David Sparkmunster wrote:

Hello David

DS I now want to buy a sit on mower - but I know zilch about
DS them. Can anyone give me any guidelinesor their own
DS experiences?

The Husqvarna LT125 is about the cheapest (1100 inc vat from Mole
Valley Farmers) and is a nice tool, better designed than some of the
2-3k range I looked at. Well up to an acre - does my 1/2 lawn and
various paths through another 1/2 acre in about 30 mins, with two
empties on the lawn. (I don't bother collecting in the paddock)

Also used a couple of Westwoods. Their pto brush collector is superb,
but pricey and they have had some bad design problems in the past. But
get a good one and it's fine.

Pretty much all of them have B&S engines, which are great. Honda's
also a lovely engine. Avoid tecumseh and any engine you've never heard
of.

DS I've searched on the web but found very little other than
DS straighforward specs for the machines.

Which aren't a great deal of use anyway, since this is one tool where
the actual design is more important than the paper specs. Spares
costs, ease of maintenance and repair and so on are all things you're
better off looking at a physical machine. Unfortunately, the markup in
some specialist centres are phenominal, which brings out the used car
dealer type of salesman who will pile on the bull and say a lot of
things that just aren't true. If you think you're being smarmed at,
walk away, or if you can figure out enough about the machine then
haggle - there's around 1-2k retailers markup on a 4k mower, so they
have a lot of slack.

DON'T get suckered into buying useless options and extras. Check any
finance deals with a tooth comb if you can't pay cash, their APR is
scary.

Still have an image problem, unfortunately, but for a big garden
there's no real alternative.

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK Ý http://www.digdilem.org/