Is a bigger mower REALLY the best way to save time on mowing?

In the past the most common way to save time on your lawn mowing was to buy a lawn tractor with a wider cutting deck. If your tractor had a 38” cutting deck you could jump up to a 48” cut. That 10 extra inches of cutting deck doesn’t sound like much, but it could definitely shave down your mowing time. Then zero turn mowers became more readily available and they became the way that people tried to save time on their lawn mowing. The fact that they were much more maneuverable and available with larger cutting width decks made them a great solution for anyone that was struggling to find time to mow. For decades as the methods of mowing evolved from push mowers to lawn tractors to zero turns and everything in between, the one concept that stayed the same was that the best way to save time on mowing the lawn was to use something with the largest mower deck available. Now you can find lawn tractors with mower decks with cutting widths ranging from 30 inches to 54 inches. Garden tractors with mower deck cutting widths ranging from 48 inches to 60 inches or so. And zero turns with mower deck cutting widths of over 7 feet!

The relief of saving time comes with a price, and I’m not just talking about the price of the mower itself. These larger machines are great when they are in action and the grass is flying, but what about when they are not in action? When it comes time to store the mower away that’s when the thought process reverses and many people start to wish they had a smaller mower that was easier to store. And how could you blame them for suddenly feeling this way when you think about how much time that mower will spend sitting there taking up valuable floor space in your garage or shed? For many people their lawn tractor or zero turn is only out in the lawn to mow for an hour or less and then sitting back inside again. Surely by now there must be some kind of compromise between saving time on your mowing and not giving up so much prime real estate in your garage, right? Yes, there is! That glorious compromise comes from an Automower.

Let’s say you're mowing a ½ acre of grass and using a lawn tractor with a 42 inch cutting deck. The average lawn tractor with a 42 inch deck is roughly 44 inches wide (with the deck chute up) and a little over 5 feet long. That means the tractor is taking up at least 20 Sq. Ft. of floor space. If you are using a zero turn with the same size deck this could easily increase to 22 Sq. Ft. or more. The 315X & 415X Automower are both rated to handle about a ½ acre of mowing but would only take up about 4 Sq. Ft. of storage space. Notice I said “Storage space” and not floor space? That’s because an Automower doesn’t have to sit on the floor. It can be stored on a shelf or even hung on the wall with an Automower wall hanger. But unlike a lawn tractor or zero turn that is sitting there taking up floor space year round, the Automower is only stored indoors during the winter. The rest of the time it’s out in the lawn grazing or resting up in its charging station.

But what if you have ¾ of an acre or maybe a little more than an acre and you are mowing with a tractor or zero turn with a 48, 52, or 54, inch cutting deck then you’re looking at 22 Sq. Ft. Or more of floor space taken up all year round. Compare that to the space saving 430X that can handle ¾ - 1 acre or the 450X that can handle 1 – 1.5 acres of mowing, but only take up 5 Sq. Ft. And just like the 315X and 415X, the 430X and 450X can be stored on a shelf or you can also purchase a wall hanger for these larger Automowers to hang them up out of the way. So, if you’re looking to save space then an Automower is definitely a step in the right direction.

But what about bigger being better and saving you time on your mowing, right. Well, it doesn’t get any more time saving than turning an Automower loose in your yard and eliminating ALL of the time you were spending mowing your lawn. But wait! There’s more! Automowers don’t JUST save you time and storage space. They don’t use gas, so when you do finally store them over the winter there’s no worries of leaks or fumes. And if all of that isn’t good enough, there’s also the fact that while prices of lawn tractors and zero turns have been on the rise over, Automower prices have stayed consistent. This makes the price of an Automower very competitive with many models of lawn tractors and consumer models of zero turns. In some cases, an Automower costs even less than a lawn tractor or zero turn rated for cutting the same size lawn. It's tough to beat a lawn mower that not only saves you time, but also saves you storage space and money!