Ferrex 20" 4-Stroke Self-Propelled Petrol Lawn Mower $299 @ ALDI Special Buys

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Aldi has 173cc, 4-stroke engine Patrol lawn mover for sale from 12th October for $299. I think Aldi sells these during Spring every year, looks a great value for $299.

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Comments

  • Its 20", so should be wider than the similar priced Bunnings one.

    Not sure about engine though?

    • +1

      I have a couple of 2 stroke and 4 stroke ferrex machines from ALDI and have had no issues with them over a few years use. I have also bought the equivalent cheapos from Bunnings (Homelite/Victa) and ended up returning because they were so crap - never even got the Victa to start once and will never buy them again. Might've been a faulty batch though because all the reviews said the same from all over the country

      I recommend the ferrex stuff for occasional use. Get this mower and spend the savings on a good mulching blade

      • +1

        Do you know what the replacement blades are? I can't get mine off and wouldn't mind making it a 4 bkade

        • +1

          Not for this specifically but they'd be pretty universal Chinese blades. To get a mower blade off attach a G clamp to the underside of the deck, it'll act as a stop to prevent spinning

          Use an impact driver if you've got one to remove the nut, or put a metal pole over your spanner to increase torque

          Wear gloves, and for goodness sake, disconnect the spark plug before you even attempt this, they've probably all got safety's in them these days but still, fingers are pretty nice to have

          • @AngryAlfred: Handy, didn't think of using a gclamp. I was just using spanners. From memory the nut is on top so can't get a rattle gun on it.

  • -2

    Bunnings will price match with a better mower (usually)

    • I had a look at their petrol mowers and they don’t really have an equivalent 20” model?

  • +8

    Minimum height is 25mm which is quite high for a petrol mower.

    • +1

      What would be a better min height to look for?

      • 16mm is common very few go lower.. if you want lower then buy a $10,000 mow master

      • +3

        Depends how even your lawn is. 25 would be fine for a lot of suburban lawns.

      • +1

        Guideline for ideal mowing heights (shorter for summer, longer for winter)
        Couch: 5 to 30mm
        Green couch
        Queensland blue couch
        TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda

        Buffalo: 25 to 50mm
        Sir Walter:
        Emperor Zoysia:

        Other: 30 to 50mm
        Kikuyu :
        Broadleaf carpet grass:
        Fescue:

      • 10mm as the lowest. Which you will only use to scalp your lawn.
        But good to have few adjustments before you hit 25mm

  • +8

    I have this. If you don't mow regularly it will struggle with long grass and the catcher fills up very quickly.

    • +13

      That's pretty much every mower apart from the commercial stuff.

      • +3

        How long are you all letting your grass get?

        I've mowed with the most basic ass 25 year old Victa 375 engined motor, the 3.75hp flat head motor and I've always got the job done without too much effort on our buffalo backyard… Yeah if i let it go for 2+ weeks in summer I might have to slow down a little bit but it's not like it's incapable of doing it.

        • -1

          I don't think anyone said it's incapable of doing it.

          • @Broden: Someone….being you, just suggested pretty much every mower will struggle with long grass….. which is very different than cutting it a bit slower.
            I've had/got mowers that will do anything with enough time, and mowers that are unuseable on anything more than about a hand length high.

            Perhaps you were referring to the catcher fills up quickly part… but that's a simple formula…. more that you cut and catch, the more it fills up.

        • +1

          Those old victas go way harder than any of the home use mowers they sell these days, something to do with current emission standards

      • Even if you go commercial, the catcher will still fill up quick due to the volume.

    • +3

      ppl actually use catchers?

      • +1

        Yeah I don’t want the dog bringing it all in. Straight in the green bin.

        • +2

          Mulching mower barely leaves a trace if you mow regularly. I mow lawns for a living and 90% of lawns get mulched. Only a few older people insist on having it all caught.

