Hello I'm Austin Jarrett from Allett Mowers.
Today we want to take a look at these two products these are the Liberty 43 and the Liberty 35 and I
would like to just do a comparison to answer many of your questions as to which one should I buy?
The Liberty product range has now been sold for about four years I think this is his fourth season
and this electrical drive battery electrical drive has just become our most popular system. Why do
the customers love it? Firstly if you compare it with a mains electric machine it's cordless.
We're not having to mow with a cord behind us worrying about cutting it while we're trying
to keep our straight lines finding extension lead points taking them down the length of the garden.
They're quiet that might be a benefit to your neighbours but of course when
do I choose to go and mow my lawn might be limited by the amount of noise that I make.
They're clean, they're emission free there are no engine issues and when we look at our engines on
on our engine products of course they do actually cause more problems in terms of
maintenance and reliability than anything else suddenly you go battery electric and all those
issues just disappear it becomes an electrical appliance not a piece of garden machinery.
If you have trouble recoil starting the engines of course that just disappears too
and what we can do is we can actually remove the battery out of these products as well and
pop them into blowers and strimmers and other products from the Greenworks battery range.
So when we're comparing and trying to choose between the Liberty 43 and Liberty 35 first
let's look at the similarities between the two machines. First 40 volt drive system
40 volt battery 4 amp power comes as standard with the bundle products
and I just simply lift and insert the battery and that's the same with both of these products
exactly the same power drive exactly the same amount of energy in the battery.
They're both self-propelled by using the rear bale bar on both of these machines.
The battery energy drives the rear roller so there's no pushing unless you choose to do so.
There are six speeds. I have a dial on the controller here and i can choose
where it is that I want to go in terms of the forward speed and also the cylinder speed.
The chassis are very similar one obviously is wider than the other
and they both mow between six millimetres and 32 millimetres. The battery takes
the same amount of time to charge for the same battery at about an hour and a half.
Push button controls push and pull engages the drive exactly the same on both and both of these
products take the scarifier cartridge although the Liberty 43 as we'll be looking at later
takes a wider range of cartridges. The prices of the products of course this machine is more
expensive than the Liberty 35 and you're looking at of course this is about 80%
of the width and you'll find that actually this one is more likely about 70% of the cost.
The purpose of this video is to talk about the differences between these two products.
I think probably the first and the most obvious is the Liberty 35 is a 14 inch or 35 centimetres
wide machine and the Liberty 43 is a 17 inch machine 43 centimetres.
So what does that mean? In terms of the area that you can mow that's a three inch difference.
We've just done a time trial because we really wanted to verify our numbers
and we've marked out 100 square metres and we timed how long it took to mow with each product.
The 14 inch product took us nine minutes to mow 100 metres
and it might surprise you to know that the 43 took eight minutes to mow 100 square metres so
the effect of that is that if I say a reasonable time for mowing the lawn at half an hour
then in half an hour with this product including emptying the grass box out will cover about
but how does a stripe sit on the lawn? A wider stripe sometimes
looks depending on the shape of the lawn the wider the stripe the more prestige it actually looks
and a narrow stripe I call it corduroy if the stripes are just too many across the whole lawn
and too narrow. The Liberty 35 weighs in at just 26.5 kilos the Liberty 43 is 38 and a half kilos
so there's quite a big difference in the weight. This one is relatively easy to pick up, this one
starts to become a bit more difficult. What does that mean though in terms of mowing?
The heavier more expensive machine will leave a stronger and longer lasting stripe
and that is another really important consideration when you're buying a cylinder mower I think.
Let's start at the front of the machines as well we've put the grass boxes on
and the smaller Liberty 35 has a small grass box at 32 litres. You can see how it sits on and rests
on a cradle like so it has a handle incorporated into the end and I quite like the way that this
makes it easier to empty into the grass box because there's no edge on this grass box.
On the heavier machine we've got a much more robust box, a much more positive handle grip
and this grass box comes in at nearly twice the capacity at 62 litres.
Now let's talk about the cutting end. The reason that you're buying one of these two products is
because of the cutting cylinder and the cutting action. We know that a cutting cylinder a cylinder
mower cuts like a pair of scissors and cuts really cleanly so I normally illustrate that
just by taking a piece of paper and inserting that into the cylinder just to demonstrate that.
Both of these machines cut in exactly the same way. The cylinder cuts against the
bottom blade and gives an extremely clean cut giving great plant health.
But the difference between the two machines is this one has a five bladed cylinder this one has a
six bladed cylinder and that just gives a slightly higher clip rate to give a slightly finer finish.
If i'm mowing really low then that fine finish is important and actually a six bladed cylinder isn't
enough and below setting 2 below 15 millimetres height of cut then I would choose to put the 10
bladed cylinder into this machine in order to give a finer cut with no wash boarding. Next
let's look at the front roller. On the Liberty 35 we have a plastic front roller
and on the Liberty 43 we have a steel front roller it's galvanised and there
are bearings at each end as well so that just makes that a longer lasting more robust roller.
What we get in the box with the Liberty 43 too is a pair of wheels and sometimes with
a cylinder mower you have difficulty mowing long grass shorter. A cylinder mower is about mowing
short grass shorter and the long grass is laid down by the front roller before the cylinder
has an opportunity to cut it and by putting these front wheels on in place of the front
roller either side like so and they bolt into the same height control frame as the roller does,
we take the roller off and that just leaves a very clear throat there so that the grass
can feed straight into the cylinder without any disturbance or rolling over by the front roller.
