for an Electric mower? Our electric is not cheap, esp. in summer with the A/C, but I don't think it would make that much of a difference. DH disagrees. In his opinion, gas would be still cheaper to run. There's also the annoying power cord to deal with. But I think it would be like vaccuming the house I'd find it doable, especially since I wouldn't have to deal with gas, oil, and noise.

Has anyone gone from gas to electric recently? If so, what do you think? Even if you havent' --- what do you think?

Can one hold up to the abuse my gas mower has been subjected to and still survive?

I need good solid arguments for this radical change in my dh's traditional lawn care ideology

Well, just my personal opinion, an electric mower is going to cost about the same to run as a gas mower. It's an appliance that doesnt get used that much. It would most likely only burn around 1-2kw/hour, so that isn't that much. To figure out exactly find out how many watt it is and divide by 1000, and that will give you how many kilowatt hours you will burn per hour of use. Your power bill should tell you how much you're paying for electricity. I have a larger farm yard, so a power cord is impractical (we use gas burners), but if you have a small yard, electric will be easier to use. No matter which type you decide to buy, don't get fooled by the expensive top of the line one. Don't spend hoards of money on one: $200CAD tops is what I would pay for a gasser (I'm not familiar with price range of electrics). Good luck with whatever you choose, and good job on beating the "lawncare rush"

beeman said:

Good luck with whatever you choose, and good job on beating the "lawncare rush"

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LOL -- thanks for the advice. Actually, no early bird here... Spring has sprung in Texas and the grass turned green 8 days ago! Some patches are already 7 inches tall Dogs will be in danger of being eaten up soon 80 degrees tomorrow & windy.

I have a middling size front & back yard, so the power cord trail might not be too annoying. I'd love to get a rechargable lawnmower, but they run around $400!

I'm just wondering if an electric corded would have enough power to eat the tall Texan grass & all the thick twigs that lay around this yard.

Oops, I didn't realise you were that far south. I've still got snow and won't be mowing grass for another month (except for the beeyards that didn't get mowed last fall... or summer even ). I'm not sure if an electric would have enough power. When I made my skating rink this fall, I was mowing grass in the snow, and my 5hp gas one worked, but it grunted when it hit snow banks (so did I ). The rechargeable one most likely wouldn't have enough power, and if it did, it would drain the battery fairly quickly. The electric one will have enough power to eat it's own cord though, and it will do a good job at it too before the mower completely stops.
I have one of those weed wackers on wheels (5hp gasser) for mowing my beeyards, which I really like (they are expensive though!). It's also got enough power to take out power cords, and garden hoses, and patio furniture, and small trees, and it will take a good chunk out of the front of a beehive too ! Those are the kings of powerful and versatile mowers, if thats what your looking for. I've had it a few years, and don't remember what it costs though .

we had an electric one YEARS ago, but it was a PITA to use... that dreaded cord and all. plus it was weak, it bogged down if you walked too fast.

i'd just go with a gas one. if you can swing the extra $$$, go for a honda! we had one and it was the best lawnmower we ever had... by far the easiest to use, not to mention very quiet for a gas mower.

i'd just go with a gas one. if you can swing the extra $$$, go for a honda!

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I would recommend the Honda as well. I sold it when I bought the house I'm in now, because I needed a rider (1 acre). The Honda that i had was 3-in-1, did mulch, rear bag, and side discharge. When you aren't using the side discharge (which I never did), there is nothing sticking out of the side, so you can get close on either side. I'm not big on electric for lawn tools, so I wouldn't really ever buy an electric mower myself. Unless I had a very small villa/condo that had a postage stamp lawn that required maybe 2-3 passes to cut. The Honda will start easy and last a long time. My wife used to use our Honda all the time and loved it. ( She likes the tractor even better )

Of course, you could always just pay someone to do it and have that extra room in the shed for something else!

If your yard isn't big, you might look at the new generation of push reel mowers. DH bought one a couple of years ago and it's actually quite easy to push....my 9 year old can mow with it and I'll even get out and do it once in a while and I've never so much as started a power mower so it was definitely not my thing before;-)

We do have a gas mower too (something he bought half price off season at Walmart) and he uses it to scalp the grass in the spring and occaisionally if he's really in a hurry, but the push mower is nicer to the grass and obviously better for the environment too.

sirrahn said:

If your yard isn't big, you might look at the new generation of push reel mowers.

