New Home Owner need help with lawn Mower.

11 years ago

Hello All.

I just bought my first home after years of city living in condos and apartments. So from there you can see my dilemma. No grass to cut or weeds to rake or snow to shovel (for the most part). Now as the season winds down i'm here looking at buying a new lawn mower. I have a small patch of grass about 25' X 80'. The thing is this patch of lawn is more triangular than square, so the sq. footage is a little less than 2000 sq/ft.

SO here is my dilemma. My boss, aka the wife, has put a budget on my lawn mower purchasing power. I'm looking for a mower with a bag maybe mulching capability for $300 or under. She has already threatened my other hobbies if i go over the allotted budget... BTW she is pregnant and very hormonal - so if i don't post back i may have bought a more expensive mower and she used it to mulch my dead body.

thanks and happy halloween.

Joe

P.S.

I thought about a reel mower, but then I do have a lot of twigs/small branches and acorns and other random debris from the neighbors trees in my lawn all the time, so i thought it would be better for a gas push mower to power through all that mess.

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Comments (8)

tiemco
11 years ago
I bought the model in the link below, and I am very happy with it. The height is easy to adjust, it starts with one pull, it never bogs down, mulches great, and bags clippings nicely too. If you have a warm season grass however, this might not be the right choice for you.

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-190cc-low-wheel-rear-bag-push-mower/p-07137031000P?prdNo=5&blockNo=5&blockType=G5
chefjbs
Original Author
11 years ago
Tiemco. Nice find. Well Kim not even sure what type of grass I have. I was looking to reseed next season with kbg, fine fescuse and perennial rye mix. Are these considered warm season grass.
If so. Why wouldn't it be a good choice. Still trying to learn as much as I can.

Thanks.
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tiemco
11 years ago
No, those are cool season grasses, that mower will be fine.
enigma7
11 years ago
chefjbs, tiemco probably referred to that because warm season grasses typically are cut lower and more frequent then cool season grasses, and as such the type of mower (reel) for warm season is usually recommended (but also more expensive). If you were to not have the tree debris and didn't mind exercise the Fiskars 6201 push reel mower (ie non-powered) is a great mower at around $200 (can be occasionally found on sale for ~$150).

For your price-range maximum and the tiny lawn (about the same size as mine) there is no need to go crazy on the price/features. I have a Murray mower powered by a 6.5hp Briggs and Straton engine I got 10 years ago for $150 and it is still running great. Yeah it's heavy, and it's not self-propelled, but it gets the job done reliably. For mulching you don't want to skimp on engine size (or risk stalling the engine/getting unclean cuts), but unless you can't deal with the weight of the mower there really are no other reasons to spend up (IMO of course).

Save money on the mower, and spend a couple bucks on some good replacement mulching mower BLADES (I personally use Gator mulching blades but there are many different types), and you will be quite happy. Just keep up on proper maintenance, as no matter how much you spend, leaving gas in over the winter, never changing the oil/air filter, using dull blades,etc. will make any mower choke prematurely.

HTH
krnuttle
11 years ago
For the yard size, I agree go down to Walmart, or the like, and get the cheapest you can find.

I had a small yard and bought a cheap Murray in the mid 1990's. The first few years I used it as my primary mower for my small yard, About 10 years ago after getting a larger yard and a John Deere lawn tractor, it became my trim mower. It also is my leaf mulching mower in the fall. It has never failed me. In the spring I go out pump the primer bulb and it will start on the first or second pull.

As for grass clipping, if you keep the yard nicely mowed you should not have to worry about the clippings as they will fall into the grass and decompose, fertilizing the yard and building the soil.
chefjbs
Original Author
11 years ago
is it me or does it seem like the older lawnmowers seem to last longer? my father-inlaw has a 10 year old craftsman that i know is used and abused. no stabilizer, no sparkplug changes, no oil changes, and same old gas from previous season and it still starts up. but i read reviews about these newer models that have gas that is a week old and that would cause problems. what gives? makes me want to buy an older mower (but i'm a sucker for that "new car smell")
btw-thanks for all the replies and help. keep it coming i'd love to learn more.

joe
enigma7
11 years ago
It's just you. :) 10 years ago people were saying the same thing, and 10 years before that they were as well. The quality of the cheap mowers is pretty much constant. A rock solid engine (the B&S) with a crappy/heavy deck/wheels is pretty much to be expected. Forgot to mention the plastic wheels eventually failed on me and I spent $7 a piece on new wheels from Home Depot about 2 years ago. Prior to replacing, the WHEELS were flexing and causing gouging and uneven cuts on the grass. After a
Bryan Scott
11 years ago
For what it's worth, I have the previous year model of the one linked in the post above. It definitely does the job, but, like I did, if you wait until the next year models come out, you can find a substantial discount on mowers. This applies to Sears, Home Depot, Walmart, ect.