Recent content by sailingharry

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    Buying a forever lawnmower. Lawnmower buying advice.

    I have a somewhat similar conundrum. I'm not a new owner (I'm retired), but need a new mower and have a similar lawn (mine is a little larger, closer to 1/2 acre) 1/3 Acre is about 15,000 square feet. With a 20" mower (call it 1.5' wide), the cutting route would be 15,000/1.5, or 10,000 feet...
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    Buying a forever lawnmower. Lawnmower buying advice.

    True words! Some people insist on top quality for everything -- a Snap-On tool is worth it, even if you only use this weird tool 5 times in your life. Others are quite happy with a Harbor Freight at a fraction of the cost, fully expecting that it will last at least the 5 times they will use it...
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    Buying a forever lawnmower. Lawnmower buying advice.

    And so now we understand that NO manufacturer of ANY product actually wants it to work. Battery powered mowers, trimmers, tools, cars, etc are all built to the bare minimum "out the door" quality level, with every possible corner cut. And that applies to gas mowers, push mowers, scythes...
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    Buying a forever lawnmower. Lawnmower buying advice.

    I bought my first battery powered mower in the late 90's, a Black and Decker. I loved it so much that in the early 2000's, after my divorce, I bought a used one that needed parts (new motor armature, a few other internal parts -- all readily available). Fixed it up, and sold it with my house...
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    Riding or walk behind?

    I'll have to agree with this suggestion. I pulled the acerage off my tax records in SF (18000 SF, and then deduct some for the house and some garden beds. But, still, it's just shy of an hour on a 30" riding mower. Some time is spent fiddling in dead-end parts of the yard and cutting in...
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    Riding or walk behind?

    Rivet I am new to this, for sure. Until this house, I had a couple decades with a lead-acid B&D push mower (yes, starting back in the late 90s when battery was a real novelty), and it did all I needed. So bigger mowers are new to me -- the 30" riding mower I have now is the largest thing I've...
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    Riding or walk behind?

    Rivets has cautioned me against berating the giver, so I'll try not to. I have and like a ride-on. Perhaps my target price for a replacement is off (and my target isn't really very firm -- I can buy what I want). But I really don't have any interest in going back to the push type I have. It's...
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    Riding or walk behind?

    I currently mow with a 30" riding mower that moves significantly faster than I can walk, and it takes an hour to do the yard. A 21" push mower would take that to at least 90 minutes, maybe 2 hours, and also increase the "sweat factor." I also worry about the ability to climb my hill (I also...
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    Riding or walk behind?

    We recently moved to a place with 1/3 acre, with some slightly steep hills (easy to walk). Before, I had a tiny yard and an ancient B&D battery mower. We mowed it all last summer. Our first solution was a Honda 3011. It does fairly well, but it is old, keeps having issues, and is poorly...
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    Rear tire thoughts

    I did pump the tires up, but I can't recall how full. The tires are marked 14PSI max, and I found the manual lists them at 10PSI. I'll have go tweak them and see how it goes. I use a Ryobi pump (part of their 18V One+ lineup) that has a really nice gauge with 0.5PSI increments all the way...
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    Rear tire thoughts

    After decades of small yards, I've retired to a house that needs a riding mower. Found an old Honda H3011, got it running well. But an issue with tires. I have a yard that is THICK Zoysia, and to make matters worse have a 20% slope for part of it. I find that the rear wheels tend to slip, a...
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