Jaydub

Checked out the JD R47V this morning and it seemed like a good buy so went for it. No angst about battery life now, although obviously higher cost of ownership. Thanks for all your advice, even if I didn't put it to use in quite the way I was intending.

The Stiga looks good, although it was our local Stiga dealer pushing the Egos and the only Stigas I saw there were Atcos! I have a slight curved ball as I have found a one year old John Deere R47V for £300 locally. Going to check that out and the Egos in the morning.

Smallish lawn area, so thinking of either the 42cm push or the 47cm s/p. Hadn't realised you could drive the mower without the blades running. 42cm probably better suited to the size of lawn area, but the 20 minute run time is a bit of a worry, as I reckon it takes me 30 mins to mow about 140m2 with my 46cm petrol mower. The Stihl's look a little less rugged, but they do give you the option of selecting which battery and charger you want. I can take their 41cm mower as a manual or s/p with my choice of battery and charger, so not entirely ruled them out. Definitely favouring the Ego option and one of my local dealers will have both the 42cm and 47cm options in for this weekend, so should be making a final choice on Saturday hopefully.

Having had a look at the latest generation cordless mowers, I am impressed. Having thought I would go for a petrol engined rear roller mower, I am now favouring a cordless Ego or Stihl four wheeled mower. The Egos come with a very impressive five year unconditional warranty on the mower with three years on the battery, so probably favouring them over the Stihl. Mountfield also do a cordless rear roller mower, which I haven't entirely ruled out but is probably a bit more money than I would really want to spend on a Mountfield. Might be being a bit of a badge snob though!

The old mower is 17 years old (just found the June 2002 receipt) and needs a new gearbox according to our local mower dealer. It's usable in the short term but the cost of the repair is far more than the mower is worth. I have to admit I hadn't even considered a battery mower, but will have a look as another option. Jack and Conor, thanks for your input.

I need to replace a 15 year old 18" Mountfield 4 wheel rotary mower, which will no longer free wheel. It's for domestic use only and we have three areas of lawn which only amount to approx 120 square metres in total, so thinking of going down in size to a 16" or 17" mower. As the lawns are small, I have a lot of edges to mow and I seem to manage to scalp the lawn edges on a fairly regular basis, so thinking of getting a roller machine this time. I am buying on the basis of ease of use and longevity, with cost being a secondary factor and think I have got down to a shortlist of three machines (I think!!): Hayter Harrier 41 Autodrive Honda HRX 426 QX Stihl RM 454 VR This is only for home use so the grass will never be more than 5cm long (first cut of the year) and usually significantly shorter. I never intend to mow in the rain, but can't rule out having to mow when the grass is damp, so need a machine that won't clog up with damp grass. I know this is really a professional forum, but does anybody have any experience of the above mowers or care to give me a recommendation of which machine is likely to give the best longevity?