What to Look for in a Push Mower
Nothing kills the joy of a sunny day like the wrong mower. Fortunately, the opposite is also truthful. The right mower tin brand cut your backyard a pleasance.
If you know you lot need a new lawn mower, simply aren't sure how much mower yous need or what features you might want, don't worry. We've got you covered. Utilize this guide to select the right automobile, and happy mowing.
Step 1: Walk or Ride?
The first step is the choice betwixt a riding mower and a walk-backside. Hither, we use a generous ¼-acre of actual mowing area every bit our walk mower threshold. That is a lot of walking, and with any more footing to cover, you'll desire to ride if for no other reason than to get the lawn done faster.
Beginning, make an approximation of your mowing surface. Simply walk off big rectangles , counting your steps as yous get. Add together up the areas of the rectangles. No need to go too precise hither. An average homo's stride is about 30 inches and a woman's pace is about 26 inches, or measure your own stride for the most accurate measurement.
An acre is 43,560 foursquare feet, so one-fourth acre is x,890 foursquare anxiety. Anything in a higher place that threshold, and you'll likely want to get a riding mower. In fact, the vast majority of people wouldn't dream of cutting a ¼ acre of grass with a 22-inch walk mower, only nosotros have to start somewhere. So think realistically well-nigh how much time yous have to mow your backyard on a decorated weekend and select your equipment appropriately.
For lawns from ¼ of an acre to two acres, y'all'll virtually probable be about comfortable with a rear-engine riding mowers, light-duty backyard tractors, and residential-duty zero-turn mowers. Anything more than two acres and you'll want a commercial-duty zero turn mower.
Step ii: Selecting Your Features
Once yous've selected whether you ride or walk, there are ii factors that volition drive your purchase—your budget and your comfort. The more than you lot spend on a mower, the more durable, versatile, intuitive, and probably, the quicker you'll get the task done. The opposite is as well true.
It doesn't make as much difference with a small, elementary yard. Merely the larger and more than circuitous the yard, the more thought you need to give to selecting mower features.
Walk Mowers
We'll begin with walk mowers, ane of the most versatile cut machines out there.
Walk mowers are somewhat like cars in that they are available with a wide range of options, all of which increase cost and complexity. Await carefully at the product's hang tag and talk to the sales staff to get a amend sense of whether the features are useful to you lot.
Let's break downwardly all the major components and what lawnmowers use them:
Drive
Look information technology at this mode: You tin can button a mower, or the mower can push itself, in which case it's either a front end-bulldoze or a rear-drive mower (nosotros'll become to all-wheel drive in a moment). A cocky-propelled mower makes your life a lot easier when mowing hills, or when y'all mow and bag. There's nil like pushing a fully loaded mower uphill to make you appreciate a cocky-propelled motorcar.
Front-wheel bulldoze is best for level ground with a lot of obstacles. This allows yous to button down on the handle, reducing traction on the front wheels and pivot into and out of corners.
This Yard Machine packs a lot of value. If you similar a simple, uncluttered machine, information technology'due south a good option. The Troy-Bilt 220 has done well in by tests. It's a solid, reliable mower with features that are like shooting fish in a barrel to understand and use. It's OHV engine too provides outstanding performance.
Rear-wheel bulldoze works best for for uphill mowing and sidehill mowing. Rear bicycle drive works better here considering when you push down on the handle going up a hill, the front tires will not lose traction.
Lawn-Boy is owned by Toro, which has invested in the make and we've seen skilful functioning from these products over the years. This is a very simple mower that should provide outstanding service.
Yes, a handful of mowers are all-bike drive, congenital for homeowners who cut across washboard surfaces, sidehill mowing, steep uphill and downhill mowing that makes good of AWD. We were dubious when these mowers were introduced several years ago, but when we cut some very rough ground, we were surprised at how much easier AWD fabricated things.
This Husqvarna is equipped with a large Honda engine and nosotros know from past tests that this will handle some pretty tough mowing conditions, including rutted surfaces and tall grass. A less-expensive but still very effective mower is this AWD Husqvarna with a 163-CC Briggs & Stratton engine. This is more than enough mower for all but the most rugged atmospheric condition.
Functions
In this section, nosotros're talking about what the machines actually does with the grass. Mowers tin mulch clippings (repeatedly cutting and recut them), discharge them to the side or rear, or purse them.
Two-function is a mower that mulches and numberless. Mulching is healthier for the lawn in that it returns nitrogen-rich grass clippings into the ground, but it doesn't piece of work especially well for tall-grass conditions in the spring and early on summer or early fall when the lawn bounces back from summertime stress.
This simple Husqvarna is a good example of a self-propelled (front drive) two-function walk mower. This little Yard Machine is well-nigh as small, elementary, and as inexpensive as gas engine mowers get today. It's a push mower with two functions: mulch and side discharge.
A three-function auto numberless, mulches, and side discharges. Side discharging is useful for utility mowing (mowing areas with tall weeds and not-turf grasses). It also helps if the lawn gets away from you lot and y'all need to set the mower deck to its full height and have the grass down in stages.
