Once more I find myself here asking for mower advice.
I run a small garden business that has become smaller over the last 2 years due to injury.
I still mow 2 large ish graveyards 1 church grounds and a few small gardens.
I was advised to try weibang on here a few years ago for both a mulching and roller mower, but have had a very negative experience with them.
All 3 mowers I have had have gone wrong after 1 year and needed fairly costly fixes, a legacy pro 56 a virtue 53 SMP and the other I cannot remember the name off hand but it may have been a 46 SVP or similar.
The only one that has been remotely reliable has been the smaller SVP, bit even that has constant niggles.
Start of this season the virtue after only lasting since June needs a new Carb and other bits costing £580, the legacy needed repairs of £400, and due to them not being financially viable have decided to scrap.
From now on I will only buy second hand as new mowers just aren't cost effective, especially when warranty never covers anything.
My question is , what is the best mid price mulching mower out there avoiding weibang and where is a good place to find decent second hand mowers?
Thanks.
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Replies
Yes we would not buy wiebang. Best mulching mower on the market is the Honda HRX537 HY we run 3 commercially and will collect. We have tried them all!
Nice to use, light,BBC variable speed .
DO NOT BUY a used mower why would anyone sell a a perfectly good mower? There are so many tinkerers, bodgers and crooks out there you are asking for trouble , bite the bullet and buy new.
Thanks- I just cant justify the outlay anymore for something that keeps needing to be repaired/ after a year.
I spent 1800 on the legacy and 950 on the SMP- both of which went wrong within a year- the legacy I had repaire but the SMP is basically now scrap after one year. Unless I double my graveyard prices I cant make them viable so am forced into second hand even if I replace it every year its still cheaper.
Will look at the one you listed, thanks.
Rob, just to give you a bit more info on these HRX,s we run. Two are 3 years old and one is 7 years old. We don't service our walk behind mowers all we do is replace blades - non gen for under £30. The two 3 year old machines have had no repairs or faults. The older one has had the rear wheels and drive cogs replaced - under £100 easy diy. They all do around 30 hours a week and we abuse them by mulching hedge and shrub prunings, so zero maintenance, no repairs apart from mentioned and this is a good representative sample across 3 mowers not a one off on one mower. Appreciate you have had a bad experience this will not be repeated with an HRX !!! By the way Honda do an HY and a VY, go for the HY as the VY has paddle speed controls on the handle which are awkward on bumpy ground whereas the HY has lever type speed control which can be set. Hope all that helps, go and get one you won't regret it !!
Update I know I said don't buy used but a dealer in Cannock has 2 for sale at £275. On ebay at that price worth a punt he is 100% positive feed back.
See, I am going to say the opposite of Peter.... I had a small gardening business, we primarilly looked after flower beds and that kind of thing, but as part of that did a fair bit of mowing.
When I started I couldnt justify a new mower (one exception I bought a wee battery stihl new).
In the 8 years of the business I had about 4 replacmemts, only one not bought off FB , Ebay or Gumtree. THat came from someone on here and cost a lot in comparision to the rest. All came in for under £200 a piece, 1 or 2 under £100. All of them bought from people verifyably downsizing their home, or disposing of dead relatives stuff.
When I got them the oil and filters were changed, a new blade was generally required - they then ran till they died - One lasted 7 years and was still going when I sold the business.
As soon as you buy new, you are compelled to get the thing serviced properly - fine if you have employees and tonnes of grass to cut - but IMO not cost justifiable if the mowers are not in full 8 hours a day 5 days a week use.
You just have to realise that everything you go and see has to be looked at carefully and if it comes out of a tatty property and is jet washed or the guy obviously does them up and sells them, be prepared to walk away. If you visit a house with a estate agent's sign, or the mower is being sold by someone with loads of "stuff" for sale (old furniture, other junk ) if it starts its probably ok, and has had a gentle life - if you make a mistake, you havent lost a fortune - and you can probably resell it.
I do agree that Honda is generally good
I second hrx537 hy.
I also have a honda hrd roller mower from 2002 that's still reliable, built like a tank with a powerful engine. Brought from a customer that had it from new but was to heavy for him, he replaced with a hrx537.
Yep as others have said, buy a HRX.
You will not regret it. I mulch with mine a lot of the time and as long as you don't go silly low with it you can not tell you are not collecting.
If you go second hand a good tell tale is looking at the tread on the tyres, mines done around 400 hours of work ( I have a meter on all my mowers to help with servicing) and the tyres still look fine. Anything with no tread must have had a huge amount of work so avoid them!
Hi Rob
Interesting to read about your negative experience with your new weibangs after just a year ?
When I first started I was recommended a Toro after Twenty years as an employee using bullet proof Honda's , I could not afford a Honda so bought a brand new Toro but found it underwhelming with a few niggles .
I took it to my dealers after a year for a service and they mislaid the machine , it just vanished off the premises .
They gave me a much older scruffy replacement Toro same model to borrow while they investigated .
The older Toro performed fantastic , a different beast so I asked if I could hang on to it and it served me well for Twelve years which I found strange .
Dealer said it could have being the pistons needed tweaking on my new machine whatever that means .
However I bought a Stihl viking roller mower used for £150 in 2015 and it's never missed a beat or required a spare part just the blade sharpening and occasional oil change .
Genuine reason for sale with the Viking ,gut instinct plays a part but bought a used mower from an expert do a upper and ended up having to replace a drive belt and carburettor gasket after two weeks of use .
Is it you feel the juice is not worth the squeeze buying new and might take a while to break even ? It will depend on your long term plans of course but if it's your only mower and you are a dedicated lawn operative I would buy new if finances allow for peace of mind and at least you have the option of selling it if you can no longer carry on due to injury .
All the best .