One of the biggest questions I get is “how do I know if I am buying a good quality lawn mower and what should I look for?”

This one post of a series on buying your next lawn mower.

Mulch Or Catch?

The first thing I recommend is that you get a lawn mower that does both mulching and bagging. You want to mulch during normal summer mowing so grass clippings can be returned to the lawn. But there are times you want to bag up the clippings.

You want to bag if:

1. The lawn gets too long between cuttings
2. Disease is present in the turf
3. You want to suck up fallen leaves

For these reasons, I always recommend buying a new lawn mower that has the ability to go from mulching to bagging easily.

Most modern lawn mowers priced over $300 have both of these features. In a separate article, we talk more about choosing your next lawn mower, specifically in the power plant.