This Troy-Bilt is a good example of a 3-function, push mower with a mid-size engine, and a expert example of a self-propelled, iii-role mower would be this automobile, equipped with a mid-size Honda engine. It'south a fully featured mower with big rear wheels (11-inch diameter).
Common Features
Nosotros've barely scratched the surface of mower features. These are the more common things you'll find on your average mower's spec list:
Deck levers come in groupings of 1, two, or four. 1 lever is the well-nigh user-friendly, simply it comes with a lot of linkage that adds weight and that yous accept to keep lubricated if you want information technology to work well. Two levers are a proficient compromise betwixt i and 4 levers. Yeah, these mowers have a scrap more linkage than a 4-lever mower, just it's easier to get the peak right. Four levers is the standard, fourth dimension-tested pattern.
The only way to become a sense of whether you'll like the ground speed command is to actually go your hands on a mower at a dealership, hardware shop, or abode heart.
The control may be integral with the handle. The harder you press frontward on the drive control in the handle, the faster the mower goes. Or it may be a dissever lever or even a bond (a metal rod). Squeeze the lever to increase footing speed or to activate the mower's bulldoze system for fixed-speed mowers.
Self-propelled mowers are equipped with three types of transmissions. Hydrostatic is the most expensive and the smoothest operating. It drives hydraulic fluid past an impeller that spins an output shaft, which controls ground speed. This is your smoothest running and most reliable transmission, but it's also the most expensive.
The typical front or rear drive walk mower uses some form of belt-and-pulley arrangement to directly power from the engine's output shaft to a gear box on a forepart or rear axle (or a gear at the wheel). There are several variations of this blueprint, but all work well and are reasonably easy to maintain and repair.
Honda's mower is equipped with hydrostatic drive. We've been very impressed with the smoothness of the mower's drive and the precision of its cut. Snapper's rear-drive hi-vac mower is primarily used for bagging. We've mowed with a number of these mowers over the years of testing and accept establish them to be reliable and potent performers. The mower employs a spinning disc drive that's easier to service than many other rear-bulldoze transmissions.
Gas engines sizes run from 140 cc to 190 cc. Larger engines produce more torque and are less likely to stall in alpine grass at the kickoff and terminate of the cutting season. A larger engine too helps drive self-propelled mowers more effectively uphill.
From least-expensive to most-expensive, mower engines may exist traditional side valve design, overhead valve, or overhead cam. More expensive engines provide increased durability, reduced noise, and less oil consumption.
The rear wheel size of a walk mower may exist larger than the diameter of the front wheels. The wheels' increased diameter helps it more hands navigate ruts and crude ground.
This Husqvarna push mower has 12-inch rear wheels, and this Cub Cadet push mower has slightly shorter xi-inch rear wheels.
Ball begetting wheels are easier to push than those with bushing-type wheels. The larger your thou, the more difficult its terrain, or if you lot're hauling effectually a bag of clippings or clippings mixed with mulched leaves, the more you lot desire this selection.
A blade-restriction clutch is a characteristic found on high-terminate walk mowers. Information technology allows yous to completely release the operator control handle without stopping the engine. That way, you tin can pause your mowing, move whatever obstruction out of your way and go on mowing without having to restart the engine.
Honda calls its blade-brake-clutch arrangement Roto Stop, and information technology'south one of the all-time ones out at that place.
Unusual Features
A range of unusual features have been introduced in the concluding several years to make mowing easier or the whole mowing experience amend.
Some engines require no oil change, like the small gas engines made by Briggs & Stratton. The characteristic is known every bit "Just Check and Add." You merely add oil periodically to supplant the pocket-sized amount of oil that'due south slowly vaporized in the combustion procedure. An example of a mower with a Only Check and Add oil feature is this Snapper.
Toro's innovations accept created mowers that take ability-assisted contrary and a vertical-storage design that allow's you fold the handle downwardly, tip the mower dorsum, and store information technology vertically against the wall.
This Toro mower features both vertical storage and power-assisted reverse, and Husqvarna's all-wheel drive mower has the vertical handle storage feature, along with bagging, mulching, and side-discharge capability.
Front caster wheels are great for elaborately-landscaped yards that crave a lot of pivoting. Front pulley wheels don't track particularly well on bumpy ground or mowing sidehills. Mowox mowers take replaced dual front casters with a unmarried front caster wheel, perhaps the most maneuverable course of mower you can get. Merely Cub Cadet has been amongst the mower manufacturers that pioneered the employ of front caster wheels.
Wash-out fittings enables y'all to hook up a garden hose to wash accumulated grass clippings from under the deck. A clean deck lasts longer because accumulated grass holds moisture and lawn chemical remainder, which causes deck corrosion. Our tests prove that these fittings do aid considerably, but that you however need some under-deck scraping with a putty knife. This rear-drive Troy-Bilt mower is equipped with a wash-out port and single-lever height aligning.
Wide-cut mowers with decks that range from 28 to 33 inches are a fast cut alternative to a 22-inch mower. These are notwithstanding comparatively rare products made by Cub Buck, Toro, Troy-Bilt, and Craftsman. This Cub Cadet mower features both the wide-cutting deck and front caster wheels.
