So you don't own anything with a Honda or Kawasaki engine so you'll not know how much better they are (stick out tongue smilie).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=stS22xFZ i have never had a problem with my cub cadet i have to drive it through the village to get to the field as it wont go through the gate and up the steps from the garden
Dunno about EU levels ! The ages of my stuff are :- Stiga 2011 model, Viking 2010 model plus I have various other digging things such as rotovators all with B & S engines, none older than 5 years. All are still running fine & have never been 'worked on' other than regular maintenance (sort of !) & believe me when I say I kick sh*t out of them. I gave the ancient MTD to our farrier & it's still working.
Vic said "Take no notice of John's aversion to B&S engines (it's BS) Every machine I own has these engines, are given stick & have never given me a problem :-) " Yes but are they the later models which must make EU levels? that is where the issue is, the old oil burning smoker had plenty of lubrication and ran on and on.
It's always a problem with forums and products, people post about theirs but that is often very historic info as time moves on products become more cheaply made and are not what they were. Somethings improve of course.
None of this really helps James who wants a cheap mower so is at the mercy of what ever he can find and of course where he is but I would happy to take €400 for a working Countax with the lawn brush attachment and collector.
Google photo but similar
quite right about the Briggs engines Don
B & S engines have always been found in professional gear ie golf course machinery so there isn't a better testament than that
Being a yank and having spent my youth behind Briggs lawn equipment, I have to concur with Stuart. Primitive they are, but start with three prime pumps and a tug every time. My property is on a 45 degree slope so a ride mower is out of the question. I bought a Briggs walk behind when I moved in, but it is a strenuous patch to work with a conventional mower. I finally resigned myself to Honda strimmer and a pair of golf cleated boots for traction on the steeper parts of the slope. It gets the job done on well over an acre, but it is a multi-day ordeal. I have a friend with a very large property near Gaillac. He stepped up for a Cub Cadet and loves it, but always seems to be working on it.
I have one of those, an "entry model" without grass collection. Takes a hammering on my rough, mole infested, plot. I have replaced a couple of belts (cheaper when ordered from USA, than bought locally) but no other serious problems. You can have 3 of these for the price of one Honda. You can work out the economics for yourself....The "Achilles heel" of most mowers is the deck. Replacements are too expensive to be worthwhile. I pressure-wash the underside of my deck after every use, because the grass mulch will stay permanently wet and is the main cause of penetrating corrosion. I should also give it a coat of red oxide at the end of season, when I change the oil and sharpen the blades. But do I do any of those things?
Try this link for the Kohler spares- find your model no. and track down the pieces - I used this, and other spare parts companies and found this one to be very good.
http://www.gdn-industries.com/pieces-detachees-kohler/
The Viking mowers are good value for money and will do the job - the Kohler engine is ok tho' I wouldn't recommend these engines if your ground is too 'rough' - normal lawn use would be fine. For more testing terrain I would go for a Honda engine which will add a few ore hundred euros to the price.
Phew !!!
Interesting comments about Brico ride-ons!
Look at the label under the seat & you will find the true manufacterers. I have a Bestgreen 15.5 cv mower, bought new in 1995. I actually drove it from the shop to my mother's house! This is made by American Yard Products in Orangeberg, USA. It has worked very hard & when I first moved here I used it to cut grass for a living. It spent a few years sitting outside when we put my mother's house on the market & was not used. I ended up buying the house & my own ride-on mower, also a Bestgreen but an 18.5 CV twin with hydraulic drive, came with me. When I tried to cut the grass I broke a blade carrier & ordered a part from a local mower shop but needed to cut the grass so I put a battery on this old rusty Bestgreen & fired it up. It started with no problem but did need a new fuel pipe. It cut the grass & STILL works well today, but the deck edges have worn thin & it tends to slice little grooves in the grass.
My big Bestgreen has been eating belts which is my fault for buying the wrong sizes.
I also have a Husqvana Ride-on which seems to have some familiarity to it & guess what? It is made by American Yard Products, Orangeberg, USA! In fact, many "quality" branded machines are just different badged & coloured versions of the Brico machines, just more expensive.
I get most of my spare parts from Ebay USA - 2 cutter belts from Geogia, 30 euros delivered.
This might help or confuse the who makes what situation!
Husqvarna/AYP Brands owned or made for:-
Husqvarna
Craftsman
Poulan
Ryobi Lawn tractors
Snapper was Bought by Simplicity. Then Simplicity was bought by Briggs and Stratton,
So Briggs own or manufacture the following:
Simplicity
Snapper
AGCO outdoor Power in U.S.
