Petrol lawn mower advice needed

[Vital Spark]

We've got a pretty large garden, and about half a rai of it is looking rather overgrown. The landlord came round yesterday and offered to get one of his men to spray chemicals to kill off the grass! To keep him happy, and ward off 'chemical Somchai', I need to buy a tough lawn mower to make it look a bit more tidy (personally I quite like it, but I think the peeps in the old folks' home next door are worried about snakes) .

The brand that seems to be popular here is Honda. Are they any good? Can they take the rough with the smooth? I'm thinking about spending about 10,000 baht. Do any of you knowledgeable people know the best (and most reliable) brand to buy?

VS

[NOKYAI]

Just a thought! Wouldn't it be more economic, help the local economy etc if you just hired a man with his own mower to come every couple of weeks and give him a couple of hundred Baht. It's too hot to be stomping through a snake infested field cutting the grass yourself.

[Vital Spark]

Nice idea, but tried it a couple of times with one of the gardeners at the university. He turned up at the wrong time, did half of a job badly, and demanded twice the money. I actually enjoy cutting grass - I can spend some time in the sunshine (a rarity), and get some exercise at the same time. I can also sit down at the end of the day thinking I really deserve that glass of beer...

VS

[Dannie Boy]

Honda do make some of the more robust mowers, although you might struggle to get one for 10,000 - when I was looking they were closer to 20,000 for a fairly large self propelled one. Depending on how long the grass is, you might need a strimmer on it first time to get it back to a more manageable length, before using the mower.

[HHTel]

Doesn't matter what label the mower goes under but a good idea is to look at the make of the motor. Briggs and Stratton are probably the world's best and supply most of the mower engines to the various makes.

[PeteC]

If you get a machine with a Briggs and Stratton engine make sure at time of purchase what kind of fuel it runs on. Probably a good idea with a Honda engine as well. I had one for a few years and gasohol really fouled it up. I had to search out regular 91 and 95 octane and that's harder now, I think only select Caltex stations have 95. Perhaps Briggs and Stratton engines are now made for gasohol, I don't know.

The unit I had was named Rover I believe, from Australia and only cost about 7-8. Basic machine, not self propelled but did the job, and you got a good workout at the same time. It would be running today but I hit a very large street light bolt and bent the shaft....had to shoot it. Pete

[brianks]

If you can get a Honda mower it will be like their Motorcycles, Run forever. Doubt you could find one for 10,000 baht. I could not find a Honda mower where I live in the south so purchased a Rover (Australian Brand) which has worked quite well. Biggest reason for the Rover purchase is that it is MUCH quieter running than Bring and Stratton engines. Rover generates 75db of "noise" where as Bring and Stratton scream at 97 db of "Noise". I'll bet the Honda is a "quiet" one also. When I lived in Hua Hin I saw a Honda mower at a lawn shop in area near or across from Kings Palace. Purchased my Rover from Home Pro.

[christopher1]

I 'inherited' a Honda lawn mower when I bought the house over 5 years ago...What a work horse it is. Never had a problem with it.

[Vital Spark]

Thanks for all your advice guys. Decided to bite the bullet today and went downtown to a family run gem of a shop selling every kind of mechanical gear you could imagine. The guy also does services and repairs (which I thought would be handy). Decided against buying one from Global House or HomePro, as I thought the after-sales might be lacking (or non-existent). I can't remember what the chassis is called, but it's a Honda engine - GXV160HS, if that means anything to anyone. It's got 10 height levels, which is really handy for the variety of terrain we have.

I've just spent two pleasurable hours attacking the jungle, and it worked like a dream. I realised I needed to spend more than 10,000, so I was happy paying 14,200 baht. One happy, but rather tired, bunny.

VS

[HHTel]

My petrol lawn mower blew a hole in the engine casing today so I need to look at a new one. I notice a lot of the newer ones have what is described as 'flail knives' which are two short blades attached on opposite sides of a disc. I've only ever been familiar with the long single blade.
Does anyone have experience of a mower with 'flail knives' and how do they compare with the more conventional type?

[Nereus]

My petrol lawn mower blew a hole in the engine casing today so I need to look at a new one. I notice a lot of the newer ones have what is described as 'flail knives' which are two short blades attached on opposite sides of a disc. I've only ever been familiar with the long single blade.
Does anyone have experience of a mower with 'flail knives' and how do they compare with the more conventional type?

Haven't needed a lawn mower for many years, but all the ones that I did have always had two blades. If they have a small section turned up on the trailing edge of the blades it is there too "throw" the cuttings up into a grass catcher.

[HHTel]

Thanks, Nereus. Yep, they're as you say with the turned up edge. It's like the ends of a single blade have been cut off and attached to the disc. So I guess it works like the single blade. I imagine it's an improvement but I'm not qualified to say why. I'll just bite the bullet and buy one.

[Dannie Boy]

Other than on a cylinder mower, most of the rotary mowers I have come across have a single blade with two cutting faces as in the below.

A6B37235-8BBF-494E-89DC-DE758A1EDC3A.jpeg (68.5 KiB) Viewed 732 times

[Nereus]

The advantage of having two blades is that if you hit a small obstruction the blades simply fold back. A single blade will put a big strain on whatever is driving it, petrol or electric. In fact, electric mowers are the only ones that I have ever seen with a single blade. When I was an apprentice it was my job to rewind the motors in those mongrel electric ones!

[Dannie Boy]

Well I have two petrol mowers and they both have the single blade similar to the one in the photo - you are correct though, that if you hit a hidden object you do get an almighty jar on the blade.