Mower Recommendations for a Hillside

Hello Turfpros, new poster here, but have lurked on the forum for awhile. Last summer the wife and I, bought a home on the river. The total acreage is about 0.8, with most of the yard being a flat non obstacled front yard. The problem is the back yard is on a tremendous slope that leads directly to the rivers edge. Last season I bought a Honda HRX217 push mower and muscled through and kept the yard looking decent. The main problem I ran into was the back wheels being self propelled, slipped "spun" frequently on the hillside and essentially became useless, and the mower weighing in at 100lbs wasn't exactly easy to push up the hill or side to side.

So as the mowing season here approaches I was wanting some opinions on my options, as I really do not want to go through that struggle again. What are your suggestions? Have really considered a Husky or Cub Cadet AWD push mower, but not sure those wheels wouldn't spin, or a locking diff rider....I am new to all this and really don't know what the best options are at this point. I know they make special hillside mowers, but I am not wanting to much of overkill as I would just go back to pushing, and I have a budget of about $1-1.5K max, hopefully much less. Just let me know. All ears.

Also I have attached a pic standing at the water's edge looking up my hill. Thanks again! View attachment 36281

With a slope like that I would go for a hover mower like the flymo.
Electric ones are a lot lighter than the petrol ones.
Use the Honda for the top bit then the hover mower for the lower regions.
Thinking outside the square I would be considering some prostrate shrubs & forget the mowing on the lower sections all together.
Not like you will be playing ball on there is it ?

Does the river flood and if so what is the highest level ?
Some tap rooted small shrubs rising up from the prostrate plants will look stunning and help to protect from errosion during floods.
In fact judging from the photos you could go with some small trees without blocking your view.

IMHO the Cub and Husky are second and third to the Toro 22" Personal Pace® All Wheel Drive Mower (20353). That mower is in a class all by itself in the AWD world of walk behind mowers.

bertsmobile1 said:

With a slope like that I would go for a hover mower like the flymo.
Electric ones are a lot lighter than the petrol ones.
Use the Honda for the top bit then the hover mower for the lower regions.
Thinking outside the square I would be considering some prostrate shrubs & forget the mowing on the lower sections all together.
Not like you will be playing ball on there is it ?

Does the river flood and if so what is the highest level ?
Some tap rooted small shrubs rising up from the prostrate plants will look stunning and help to protect from errosion during floods.
In fact judging from the photos you could go with some small trees without blocking your view.

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Thanks for for the ideas. I have looked at the hover mowers, but correct me if I'm wrong; they tend to not actually "float" so well and essentially becomes a weed eater. Again no experience with them at all. Just from what I have seen online. Haven't considered an electric one though. Are they better? The grass on the slope isn't nice and smooth either. Basically trash grass that gets really thick really quick. I like the idea though.

I also like the idea of shrubs and small trees. The river doesn't flood here either. The only thing is I'll have to check with the HOA and see what's actually allowed. Thanks for the recommendations though!

gotomow said:

IMHO the Cub and Husky are second and third to the Toro 22" Personal Pace® All Wheel Drive Mower (20353). That mower is in a class all by itself in the AWD world of walk behind mowers.

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Haven't really looked at the Personal Pace. I'll definitely check it out. Thanks! Probably my biggest thing is having at least one set of wheels not spinning so there is some traction when going up or sideways on the hill. I can push my share, but when there is no help from the heavy mower it becomes a problem.

CoosaLiving said:

Thanks for for the ideas. I have looked at the hover mowers, but correct me if I'm wrong; they tend to not actually "float" so well and essentially becomes a weed eater. Again no experience with them at all. Just from what I have seen online. Haven't considered an electric one though. Are they better? The grass on the slope isn't nice and smooth either. Basically trash grass that gets really thick really quick. I like the idea though.

I also like the idea of shrubs and small trees. The river doesn't flood here either. The only thing is I'll have to check with the HOA and see what's actually allowed. Thanks for the recommendations though!

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The biggest problem with the hover mowers is they are small, only a 16"cut.
You mow with them as you would a weedeater, swinging from side to side.
If you push down on them the front bogs in because the handles attach at the middle of the deck.
My wife can not pull start a regular mower & we bought the Flymo back in 84.
It is still going strong but it does not like thick tufty grass so you might need mow a little more frequently.
I mow the batter down to the road with it and that is a cutting about 60 deg slope.
Every time I get it nice the local government pest control department come and weed spray it so now it is all morning glory & blackberries again.
Also being electric, oil starvation & premature wear of the engine is not a problem.
The other thing to watch is to keep the blades very sharp , about a dull knife type of sharp.

Have a poke around an see if there is a local society for growing native plants.
Returning river banks to native condition is a really big thing down here and the Native Plant clubs will oft not only supply plants for free but even come & help plant them.
The landlord got 2,000 tubes of natives to revegitate his river front paddock a few years back.

There is not much you can do with a slope like that recreation wise other than pop a bench or two there and watch the water go past or perhaps even wet a line.
So why not get some colour & flowers, attract some birds and save yourself 100 hours of work a year .

Here you go. I always wanted to try one of these but never found one locally to try out and not going to order one myself. Have talked to folks who say that they are the cat's meow for what you indicate you need though.

https://www.toro.com/en/golf/specialty-equipment/hoverpro-series

jekjr said:

Here you go. I always wanted to try one of these but never found one locally to try out and not going to order one myself. Have talked to folks who say that they are the cat's meow for what you indicate you need though.

https://www.toro.com/en/golf/specialty-equipment/hoverpro-series

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One of the good things about ours is if you swing it sideways from a hard surface ( drive . foot path etc ) onto the grass it flips up creepers that are on the drive, cuts them up and dumps them back on the lawn, thus saving a lot of edging & sweeping.
My drive only gets edged once every year to two.
I would be interested in how they go being their handles are secured at the rear,
The flymo's are in the centre and loose so there is no constraints on the deck.

Hey guys, I just got a quote on a Toro Hover Pro...roughly $1000. My question is, isn't the hover pro essentially a glorified $1000 string trimmer? On the flipside I have been wondering about the hill capability of wide are mowers such as the Cub Cadet CC800 (with large pneumatic tires), Craftsman 39790, or the standard area Husky 800AWDH. Any thoughts on these?

Have you seen this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-XmW0t-Izs