Brill Razorcut Premium 38 - Lawnmower Review

OK so I never thought I would actually post a lawn mower review but this thing is supposedly the Rolls Royce of manual lawn mowers!

When we first moved in we did not actually own a lawn mower. There is little need to own one when living in a one bedroom flat with no outdoor area! Clearly the new house has a garden with lawn so I needed to get one quick smart! A friend at work quickly recommended the Brill Razorcut manual lawn mower. In fact he was so excited about the product that I was slightly suspicious that he might be a share holder in the company that makes them! He actually claimed to look forward to mowing the lawn as then he got to get the Brill out and take it for a spin! Crazy! ;-)

On his advice I forked out the money to purchase one. They do not come cheaply, at around £100, and then there is the additions you have to buy. The grass catcher is another 20 quid on top of that! I did not go for the airconditioning and power windows, MP3 connectivity and surrond sound. Hey its the Rolls Royce of manual mowers right? I am sure if you go to the right dealer and pay the right amount, you can get anything added to it!

Having now used it for 3 months, I am definitely a convert. I actually share the excitement that my firend has for the mower! Seriously I look forward to mowing the lawn! It really is effortless to push about the lawn and reasonably lightweight - after using I hang it up on the wall in the garden shed.

The cut is also outstanding. The grass looks great after a trim. I now set the height of the blades to about 30 mm which leaves the grass quite long still, but it leaves the grass looking lush after the cut. It means that I have to mow more often, but as I said earlier the mower is a pleasure to use so no problem there! Initially I set the height to 20, but I found that this was too low and was in some areas pretty harsh on the grass. I do believe that this is the suggested way to mow as well, i.e. don't cut the grass too low and mow regularly.

A nice thing about it as well is it is extremely quiet and environmentally friendly! No smelly 2 stroke engine fumes coughing about the neighbourhood, and should the need arise I could quite comfortably mow early in the morning or late in the evening. I doubt the neighbours would even hear.

It's not perfect thought. The grass catcher is a little clunky to use. It rests over two holding posts at the bottom of the mower and is hung from the handle of the mower. As the mower is so light I often pick it up to move it around corners, or to get into hard to reach places, and quite often this results in the catcher coming lose. Still it's not really something that puts me off using the thing.

These are further details from the marketeers:

What sets the Brill apart from the rest?

• Contact Free Blade system – Means the blade misses the bed knife by less than a millimetre. The resultant loss of friction makes pushing easy and offers the further benefit of increasing blade life significantly.
• Flame hardened steel blades – Blades flame-hardened precision-ground steel, harder than tempered alloy (as used on virtually all other push mowers), this also helps increase blade life, which means you shouldn’t have to sharpen for 5 years or more.
• Environmentally Friendly - Mowing your lawn with a Brill mower produces no air pollution and no noise!
• Excellent Lawn Finish - a cylinder mower will give you the best finish a mower can give your lawn, for this reason they are the first choice for golf greens, tennis courts, bowling greens and show lawns the world over.
• 5 Blades - Provides the best balance for lawn cut quality and blade life versus ease of pushing.
• 7.4 kgs – light enough to hang in a cupboard, on the garage wall or pick up with one hand.
• Sealed ball bearings – this offers an improved friction resistance and lifetime to other bearing methods, whilst eliminating the need for oiling, cleaning and general mechanical maintenance.
• Powder coated metal components – All metal components on the mower are powder coated. This protects the metal and is far more resistant to chipping or scratching than other finishes such as paint. The powder coating process is also fairer on the environment since no solvents are used.

and I love this last quote.

"Truly the ‘Rolls-Royce’ of hand lawn mowers… their quiet efficiency brings the peaceful ‘purr’ back to grass cutting. Your eco mower will undoubtedly rank amongst the best pieces of garden equipment you will ever own!"

I don't own that many pieces of garden equipment but so far this is definitely the best I currently own ;-)

So if you are are in the market for a lawn mower, and want to put the peaceful purr back into grass cutting, you would be hard pressed to find something better than the Brill Razorcut!

Happy Lawn mowing ;-)

cheers

M