Finally, electric walk mowers are a perfect fit if you take a modest yard (under 5,000 square anxiety of mowing surface) and ane that's quite manicured. However, in that location are 3 important things to keep in heed:
- Cordless electric mowers tend to have smaller decks (19 and 20-inch sizes are the almost common, though a few have 21-inch decks). That means it takes you longer to mow.
- They tend to be less powerful than their gas engine counterparts. They can struggle with tall grass, wet grass, and thick grass with leaves. For intermediate mowing atmospheric condition, cordless mowers do just fine.
- The larger the lawn, the more batteries you need. Manufacturers make recommendations near run time, only that's very hard to do accurately. It varies widely depending on your mowing habits and the height or thickness of the grass. We recommend y'all buy extra batteries so that you're not compelled to rush the cut.
If you can live with those limitations, the EGO is a practiced example of the new breed of cordless mower.
Ride Mowers
If you can afford it, a riding mower is the way to go. Don't get us wrong, we beloved walk mowers (goodness knows, nosotros've used enough of them over the years here). But for speed and efficiency, there'southward simply no comparison with a riding mower when you're talking a big lawn.
When looking at riding mowers, you lot'll likely come beyond three versions—backyard tractor, rear-engine riding mower, and a zero-turn mower. Let'due south break them done i past ane:
Lawn Tractor
Many people start out with a lawn tractor. With a steering bike and a front-mounted engine, these look and feel familiar. Engine size range from 18-25 hp and almost come with a unmarried cylinder with step-up models having a Five twin. Some fancier models besides feature engines with electronic fuel injection.
When information technology comes to transmissions, less expensive models tend to be lever-operated gear transmissions. But a step-upwards from there comes pedal hydrostatic or continuously variable transmission (CVT) operated by a shift-on-the-go hand lever. The CVT is an automatic transmission powered by pulley drive to a sealed and lubricated gear case. You know you're spending serious coin if you're because a more than expensive tractor with a heavy-duty human foot pedal hydrostatic transmission.
Finally, how much can it cut? Well, much more than than a push button mower. Deck widths range from 42 inches to 54 inches. To know what size you need, separate the mower deck size past 12 to become an approximation of the acreage the mower tin can handle. So residential-duty a mower with a 54-inch deck can mow upward to 4.5 acres. That's a lot of grass and would effect in pregnant habiliment and tear on a residential-grade mower in the course of the flavor. Nevertheless, it could do information technology.
These kind of mowers range anywhere from $ane,300 to $3,000, with our favorite being the Husqvarna YT46LS.
Rear-Engine Riding Mower
Many people with larger lawns too large for a walk mower but also small for a tractor or a zero plough should become with a rear-engine riding mower. The specifications below utilise to deck nether the operator'south position and non rear-engine residential/commercial mowers with the deck in forepart of the operator.
About rear-engine mowers a single-cylinder engine ranging in size from 344 to 38 cc, estimated at 10 to xi hp. The transmission is normally a CVT operated by a shift-on-the-go hand lever. Snapper's famous rear-engine riding mower uses the company's fourth dimension-tested disc bulldoze transmission, but a few rear-engine riders are offered with a hydrostatic manual.
Deck sizes stretch anywhere from xxx to 33 inches, and operators use a manual hand lever for deck adjustment and deck engagement. That small cutting size also ways a smaller cost tag, ranging from $1,200 to $2,400.
Cub Cadet'due south rear engine rider has a insufficiently big 382-cc engine, a 30-inch deck and a hydrostatic drive transmission, and it proved to be the most competent cutter in our tests.
Zero-Turn Mowers
In the last twenty years or so, nix-plow mowers have proved their worth to homeowners and landscape contractors alike. Their pattern enables forward speed and steering past means of dual hydrostatic transmissions at the rear wheels, each of which is controlled by a lap bar in front of the seat.
A pulley off the engine spins the impellers on the dual hydrostatic transmissions that ability the rear wheels. When y'all move i of the lap bars further forward than its neighbor, it acts as a throttle, allowing more hydraulic fluid to catamenia to the transmission at that wheel. This causes wheel to plough more apace than the opposite wheel, allowing you turn corners or pivot.
Engine size tin can range from 452 cc upwards to 700 or more, with ability estimated from 12 hp to 25 hp. This is powered by either a single cylinder or commercial-duty Five twin, and transmissions are either hydrostatic or commercial-duty hydrostatic.
With deck sizes ranging from 32 inches to 60 inches, these mowers cut the nearly grass in the to the lowest degree amount of time. The decks are either stamped or heavy-duty fabricated, deck aligning uses a manual hand lever or foot pedal, and deck date uses a manual paw lever or an electrical PTO
All that grass-cut power comes with a price, unremarkably ranging between $1,200 to $6,000. But you don't even need to spend one-half of that upper end price tag to go something great similar the Ariens Zoom 42. It's a well-built mower with practiced fit and end and excellent cut performance.
If you want to shave a bit off that cost without sacrificing performance, nosotros also recommend the Toro TimeCutter zero turn mower. It'due south a great mid-priced pick and it held upwards well in our tests.
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Source: https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/lawn-garden/a26431726/types-of-lawn-mower/
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