          • +4

            @nubzy: Yeah, I used to mulch and take trips to bin, then discovered not giving a FK and can't tell the difference, what a game changer , saves a lot of time and effort

          • @nubzy: I mow for a living too and unfortunately the properties I do are airbnbs which must be 100% immaculate. Shame too because it just means more maintenance in the long run. Owners don't give a shit though.

          • @nubzy: Key being "if you mow regularly". Rather than when it's high enough to conceal small children.

    • +2

      I always go highest setting when this happens, then go double pass with intended height. Makes the mowing much easier as well

      If you want consistent cuts, I would even recommend doing it over two days, to let the highest setting grass dry up, and the next day cuts better as well.

    • +12

      Weak rage bait.

      • +2

        I spoke to this ev loser who said my ice car is killing me by petrol smell and engine sound
        No joke
        These ppl are in a cult

        • -1

          As opposed to all the plastic inside an EV?

    • +2

      Tend to agree. Why not get a battery powered lawn mower in 2024?

      • +16

        I like the noise 😉

      • +9

        I agree too, easier to maintain, don't have to worry about storing fuel and they are quieter.

      • +2

        Tend to agree. Why not get a battery powered lawn mower in 2024?

        IMHO, you get more power and a much longer run time for the same price with petrol. I have a Ryobi 18V mower, which is okay most of the time as long as I mow when the grass is dry. However, I occasionally have to borrow my neighbour's petrol mower (which I recall is around 160cc) when the grass is wet or overgrown, as my electric mower bogs down.

        I knew the 18V wouldn’t be very powerful, but I got one anyway because I have a relatively small area to mow, already had compatible batteries, and I like the convenience and size of the 18V unit. However, if I had a larger area to mow, I may have chosen a petrol one.

        • I went into a mower place looking to replace my old masport 375 mower. To get an equivalent battery mower he said I'd be looking at around 1k for an ego. Wasn't really in my budget.

      • +2

        When the battery dies on an electric mower you’re looking at $150+ to replace it. Meanwhile old petrol mowers will be running on 60 cents worth of fuel.

    • +10

      You know the electricity you use to charge the batteries in your fancy electric mower is generated by burning fossil fuel. You know it, right? Riiiiiight?

      Besides you must realise not everyone lives in 260sqm 3 bedroom townhouse with a 40x70cm patch of grass shared by 2 neighbours. I need to use 2x 5.2AH, 2x 4AH, and am on the next set of 2x 4AH batteries by the time I finish mowing the grass at my place. And that is if I've been mowing regularly on a fortnightly basis.

      Some people will not want that much faffing around and will instead go around in a petrol mower. It shouldn't be hard to understand why if you're objective enough about it.

      • -1

        "You know the electricity you use to charge the batteries in your fancy electric mower is generated by burning fossil fuel. You know it, right? Riiiiiight?"

        You know how to spell the words 'cliche' & 'trope'? Right? Right?????!!!

        • +3

          User name checks out.

        • +1

          cliché

      • +16

        "You know the electricity you use to charge the batteries in your fancy electric mower is generated by burning fossil fuel. You know it, right? Riiiiiight?"

        Except that the amount that's produced cleanly is around 34% and climbing… so no, it's not necessarily generated by burning fossil fuels.

        And what if you have solar? Charge your batteries from the sun.

        Shooting down people using electrically powered things because we haven't completely transitioned to renewables yet is a pretty weak argument, as it's already better than directly burning fuel, and in a number of cases is already completely clean, and will only get better from here.

        • the amount that's produced cleanly is around 34% and climbing…

          I stand corrected. Only a small miniscule portion (aka 66%) of the electricity generated is from burning fossil fuels assuming the stats provided are correct.

          Wait a minute. I checked with my mathematics teacher and he ran some complex arithmetics on a supercomputer and concluded 66 > 34.

          Shooting down people using electrically powered things because we haven'

          Allow me to retort against your straw man argument. I don't recall "shooting down" people wanting to use electricity powered things. In fact, I've my own solar setup with battery backup and I own battery powered tools which was made amply clear in my post.

