Rotary vs cylindrical lawn mowers

[Adsibob]

Hi, not too happy with my 9 year old plastic Bosch rotary lawnmower. Thinking of upgrading to a cylindrical one, as apparently they “stress” the grass less, but just wondering what other’s experiences are like.

[bassanclan]

Cylinder mowers give a better finish to the lawn and will stripe it nicely. Rotary are easier to maintain and you can have a roller on the back to give a stripe.

[ProDave]

I don't see why a rotary will "stress the grass"  Rotary a lot easier to maintain, simple blade to sharpen or replace.  And Rotary will cope with long grass and weeds.

 

I once had a cylinder and if you let the grass get too long it just would not cope, and a blunt cylinder is difficult to sharpen and expensive to replace.

 

Our present mower has a plastic deck.  I was sceptical the plastic would be strong enough and expected it to crack or split, but it has not.  Far better than previous mowers with a steel deck that just rust away long before the motor has worn out.

[JohnMo]

If you want the best cut a roller, but you will need to cut the often, a rotary one is more forgiving.

 

If you get a rotary one get one that mulches the grass, as long as the cut isn't huge all the grass cutting gets pushed back into the grass.

 

I just need to find a decent one with all wheel drive for our slopes. The 2 wheel drive one is hard work.

[saveasteading]

9 hours ago, Adsibob said:

they “stress” the grass less

They snip each blade between rotor and fixed blade, leaving a neat end. Rotary rips the ends off. Whether that is stress i can't  say.

Only rotary will deal with long or irregular grass.

[Carrerahill]

If you keep a rotary blade nice and sharp it will give a relatively clean cut, the thing to look for is brown tips once you cut the grass, a clean cut will recover quickly and leave less/no unsightly brown tips, golf courses use cylinders for pristine lawns that recover quicker, so grow stronger, and look greener, but they mow fairways and greens daily in the summer, the time it takes grass to recover helps us with reduced mowing frequency in the summer. My lawn needs cut about every 5 days at the moment. 

 

Next time you mow your lawn check the tips of the grass about a day after you have cut them, it there is a lot of ragged brown tips, then think about sharpening your blade. For a domestic lawn, even a well kept smart domestic lawn, a rotary will be fine if in good condition. You can even leave stripes if you have rear rollers. 

[saveasteading]

Too may ifs for me. I am increasing my wild area.

[RichardL]

2 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

Too may ifs for me. I am increasing my wild area.

+1 this year decided to leave half the garden to meadow - hopefully even the moles will notice its quieter over there and leave the bit around my house alone.

Too late now anyway - the grass in that bit is a foot tall I couldn't mow it if I wanted to.