There’s no avoiding it, the weather has turned from being a bleakly cold, wobbly wet mess into a bleakly mild, wobbly wet mess and May is finally upon us.
However, ‘No Mow May’ dictates that you hold back until the end of the month to give our vital pollinating insects chance to do their thing amongst the wildflowers, but from that point it’s garden game-on.
Now, I’ve been known to trim many an expanse of turf over the years, sometimes with a cordless mower , sometimes with a mini mower meant for smaller areas of sodland, and sometimes when faced with a vast verdant field of overgrowth, I’ve even been known to saddle up and set off on a far-reaching ride-on. However, my latest assignment in the art of delivering a coup de grace to overgrown grass is fuelled by something more than merely my ceaseless desire to dominate Mother Nature, this time out it’s powered by petrol.
Yep, petrol lawn mowers. Going greater distances than corded or battery mowers and offering far more oomph when it comes to the cutting, going petrol is perfect for the gardener who needs to cover greater ground, faster.
So, if such scything action sounds like what you need to lay down the law to your lawn, check out this selection of cutting-edge grass croppers…
Best petrol lawn mowers at a glance:
- Best for British all-rounder ingenuity: Webb WER410SP - £249, Amazon
- Best for ease and efficiency: STIHL RM 448 VC - £589, Just Lawnmowers
- Best for grander gardens: Hyundai HYM510SP - £339.99, Amazon
- Best for more petite plots: Einhell GC-PM 40/1 - £159.95, Amazon
- Best for big-gun gardening: Mountfield SP46 - £339, Amazon
- Best for low-cost lawn care: Cobra M41C - £168, Amazon
Webb WER410SP
Best for: British all-rounder ingenuity
Even if you didn’t already know that Webb was a British brand, you’d probably arrive at that conclusion when you lay eyes on the WER410SP – unlike the angry scale of the Hyundai or the attention-demanding hues of the STIHL and Einhell, there is something quintessentially English about the fuss-free design of the Webb that speaks of polite garden parties with cucumber sandwiches and the vicar visiting, and not the lager-fuelled hot-tub/dirty-sex-pond antics people get up to these days. And it’s green – the least offensive colour you can have in a garden appliance. But I digress.
A great petrol-powered machine for gardens of varying dimensions, the self-propelled Webb comes with a 132cc engine and a 4acm blade that can cut in seven steps of height from 25cm to 75cm, ensuring a precise finish.
Clippings are collected in nicely sized 45L grass catcher or, should you be the kind of person who throws caution and clippings to the wind, simply pushed out of the back and back onto the lawn.
Light and easy to manoeuvre despite its tank-esque build quality, the Webb WER410SP really is an impressive all-rounder that’ll make short work of shortening your soddery.
Tech Spec
Engine capacity: 132cc
Cutting width: 41cm
Cutting height: 25 – 75mm
Lawn area: Up to 500m2
Mulching: No
Grass catcher capacity: 45L
Weight: 26kg
Buy now £249.00, Amazon
STIHL RM 448 VC
Best for: Ease and efficiency
A manufacturer renowned for its grunt-filled gardening machinery, STIHL makes a wide range of petrol mowers for gardens of all sizes and with prices running from just over £300 to just over £1300. The model I’ve selected here sits nicely and neatly somewhere in the middle and is ideal for gardens considered in the small-to-medium bracket.
Reasonably light at 28kg and therefore easy to manoeuvre, the RM 448 VC really is a no-nonsense example of the petrol mower’s ilk, capable of tackling up to 1200m2 of turf terrain on one full tank and featuring a nicely capacious 55L grass catcher, so you won’t have to keep stopping to empty it.
Features include a ReadyStart engine that stops with all the false start faffing around, during both warm and cold starting and a self-propelling drive that means all you have to do is steer. There’s also spring-loaded central height adjustment (25 – 57mm), a wide 46cm highlift blade to cut more with less effort and allow for a precise finish, and smooth running wheels to save you from getting stuck every few steps.
It’s fair to say the RM 448 VC turns the otherwise tedious and time-consuming task of pruning your grassy patches into a whirlwind of barely any work at all.
Tech Spec
Engine capacity: 166cc
Cutting width: 46cm
Cutting height: 25 – 75mm
Lawn area: Up to 1200m2
Mulching: Optional accessory
Grass catcher capacity: 55L
Weight: 28kg
Buy now £589.00, Just Lawnmowers
Hyundai HYM510SP
Best for: Grander gardens
Got a bigger back garden that requires a regular run-over? Not a fan of the time it takes to traverse with a trimmer? Also, far too lazy to empty the grass catcher? Then the pimped-up hot-rod alike Hyundai HYM510SP could well be the gras guillotine for you.
With a large 196cc engine, a whopping blade width of 51cm and a 70L grass catcher, you are good for acres of green, and thanks to the option to employ its mulching plug, you can do all of that without having to stop to empty the (vast) grass catcher even once.
