Half an acre on a slope which mower advice please, 21/22" powered mower or a small ride on

[roocarl]

looked at a New Cobra 21" with a Honda motor or a Murray 22" both around £440 or i found an immaculate Castel 3 year old sit on for £650 ( same as Mountfield 827 ) was also recommended a Honda izy 21" would be around 3 years old for £400 but apparently they are really slow and not much power for my incline also wondering if the Castel will have the grunt to get up the sloped garden with my 16 stone on it! lol
any advice gratefully recieved ??? also is there a noticable diffeence between using a 20/21/22" mower?
Cheers Ca

rl

 

[Lower]

Biggest benefit to the ride on is the bigger grass collector capacity. It makes a huge difference.

 

[roocarl]

think i will be mulching not sure where i would put half an acre of grass, new to big gardens

 

[Burnerman]

I'd go for the ride on - but please be aware they will only discharge the grass nicely if it is well dry.
You also need to consider the slope....if it's steep and lengthy then oil starvation could be a problem, as it is with all wet sump mowers.
Honda power is the way to go - the Izy will have enough power for your needs.
John

 

[Exedon]

I spent over 50 years cutting grass on large gardens ( one over 3 acres) Used a mixture of powered walk behind ride ons and strimers,
After long and sometimes bitter experience we settled on Honda powered mowers and stihl strimmers. Keep clean and well serviced and they won't let you down.

 

[scbk]

How much time are you wanting to spend cutting grass? Half an acre/ 2000m2 is quite a large area to be cutting with a single blade mower.
I would look at a bigger mower, or a robot.

 

[roocarl]

about 1.5 hours max i hoped
maybe looking at a small Club cadet ride on Lt1 now

 

[Bosswhite]

Have over half acre, less than 30 minutes to cut with ride on with no effort .

 

[robinbanks]

What shape is the lawn? What obstacles (trees etc)? Any features such as flat parts/mounds/curved beds?

I've a similar area, not all of it is reachable with my Hayter 30" ride-on (Briggs 13hp) and it features some shapes the ride on can't get round effectively and sharp transitions from a slope to a level that the ride on shaves down to the mud because of the longer wheelbase, so some is done with the ride on, and some with a 20" walk behind.. Takes longer than I want it to and in the height of summer gets mowed every week; it's a big time soak. Zero problems on the slopes with the hayter in terms of pulling power; I've even fashioned a trailer for it out of a standard pallet and large plastic tray and used the mower to tow large amounts of wood chippings up a 20 degree slope - pulling power isn't the problem; grip is

If your (lawn) shape is amenable to it and with few obstacles, I'd say ride on for speed, but if you're not busy it's definitely your 30minutes+ daily exercise with a walk behind. Do get a big self propelled on though and use a discharge chute, mulching plug or mow twice a week if you're bagging.

My Honda, Briggs and some no name Chinese mowers have all been supremely reliable but whereas the brand names have been light weight and pleasant to wield the no name is a bit heavy and agricultural/primitive

 

[nickjb]

Don't mow it all. Lawns are poor for wildlife and very dull. I presume you won't be playing bowls or football on it. Put some other plants in or nurture a wild flower meadow. You can always mow some paths around and through it.

 

[Burnerman]

One of the best machines for all terrain and shapes is the zero turn Husqvarna Rider series.......hydrostatic transmission, RWD and steer and often have a V twin engine on the larger ones. Really excellent - at a price.
John

 

[MisterBoy]

Don't mow it all. Lawns are poor for wildlife and very dull. I presume you won't be playing bowls or football on it. Put some other plants in or nurture a wild flower meadow. You can always mow some paths around and through it.

Meadows still need cutting and now that's going to need a bigger mower. If the OP wanted a wildlife meadow or to get rid of the lawn they probably would have said.

OP how steep and uneven is the slope? This makes a huge difference. As does, how pristine and neat do you want - a sort of grassy paddock or a formal lawn? Did you (could you) ask the previous owner what they used? We were fortunate to get an older ride-on included in the purchase when we moved to the country, it is SUCH a blessing. But our paddock is reasonably flat.

I have my eye on a zero-turn like @Burnerman mentions when it finally dies.