When you make a decision about a lawn mower it is essential you give consideration to a couple of key questions. Firstly ask yourself on average what is the size of the area you will be mowing? Is it

Smallish, medium-sized or verging on the larger size? What is this in terms of dimensions you ask…well as a guide, small would be anything less than say ½ - ¼ acre; medium between ½ - ¾ acre, and the upper end of the spectrum greater than ½ - 1 acre?

Doing this at the outset should help you narrow down whether you will be needing a commercial mower or a standard, as they will have different capacities depending on the grade and quality of their parts with the commercial varieties having greater utility. Furthermore, if you need to be doing jobs regularly you may be before off with a sit-on mower or lawn tractor. Next ask yourself whether you want to bag your clippings or if you can leave them or will rake them up. Again if you are working with a larger area it may not be practical to rake up cuttings and so bagging will be preferable. If you decided on bagging, next consider whether you would like a rear bagger or a side discharge. It is important to recognize that in general rear-baggers afford the greatest manoeuvrability and are better at catching cuttings; however, side dischargers will allow you to use a side discharge chute or optional bag attachments. Remember optional bag attachments come with additional costs so it may be more cost effective to purchase a mower already fitted with a bagger.

Next ask whether you want a self-propelled or a push variety of mower. Self-propelled mowers do exactly as this sounds they literally move forward of their own accord, courtesy of their engines. The advantage of these are that they can half your job time, a very attract quality, and make light work of inclines and other uneven surfaces. This translates into little work for you the mower operator. On the other hand, the traditional push type, are more economical and both environmentally and physically friendly – you will get a work-out and save on running costs. But ultimately the choice is yours.

Next ask yourself how you would prefer to start your mower…would you rather pull a cord (the traditional recoil method) or have an electric start? After deciding on this the final question you need to ask yourself is what your budget is? Alternatively this can be asked at the beginning, either way it is a crucial question as there are mowers for all budgets.

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