Featuring a self-propelling system that means you just have to guide the thing rather than push its 38.7kg of weight, the Hyundai gives you six cutting heights running from 25cm to 75cm accessible from a single lever, meaning that ploughing through your medium-to-large pasture will take considerably less time and infinitely less effort, which is a win all-round.
Quick to collapse down for storage and easy to clean by just flipping it over and taking a hose to it, the HYM510SP is a world of grass cutting convenience wrapped up in a petrol mower design that – without wishing to come over as any weirder than people may already think I am – is just a little bit sexy to boot.
Tech Spec
Engine: 196cc
Cutting width: 51cm
Cutting height: 25 – 75mm
Lawn area: Above 2000sq.ft
Mulching: Yes
Grass catcher capacity: 70L
Weight: 38.7kg
Buy now £339.99, Amazon
Einhell GC-PM 40/1
Best for: More petite plots
For those who favour a more modestly proportioned garden but still wish to avoid all the effort involved in keeping the grass in order, the GC-PM 40/1 will be an absolute godsend. A little, lightweight option that can still take on up 300m2, the Einhell comes with an 80cc engine and a grass catcher with a more than decent 45L of space.
With a 3-stage individual wheel cutting height adjustment that runs between 25mm to 60mm and a 40cm blade, the GC-PM 40/1 self-propels to save you exerting any energy other than that required to steer it, and the cable pull start system on the guide bar makes it quick and easy to fire it up.
Folding down to next to nothing, the Einhell is easy to store and transport and the decidedly sturdy and vividly coloured plastic housing, combined with the hard-wearing grass catching sack means you’ll get many years mowing out of that more than agreeable investment of under 200 quid.
Tech Spec
Engine capacity: 80cc
Cutting width: 40cm
Cutting height: 25 – 60mm
Lawn area: Up to 300m2
Mulching: No
Grass catcher capacity: 45L
Weight: 17.1kg
Buy now £159.95, Amazon
Mountfield SP46
Best for: Big-gun gardening
Having been making mowers since 1962, this other British brand certainly knows a thing or two about what the average person in the garden want from their lawn cutting kit. And, despite offering up a huge array of different petrol mower options, for me it all comes down to this beauty, the SP46.
With a sizable 46cm blade, it can cope with gardens both medium and large, chopping grass down to size over an area of up to 500m2 in next to no time, while the self-propelled drive ensures minimum effort from yourself.
Capable of cutting across six heights ranging from 22cm to 65cm, coupled with a grass catcher that can hold a ludicrous 60L, getting the grass back to an acceptable apex can be done in next to no time. Plus, should you want to improve the condition of the soil beneath the carpet of grass you tread, you can choose to have the Mountfield in mulching mode instead.
Easy to manoeuvre despite the fair heft of 27kg, the Mountfield SP46 is a must-have mower for those who just want to mow and go.
Tech Spec
Engine capacity: 139cc
Cutting width: 46cm
Cutting height: 22 – 65mm
Lawn area: Up to 500m2
Mulching: Yes
Grass catcher capacity: 60L
Weight: 27kg
Buy now £339.00, Amazon
Cobra M41C
Best for: Low-cost lawn care
Of course, you don’t have to spend an absolute fortune to elbow your way into the petrol mower owners club (there may actually be such a club, I just can’t bear to look). For just £168 you can lay hands on the M41C from Cobra, a reassuringly red grass ground-razer that comes with a pleasingly plentiful 41cm blade.
Now, being a budget model, the Cobra is missing some of the bells and whistles of the other options assembled here, the main one being that it is not self-propelling. This of course means that physical exertion is required in operation – yep, you’ll have to push it. But, think of it this way, if you’re looking to get some exercise and build those muscles, an hour or two with this will bring you rude health in abundance.
Fortunately, then, it’s also very light at just 20kg, and the 50L grass catcher will cut down on extra trips to the compost heap (or wherever you personally dispose of clippings).
Cutting heights come in seven stages from 25cm to 75cm and you’ll get good coverage on a full tank, depending – obviously now – on your own level of fitness.
Tech Spec
Engine capacity: 98.5cc
Cutting width: 41cm
Cutting height: 25 – 75cm
Lawn area: Up to 350m2
Mulching: No
Grass catcher capacity: 50L
Weight: 20kg
Buy now £168.00, Amazon
Verdict
A bit of a mixed grass catcher bag here, with something for everyone interested in becoming a garden-going petrolhead. But for its sheer combination of power, features, design and price, for me the petrol-powered mower I’d most like to permanently potter around with in my own patch of grassy ground is the Webb WER410SP.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d rather pay someone to do the mowing for me, given the choice – hey, I’m not mad – but seeing as that’s not an option, I’d choose the Webb to work my begrudgingly green-thumbed magic with.
