A Comprehensive Guide to Purchasing a Lawnmower
Whether you’re a first-time homeowner looking to invest in lawn care products or a seasoned professional looking to upgrade your arsenal of power equipment, a lawn mower may make gardening quicker and easier. You may avoid spending money on a landscaper and get a professional-looking lawn mowing job done in a fraction of the time with a high-quality lawn mower.
Mowers for the lawn are simple mechanical devices. Wheels are standard on lawn mowers, so you can easily move them around your yard while giving it a nice, level trim. While there is some variety in the types of mowers available, the vast majority are rotary mowers, which get their power from an engine and spin a horizontal blade.
The blade spins so quickly that it slices through the grass as it strikes it; normally, these blades are enclosed within a deck, a casing that prevents debris from falling off as the mower is operated.
However, you may still find reel mowers, which, when physically pushed or pulled, use your momentum to spin a vertical blade.
Riding mowers, push mowers, self-propelled mowers, and even self-operating robotic mowers are just a few of the varieties of lawn mowers available.
In addition to the manual, gas, and electric varieties, there are also corded and cordless electric mowers to choose from. Depending on your budget, you might spend anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars on a lawn mower. The final cost of this lawn care device will depend on the design and features you choose, so it’s important to get all the information you can before making a purchase.
Before making your final decision on a lawn mower, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Here are some of them: For yards that are half an acre or less in size, a push lawn mower is your best bet. You’ll have a hard time mustering the stamina to mow an area any larger than this by hand, as the mower must be pushed from one side to the other.
In the heat of summer, this is a duty that can be exhausting, even with a self-propelled mower.
Mowing a lawn larger than half an acre requires a riding mower, which the operator can control while sitting comfortably on the machine.
Your yard’s terrain is another factor to think about while shopping for a lawn mower. Is it generally level and transparent? If not, are there any inclines or roadblocks? Most homeowners are fine with a regular push mower or even a reel mower for their small, relatively level lawns, but a self-propelled mower can ease the burden on slopes by using the engine to power the wheels, making the job easier.
A zero-turn-radius mower, which can be maneuvered around obstacles far more simply than a regular ride-on, is another option to consider if your lawn features rocks, flower beds, fountains, or other decorative elements.
Both gas and electricity are commonly used to power lawn mowers, and each has their own advantages and disadvantages that were already discussed.
Gas mowers normally offer more power and can easily last the full duration of your mowing sessions, but they can be a little trickier to maintain and often require pulling a cord to get started, which can be difficult for some individuals.
Cordless electric mowers, on the other hand, have the advantages of not making as much noise, being cleaner, and being simpler to start.
While the corded electric mower’s infinite run time is appealing, others may find the tethering to their power source to be an inconvenience.
The width of your mower’s blades is directly proportional to the deck size, therefore a larger deck implies wider blades. Widths for decks can be anywhere from 20 to 70 inches, with most homeowners settling on a size between 30 and 60 inches. To what end does deck size matter?
If your lawn is reasonably flat and regular in shape, a mower with a wider cutting deck will reduce the amount of time it takes to mow the grass by making wider paths with each pass.
Larger decks are faster at cutting straight lines, but more difficult to maneuver around obstructions like flower beds and trees. Although smaller decks are less challenging to navigate, they nevertheless necessitate more passes in straight, open regions.