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I am considering getting a pushpower mower for our lawn. The lawn is quite large at the moment, but we are working on that (We keep turning bits of it into veg patches ). Who else uses push power mowers and what makes and models are the best?

We have a Qualcast Panther, seems to be quite good and reliable and fairly cheap (about £30).

We've had it a year and it's been through the wars, tackled some very tough and long grass. Invariably ours gets left out in the rain some of the time by AnnPan.

Best things about push mowers, they can be quiet, light no need for cable or petrol and few moving parts so very reliable.

We got ours at argos

You can see me extolling the virtues of one here

What johnM failed to mention is that our garden is bumpy and hlly in places and had been abandoned for a year before we moved in... and it has coped really well... needs a sharpening now though.

Lidl's have one on offer next week - no idea what it's like, though!

http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages ... Mower.ar11

We bought one from the garage sales while we lived in a rental until our house was built, it's just one of those old simple push abouts that your grandad might have used but with a bit of oil and sharpening it is flipping great!
It's a better work out than the gym and the clickety clack of the blades is very soothing.

Flymo are not too bad. Does help if you keep the grass down - regular mowing makes life easier with them

Some experience of Qualcast Panther. Push handles are EXTREMELY WEAK - if grass is more than about half an inch long the handles break off very easily. I think they are eminently suited to cut grass that does not need cutting! I expect someone will be along now to say I did not keep it sharpened!

I have looked at the link LIDL and the handles are 1 piece as far as I can see which should be much better, I also note they claim the blades are stainless steel. Worth having a look at.

MINESAPINT

Just re read Annpan & Johnm's posts again. Just goes to show how peoples experiences differ.

The Qualcast I broke had a handle which seemed designed to break, bolyed together half way up the handle. Only explanation for this must be so it is possible to pack it into a small box for transportation half way round the world.

MINESAPINT

I have a panther just for my very small garden. The handle is not the best I agree. Also the grass collection box is more a of a pest than functional. I use it for quick trim ups rather than proper cutting...I have ancient petrol mower I use for that. It's too big for my garden but I don't throw anything away

ah excellent, like the original poster I am on the look out for a push mower!

MINESAPINT wrote:Some experience of Qualcast Panther. Push handles are EXTREMELY WEAK - if grass is more than about half an inch long the handles break off very easily. I think they are eminently suited to cut grass that does not need cutting! I expect someone will be along now to say I did not keep it sharpened!

I have looked at the link LIDL and the handles are 1 piece as far as I can see which should be much better, I also note they claim the blades are stainless steel. Worth having a look at.

MINESAPINT

Yes The handle bolts together in the middle, but with two bolts on each side. It can wiggle about sometimes, but I don't find it that irritating, and it doesn't seem weak.
I wonder if it has something to do with height? johnM is 5'9 and I am 5'7... I'd imagine, if you are taller, you put pressure on different parts...

baldowrie wrote:I have a panther just for my very small garden. The handle is not the best I agree. Also the grass collection box is more a of a pest than functional. I use it for quick trim ups rather than proper cutting...I have ancient petrol mower I use for that. It's too big for my garden but I don't throw anything away Mr. Green

The grass box is incredibly annoying, I keep meaning to alter the brackets it attaches to somehow. It pops off every time you hit a bump.

I use a scythe. For a lawn, you need a hook-nosed or oriental blade, at least 70cm long and preferably longer. The advantage of a scythe is that the same snath can be used with different blades for different jobs—lawns, meadows, topping, brush, ditch clearing, hay making, harvesting spinach etc. It replaces both lawnmowers and brushcutters/strimmers.

Stonehead wrote:I use a scythe. For a lawn, you need a hook-nosed or oriental blade, at least 70cm long and preferably longer. The advantage of a scythe is that the same snath can be used with different blades for different jobs—lawns, meadows, topping, brush, ditch clearing, hay making, harvesting spinach etc. It replaces both lawnmowers and brushcutters/strimmers.

Yeeeees - but can you get the lawn stripey with that?

Just reminded me after reading the post about the grassbox on the Qualcast Panther, yes it was useless. Slightest bump and it fell off. Cannot blame my height for breaking the handle I am 5' 6" in my high heels!

I stand by my original comments. The mower is perfectly suited to mowing grass that does not need mowing and therefore you will not need to collect the grass in the grass box that falls off because there won't be any.

The one thing about the Qualcast is that it is cheap so if you buy one to try you will not waste too much money.

MINESAPINT

ina wrote: Yeeeees - but can you get the lawn stripey with that?

I've never understood the British obsession with striped lawns.