          The other fellow however was shooting down on everyone not using electric garden tools and wanted fossil fuel powered garden tools to be "banned", which is a dictatorial position to take and demonstrates a total disconnect from reality. Somehow you seem ok with that as you didn't really respond to them.

          • @CocaKoala: at least you have a bit of time to prepare yourself for the inevitable

      • +4

        I use solar to charge my batteries, so no.

      • +4

        Still better for the environment to use electrical energy generated by fossil fuels compared to burning said fossil fuels yourself. There's no use comparing industrial turbines vs household internal combustion engines due to the massive thermal efficiency advantages of the former.

        • -2

          What I don't agree with is the other person saying petrol based garden tools must be"banned". Some utopia they must be living in, far disconnected from reality.

          I mentioned in my first post that I use battery powered garden tools, which most of you people responding to me seem to gloss over.

          • -2

            @CocaKoala: Sale of new petrol powered tools should be banned

            • +2

              @sween64: Good thing your opinion has absolutely no value or effect on reality whatsoever.

          • @CocaKoala: dunno about utopia…. I'm guessing you've heard the planned strategies of various nations to phase out ICE cars in the foreseeable future.

            It's a helluva lot easier to do it with mowers and most small engine stuff (generators excepted…. get in a logic loop there)

            California is always the trendsetter, whether you like the trends or not https://boards.core77.com/t/landscaping-industry-affected-by…

            Car smog standards, fuel efficiency, backyard incinerations….. the world has changed and continues to change

      • -7

        Yeah battery would go flat mowing my lawn. Electric mowers are for soy boys which unfortunately younger generation males have very low levels of testosterone now days.

        • "soy boys" . Is this a racist remark?

          • +1

            @Tiggrrrrr: I think it alludes to those that drink soy milk instead of cow’s milk because cow’s are terrible for the environment.

            • @sween64: Oh. I grew up eating/drinking a lot of soy based products, as I guess most Asians did.
              I didn't realise that eating/drinking soy was looked upon unkindly.

      • +1

        Unless you’ve got solar

      • +2

        Hmmm… nope. We have a solar and battery system that provides almost all of our power. For 8 months of the year, we're making money by feeding it back to the grid once our battery is at 100%. It's only during the Winter period where there's not enough sunshine to fully charge the battery do we draw a few kWh from the grid and eat into our credit.

        The Makita set that was posted on OzBargain with the line trimmer/blower or batteries by redemption, does a fantastic job of buffalo (I was skeptical at first and thought we'd need a petrol mower). The grass was out of control and hadn't been mowed over the Winter months, but thanks to the 10 different height adjustments on the mower, we were able to get a really neat cut with a couple of passes.

      • You know the electricity you use to charge the batteries in your fancy electric mower is generated by burning fossil fuel. You know it, right? Riiiiiight?

        not if you have solar

      • +2

        Pretty sure you’ve got that bass-ackwards.

        • -1

          What are trees for 500, Alex.

      • Need Education
        :)

    • -1

      @ Need Education: User name checks out! If you live in a suburban house with a usual size suburban lawn, an electric mower is just not up to the job. Please don't project your situation onto others.

    • Need Education
      Member Since
      21/09/2024

      Username checks out. Welcome to OzBargain!

  • +10

    They have these regularly, and they regularly get thrown out for 200 about a month later. Definitely sit and wait if you can, in the last 2 years alone I've seen it go down to 200 at least twice.

  • +8

    Waiting for nuclear powered garden equipment .

    • +15

      That clears lawns of whole suburb.

    • +4

      Peter? Is that you?

      Small-scale nuclear lawn mowers for everyone!

      What do you mean that technology doesn’t exist yet?

      • I believe button head in planning a new line of hand operated excavators, so you can DIY waste dumping

    • +2

      Sorry, that's just a pipe dream. You'll have to make do with sheep.

    • kills grass grubs I'm in.

  • +8

    I got a Honda HRU197 second hand on marketplace for less than this, it runs like a dream, parts are plentiful and it will still be cutting grass years after this mower is dead and buried.

