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• 

  Geoff Norfolk July 16, 2013 at 10:30pm

  Although your new dealer prefers Hayters, I'm sure he could order any Honda spares needed pretty quickly ..... you could always keep the essentials, like cables, in stock yourself. My local dealer only stocks the basic essentials.... anything else is ordered and usually available in a couple of days.
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  Paul McNulty July 16, 2013 at 10:40pm

  Hi Geoff,

  That's true, but I'm used to taking a machine in and getting a while-you-wait service, as it's only when you're busiest that things break, and who can afford two trips to drop off and collect mchines?

  I had a PTO cable go on the Kaaz last week, on a garden where I have to go through locked gates and awkward access. Despite having a spare at home, it was two hours to drive home and fix it, plus get back to finish the job. Half a day lost in all, but far worse if it had been drive to the repairer, leasve it a couple of days, drive home to pick up the back-up mower, finish job, then have to go and collect repaired machine. Time is everything to me, as it's all lost income.

  If the guy keeps Hayter spares, works on them exclusively, and hates the Hondas, then my instinct is to go with him. He's already proved his worth with the repairs I've needed, and I've always said your first choice of machine should be the one your repairer wants to work on!

  So, has ayone tried the Hayters with the BBC.... :-)
• PRO

  Gary RK July 16, 2013 at 10:42pm

  Paul,
  
  We use a fantastic, small independent repair shop for any mower out of warranty and covers our old hayters, danarms honda ( even danarm kawasakis ) & DR scouts etc.
  
  He gets spares in with 2-3 days for non-service items for all theses machines, believe he uses a trade online spares stockists ( believe it is Rochfords ). He's great, old style hands on guy :-)
  
  P.s we have an old model Hayter 56 with BBC - royal PIA compared to Honda / Danarm. Not sure how differnt new models BBC would be....
  
  P.s.s sounds like you are going down Hayter route then ..lol ...wonder why the intense dislike ?
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  Paul McNulty July 16, 2013 at 10:52pm

  Yes...

  But I can get parts next-day if I want. The point is that I have a great guy who carries all the Hayter spares and can save me the time to drop it off and go back two days later, so that's perfect.

  My issue isn't whether to go to Hayters, that's a done deal as I rely on the service as much as things like purchase price. Hayter do a blade-brake 22" mower for the same price as their pro 22" mower, is there a reason I should compromise the huge convenience of the BBC and go for the silver one?
  
  
  He gets spares in with 2-3 days for non-service items for all theses machines, believe he uses a trade online spares stockists ( believe it is Rochfords ). He's great, old style hands on guy :-)
• PRO

  Gary RK July 16, 2013 at 10:55pm

  I take it all back then ........:D
  
  Strange isn't it. Our dealer services hayters but thinks the new ones leave a lot to be desired, rates the old ones....but as he puts it : why look a gift horse in the mouth..keeps me busy...
  
  TIC.....You never know which way a thread going to go...do you ;-)
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  Geoff Norfolk July 17, 2013 at 8:28am

  Fair point Paul....................... and I guess if you bought the Hayters from this man, you'll get a priority treatment hopefully. Slightly connected.... with cable breakages... although tricky to predict, its worth checking the cables every couple of months for fraying of the inner cable. They have a tendency to always fail at the same point and just running your finger along the cable will quickly identify a potential failure.
  
  Paul McNulty said:

  Hi Geoff,

  That's true, but I'm used to taking a machine in and getting a while-you-wait service, as it's only when you're busiest that things break, and who can afford two trips to drop off and collect mchines?

  I had a PTO cable go on the Kaaz last week, on a garden where I have to go through locked gates and awkward access. Despite having a spare at home, it was two hours to drive home and fix it, plus get back to finish the job. Half a day lost in all, but far worse if it had been drive to the repairer, leasve it a couple of days, drive home to pick up the back-up mower, finish job, then have to go and collect repaired machine. Time is everything to me, as it's all lost income.

  If the guy keeps Hayter spares, works on them exclusively, and hates the Hondas, then my instinct is to go with him. He's already proved his worth with the repairs I've needed, and I've always said your first choice of machine should be the one your repairer wants to work on!

  So, has ayone tried the Hayters with the BBC.... :-)
• 

  Paul McNulty July 17, 2013 at 8:45am

  Hi Gary,

  His opinion is that the Honda-type mowers are too prone to the rollers wearing. To replace the rollers and gearbox is silly money, of course. I guess that a lot of his customers aren't as careful as me, but even so two seasons is my maximum before needing major work.

  His view on the new Hayters is that they are better than a few years ago, but by no means perfect. They are cheaper to repair though, and he doesn't think they are more unreliable. A good point is that so many people use them, you are bound to hear of failures.

  Interestingly, he prefers Stihl as well. Again, you hear of a lot of unreliable Stihl machines, but that's because 9 out of 10 pros are using them. He doesn't think they are any less reliable than any other brand.
• 

  Classic Gardens July 17, 2013 at 11:26am

  Hi Paul
  
  I reviewed the new hayter here
  
  http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/m/discussion?id=2074886%3ATopi...
  
  There both in use 5hrs a day, 5 days a week in any weather and I've only replaced one pull cord.
  
  Personally I wouldn't go with the bbc as it only adds to more expense when inevitably things do go wrong.
• 

  Geoff Norfolk July 17, 2013 at 5:21pm

  There is definitely a weakness in the clutch/gearbox however if you're reasonably mechanically minded, you can replace the defective parts and get change from £100...... its probably an idea to replace these bits, even if they're not yet causing problems, every couple of years during the winter when you've got a bit of spare time. Other than that problem, I don't really think there's anything else other than cables, that go wrong on the Honda/Kaaz machines....the rollers themselves don't seem to cause any problems though I do repack the bearings with fresh grease every year.... still on the original bearings. I've had my Kaaz for 8 years now and all I've had to do is replace a couple of cables and fix the gearbox/clutch twice,
  
  Paul McNulty said:

  Hi Gary,

  His opinion is that the Honda-type mowers are too prone to the rollers wearing. To replace the rollers and gearbox is silly money, of course. I guess that a lot of his customers aren't as careful as me, but even so two seasons is my maximum before needing major work.

  His view on the new Hayters is that they are better than a few years ago, but by no means perfect. They are cheaper to repair though, and he doesn't think they are more unreliable. A good point is that so many people use them, you are bound to hear of failures.

  Interestingly, he prefers Stihl as well. Again, you hear of a lot of unreliable Stihl machines, but that's because 9 out of 10 pros are using them. He doesn't think they are any less reliable than any other brand.
• PRO

  Gary RK July 17, 2013 at 6:51pm

  It's a bit like 996 & 997.1 internet horror stories...if you get my drift ;-)

  I believe in your approach, in that a good service dealer can often make up for any shortcomings in a piece of equipment (to a limit, of course)

  Ultimately, as a Pro you need your kit earning money.....
  
  Paul McNulty said:

  Hi Gary,

  His opinion is that the Honda-type mowers are too prone to the rollers wearing. To replace the rollers and gearbox is silly money, of course. I guess that a lot of his customers aren't as careful as me, but even so two seasons is my maximum before needing major work.

  His view on the new Hayters is that they are better than a few years ago, but by no means perfect. They are cheaper to repair though, and he doesn't think they are more unreliable. A good point is that so many people use them, you are bound to hear of failures.

  Interestingly, he prefers Stihl as well. Again, you hear of a lot of unreliable Stihl machines, but that's because 9 out of 10 pros are using them. He doesn't think they are any less reliable than any other brand.