The weight of your lawnmower does matter in terms of whether it is easier to use than other models, which could then have a secondary effect on the quality of the final cut. There are 2 key factors which would alter the weight of a lawnmower. They are the material of your lawnmower deck and the type of lawnmower you are using.
Firstly, the type of material that goes into making the lawnmower deck can vary in weight. These generally get heavier as the quality of the lawnmower increases. There are 3 main materials that lawnmower decks are usually made from; aluminium alloy, plastic and steel.
Aluminium alloy is perceived to be stronger than plastic and steel lawnmower decks, but weighs much less than its counterparts. However, this does not take away any of the quality from the final cut. You will usually find these types of decks on top quality lawnmowers which have a long product life cycle, such as the ‘Mountfield SP555V Premium Self-Propelled Lawn mower’. Steel lawnmower decks are predominantly found on most petrol lawnmowers and are heavier than your aluminium alloy and plastic lawnmower decks. Now obviously this results in the lawnmower being heavier, which puts increased pressure on your lawn when it comes into contact with the mower itself, hence making it more difficult to move around and avoid damage to your lawn when cutting. It is advised that you avoid models like this if your lawn is mainly uneven. Finally, lawnmower decks that are made from plastic are the lightest of the three materials that are mentioned. They can be found on all types of lawnmowers, especially Honda models and provide similar results to lawnmowers with aluminium alloy or steel decks.
Now reading the above will give you the impression that the
weight of the lawnmower deck does not affect the final quality for it to be of
critical importance, but this isn’t the case.
Moving on from this, the type/power of the lawnmower will obviously differentiate the overall weight of a lawnmower more than the material the deck is made out of. The most common types of lawnmowers that are available consist of cylinder and rotary (predominantly electric/battery powered) and petrol. These all have different weight values and does matter more than the deck material.
Cylinder lawnmowers consist of a barrel of rotating blades with a fixed blade located at the base of the machine. These models will produce a better final cut than most other types of lawnmower, regardless of their specifications. However, cylindrical models such as the ‘Masport Olympic 660 Cylinder Lawn mower’ are heavy compared to other lawnmowers and should only be used on larger lawns. In context, this means that if you think you would struggle with a lawnmower like this one which is heavy, then it is advised that you seriously consider the lighter models available. Likewise, rotary lawnmowers operate in a similar way and are available in a variety of different models. These models can consist of different motors and some don’t even have wheels. However, depending on the wattage needed/recommended, the battery powered cylinder lawnmowers can be significantly heavier than petrol lawnmowers, unlike electric models, which are relatively lightweight.
In contrast, petrol lawnmowers are generally the heavier of
the models available to buy and are considered a viable option to use on lawns
with uneven/sloped areas. Again, like other models, the more power generally
correlates directly with higher quality in terms of the final cut. As discussed
previously, petrol models are best used on lawns with uneven surfaces, so the
more power that your model has, the heavier it will be. Therefore, the weight
does matter as you would need to find a compromise in terms of final cut
quality and ease of use, otherwise leaning to either factor more than the other
can cause more harm than you intended. Honda lawnmowers are recommended in this instance as it gives the best equilibrium in terms of ease of use and quality.
To summarise, lawnmowers come in all shapes and sizes, and require varying amounts of power in order to produce the best results. Because of this, the weight of each individual model does vary and therefore it is paramount that as the weight of the lawnmower increases, so does the amount of pressure being put on the lawn itself when cutting and more critically, when static. So, it is important to consider how easy it will be for you to move the lawnmower around the garden, more so than the quality of the final cut realistically. This is because even though the final cut quality is a key factor when deciding on which model to buy, you could do more harm to your lawn if you purchase a model solely based on quality, rather than ease of use, make sure you consider all the information that has been discussed.
