Lawnmower

[Dice144]

I am closing on a house soon. (TM)

The nerd in me wants to get an electric lawnmower. Main reason being I hate to pay for gas and well I would think it would be less noisy. Either way I will be using ear buds however would like a quieter running model.

The lawn is half an acre. Am I stuck getting an old school gas mower?

 

[iamwiz82]

Electric with a half acre? Either you are going to spend $10,000 on a battery powered or you will have deal with a few hundred feet of extension cords. No fun either way.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Most of the noise from modern lawn mowers is from the blades in my experience. While electrics are slightly quieter, they're still far from "whisper quiet."

As for paying for gas, with a half-acre a 5-gallon gas can should last all summer or more.

At a half-acre you're on the border between a push mower and a riding mower so I'd say it really depends on how many trees and other obstacles you have on the property. At lest get self-propelled push mower if you decide against a rider.

ZV

 

[MixMasterTang]

Yeah, if its really half an acre you'd be insane to even think of electric!

 

[Dice144]

Yeah didn't think it would be realistic but had to ask! Computer nerd but stupid when it comes to cars/motor engines etc.

Uncle told me to get a riding. Dad told me to get a rider for $1500. I have a 2 car garage and will someday buy a shed.

Cheap guy in me thinks a self-propelled pusher is the way to go. Figure $300 for a notch above bottom barrel.

 

[poofyhairguy]

If you are going to go push, get at least a rear powered Honda. Then it won't be bad at all. My dad has a half acre I mowed with one. They are far better than other models and he has gone through a lot until the Honda.

I have a craftsman with a Honda motor for a 1/5th an acre. I would have gone full Honda with bigger. They make great small engines and mowers.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Yeah didn't think it would be realistic but had to ask! Computer nerd but stupid when it comes to cars/motor engines etc.

Uncle told me to get a riding. Dad told me to get a rider for $1500. I have a 2 car garage and will someday buy a shed.

Cheap guy in me thinks a self-propelled pusher is the way to go. Figure $300 for a notch above bottom barrel.

I'll second the recommendation for a Honda, but that's going to be in the $600 to $700 range.

A good new rider will run between $1,900 and $2,500 depending on whether you want a basic rear-engine rider, a small tractor, or a zero turn mower. The riding mowers you can get from places like Sears, Lowes, or Home Depot really aren't great machines; you're much better off going to a dedicated yard equipment shop than a big box store.

ZV

 

[MixMasterTang]

We are also half way through the lawn mowing season, good deals will start popping up on new mowers stores want to move and also on used mowers as people take advantage of the sales and upgrade.

 

[disappoint]

Get a standing mower:

 

[Dice144]

Messed up my feet, knees and back in service. So leaning towards a ride on. Just gonna use my Uncle push for a test run to see how bad it sucks.

 

[Midwayman]

Get a robot mower.

 

[Gillbot]

Most of the noise from modern lawn mowers is from the blades in my experience. While electrics are slightly quieter, they're still far from "whisper quiet."

As for paying for gas, with a half-acre a 5-gallon gas can should last all summer or more.

At a half-acre you're on the border between a push mower and a riding mower so I'd say it really depends on how many trees and other obstacles you have on the property. At lest get self-propelled push mower if you decide against a rider.

ZV

This

 

[Meghan54]

And like was said before, if you go self-propelled, get rear wheel drive only!

 

[cavemanmoron]

Messed up my feet, knees and back in service. So leaning towards a ride on. Just gonna use my Uncle push for a test run to see how bad it sucks.

Pay someone to mow the lawn for the Easiest solution.

 

[Dice144]

Pay someone to mow the lawn for the Easiest solution.

Traded my old stove for lawn cuts. Uncle is doing the lawn for me this summer. Gonna buy a ride on when they get deeper discounts. Thanks guys

 

[Mandres]

If I were in your shoes I'd watch Craigslist for an older Snapper rider. They have a very simple and robust drive mechanism and they're usually available cheap (~$500 for a very clean one). 1/2 acre isn't a ton of grass to mow but unless you're just looking to get some exercise a smaller rider is a lot more comfortable and enjoyable.

Given the choice I'll buy a good used commercial grade riding mower over a new consumer grade every time.

 

[DaTT]

I would also opt for a rider. Have a beer or two while cutting the grass, and if you get real ambitious, throw a supercharger on that puppy and get it done in half the time

 

[OSULugan]

I had a half acre at my last house. I initially took my parents' old electric push mower. The battery would die about 1/8 of the way through the lawn, and would take 24 hours to re-charge. If you do the math, you'll see that I wouldn't be done with the whole lawn before a week had passed and it needed to be mowed again.

I picked up a self-propelled gas push mower off of eBay local for about $90 that worked for a year or two until I got a good deal on a riding mower. Even though a half acre is do-able with a push mower, the riding mower took a 2+ hour job down to a 45 minute job, which was well worth it to me.