Having used both a ‘ride on’ and ‘walk behind’ lawn mower for
clients of Carmichael Gardening Services, I began comparing which was better
for mowing lawns. Lawn mowers are a unanimous tool of choice for gardeners with
all types of lawn and garden, and with such a bewildering choice of mowers out
there, I thought I’d offer this simple guide to humble lawn mower.
There are essentially two main types of lawn mower. Ride on
lawn mowers tend to look like large go karts with a large cutting blade
underneath, whereas walk behind mowers have a smaller cutting blade that
propels itself, but that you guide by walking behind it.
Most of the lawns I mow for Carmichael Gardening tend to be
quite large, usually around 100 metres long by 20 metres wide, and so I will
use this size of garden to discuss the advantages of each type.
Using a ride on lawn mower
Much faster cut time than a walk behind mower:
- Much larger cutting blade (usually twice as large) so can cut twice the area in the same number of lengths
- Has a self-propelled engine that isn’t hindered by walking speed, and so can travel up to 10 mph
- Means a large lawn will typically only take up to an hour to cut.
However, ride on lawn mowers don’t collect the cut grass,
and rather unceremoniously spew cut grass back out onto the lawn. If you want a
clean looking lawn, this can then result in a number of hours of raking to
clean the lawn of the cuttings.
Using a walk behind lawn mower
The main advantage I find with using a walk behind mower is
the higher quality of cut:
- The smaller mower and slower travel speed cut the grass much more evenly, and don’t leave any tufts of uncut grass behind
- The smaller mower and slower travel speed cut the grass much more evenly, and don’t leave any tufts of uncut grass behind
- This means you often don’t need to go round the garden again, whereas using a ride on often results in having to go back around the garden with a strimmer to get in the corners.
They are also much cheaper to run and operate:
- They consume far less petrol than the ride on mowers for cutting the same areas, which is good for the environment and for your wallet
- Walk behind mowers are also much easier to have repaired, as if they break down or need a service, they often can fold up into the back of a saloon size car and can be taken to a repair shop
- Ride on mowers on the other hand need to be picked up and taken away by a specialist engineer, which is a pain as it takes much longer and can also be quite expensive.
Of course, the main disadvantage is it does take more time
and effort to cut the lawn using a walk behind, and they often struggle to cut
grass higher than a foot. This is in comparison to ride on mowers, which are
often fine cutting grass up to about 2 feet in height.
Jack’s final thoughts and recommendations
Over my time in my garden, I much prefer using the walk
behind mower. I find the overall experience much more enjoyable and less
stressful than using a ride on mower due to the slower speed it travels at and
the higher quality of finish cut. However, if you have a large garden and are
less fussed by the quality of the cut (and are willing to fork out around
£1500) then you can do worse than using a good quality ride on mower.
If you’re looking to buy a ride on or walk behind mower, my
first piece of advice would be to pop down to your local garden centre. They
will usually have a selection of both, and will usually let you test both out
to see which you enjoy using more. I personally use a Mountfield self-propelled
(Honda petrol engine) lawn mower, which I find gives a very high quality of
cut, and is also very reliable and sturdy.
