What are the pros and cons of side discharge vs rear discharge lawnmowers?

Answer 1

side discharge dangerous, babies could crawl into. Rear discharge dangerous if you keep flap open and no bag stick in the eye. Side discharge more broken windows, rear discharges more busted balls. Rear discharge usually a bit heavier, side discharge usually a bit lighter. Deere engines suck made by Briggs & Stratton /// Honda ok, though a bit overpriced. Lambourghini or Husky Finland much better. It depends on price if they are same price get the rear if side is more expensive get the rear... as you can see i prefer it in the rear.

Answer 2

This may seem like I’m on a soapbox,. It may not even make it to the boards but here it goes.

Forget the entire pro's and cons of types of discharge, engine power mulch or not to mulch etc. The thing to consider is how safe is it? While I don’t know of any safe rotary mower, one the safer ones I would think is the rear discharge mower.
Side discharge are more likely to cause personal and property damage. One reason being that people don’t take care of the deflectors. Most end up in the garbage after they have been broken.
The next thing to consider is what it does to the environment. I heard a statistic one time and I’m not sure how it went but it was something like this.
The emissions from the use of a gas engine lawnmower for one hour is equivalent the emissions from a years use of your car.
Many people are rethinking their landscaping by using more ground covers, stones, decorations etc.. Guess what? If thought through, most times you can come up with ways that actually save you time in the long run. Leaving more time for you to go to the golf coarse and observe how to cut some serious grass.

Answer 3

It's really almost a mute point anymore, because most push mowers now have all three options of side discharge, mulching, and bagging built in.

I have a Troy Built push mower with a Honda engine and it has all three built into it. There is a flap if i remember correctly that springs shut on the side discharge. Lift the flap up and hook on the side discharge and you have a side discharge mower. The back also has a flap that springs shut. In order to make it a bagger mower close the side flap and open the rear flap then hang the bagger on the back. To make the mower a mulching mower all you do is close both flaps. It's really nice. And you can change from one mode to the other in a matter of seconds.

I prefer to keep the mower as a bagging mower. That way you don't have to rake up the grass as you might with a side discharge. And if you use your mower as a mulching mower, the mulched grass creates and ideal situation to get diseases in your grass and to give insects a better place to hide and live in your yard. Then you can add your grass from the bagger to a composter or composting pile and use the compost in your garden.

There are however some pushmowers that don't have their baggers on the back like most pushmowers do. Instead they have the bagger on the side. I prefer having the bagger on the back. That way it doesn't get in the way as much and it is easier to maneuver and you don't have to worry about the bagger getting caut up on things.

And you don't have to buy an expensive pushmower for it to have all of those options. Mine was about the 2nd cheapest mower the store had and it had all of those options. I decided not to get the self-propelled mower because I didn't want the self-propelled feature limiting how fast I mowed and I don't mind the extra little bit of a work out.

Answer 4

Once you know what you are doing with a side discharge, its Much better than a rear discharge.. unless you love lugging that bag of grass around trying to gracefully dispose of the yard refuse, and the green shoes from the vast amounts of cut grass you will be walking on with rear discharge. You will have some with side but it is much much less when you learn to control your directions you mow in.. much like using a snowblower.. lol.. where do you want that cut grass to land? where does it have to start out and then change over.. I have never bagged grass clippings because it makes such good food for the soil. Besides when it drys the grand kids like to play with it.. load up the wagon, throw it, build a haystack.. etc its not a bad trade off for a little care in selecting play clothes that it don't matter if we get a grass stain. This is jeans country.

Answer 5

A side discharge can be used with or without a bagger. Most rear discharge needs to be used with a bagger or muncher only. Depends on what you want to do as which one is best, but if cutting tall grass the side discharge would be best.

Answer 6

Pros: All the antioxidants It will put you in a good mood It has some supplements that improve your brain Cons: It contains lots of fat which could be replaced with something better It's not very filling and will probably act more as empty calories rather then antioxidants Caffeine, but its nothing compared to coffee or soda Sugar (Although compared to regular chocolate, dark is much lower in sugar) =)

Answer 7

Rear discharge lawn movers are easier to maneuver. Especially if you use the collection bag. The side discharge makes it more difficult to cut around objects such as bushes, trees, etc.

Answer 8

Push Mower With Bagger

Answer 9

A rear bagger is good for saving mulch for the garden

Answer 10

Side Discharge Mower