Need Advice on Purchasing a Lawnmower

I absolutely love my Black & Decker electric mower. It's reliable, starts instantly, has enough power to handle rough orchard grass (not all on one charge, though). It doesn't need a tuneup every spring – I just sharpen the blade a couple of times a year. And it's QUIET, and doesn't give off noxious fumes. It's about 6 years old and has never needed any servicing, in spite of hard use.

I have a couple of friends with smaller city lots who love their old-fashioned push-reel mowers. Great little machines, and great exercise.

.

I second the Honda self-propelled.

We've had ours for years with no issues. We clean the air filter out with water once or twice a season and replace the spark plug.

We have had expensive mowers, but they don't last any longer than the cheaper ones! Actually, I think they didn't last as long! We now buy one from Wal-Mart or Home Depo. We always make sure it is a mulching mower, that way you don't have to rake up grass after you cut it. Also an Adjustable height is good and def. self propelled! Other than that, get what you an afford! we used to take ours in once a year (usually early spring) to have maintenance done (like a tune up!) Now my hubby mostly does it himself. We have had ours (from Home Depo) for 4-5 years now. It has been rained on many times and still going strong! (Although I wouldn't recommend that! LOL!) Good Luck! :)

look at consumer reports. also look to see if there are any special rebates for purchasing one over another, such as electric. in our area there were rebates for turning in a gas powered one and received an electric one for $100. Coincidently, it was one of consumer reports' top rated ones. Good luck and enjoy your new mower.

I have a Honda, self propelled. Not sure if I bought it from Home Depot or Lowes since I bought it back in 97. Aside for changing the spark plug once and the filter every year I haven't had a bit of trouble with it. Oh you do have to get the blades sharpened or replace every so many years. It really depends on what your kids leave laying in the yard. The more stuff you run over the quicker the blades get dull. Dull blades bash the grass instead of cutting it, you can get a mess of disease in your grass that way.

I would also like to point out since no one else mentioned the filters, blades and spark plugs, all gas lawnmowers need this maintenance even the electric ones need the blades.

Bought my house in 2007, puchased a lawn mower from Lowe's - it is self propelled, has a briggs straton engine, and it much abused and still running great. All I have is done is ensure that the oil is kept full and kept it out of the rain. I know I paid under $300 for it, b'c that was all I had budgeted for it.

Tecumsha also is a good motor also. I don't really care about the manufacturer, just the engine - as that is what is most likely to break.

Make sure it has adjustable bed height - sometimes you may want to mower closer, others, when the lawn is overgrown, you want to start off with a higher bed.

The one I bought has a bagger, yeah, that was a big waste of time for us. The bagger stays in the shed.

Talk to the customer service associates at Home Depot - they should be able to give you an "education" on lawn mowers. A good associate will not steer you to a high end mower. IMHO I prefer Lowe's - but the one near my house has fantastic associates.

Good Luck
Good Bless

When we had push mowers, we would go to the local hardware store and buy whatever was on sale. If it lasted 5 years, we considered ourselves pretty lucky. We changed the oil and the spark plug... Never had problems. Once they quit, we'd leave 'em out by the end of the driveway for someone to scoop up and go get another cheapy.
It worked for us.
We've had more expensive push mowers, but have found that they really didn't last any longer than the cheap ones.
We now have acreage and have a lawn tractor.
We bought a Husqvarna - which has been awesome, but my preference would have been a John Deere (which was almost twice the price).
YMMV
LBC

Check out consumer reports. We've had good luck with our purchases recommended by them.