Best lawn mower for commercial work.

[Guest Gimlet]

5 hours ago, GardenKit said:

Not quite sure where the anti-Stiga thing comes from. Stiga mowers are really good, so good in fact that I have dropped sales of my previous brands of JD, Hayter and Alko mowers to concentrate solely on Stiga product.

Although I do sell Tanaka hand held rather than the Stiga.

I bought a heavy duty, supposedly pro, Stiga brush cutter last year. I bought it because it was half the price of a Stihl or a Husky but had a 44 cc Kawasaki engine. And TBF the power unit I can't fault. It's the bits that Stiga have done that I've issues with. Bits started coming off pretty much on the first day. It's not that it's shoddily made so much as badly designed. Or parts of it at least. It feels like a first attempt at a brush cutter whereas with a Husky or a Stihl you can see experience in the engineering.

It's not bad for what it cost. I'm using it, it's doing the job and hasn't let me down but there are continual annoyances and I'm not confident it's going to have a long life. I wouldn't buy another.

Don't really want a repeat experience with a lawn mower.

Edited February 7, 2020 by Gimlet

[scbk]

2 minutes ago, Gimlet said:

I bought a heavy duty, supposedly pro, Stiga brush cutter last year. I bought it because it was half the price of a Stihl or a Husky but had a 44 cc Kawasaki engine. And TBF the power unit I can't fault. It's the bits that Stiga have done that I've issues with. Bits started coming off pretty much on the first day. It's not that it's shoddily made so much as badly designed. Or parts of it at least. It feels like a first attempt at a brush cutter whereas with a Husky or a Stihl you can see experience in the engineering.

It's not bad for what it cost. I'm using it, it's doing the job and hasn't let me down but there are continual annoyances and I'm not confident it's going to have a long life. I wouldn't buy another.

Don't really want a repeat experience with a lawn mower.

I've got the Stiga branded, 52cc Kawasaki engine brushcutter. I'm sure it's actually made by someone else though?

 

And tbh I quite like it, good bit of kit for the money

[Guest Gimlet]

4 hours ago, richyrich said:

I've not heard good reviews of Timemaster. Toro 21 inch Heavy Duty i have had for years. Great machine but not in the wet. 

What are the issues withe the Timemaster? I thought Toro were generally highly regarded.

I try not to mow very wet grass if I can avoid it. Hard to do it well, whatever you're using.

 

I did wonder about the twin blade design of the Timemaster. I get the extra mulching potential but wonder whether they work against clean ejection and collection. And most of my mowing is collected. 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Gimlet

[Guest Gimlet]

20 minutes ago, scbk said:

I've got the Stiga branded, 52cc Kawasaki engine brushcutter. I'm sure it's actually made by someone else though?

 

And tbh I quite like it, good bit of kit for the money

Mine was sold to me as a Stiga by a Stiga dealer but it doesn't say Stiga on it anywhere. And now you mention it, I rather doubt the Kawasaki engine was made in Japan. Chinese under license I would imagine.

The harness started to disintegrate by lunchtime on the first day. The Handlebar clamp is a very poor design with a needless camlock arrangement that doesn't hold the bars tight. Underneath the flip up cam handle there is a single Allen screw that holds the clamp in place. If this screw is tightened up fully the camlock cannot be closed, but backing the screw off enough to make the camlock operable allows the screw to continually work loose. I do a lot of bramble smashing with a three point shredder blade and I will have to remove the handlebars and tighten the screw several times a day. I've tried threadlock and PTFE tape, which helps a bit but it still comes loose. And the blade nut comes undone regularly too. Again PTFE has helped but it shouldn't be happening. It suggests there is too much vibration which could be down to the quality of the transmission (I've used the same shredder blade on my old Echo brush cutter and nothing ever came loose).

 

Also, the blade guard is extremely flimsy. The bracket that attaches it to the shaft can be bent by hand and it is retained by a single M6 screw. I shred a lot of rogue saplings on an area of SSSI down land and the safety guard isn't up to it. Again, the smaller Echo machine never had any problems.   

 

I don't hate the Stiga and it is good value for money, but mine gets some pretty heavy duty use and I don't think it's really up to it. 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Gimlet

[richyrich]

41 minutes ago, Gimlet said:

What are the issues withe the Timemaster? I thought Toro were generally highly regarded.

I try not to mow very wet grass if I can avoid it. Hard to do it well, whatever you're using.

 

I did wonder about the twin blade design of the Timemaster. I get the extra mulching potential but wonder whether they work against clean ejection and collection. And most of my mowing is collected. 

