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Lawnflite 533.
Just a little scenario for you.
Have you ever owned an automatic vehicle, great easy aren't they, no changing gear.
Did you then go back to a manual and if you did do you remember
changing gear hundreds of times during a journey?
In my experience no absolutly oblivious.
Well IMO that is how it is without BBC especially with a Viking as they start effortlessly first time.
Personally I would not contemplate investing in an unknown mower especially the wet collection aspect for the lack of a BBC.
Not only that it's something less to go wrong plus I have never had to replace the starter recoil or the cord on the Vikings that I
have and that's many years now.
Very true Gordon and the large box does allow max time before emptying ie. stopping.
I love our viking 655G for its collection, this will be its 3rd year as our main mower with only the pull cord needing replacing.
We have just purchased a Honda roller, they seem to also collect very well!
Thanks for your input Daniel. I've decided to stay with what I know in the Viking and gone with another 650vm. At £555 inclusive it's too good of a deal to say no.
Hi Daniel and Ray. I'm just wondering about how you manage with your main mower being 4 wheeled and not a roller. It's not the less defined striped finish i'm wondering about, but the grooves that get left by 4 wheeled machines. Do you not find that to be an issue? I've seen lawns done before by gardeners who only have 4 wheeled machines and after a few months the grooves are extremely pronounced and look pretty poor. It's a genuine question as i'd love to have a machine that's only £555 for my main mower. And secondly, do you do a lot of work with it every week as some seem to have had issues with Viking reliability when used all day every day?
I've never seen a lawn deteriorate to the point where grooved tramlines appear, but we are mainly on free draining ground. You could either do a half pass after the first pass to offset the mower relative to the last cut, or if the lawn is large enough mow at a different angle.
My Viking has not been particularly reliable, but much better than the Etesia it replaced.
Just to add, i think the main reliability questions with Vikings are with there roller mowers and not 4 wheeled ones.
Hi Jonathan,
I've never experienced ruts myself, and we have used 4 wheeled mowers continuesly for around 4 years. However i am led to believe grass shouldn't be cut in the same direction all the time (myth or not).
The Vikings are not commercial, however as i said ours is on its 3rd season now, needs the wheels replacing as all the tread is gone. (shows how much use it gets) They are also light and collect in the wet very well, best i have come across.
Always tempted by a roller but love how the etesia collects dont know if any roller would be as good
But common sense will tell you that for all the talk of cutting in rain when the ground goes soft go down the pub. People are paying for a professional finish from a professional