My current mower is self-propelled pull / electric start. I got it from Aldi about 6 years ago. The pull start disintegrated about 2 years ago so it was only electric / battery start. I figured I’d keep it until the day the battery crapped out then ditch the whole thing. That day felt like it was creeping up on me…
Anyway, our local Aldi had a newer version on sale for $250 this week (funnily enough – that was the exact same price I paid about 6 years ago for my old mower). This one doesn’t have electric start (that’s OK – I can live with that) but is still self-propelled. And a 3 year warranty which is pretty neat.
Here’s the box – from memory feels a lot lighter than the old one…
Hmmm….some assembly required…
Not in a rush so RTFM (read the f’ing manual)…
Hey wow – an exploded parts diagram in case I pull it apart…
Meh – that didn’t take long…
They ship these things without any fluids….so I found some oil in the shed…
Thought I’d take a look at the air filter – interesting set up for a cheap mower with a 2 stage filter…
The filters were completely dry - I figured oiling up the 1st stage filter was probably not a bad idea…
I guess if it starts to run rich the oil would have done it’s job – and I know where to look…
Jeez – this rip cord looks thin – might be exercising that 3 year warranty at some point…
So here’s the 2 mowers side by side
The new mower is HEAPS lighter than the old. I guess part of that is no electric start but I think everything is a bit lighter duty all round (refer to the rip cord).
New mower also has a soft / fabric / textile catcher versus the solid catcher of the old one. I can possibly see this perishing over time with the impacts from stones, etc but a lot of the big name mowers have textile catchers so maybe not?
So what does it mow like???
Well....pretty good actually! Catches pretty well - doesn't throw loose grass out between the mower and catcher (the old one did that a bit) and the mesh catcher seems to "filter" the clippings better than the solid one. Put in the mulching plug and it mulches REALLY well. The old mower mulched pretty well - but would often leave the odd clump of grass here and there. This one seems to mulch a lot better.
How would I rate it? I'm not an expert on mowers, but as far as what it does I'd give it 4 out of 5. As far as self propelled mowers go - it is really light - quite easy to not use the drive and just push like a normal mower. The old one was pretty much reliant on the drive due to the weight.
Value for money? I'd say that's 5 stars - you won't see another self-propelled mower anywhere for this money. The cheapest other ones are $500+
Anyway, if it outlasts the warranty I'll be happy - and if not, then I get my money back. I figure this will be my last petrol mower - I think my next mower will probably be a battery one the way that tech is evolving.
