We don't do much lawn care, other than cutting and trimming, but this year we've been asked if we would scarify and maintain several existing customers lawns.
I can't decide whether to hire or purchase a scarifier out right. It seems the cost to hire a scarifier for a week would be a waste of money and would go some way towards the cost of purchase.
So, it appears that the machine of choice would be the 'CAMON LS42' (around £1100.00), to be honest a bit more than I would like to spend although it is capable of so much more with changeable blade assemblies. However, my local dealer has suggested two other machines, the 'Eliet E401 Scarifier With B&S Series 550 ECO Engine' (around £700.00) which looks / feels to be a fair machine for the price, and finally the 'John Deere D38R' (also around £700.00) but, to be honest, feels a bit 'toy like' compared to the other two.
Grateful for any comments and experience of these please.
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I have an eliet 501, I know of other lawns guys that use them and we all say we wouldn't use anything else.
Hi Mark,
We use Eliet 501's and 401's, all with Honda engines. Very robust and reliable, and tough enough to go in hard when required. If you're patient, good ones come up on Ebay every so often for around the £350 to £600 mark.
Buying new, can't comment on the Camon, but if I was buying 1 machine, it would be the Eliet 450 for around £1200. Slightly wider working width compared to the 401, but not as bulky/pricey as the 501.
Blades are expensive at around £200 for a set, but they last for around 80hrs use, which is a lot!
We have/tried other machines, but always revert back to the Eliets.
Where do you get your blades Andrew?
Hi Robbie,
don't know to be honest - my mechanic uses his supply chain to source and fit. I can ask if you wish.
I bought a dorisc45 a coupe of years ago, Cost £550 new. Well made and does a good job.
I've been using a Bluebird scarifier for a good few years now, Briggs and Stratton, swing blades - no problems. I obtained 2 from a local bowls club, who decided to outsource their maintenance - on the basis of 'if you can come and pick them up, you can have them'!! I thought one would be OK for spares, but No1 machine has never missed a beat.
There must be hundreds of similar pieces of surplus equipment lying unused.
I used a couple of cheaper scarifiers before I bought my eliet.
What sticks in my mind about the cheaper scarifiers is that you need to push them and it can be a lot of work, with the eliet you are always holding it back and takes very little effort to do the job.
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