Mountfield 2248H Garden Tractor (Special Offer)

Good but a Couple of Annoying Features I had ordered the model below this one but was offered a deal to go one model up and so paid a grand or so under the RRP which is obviously very fortunate. The product is absolutely fine and so the notes below are more gripes than anything else but if you're shelling out four grand on a mower you might want to know the following.

Note that it arrived pre-assembled. Delivery and service from MowDirect was fine, including them taking it back to check it out with no hassles due to a couple of initial queries I had.

Good stuff: I moved into a new house in late October (UK) and the grass on the lawn and in the paddock was out of control and wet. Too impatient to wait until Spring I spent a couple of long days getting it cut and the mower was able to deal with it easily. As long as you use the highest cut setting first, take it slowly, and work your way to the lower cut height settings it can cope pretty well with long, wet grass. Changing cut height is via a lever that you access while seated and you can do it on the move, it's very easy.

The capacity of the grass collector is very large so you're not emptying it too often, the turning circle is pretty small and it copes pretty easily with slopes, the hydrostatic drive is really simple - basically a pedal for forward, one for backwards. A child could drive it.

The annoying stuff: The mower has a lever for emptying the collector without getting off the mower but it also has a cut out that turns off the engine when you lift the collector- so you have to get off to move the grass out of the way to get the bin closed again to be able to start the engine. It might be a setting I haven't figured out yet but it's so dumb - the feature is completely useless.

There is another safety feature whereby the engine cuts out if there's no weight on the seat (presumably in case you fall off), however it's extremely sensitive and if you go fast over bumpy ground and momentarily your weight is off the seat the engine cuts out.

Finally, while the mechanical start for the engine is fine, the electrical part is a bit temperamental. After emptying, or if the engine cuts out due to the things above, it seems to get confused and you have to bounce around on the seat and open and close the bin a few times to get the thing to reset so it will start again. Easy enough once you get used to it but still annoying.

Overall I'm happy with it and now my grass is under control and it'll really only be mowed when dry and with mulch plug in, it'll be very straightforward but I am probably going to figure out how to disable the bin and seat triggers to cut the engine as they're just a pain.*

* Editor's Note: We cannot recommend customising the machine in this way as the cutout triggers are safety features.