A lad that used one said had bother with belts etc. Reviews say they clog up with clippings etc. The pro model turfmaster has same kawasaki engine as 21 inch Heavy Duty Toro- even a bit lacking torque for that i would say. I do rate Toros highly but they are not perfect...yet to find that mower!

[richyrich]

29 minutes ago, Gimlet said:

Mine was sold to me as a Stiga by a Stiga dealer but it doesn't say Stiga on it anywhere. And now you mention it, I rather doubt the Kawasaki engine was made in Japan. Chinese under license I would imagine.

The harness started to disintegrate by lunchtime on the first day. The Handlebar clamp is a very poor design with a needless camlock arrangement that doesn't hold the bars tight. Underneath the flip up cam handle there is a single Allen screw that holds the clamp in place. If this screw is tightened up fully the camlock cannot be closed, but backing the screw off enough to make the camlock operable allows the screw to continually work loose. I do a lot of bramble smashing with a three point shredder blade and I will have to remove the handlebars and tighten the screw several times a day. I've tried threadlock and PTFE tape, which helps a bit but it still comes loose. And the blade nut comes undone regularly too. Again PTFE has helped but it shouldn't be happening. It suggests there is too much vibration which could be down to the quality of the transmission (I've used the same shredder blade on my old Echo brush cutter and nothing ever came loose).

 

Also, the blade guard is extremely flimsy. The bracket that attaches it to the shaft can be bent by hand and it is retained by a single M6 screw. I shred a lot of rogue saplings on an area of SSSI down land and the safety guard isn't up to it. Again, the smaller Echo machine never had any problems.   

 

I don't hate the Stiga and it is good value for money, but mine gets some pretty heavy duty use and I don't think it's really up to it. 

Stiga, Atco and Mountfield are part of the GGP group i think. The twinclip machines are supposed to be good, but i have not seen a review. One thing with Toro mowers is most are quick! Many manufacturers don't state speed which usually means they are slow.

[richyrich]

Snapper NX-90V Lawnmower Petrol 21n 53cm Cut

WWW.CHEAPMOWERS.COM

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This sounds good on paper but who knows. The best allround mower i have used is the Toro 21 inch Heavy Duty - mine is a Hayter one but same thing more or less. Mates with Honda pros have had gearbox problems. I personally would not buy another Honda- Izy push used to be good. Later models had plastic bushes instead of ball bearings. Absolute crap.

[GardenKit]

53 minutes ago, Gimlet said:

I bought a heavy duty, supposedly pro, Stiga brush cutter last year. I bought it because it was half the price of a Stihl or a Husky but had a 44 cc Kawasaki engine. And TBF the power unit I can't fault. It's the bits that Stiga have done that I've issues with. Bits started coming off pretty much on the first day. It's not that it's shoddily made so much as badly designed. Or parts of it at least. It feels like a first attempt at a brush cutter whereas with a Husky or a Stihl you can see experience in the engineering.

It's not bad for what it cost. I'm using it, it's doing the job and hasn't let me down but there are continual annoyances and I'm not confident it's going to have a long life. I wouldn't buy another.

Don't really want a repeat experience with a lawn mower.

But to be fair, you are not going to get the same quality as a Stihl or Husky for half the price!

And, as you say it does the job.

I have sold several of the red ones from Stiga Mountfield with the Kawasaki engines and the owners are chuffed to bits with them. I agree though, that the harness is not that great for Pro use although adequate for domestic. The Kawaski engine is totally genuine Japanese engineering, although most of their production is now in China.

To be frank, there is nothing wrong with having kit built in China these days, just stay clear of Chinese machines, if that makes sense.

Stiga have some excellent mowers, especially the Twinclip range, which are their premium range. There are a couple of Pro models at the top of the range with Honda Pro engines and Blade Brake Clutches, coming in less than £1k with a 12 month Pro User Warranty and 5year Domestic warranty.

If you are in the west of Dorset you will not be too far from me, why not pop over for a look?

 

I would be a bit wary of the Titan, at under £400 its cheap, but just like your Stiga Brushcutter, cheap is not always best.

[GardenKit]

9 minutes ago, richyrich said:

Stiga, Atco and Mountfield are part of the GGP group i think. The twinclip machines are supposed to be good, but i have not seen a review. One thing with Toro mowers is most are quick! Many manufacturers don't state speed which usually means they are slow.

The GGP group no longer exists, as it is now branded Stiga. Atco and Mountfield are now part of Stiga.

[richyrich]

1 minute ago, GardenKit said:

The GGP group no longer exists, as it is now branded Stiga. Atco and Mountfield are now part of Stiga.

I thought that was maybe so. I have a small Atco push for some small lawns where i need to carry the machine over steps. It collects better than my Toros and the Izy( which i retired due to its poor performance) .