Slope Mowers Compared: Push, Self-Propelled, Tracked and Remote Control

When a lawn is on a slope, the machine choice narrows to four categories: a push mower, a self propelled wheeled mower, a tracked remote control mower, or a specialist slope machine. Each one covers a different band of gradients, each has a different cost, and each fails in a different way if you ask too much of it.

This comparison sets out what each type is actually good at, what it costs to buy and to run, and the decision rules that keep you from buying the wrong one.

The Four Categories at a Glance

Push Mowers

Cheap to buy, simple to maintain, and genuinely the right tool on a gentle bank. A push mower has no drive to lose traction and no engine position problem, and on a small area it is quick. Its limits are effort and grip: on a slope, the operator is doing the work, and the harder the slope the harder the work. Above about 10 degrees a push mower becomes tiring at best and unstable at worst, and the temptation to pull it uphill towards your feet is where accidents start.

Self Propelled Wheeled Mowers

Adding drive removes the effort and adds the traction problem. On a slope the drive is working against gravity, and on damp grass the wheels that lose grip are usually the ones furthest from the handle. A self propelled mower is a good choice for a gentle to moderate bank on a maintained lawn, and a poor one for wet or steep ground. If you use one on a slope, cross cut, keep the ground dry, and avoid sharp turns.

Tracked Remote Control Mowers

This is the category that changes what is possible. Tracks give a long contact patch and a low centre of gravity, so the machine holds a gradient that would spin a wheeled one, and the low slung layout keeps it from tipping sideways. Removing the operator from the machine is the second half of the benefit: you stand at the top or the side of the bank with a handheld transmitter, not behind a machine that might slide into you.

These machines also handle the ground that a lawn mower will not: rough grass, heavy growth, scrub and wet patches. The costs are the purchase price, the need to transport the machine to the site, and the fact that they are working machines rather than lawn appliances, so they expect cleaning and maintenance.

Running Costs Compared

• Push mower: lowest purchase price, minimal maintenance, but the highest labour cost per area.
• Self propelled: modest purchase price, a drive belt and a drive cable to maintain, faster per area.
• Tracked remote mower: highest purchase price, but the lowest time cost per area on steep or rough ground, and it handles work the others cannot do at all.

The comparison that matters is cost per area mown over a season, including your time. On a small gentle lawn, a push mower wins on total cost. On a large steep bank, the push mower never finishes the job or finishes it unsafely, and the tracked machine wins even at four times the price.

How to Decide

1. Measure or estimate the steepest part of the ground you mow, in degrees rather than in impressions.
2. If it is under 10 degrees and the area is small, buy a push or a self propelled mower and stop there.
3. If it is between 10 and 15 degrees and the grass is maintained, a good self propelled mower will cope if you mow across the slope.
4. If it is above 15 degrees, or if the ground is rough, damp or overgrown, go straight to a tracked remote control mower.
5. Above about 30 degrees, treat it as a specialist job and take advice on the machine and the method.

Specification Checklist for a Slope Machine

• Maximum working slope stated by the manufacturer in degrees.
• Low centre of gravity, with the engine and the deck mounted low in the frame.
• Rubber tracks, not wheels, if the slope is above 15 degrees.
• A transmitter with a fail safe that stops the drive and the blade when the control is released.
• An engine and a fuel system rated for continuous operation at an angle.
• Availability of wear parts: tracks, blades, belts and filters.

Transport and Storage Before You Buy

A tracked machine is heavy enough that it usually needs a trailer or a small flatbed rather than a car boot, so work out how it will move between sites before you commit. Measure the machine, add the ramp length you will need, and confirm your vehicle's towing capacity and the trailer's payload. A machine that you cannot move is a machine that mows one lawn.

Storage is the second practical question. These machines are best kept under cover, on a hard surface, with the tracks off the ground if they will stand for a long period. Leaving one outside through a wet season is the fastest way to shorten the life of the tracks, the belts and the electrical connections. If you have no covered space, a simple lean to or a breathable cover will do far more for the machine than a tarpaulin tied down tight, which traps moisture underneath.

Finally, check the wear parts before you buy rather than after. Tracks, blades and drive belts are the three items you will replace, and their price and availability should be part of the purchase decision. A machine with inexpensive, locally available tracks is a better long term buy than one with a marginally wider deck and tracks that arrive by special order.

Making the Choice

If the slopes on your property are beyond what a wheeled machine should attempt, the tracked remote control range is where to look: machine collection. Two machines at different ends of that range are the SYGC-800 tracked remote control mower for heavy growth and larger areas, and the SYGC-1000 tracked remote control mower where the width and the output matter more.