thanks for that information len since asking the original question, ive
done quite a lot of searching on the net and asked a few people who know a
bit about mowers the knowledge ive accumulated supports your reply: a 4
stroke with 4 blades seems to be the way to go

ive had a good search for more powerful electric mowers, since i dislike
petrol engines, but there is nothing available that is much of an
improvement on the (inadequate, in my opinion) flymo

so it looks like it will be a rover 'easy push', a machine apparently
suitable for small gardens with lots of obstacles

as for the edges, i have an atom electric edger--a fantastic product made by
an excellent aussie company i bought it on the internet from

http://www.cairnsmowercity.com/webcontent3.htm

even though i live in northern nsw, soi will probably buy the mower from
them as well, unless i can find a good deal tomorrow when i do the rounds of
local shops but i will still be keeping my 'pushie' oiled and ready for
use the day this damn new thing wont start

thanks again for your help, and for the comments from others who replied

"len brauer" wrote in message
...
g'day rapdor,

been following the posts in this thread.

as an ex-mower mechanic here's my bit.

flymos have their uses they don't do the finest cut because they only
have a 2 blade cutting system, the petrol flymo (2 stroke) would be
more powerful that the electric.

4 strokes are much more reliable as far as i know it is only the rover
that has 4 blades, there could be other brands that i am not familiar
with. just with 4 strokes they do need the oil changed.

all rotary mowers are aggressive in their cutting action that is the
nature of the beast, the type of mower that cuts the neatest and with
less aggression if you like is the reel mower their cutting action
resembles that of using a pair of scissors.

depending on what sort of garden edging you have mowers aren't going
to cut neat up to them unless you have mowing strips with the edges,
so you will need something to trim edges and into corners with.

have fun

len

On Wed, 26 Feb 2003 05:27:52 GMT, "rapdor"
wrote:

the time has come to buy a motor mower

age is winning the battle

so im looking for a gentle power mower, something that wont destroy my
lawn
my garden would take less than half an hour with a power mower, but i
really
do want the least agressive machine possible im told that mowers
with
four cutting blades are less damaging than those with two the garden
is
filled with trees, so has lots of curves and corners, and no large
expanses
of grass

any comments or suggestions on what to buy (shudder) would be
appreciated


--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the
environment
http://hub.dataline.net.au/~gardnlen/