    • +4

      Yep, and you will struggle to find a small engine mechanic that will be willing to work on a cheap mower like this because they're not worth fixing.

      Buy a quality used mower. It will be cheaper than this, will last a lot longer, and when it finally needs parts replaced they will be available.

    • +1

      I got a 20+ year old HRU196 for $200 on Gumtree a few years ago. Using commercially and runs like a dream.

    • Garden equipment drops 50% of it's value the day it's used in my experience, picked up a Toro 22" Recycler for $200 for our not quite big enough for a ride on property

  • +1

    4 strokes! I just need 1 and I'm done!

    • No-one likes a bragger.

  • -2

    Rego and ctp?

  • +5

    DYOR is cheap but spare parts will be very hard to get. Things will rust, break darn easily. Shocked it has a 5yr warranty as I'd imagine most of these will be dead within 3yrs. I'd spend the same $$$ on a quality 2nd hander instead every single time.

    • +2

      Shocked it has a 5yr warranty as I'd imagine most of these will be dead within 3yrs

      So you return it to Aldi :)

      • +1

        Wheel it in the front door and around the aisles and line up?

      • So you return it to Aldi :)

        I suspect a lot of the failures will not be covered by the warranty and instead put down to 'user error' etc so not covered by the warranty.

  • +6

    This brand is absolute junk. Avoid.

  • How hard is it to rename/relabel a product for the system of measurement of the country it is being sold in?

  • I have an Aldi mower, pretty good past 5 years. The problem is resale value. My neighbour bought a Honda mower on special for $700 from it's usual price of $1000, after using it for 5 years, he sold it for $600 and bought the updated model for $700 on special again. I tried to resell my Aldi mower to update to the new model which I paid $300 for and all I get is $20 offers. So his Honda is the same price to own over 15 years vs the Aldi. People forget resale value when buying mowers. For that reason, I am out.

    • +2

      So not much difference, just $80 :🤔

    • +14

      Who buys a lawn mower with a view to reselling it? I'm pretty sure the number of people who must upgrade their mower to a new model when their current one is still working fine has to minuscule! Surely most people buy a mower with a view to using it for as long as possible, not until a newer model comes along? Making resale value pretty much a non-issue.

      • -8

        Ask any mower shop, the resale value matters. I took a mower left on the sidewalk, Victa brand, the mower shop paid me $60. It was old and rusted. I took an Aldi one, looked near new, not many scratches and the mower shop laughed me out of the shop, offered me zero dollars even though it worked better than the old Victa. So I quit my job and started picking up all the free mowers around Melbourne and with the money, I bought myself many shitcoins and memecoins which I dumped for Bitcoin when the prices skyrocketed. Now I am a millionaire. Do not underestimate the power of a mowers resale value, it can change your life as it did mine.

        • +5

          username checks out

  • This SP mower has a 173cc engine and though having a textile catcher, it weighs 38 kg!

    It is not the sort of mower for lifting in and out of car boots!

  • +1

    Any hybrid ?

  • I wonder if the motor would fit their MTB range

  • dang it, i thought it was a makita mower for 299. Very sneaky aldi.

  • +2

    I'm going to give you the best advice ever here… Australia has emissions schemes and companies can't sell mowers which are too blowly.

    It's a 173cc engine. Get a mower store to set the revs to 3400RPM and you'll do waist height lawns with this mower. Out of the box it will be set at like 2900RPM. You can also just buy a rev meter from Amazon / eBay and connect it to the spark plug lead and adjust the revs by the screw.

    You'll still have problems that no spare parts exist but I know a few cowboy lawn mowing companies who use these.

    • Interested in this but I dont know what to look for.

      Can you please point me to a product link for the rev meter in Amazon / eBay. Thanks.
      I suspect doing this may void the warranty though

      • Technically it will but the warranty department either won't check or if they do it could easily be put down to a manufacturing variation.

        For the gauge just search for "inductive tachometer"

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