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Stiga Garden machinery.

eisenach

eisenach

pfm Member
Does anyone have a view on Stiga, specifically the battery lawnmowers ? It's not a brand I know. I was looking for Stihl, but the local place only has Stiga.

£350 for the 340e mower. A quick look online suggests that's a national offer, but is it any good ? For the price, I could buy 5 Aldi battery mowers, which would keep me going for a bit, but as no-one wants to service them, they're effectively a disposable item, so not very environmentally friendly.
 
eisenach said:
Does anyone have a view on Stiga, specifically the battery lawnmowers ? It's not a brand I know. I was looking for Stihl, but the local place only has Stiga.

£350 for the 340e mower. A quick look online suggests that's a national offer, but is it any good ? For the price, I could buy 5 Aldi battery mowers, which would keep me going for a bit, but as no-one wants to service them, they're effectively a disposable item, so not very environmentally friendly.
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Or you could buy the corded electric mower that I bought 20 years ago for £30 and use it without any maintenance for decades. I have a petrol mower that cuts the time from 30 minutes to 25 minutes, but as that requires maintenance and fuel and is currently in need of a clutch cable I can't actually be bothered. The last petrol mower that came with the house lasted about 10-12 years before the steel casing rusted away, meanwhile my cheap plastic affair will never rust and after 20 years it still works.
 
Ginger said:
18 years on my Mountfield petrol (Briggs and Stratton). I must get round to changing the oil!
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IME the engines outlast the rest of the machine by a good margin, especially 4 stroke engines. In my case the engine was as new, after all if you think that they do 1/2 an hour a week for 26 weeks a year, that's 13 hours. Other similar small engines in motorbikes etc might get an oil change every 1000 miles, so at an average of say 30 mph that's about 35 hours. So in my case I ought to have changed the oil every 3 years. I didn't, naturally enough. No excessive engine wear ensued. Then again, I reckon 18 years might be pushing your luck. Is there actually any left in there?
 
eisenach said:
Does anyone have a view on Stiga, specifically the battery lawnmowers ? It's not a brand I know. I was looking for Stihl, but the local place only has Stiga.

£350 for the 340e mower. A quick look online suggests that's a national offer, but is it any good ? For the price, I could buy 5 Aldi battery mowers, which would keep me going for a bit, but as no-one wants to service them, they're effectively a disposable item, so not very environmentally friendly.
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We had a petrol Stiga at the office for ten years, it was a twin blade rotary and went through belts quickly. Apart from that it was fine until it got stolen.
Petrol mowers seem reliable now as stevec67 said, choose your propulsion system on convenience and maybe noise. A lot of mowers push the HSE limits on noise exposure if you spend much time on there; always use ear protection.
 
stevec67 said:
IME the engines outlast the rest of the machine by a good margin, especially 4 stroke engines. In my case the engine was as new, after all if you think that they do 1/2 an hour a week for 26 weeks a year, that's 13 hours. Other similar small engines in motorbikes etc might get an oil change every 1000 miles, so at an average of say 30 mph that's about 35 hours. So in my case I ought to have changed the oil every 3 years. I didn't, naturally enough. No excessive engine wear ensued. Then again, I reckon 18 years might be pushing your luck. Is there actually any left in there?
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Think I've topped it up literally once or twice. Doesn't use any, doesn't run any differently to when it was new. Same spark plug, same filter.

I reckon that's done more time than suggested because the growing season has got longer and I cut more than once a week. I've also wondered just how long it's actually been running. I might just see how long it lasts now. Looks like the wheels will wear out before the motor.

Incidentally, when I bought it, the dealer tried to sell me a 'service plan'. I think I said: 'It's a mower mate, not a BM.' Wise words, in hindsight!
 
OK, some background.

We've got quite a lot of grass in the garden, and long verges. It's just taken me over three hours just to do the verges with an Aldi petrol mower, Briggs and Stratton engine. The mowers take a real hammering on the verges, picking up stones and other road detritus. The moles don't help. The mowers seem to last about two years out there. The engine's fine, but the decks get battered and fall to pieces. The front wheels have just dropped off ! It's probably fixable, but none of the repair places round here want to look at lowly kit, but there's no point in getting anything better. I can probably fix this myself, with lots of cursing to help.

For the last 10 years or so, the plan has been to buy the Aldi petrol mower when they have it, and keep it in its box. I run two mowers at a time, one for the garden (long, twisty, uneven, bushes; a corded mower would be a nightmare), and the "old" one for the verges. After a year, the self-propelled function on the "new" one has packed up, so when the "old" one's deck finally gives up the ghost, it goes to the tip, the "new" one becomes the "old" one, and the new "new" one comes out of its box, et ainsi de suite.

It's all a bit environmentally unfriendly, but I can't see a better way of doing it because of the bashing the mowers get on the verges.The latest Aldi mower seems to have a no-label engine instead of B&S, though.

However, a few years ago, I picked up an Aldi battery mower cheap, around £50. I already had a battery. It cut very well, was easy to use, and three charges would do the job. However, being Aldi, it's just died. The motor clicks, the blade turns a touch, then it stops. No-one wants to look at it, and it's out of guarantee.

What I'd like to do is to get a battery mower for the garden, and put the "new" petrol mower on the verge, where it should last a couple of years. I could get the Aldi for £70 and I have the batteries, but I'm getting fed up of buying something almost every year. If the Stiga mower were to be ok and durable, that'd be a plus, and the local dealer will service it. I can't find any reviews of it, and it's not in any of the "best 7 mowers for the year" lists. Mowers that are, I can get from B&Q or Amazon, but then, no-one will service it.

Actually, typing this, I think I've just answered my own problem. I think I'll just go get it ... tomorrow ! :)
 
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Sounds quite cheap, i've got half an acre of rough and smooth, last mower lasted 20 years and it was a John Deere. Sold it as a racing project and got a Husqvarna as JD rep was away. They're all similar and have the same engines, i think B&S have gone so it'll be Kohler or Kawasaki.
Trouble is these are £2k plus now so i hope the Husq will do another 20 years.

Apart from blade sharpening and occasional belts they need minimal servicing, oil change costs nearly nothing and takes ten minutes, while it's draining i give the two grease nipples a squirt each.
 
eisenach said:
I wish ! It was always the plan, but then something happened.

Still stuck in soggy Herefordshire. Maybe I'll come back to Leeds instead ! :)
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Come back to Leeds? I'd give it a week or two, other than this last weekend it has been pissing down there pretty well continuously since what seems like 2020.
Then I got work in Fife, and it seems to p1ss down here even more than Leeds, were such a thing possible. Still, at least I get to travel 500 miles a week in the pouring rain.

Oh, and get a debroussailleuse anyway, you can get basic wheeled ones for £150, with a petrol engine. That will sort out your verge, bricks and all.
 
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