WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Tut!Tut! - nice electric mower, or better still (IME) a RoboMower. Grass looks freshly cut every day because ... it is!
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2 EV Household - what else you got?
- Thread starter bctomuk
- Start date
Tut!Tut! - nice electric mower, or better still (IME) a RoboMower. Grass looks freshly cut every day because ... it is!
Garden is too big. Ride-on does the bulk and self—propelled push mower does the sides of the ditches, under the trees and a other less accessible areas.
given the lack of power in the storage sheds and the difficulty in getting power to them, battery mowers are a non-starter for me.
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
I doubt that, of itself, is a problem - my garden is big enough to need several Robot Mowers
... I used to do it with a ride on (model had 60" cut and was chosen to make the job quick, so although area was large and has complicated shapes / paths etc. it only took me 1h30m). Mower was knackered, noisy and a brand new top-of-range model which would have done the job in the same time was expensive ... and worked out same as multiple Robot Mowers. Now I save the 1h30m a week, don't have to fret if we have weekend guests coming and it is raining on a Friday "Mower evening" ... and every morning when I get up the grass looks freshly cut 'coz it is. Heavy land here, always used to be a problem to try to mow in winter and spring when it was sodden - the Robots are light and have no problem with that.Its not without problems e.g. if the perimeter wire gets broken (finding where the break is) [newer models use augmented GPS I believe, so no perimeter wire], but other than that hassle free, negligible maintenance (razor blade type things replaced a couple of times a year for a few £quid), no hassle with getting fuel or the blinking pull-cord snapping and then spending an unscheduled hour fixing / fighting with the mower, and I'm not part of the mower-weekend-noise-pollution problem in the neighbourhood! ... well, "works for me" I guess
Definitely only worthwhile/affordable, in my case, 'coz my mower was knackered and needed replacing anyway.
Definitely a snag! I put power to mine 'coz lack of power was a hassle - I wanted CCTV (put a cable in for that too to avoid trying to get WiFi longer distance, and put water pipe in the trench too ...) and ability to charge garden stuff (got an electric mini-quad bike for towing garden trailer etc. That was a good purchase too, £2K ... but sadly lead-acid
, Way better than the ICE tug/ride-on that I had before). But unless you could garage the Robot next to house, and it could "drive" to lawn from there, then yup! it (i.e. each/all of them ...) would need power at its garage.......don't you guys have a gardener, 30 seconds for online payment every 2 week
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WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
You guys have it easy. I have 3 ponds, two streams, assorted tree islands, 200yds of espaliered fruit trees as well as two small orchards and the soft fruit section. It takes 2hrs with a 6ft diesel job followed by 1/2 hr with the small ride on. I guess it'd need an army of robots to navigate that lot. Heck I ve been known to feel lazy and get the quad bike out to go to the far end..
@pgkevet Sounds like you need an onsite gardening team!! I love our garden but I've got no interest in managing it.
One our neighbours have essentially let theirs go ferwarl, which actually doesn't look too bad once the vegetation is so dense you cannot see the grass any more.
One our neighbours have essentially let theirs go ferwarl, which actually doesn't look too bad once the vegetation is so dense you cannot see the grass any more.
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Nought wrong with that - I have several, but more because the ones I have:
Don't cope with travelling from one area to another across gravel
Don't cope with an excessively long perimeter wire
The perimeter for a rectangular max-mower-area is fine, but if you have loads of island beds that increases the wire length and reaches MAX at some point (if you are in that situation using a thicker wire will help - and the newer augmented-GPS models that don't need a perimeter wire completely solve that problem). For all the trees in my lawn I just let it bump into them and then turn around (I've got a bit of plastic drainage pipe around the smaller ones to protect them) - the bigger models have USS (well ... until Musk buys Husqvarna
) and slow down before so they then hit things at a slow speedThere are other brands that will do large areas, but just for example the Husqvarna 415X will do 1,500 sq.m. and the newer (more fancy / more features) 320 NERA will do 2,200 sq.m. - but to mow its max area the grass needs to be predominantly a rectangle, rather than miles of narrow paths! Those are £2,300 - £2,700 for the mower.
Its a hobby for me. I compare it with my my mates who play golf. By the time they've been to Portugal etc. for a few Boys Weekends each year they have spent exactly the same as I have on my garden, and I get more/better exercise, timeshifted to whenever convenient for me and without having to travel to do it, and every year as my garden matures it gets better - unlike their handicap as they get older!
If the 320 nera does 1/2 acre I'd need about 8 or 9 of them.... which is likely still cheaper than my industrial ride on. The other acres get mowed for hay apart from topping the 15 acres of hill (scary with a tractor). I've given up trying to drive through the dense woodland...
I bought it for the view, the fun of managing it and the peace and distance from neighbours but age starts to take a toll on me...
I bought it for the view, the fun of managing it and the peace and distance from neighbours but age starts to take a toll on me...
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Sean.
Active Member
What have you got? I’ve got a couple of Kubotas an out front F3890 and a GR2120 with a bag. Fields get topped using a batwing behind the tractor.
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
When I had tall / rough grass I had a Cheap Chinese tractor and a topper mower, and took a hay crop a couple of times a year (and composted it). After I had replaced carburettor, exhaust, 3-point hydraulic pump, etc. with JD originals it worked very reliably
Mind you, small-end tractors are now available as battery - probably same price as a M3 though ... turning circle on tractor was far too wide to do things like scarify / roll the lawn, so needed a ride on for that, but I did contemplate a 5-gang mower for the tractor as a faster / smarter-finish mower ... I now think that a small quad bike is a better "tug" (I now have electric one - Eco Rider Explorer [photograph makes it look huge - the one I have is low/small but big enough that an adult doesn't have knees-on-chin])All that area of my grass is now Robot mowed and in effect lawn rather than rough grass
Got the same Kubota plus a front deck small Husqvarna then modest tractor and attachments for general stuff - and help from Mr Real Farmer down the road for haying, hedge brushing and the like.
EVer Hopeful
Active Member
You were lucky! We used to dream of only having 3 ponds, two streams, assorted tree islands, 200yds of espaliered fruit trees as well as two small orchards and the soft fruit section
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
When I did cut the lawn, with ICE, I had an Allen National - proper cylinder cut and the 3 gangs rode bumps rather than scalping them! Looked like a flying bedstead
The 60" cut did 2 acres an hour (they have an 83" model too). I always hankered after a Ransomes - the 5-gang has a 138" cut
The 60" cut did 2 acres an hour (they have an 83" model too). I always hankered after a Ransomes - the 5-gang has a 138" cut
I had an old knackered Ransome fairway for a season..12 ft cut but very little clearance..get unlucky and pull a hydraulic line off cost loadsa new fluid.... surprisingly manoeuvrable.When I did cut the lawn, with ICE, I had an Allen National - proper cylinder cut and the 3 gangs rode bumps rather than scalping them! Looked like a flying bedstead
The 60" cut did 2 acres an hour (they have an 83" model too). I always hankered after a Ransomes - the 5-gang has a 138" cut
Drew57
Active ember
....this thread used to be saloons and SUVs but now it's about huge estates
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