Massey-Ferguson Outdoor Power in U.S. MTD makes MF in Europe
Ferris
Murray. Murray outside of U.S. made by Husqvarna/AYP
John Deere Push mowers Currently made by Briggs.
MTD make a lot of diffrent tractors
Currently they make the Toro Lawn and Garden tractors since 2007, now gone.
MTD Brands:
MTD
MTD PRO
BOLENS as of 2001
WHITE OUTDOOR as of 1981
YARDMAN as of 1975
MASSEY-FERGUSON in Europe AS OF 2006
LAWNFLITE
COLUMBIA
TORO as of 2007
TROY-BILT as of 2001
CUB CADET AS OF April 1981.
Got a photo ?
I started out with the red one but it wasn’t man enough so I bought the yellow one for about E3,000. Best machine I’ve ever owned. It cuts long/short, wet/dry & is also used in the fields as a weed whacker where it just loves nettles. I’ve also got a Viking MB555 tondeuse tractee which is also great but gets little use as the Stiga is so versatile. I’ve made up a stronger ball tow bracket for the Stiga & tow a 5ft x 4ft trailer full of logs with it. The hydrostatic gear box means no tiresome clutch or gear stick & it turns on a centime whatever that is !
Take no notice of John's aversion to B&S engines (it's BS) Every machine I own has these engines, are given stick & have never given me a problem :-)
got a friend in St Congard who is downsizing and has a ride on ,new last year for sale, cost 1900€ and he will take around 1000€ for it, 11.5 HP with grass collector
After two years of strimming our field almost 1 acre, yes i know i must have been insane it took on average 7 days, i threw in the towel and went to look for a ride on. Our local agricultural dealer Espace Emeraud spelling is wrong but you get the idea had an offer on cub cadet machines, explaining my layout of a large sloping field he pointed me to the RZT zero turn its like a little go cart that turns on its own axis he did a demo ran it up and down the field and the deal was done not cheap at 3000€ but now it takes me 2 hours not 7 days.A 17.5 Kola engine hydro static transmission even got a cup holder in the paneling but then i don't need that as i have one that stands at the gate and shouts tea up
thought of a scythe?.. quicker than a strimmer.. [look on youtube for scythe vs strimmer]..
very eco, good exercise..lol
I bought a €200 and a bit mower this summer to do the grass in front and side of the house, we have a big four wheel job that is tougher than all sit-ons until mini tractors, but those are a couple of thousand a go. Cheap mowers do lawns, smallish and that is that. If you want something more durable avoid brico own makes, they are expensive to maintain and replace parts but go by your instincts and do not let biases about Briggs and Stratton versus Honda and so on influence you. It is what the machine can do and the price, especially if you are not proposing to give it heavy use it is not suited to.
A decent Stihl strimmer inside your price range will do the job as well, if not better and worth considering.
In the sub 400 euro bracket they do look pretty much the same, what about Viking, is that a Stihl brand?
Ah the great mower dilemma, Look past the colour scheme and take a look underneath. That way you'll soon see most are identical as they leave a great big factory in Italy (GGP) just in different livery. Personally I can't stand Briggs & Stratton engines, much prefer Honda, Kawasaki, Kohler. The Briggs engines have had trouble making EU emissions levels so they lean out the mixture and cut as many corners as they can to continue selling their out of date technology. with the result that they have piston and rod failures because of too hot on one side (exhaust) and fail.
http://www.ggp-group.com/about/Production_plants/castelfranco
The best mower I have owned is the WolfGarten Kart.
MTD with briggs motor. Heavy on petrol but so reliable. I have a 17.5hp 109cm cut twin blade and it's great.
Well, I can only recommend NOT buying from Bricomarche! I was in a similar situation a couple of years back - and with no cash and a rapidly growing sward, in desperation I visited and bought the best I could afford. It was a nightmare - the wheels continually fell off! It wasn't a bad machine - in truth it *always* starts, but although it was relatively inexpensive (sub €200 euros) it has given me so much grief that I now prefer to use the strimmer!
Next purchase was a Bestgreen tractor mower earlier this year. This time, just sub €2000. It is desperately noisy and the forward/reverse gearbox is horrible. Mind you, it had been put together by the local Bricomarche - probably on a Monday morning! And as for claiming on the guarantee - well! Because Bricomarche don't have any workshops themselves it just isn't viable to take it back and have them return it to manufacturer's service centre. There are tales of people waiting more than 6 months - and unfortunately the grass doesn't stop growing.
Previously I had paid a very long price for Stihl kit from a local retailer - and I can tell you that in my experience, quality counts.