One other important feature which I really like on the Liberty 43 is the turf rake. The turf rake
fits just behind the front roller and when we've got our grass under control we're mowing regularly
it's really great to have that raking effect just after the front roller so it brings all
the grass into line. This does two things; the grasses that are growing in different directions
including some of the weed grasses are disturbed and stood upright before the cylinder can cut
them which is great. The other thing that it does is it lines all the grass plants up
and by doing that it just makes for even stronger striping because the grasses and striping is all
about getting the grass entirely uniform and laid in the same direction. The height
of cut on both of these machines is altered by lifting and lowering of the front roller.
They both adjust from 6 millimetres the very lowest height of cut up to 32 millimetres so
the range is exactly the same but how that is achieved is slightly different. The Liberty 35
has a dial on the side here and that by pushing that in and turning I have a series of steps
and I adjust the height of cut in those steps in order to achieve the varying heights of cut.
So between 6 millimetres and 32 millimetres this machine will give you a choice of 6, 9, 13, 18, 25
or finally 32. So the range is good but we do have a limitation of just the steps. On the Liberty 43
we have a slightly more sophisticated system.
I have indication on the side here of what height I'm at but by lifting and lowering the rear roller
now by a screw threaded adjuster here at the rear which is really convenient to reach to if I want
to adjust as I'm mowing the lawn and by rotating this I've got a detent click and an indicator at
the side and what this does is allow me to choose any height in between six millimetres and 32
and this is particularly important because I can fit in the steel bladed cartridges into this
machine and the choice of the height of cut or the depth of cut in that case is absolutely critical.
Both machines sit primarily on the rear roller the rear roller drives the machine forward but
of course importantly this heavy steer roller presses the grass down and rolls it in the
direction which gives us the extremely strong striping that you expect from an Allett Mower
on the 14-inch machine the Liberty 35 it is a single rear roller.
On the more sophisticated Liberty 43 this roller now is wider of course at 17 inches wide and what
we've chosen to do is to split that roller in two because if the roller becomes too wide it resists
turning and also causes scuffing when we turn sharply at the end of the run. So we've split that
in two and built a differential system in there so that the motor drives both sides of the roller
but at the same time what I'm able to do is to straight line really easily and when I turn
at the end I don't get scoffing because these rollers are able to travel at separate speeds.
So the handlebars are basically both the same height on these
I do have two positions that I can adjust these to to change the height and I actually have a
choice of three positions on the Liberty 43. The power control is exactly the same six position
two stage safety on-off. The bale bars are ever slightly more comfortable on the Liberty 43
and just a six millimetre diameter bar on the Liberty 35. I also get a little
bit of extra padding maybe first thing in the morning this is a little bit warmer.
Both handlebars fold up in the same way in order to help for storage like so. The great
thing about these machines is that you are able to remove the cylinders as a cartridge
and you can then take those for servicing without having to take the whole machine.
Having removed the cylinder cartridge though what you're able to do is to insert an alternative.
On this model we recommend that you take our scarifier cartridge, a springtime cartridge
which agitates the ground picks up debris and removes thatch and moss. It really does
increase the versatility of this machine. We get asked the question all the time is can
I fit the other 14 inch cartridges from the Kensington range into this product.
We promote the scarifier cartridge because it is so simple and it is so easy to use.
You can fit the other cartridges the other 14 inch cartridges into this machine but I must make
you aware of one thing and that is to do with the height of cut control which we've just looked at.
The steps that take it from 6 millimetres to 9 millimetres to 13 millimetres are quite big steps
and it does mean that with the steel bladed cultivation cartridges like this verticut
you're either going to saw too deep or not saw deep enough so we don't generally recommend the
other cartridges to go into this machine but we do recommend them to go into this machine where
we have this completely screw thread adjustment throughout the range from six millimeteres to 32.
To change the cartridge over as well with this machine is slightly less straightforward.
This is when you remove the guard with the allen key provided you can see here that
it's actually direct belt drive and we do just need to flip the belt off the pulley
in order to then remove the pulley to take the cartridge out. With the Liberty 43 it has a real
quick change system on it. Again if I remove the guard four studs which are retained
I then have the gear drive and that gear drive allows me once I've removed the two
screws from either side here but I can then very quickly remove this cartridge
and then using the gear drive on this I can insert this one and then I can do the screws up
again so this is a lot quicker with this system because of the gear engagement drive system.
So in conclusion I hope that overview has really helped you. The battery power is fantastic in
these products it gives you enough mowing time and all the quietness and understanding that I'm doing
my little bit for the environment I really enjoy. But between the two products when it
comes to choose between the 35 and 43 do remember just the main points. Obviously there's the width
there is 17 inches versus 14 inches and that might give you more
of a problem in terms of access through doorways, through paths. The machine is heavier that might
be a problem because you've got to pick this one up and carry it up steps in your garden
but generally the slightly heavier weight gives a much better stripe.
The clip rate is slightly higher with the cylinder in on this machine than it is on this machine
which gives a slightly finer finish. The height of cut mechanism is a real difference in my opinion
this is a bit click click click I don't have a lot of choice this one is just so fine and so precise
and when that comes to fitting cartridges such as the vertical steel bladed cartridge I need
to get the depth of that exactly right and that allows me to achieve that and the other thing
I have on this product is the grass rake as well and I do like that just to line up all the grass
and make the stripe a little bit stronger and it does every time I mow just give my
weed grasses a little bit of a harder time the ones that lie flat you know them and that just
makes them stand up a little bit more and keep some clips so they're less likely to spread.
So I hope that gives you a great overview and from there you're able to make your choice
as to whether it's worth spending just that little bit more money on the Liberty
43. Thanks very much for listening you can find all details of these products on our website at
www.allett.co.uk