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I was going to say the same thing! From what I've read, the electric ones are only good for small lawns, and if you're doing that little, a push reel mower should also work well for you. I almost got one last year for our front lawn, as Hubby hates to mow, and I can't use a regular push mower (phobia left over from my childhood). We've got over half an acre, but most of that is in the back, and it would be nice to keep the front yard looking decent.

If your yard isn't big, you might look at the new generation of push reel mowers.

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I hadn't thought of that (probably because of all the bad memories I have using one as a kid!) That is a good alternative, plus you get some exercise too! The only thing to consider, being your in Texas, is if the soil is soft like sand or something, or you have a thick grass like we do in Florida (St. Augustine/Floratam) It may be hard to push.

ETA: Here's one at Sears for about $100. http://tinyurl.com/25ppzd

TheRealMacGyver said:

ETA: Here's one at Sears for about $100. http://tinyurl.com/25ppzd

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The Scotts 20" Push Reel Mower is the one I've seen recommended on several different sites.

UlrikeDG said:

The Scotts 20" Push Reel Mower is the one I've seen recommended on several different sites.

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Yes, the Scotts one is what we have. I'm in TX too and we've got clay soil that's practically concrete and bermuda grass so it's no issue at all.

sirrahn said:

If your yard isn't big, you might look at the new generation of push reel mowers. DH bought one a couple of years ago and it's actually quite easy to push....my 9 year old can mow with it and I'll even get out and do it once in a while and I've never so much as started a power mower so it was definitely not my thing before;-)

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LOL at you all I've actually been eco-friendly for over 7 years with the mowing topic. When we got to Germany & I saw our postage stamp front & back yards (the back was just 12X8 feet -- yes, that tiny ) I purchased a Gardena Reel lawn mower for about $65. I thought it was a lot of money, but now the same mower sells for around $150! It worked great, but my front & back yards are definitely too large to mow with it
I'm still keeping it. Who knows when it will be handy and it's very easy to store

I'm going to look into the Honda and see if I can locate a reasonably priced mower.

We have a Toro self-propelled rear discharge/mulcher mower as our primary mower and I rarely use the bagger on it. We also have a manual reel mower but it would probably take me all week to mow the entire yard with it, lol. It's a Great States brand or something like that, I can't remember the exact model info. We call it the Amish mower and I pull it out and mow part of the yard with it for an added workout when I don't feel like using ear protectors to dull the noise of the power mower. Some of the neighbors with their rider mowers think I'm nuts for using the reel mower, lol. I think the able bodied neighbors with the gigantic John Deere lawn tractors for their .25 acre lots are the nutty ones. But to each their own.

Hey, the JD garden tractors are awesome! Not practical for a city lot, but for farm or acrage, they're great (and fun to operate). Garden tractors aren't something to cheap out on, and from personal experience, JD's are worth the extra investment (the same goes for big tractors too!). Remember on that note that green machines may cost more when you buy them, but they sell for more when you sell them too! Our garden tractor is an old 20+year old 317 JD with a 20 hp, and it's a great tractor. (I want to put a ford 302/5.0L into one of these for garden tractor racing (Thats the same engine as my trucks got!)). Oops, shouldn't say that on a safety forum . I totally forgot about the push type lawn mowers. I know Morganthe said that it's not right for her, but if you have a small lot it does a better job on the grass, just by the fact that it actually cuts the grass, rather than ripping it like the blade mowers. This prevents the tips of the grass from turning brown. Golf courses use a simmilar type mower. These are also good, because they mulch the grass, and put back on the lawn, so you don't have to fertalize. Even with powered mowers, if you stay on top of the grass cutting, bagging isn't necessary. All that does is fill the land fills and take away nutrients from your lawn. If you cut your grass often, the clippings will be small, and go below the green grass.
As I mentioned earlier the whiper snipper on wheels might be a good option. It is easy to maneuver like a push mower, and lets you get into the hard to reach places, like around trees and fence posts. It also works a lot better than a push mower on the thick grass. The down side with this is that it has a shorter cutting height (1- 1 1/2" aprox?) than push mowers, and the strings need to be replaced often if you're cutting dense material (especially small shrubs ). This is all I use for my bee yards now, and have had good sucess with it. I'm not shure the brand name of mine, but it's got a 5hp briggs and straton engine, and so far I've had good luck with it. If your dealing with large grass though, it wont mulch it like a lawn mower, and bagging it is out of the question, if thats one of your priorities.