Founded in 2008. The Landscape Juice Network (LJN) is the largest and fastest growing professional landscaping and horticultural association in the United Kingdom.
LJN's professional business forum is unrivalled and open to anyone within within the UK landscape industry
LJN's Business Objectives Group (BOG) is for any Pro serious about building their business.
For the researching visitor there's a wealth of landscaping ideas, garden design ideas, lawn advice tips and advice about garden maintenance.
Replies
Yep I've got one. They are a bit of a mixed blessing that are only suitable for certain sites. It's a well built machine but that makes it heavy and a bit of a handful to turn around at the end of a run.
The drive speed is too fast on no 3 and too slow on no 2, i sped the engine up as much as i dared and kept on no 2 but it is still a little too slow across the ground.
It is also too long to fit sideways across your van inside the side door so must point down the van lengthways.
Forget buying the mulch plug and blade its useless as a mulcher.
Don't let the above put you off as i am VERY critical of lawnmowers and it is a useful addition to our fleet, its just not the answer to your prayers you may think it is. I would advise trying to get hold of a demonstrator first and trying before you buy.
Hope this helps, mike.
Thanks Mike, usefull info, There's more to buying a mower than meets the eye! I've been on a forum in the united states where they had the exmark metro 26 (same as toro) I say "had" because they have discontinued the machine as it has not been pupular. The concept is popular but reports aren't great.
I've got a wee van that my 21" mower fits sideways neatly, so I would probably have to use my trailer for the slightly bigger mower.... then i'm getting away from being productive dragging a trailer around!
I am in my second year as a grounds maintenace contractor and I work solo unless I need a hand. Next year I have more intrest in my services so I'm just thinking of how I can get round my customers without too much stress. My other option to being more productive is to buy another 21", maybe a Toro highvac with the Kawasaki engine and BBc. Which I think will be more productive than my current Toro commercial with the honda engine. then I have a spare mower for someone else to push if need be.
There, I think Ive talked myself out of the 26".. and its rrp s £1799!
Any other options/ideas would be greatly recieved!
With the machine being 26" you would expect that productivity on large areas with minimal obstacles would be significantly increased (at the same walking speed as a honda hrh536 for example). I wonder if this is the case - can you shed any light on this Mr Scrapem ?
I was reading that some one of the American firms report that the did a tests on the same properties with a 21" then the 26". the 21" took 11.5 hours and the 26" took 7.45 hours.
I live on the west coast f Scotland and most properties have banks, trees, and lots of moss. I'm npt sure that those figures would translate the same here!
I think the extra productivity of 26" cutting width gets watered down somewhat by the extra drawbacks. I.e.the heavier handling following curves around the edges of lawns, harder to turn around at the end of a run, loading / unloading etc. Also if future summers are as wet as the last one then you can't use it anyway because the wheels will dig in too much (same as all heavy pedestrian mowers).
One advantage is that the large grass bag requires less emptying for area covered.
Like i said it is good for certain jobs and from my point of view anyway it's good to use different mowers during the working week, stops you getting too bored with the same machine.
"banks, trees and lots of moss" says to me "lightweight mulcher".