Best lawn mower for commercial work.

[Guest Gimlet]

What make lawnmower would people recommend for commercial gardening? Self-propelled walk behind I'm talking, not sit and ride.

 

I've been using a 21" wheeled Ariens with a 6.75 hp Briggs engine. It's good. Bags of power, variable speed, but it's getting long in the tooth, Ariens parts can be tricky to get and it's quite complicated when it goes wrong. The engine is burning quite a bit of oil too so I'd like a replacement on stand-by for when it packs up. I've tendered for some parish council work which involves village greens so I might get a second one with a roller as well. 

 

It'll work nearly every day and some sites are a bit rough and uneven (church yards). 

 

Needs to be 21" cut, with plenty of power and speed and be reliable and durable so it can stick the work load. I bought a Stiga brushcutter last year and I'm not overly impressed with that. The Kawasaki engine is great but the Stiga bit is poor so I'd prefer to avoid budget brands. 

 

Any recommendations?

 

 

[Mark Bolam]

Etesias always seem to get great reviews and have Kawasaki engines as well.

[doobin]

Etesia were shit for me. Everything that could fall off fell off within a year, as that’s no exaggeration. That was with a kohler engine though. 
 

best value for me would be the kaaz : lawnflite pro style with a Honda engine. 

[kkk2]

We use these machines I like the 6 liter tank as it will run all day on a fill, heavy machines but up to any commercial work, they have anti vibe handles for someone using it all day you might consider this, expensive but the oldest one we have is 2007 still going and all parts available for them.

https://www.deere.co.uk/en/commercial-mowing/commercial-walk-behind-mowers/jx90cb/

[TIMON]

Honda Lawnflite has been good for us.

[Guest Gimlet]

5 hours ago, doobin said:

Etesia were shit for me. Everything that could fall off fell off within a year, as that’s no exaggeration.

Sound exactly like my Stiga brushcutter..

[Guest Gimlet]

4 hours ago, kkk2 said:

We use these machines I like the 6 liter tank as it will run all day on a fill, heavy machines but up to any commercial work, they have anti vibe handles for someone using it all day you might consider this, expensive but the oldest one we have is 2007 still going and all parts available for them.

https://www.deere.co.uk/en/commercial-mowing/commercial-walk-behind-mowers/jx90cb/

Cheers. Found a few used John Deeres. None as big as that one yet but not as pricey as I thought. Will keep my eyes peeled. 

[kkk2]

Some Jx90 machines had Subaru engines but the Kawasaki engines are better, also the JX80 its predecessor was a good machine and parts are available for these as well, if you are looking at JD's its the "C" or "CB" which designates it as a commercial machine, better air filters and spin off oil filters make servicing easy. if you intend to do large areas why not consider a hydro walk behind 48 inch plus machine? picture for reference only, we have a 36 inch hydro Toro which is bulletproof, and covers ground a lot faster than a 21inch.

Edited January 25, 2020 by kkk2

[Guest Gimlet]

36" will be too big for a lot of my jobs.

 

Anyone know anything about these:

22" Zero Turn Lawn Mower | 55cm Self Propelled Petrol Rotary Mower

WWW.TITAN-PRO.CO.UK

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22" Rotary Zero Turn Lawn Mower from Titan Pro with a powerful 8 HP Kohler engine and articulated wheels.

 Seems to good to be true for £500. 

 

Worth a try or Chinese tat? I might be tempted if it had a two year warranty. 

[doobin]

7 hours ago, Gimlet said:

36" will be too big for a lot of my jobs.

 

Anyone know anything about these:

22" Zero Turn Lawn Mower | 55cm Self Propelled Petrol Rotary Mower

WWW.TITAN-PRO.CO.UK

---

22" Rotary Zero Turn Lawn Mower from Titan Pro with a powerful 8 HP Kohler engine and articulated wheels.

 Seems to good to be true for £500. 

 

Worth a try or Chinese tat? I might be tempted if it had a two year warranty. 

I'd run a mile from that Kohler engine.

 

Although our grass workload is now much less, what I ended up doing is buying two Honda powered Mountfields from Screwfix when they were on sale. This is the latest version:

 

Mountfield SP53H 167cc Self-Propelled Rotary Petrol Lawn Mower | Lawn Mowers | Screwfix.com

WWW.SCREWFIX.COM

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Order online at Screwfix.com. Powered by the Honda GCV170 Autochoke 167cc engine. Designed to provide an...

Thing is, they often drop them down to around £300+VAT in spring. That's the time to buy.

I though for sure it would break within a year (as Etesia and Viking did for me), and rather than suffer a shit dealer like Richmonds Groundcare making a hash of it, and taking three weeks to fix it, I'd just get a new reaplacement one under warranty from Screwfix.

 

Once had a spot weld fail in the height mechanism, which would have been a two minute fix but I changed it anyway and kept the collector (accidentally) as a spare. The other one has been perfect.

 

Look at it as I did as £300 for a years mowing- three years if you buy it as a 'domestic' customer... If it lasts another year (mine are at three) then bonus!