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Old 18-02-2008, 04:13 PM posted to alt.home.repair,rec.garden,alt.home.lawn.garden
Worn out Retread Worn out Retread is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Feb 2008
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Default Lawnmower Questions - Gas vs. Electric for Replacing 30 year old too haevy mower.


"jJim McLaughlin" wrote in message
. ..
The almost 30 year old Sears gas mower with the huge 3.5 hp Tecumseh (sp?)
is again in need of a rebuild. Needs a new deck as rust has just aout
killed the
current (second) deck. Also needs a repair to the dead man cable.

I've replaced the deck before, and done the cable repairs. Its no big
deal,
but it kills a day after Sears sends the parts

The engine in this thing runs well, though by current lanwmower standards
it is
underpowered at 3.5 nominal hp.

----------snipped-------------------------
So, gas or electric? Any specific models you'd recommend or avoid.
And no, a hand powered reel mower is not an option. Cut far too many
grass
patches as a kid 60 years ago with one of those. I don't want to work
that hard.

I want to bag clippings. I compost a lot for that veggie garden. I
don't want a "mulching" mower.

I do intnd to look, Tuesday when hey reopen, at the local library for
the most recent Consumer reports stuff on mowers.


Please give me your thoughts and recommendations.

Thank you!


Being roughly in the same age group, if my mower went on the hummer, I would
look into having a lawn care company take care of it. The lawn companies
around here will bag the clippings and give them to you if you are into
composting. They trim the edges and clean up any clippings on the driveway
and sidewalk. With the cost of having a lawn mower, string trimmer (weed
wacker), and leaf blower as well as the physical cost of operating those
contraptions in the hot humid weather, it just might be worth the extra cost
to hire a company....or the kid down the road.

I have a self propelled Husqvarna unit that is good but I'm finding that
mowing the lawn is becoming less and less attractive as time passes
regardless of the equipment being used.

Take a hard look at how the catcher bag is attached on the new machines.
Some of them are not all that easy to empty once filled and some of them are
just not very easy to get on and off of the mower.