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Trimming In Style: Advantages of a Riding Lawnmower
Your yard is your pride and joy. You carefully trim the trees and pull the weeds. You've developed an extensive watering system to ensure your pansies look their best. And you've even considered adding a fish pond later this year.
But although you love most of your yard work, cutting the grass fills you with dread.
Every time you have to pull that cord to start the engine, you cringe a little inside. You know you have hours of noisy pushing and grunting ahead of you. And you don't look forward to raking the clippings afterward.
Keeping your yard in pristine condition shouldn't feel like a tortuous event. If you hate your current push mower, why not upgrade to a riding mower?
It's Healthier
When your mower roars into life, it lets out a cloud of exhaust that blows straight into your face. And whenever you breathe in those fumes, you put your health on the line.
Lawn mower exhaust contains over 26 different poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are carcinogenic and mutagenic.
According to a study conducted by Dr. Roger Westerholm, cutting the grass for an hour with a gasoline-powered lawn mower exposes you to the same level of carcinogens as a car engine on a 100-mile journey.
But when you drive a rear engine riding mower, the engine sits behind you, rather than in front. This puts you out of the way of the dangerous fumes so you can breathe more freely.
It Does More Than Mow Your Lawn
A walk-behind mower is a one-trick pony. They only clip the grass, and if you have a mower without a bag, you have to collect the clippings yourself.
Riding lawn mowers have a variety of accessories that enable them to handle more than your grass. With the right parts, riding mowers can pick up leaves, twigs, and even pine cones. Some attachments will mulch the grass, so you can use the clippings to enrich your soil. Other attachments will dethatch your lawn or spread grass seed.
It's Faster
With a push mower, mowing the lawn is a time-consuming process. You have to walk slowly behind the machine, up and down your yard, to ensure you have a smooth cut. Although push mower speeds vary depending on the model, most of them will only work as fast as you can walk, which is about 5 kilometres per hour (3.1.mph).
With a riding lawnmower, however, you can finish the job in record time. A typical riding lawn mower can reach speeds of nearly 24 kph (15 mph), though many professionals opt for a slower speed of 9-14 km (6-9 mph) to ensure a thorough cut.
Want more speed? Honda set the world record for lawn mower speeds with its Mean Mower. This high-performance garden vehicle drove at a whopping 187 kph (116 mph).
It Pushes Through Tough Terrain
Some push mowers have strong enough engines that they can self-propel. You just have to guide them along. But even the strongest walk-behind mowers struggle with tough terrain. If you see a tough weed in your path, you'll either have to pull it up or work around it.
A riding mower has a larger engine and a larger bag, which means you can plough through thick weeds and grass without a problem. Some riding mowers have reinforced frames so they have the durability to handle rougher terrain and absorb a great deal of stress. Other riding mowers also feature larger rear tires for a smoother ride, as well as movable decks to adjust for changes in terrain.
It's Easy to Learn
If you're an experienced gardener, you may have learned to adapt to your mower's unusual quirks. Perhaps you know just the right way to pull the cord to start the engine. Maybe you've mastered turning around that tree stump so you have the grace and dexterity of a ballerina. Or you know that you need to angle the mower to avoid cutting too closely to your sprinkler.
But if you've just started mowing, a walk-behind mower may be more difficult to master. You have to learn how to fight for control of the machine. You have to anticipate when the bag becomes full to avoid overheating the engine.
With a riding mower, on the other hand, you can often learn the ins and outs of your machine within a day. No need to manage an awkward cord—simply turn the ignition key to start position. They drive much like a small car, so you can guide your machine where you want it to go.
Don't Fight Your Old Machine
Push mowers have a lot a benefits, especially if you have a new model. But if you need ease of use and convenience, then a riding lawnmower is the way to go. If you've tired of fighting an old machine, upgrade to a riding model for a comfortable, stylish mowing experience.