General Hayter Questions.....

[Major_Clanger]

Hello all,

I've been a fan of Hayter stuff ever since Atco went downhill (IMO).

I have an old Kestrel knocking about plus a newer Harrier, which I'm probably going to flog. We've got a big, rural garden but the grass is patchy and nowhere near even. Which brings me to my questions chaps.... Please would someone tell me what a Hayter Ranger is? It looks what I'm after; self-propelled, quite big. I'm not familiar with the model though - are they quite heavy duty? Body aluminium?

Thanks in wine laden and grateful anticipation.

[Mick]

Hi and welcome to TGMF.

The Ranger models do come with an aluminium deck, but there's quite a few variants in the range.  The 53 pro being the biggest and heaviest in the line-up.   

The downside to the weight of these machines is the lifespan of the gearboxes, imo the machines are too heavy for the gearbox so finding one with a really good drive is getting harder. Especially if it has variable speed which is also pretty unreliable.

None of these machines are actually made by Hayter they just rebrand them, some like the 53 is made by GGP, while some of the smaller ones and the recycler versions are made by Toro.

[Mick]

I forgot to mention in my reply above, have toy considered the Weibang Virtue series machines, they offer some pretty good value four wheeled machines nowadays, here's a link to them for you check out, https://weibang.uk.com/index.php/products/virtue-4-wheeled-rotary-mowers.html

[Major_Clanger]

Thanks Mick, appreciate your advice.

I've genned-up on the Ranger and it seems there are plenty for sale with drive issues, so I'm going to steer clear. Perhaps a Toro Recycler? I like mulching mowers, just as long as the cuttings don't get trodden through the house - I get in trouble when that happens.