I have a Masport slasher....living where we are it is great as I don't have to empty a catcher, everything drops onto the ground as mulch...that of course may be absolutely no use to you at all!!! It is a great mower tho, starts first pop each time, very reliable....Tina

g'day beggar,

masport and rover in that order victa don't even make a good garden static display they are all show and no go, been there done that and seen it done after many years as mower mechanic.

len

mail len

lens garden page

Hello Tina and Len,

Thanks for your replies. I'm starting to come around to the idea that Masport is the mower for me. It's a pity I can't hire one first to try it but there isn't a hireshop doing the make near me.

I did try a Rover 20" self propelled. The small swinging blades put out a real draught and the catcher filled up very well. However, there's a small ridge on the side of the exit chute and this collected a dollop of cut grass which occasionally fell off onto the lawn. Nothing too bad and if I have to go Rover I could tolerate it.

Very best wishes,

Tony

Dont buy a rover as the B&S motors are now made in Mexico they are make out of weak metal
Ours has worn out twice in five years, and not a cheap mower either.
This time it is on its way to the tip. I am going for a Honda next time ...MM.

Hi Beggar,
unfortunatly there is not to many lawnmowers that can pick-up wet thick grass clippings.Kubota used to have a walk behind 19 and 21 inch with a turbo fan under the deck which had the best pick-up of any mower, but alas they no longer produce them, luckily I still have two of them left for my own use. No they are not for sale at any price.Many of the rover owners can get high lift blades for the four blade decks,Masport also have high lift blades. You will need to try different set ups to get the desired results.Some people over here use their mulching mower 2/3 times a week if we ever get enough rain.Not so much of a problem as we have just had our driest ever periods of dry and hottest temps on record. Take a look at a Toro. Good luck Peter r

Here is a link that might be useful: UK Toro

We have a Honda Buffalo MM. Can't fault it. Only repair has been a new pull cord. That is in 7 years. Brilliant lawn mower!

We've just recently (6mths ago) bought a Honda Self propelled, so far no problems, easy to start picks up as good as any mower I've had but then we've always had tough grass not proper lawns. I'm very happy with it. Definitely don't like Victa, an old Rover wasn't too bad, it was hard to start but it was old.

I have had 2 Victa's. The first one for around 12 years - sat out in the weather, hardly ever gave me any trouble. It was great because you could set it on high when the grass was long and it would cut almost waist high grass and not complain.
The one I have now is as good as the first. I have had it for 7 years. I use a ride on mower these days, but the victa is great when the lower part of the yard is too wet to get into with the ride on. If it gets bogged, you just carry it out.
I had a catcher mower for a while, but it would only catch until the wet sticky grass started to clog up under and around the blades. Then the blades wouldn't throw the grass into the catcher, and just became congested and stalled. With dry grass it was great.
Here in the central highlands of Victoria, we get wet sticky grass at this time of year, so I understand what you need. I couldn't recommend the Victa more highly. Easy to start, easy to fiddle with if you have any problems, and you can set it high enough so that it throws the grass out the side. You would of course need to rake and pick up, but I haven't found an alternative to that with this type of grass.

Hi All,

Many thanks for your prompt replies. A couple of comments:

I've just been told by an honest dealer that the cheaper Honda engines are now not made in Japan and are not as good as before. So it isn't just B & S that is getting cheapo!

I find Honda mowers cumbersome and their reputation here as grass cutters and baggers isn't the best.

We can still get mowers with a fan over the blade here. John Deere is one such, though I didn't like the rest of the machine.

I'm getting interested in the technicalities of mowers now.
For instance, one of the factors that helps good grass pickup is the ability to suck in air from underneath the engine. This complements the air coming in from under the deck and helps keep enough of a flow to keep bagging the grass when the mower is set to cut close to the ground.

It's funny how the various makes have a good feature or two but not enough. For instance, the 21inch Masports have a maximum cut height setting that is lower than their own smaller models. Why?

Think I'll have to design my own mower.

God bless

Tony

g'day tony,

the best self propelled mower is the snapper mate for me nothing comes near them. yes apparently b&s getting a bad name but me i'm usually wary of bad hype as lots comes from lack of understanding by the regular user. i had the b&s on my greenfield shredder it worked just as well as the 20+ year old motor on my mower but then after years of fixing mowers i do give them good servicing oil is cheaper than motors.

masport of course are new zealand mowers. the honda motor is getting good market share most professionals use honda motors. and of course victa no longer aussie owned sunbeam (usa) took them over when i was still repairing mowers over 20 years agao and i saw of late that sunbeam has been taken over by someone else.

as far as i know rover and greenfield are true aussie machines but they don't use aussie motors there just isn't one good enough that was ever made here, they use b&s and honda at the very least.

and the demise of the 2 stroke motor is well under way as per EPA regulations rules and sunbeam/victa knew all this when i was still repairing mowers so it is nothing new in the usa their home grown 2 stroke mower manufacturer has stopped production of its 2 strokes.

len

Hi Gardenlen,

Sorry to be late coming back to you. Yes, it's a pity that two stroke motors are going out. I fancy one as, obviously, my strimmer, blower, and hedgecutter are two strokes and I'd need only a can of one type fuel.

About the only two stroke available here is the Victa and, from these posts, and what I've gleaned elsewhere, their mowers aren't as good as they used to be. Funnily enough Victa sold mowers here with their own four stroke, pumped lubrication, engine a few years ago but these motors now seems to be vanishing in favour of Honda.

I'll probably have to go that way too.

Best wishes,

Tony

g'day beggar,

that's ok mate, news to hear that victa touted their own 4 stroke? they only ever made a 2 stroke and always used 4 strokes from those manufacturers of 4 stroke engines eg.,. briggs & stratton, kirby/techumseh & i suppose they could have used honda but 2 stroke was their stock in trade and yes the real old models before the sunbeam take over where not to bad they had some pride in quality as an australian company. like they only ever made lawn mowers at that so anything else ie.,. rider mower or whatever with the victa name on it is going to be a badge model only like they used to use morrison rider mowers as their own, terrible make of mower at the time.

len

Hi
I think you will find that Hondas are the best motor on a lawnmower .
Hondas only make motors then kit up the rest to make a lawnmower .
Hondas area very very good lawnmower .

Hondas patents ran out so moved plants to China all materials are the same just cheap labour for there motors so still the same as when made in Japan .

Alot of parts for Honda mowers are sourced from Australia very handy for our country .

Keep your fuel new and clean keep your filter clean and you wont have much trouble.

Also use the four blade full flute program to cut wet and long grass creates alot more air flow.

Cheers hope this has helped .
www.indmowing.com.au

Here is a link that might be useful: Independent Lawn mowing Contractors Of Australia