Content area
Full Text
New models show manufacturers are raising the bar on performance and quality of cut, writes Sally Drury
TESTED THIS WEEK
Trimax Stealth S2 340 21
Rotomec Cyclone Flex 312 22
THE REVIEW PANEL
Matt Noyce, head gardener, Lamston House Hotel, Winchester
Bob White, gardener, Lamston House Hotel, Winchester
Mike Guppy, head groundsman, Sparsholt College
Tri max Stealth S2 340
Lainston House Hotel at Sparsholt, near Winchester, is an elegant 17th-century edifice set in more than 25ha of Hampshire parkland.
With a broad, tree-lined avenue stretching for over half a mile up to the house, and with a vast area of lawns and formal gardens, the two grounds staff have a heavy workload to maintain the grounds to a standard befitting the hotel.
Any equipment they purchase has to be productive and must give first-class results.
This week, we look at just two machines. Over recent years. Trimax has secured a reputation for productive machines with its Pegasus wide-area mower (HW, 14 August 2003).
The company's latest mower is the Stealth S2. With the advantage of giving a striped finish, we put it through its paces at Lainston.
The second machine is the smallest in the range of Rotomec Cyclone Flex mowers, available in the UK from Gambetti Barre. This trailed mower is said to reduce labour without sacrificing quality of cut - but how will it perform under test? Conditions during the review were cloudy and dry.
It's got ail the advantages of a rotary mower but it stripes as well. This is the Series 2 Stealth mower from Trimax and it's a good example of the benchmark being raised.
Trimax, a New Zealand company with UK offices in Kettering. has been developing productive solutions for grass care professionals for over 25 years.
The original Stealth mower dates from 1991. It was good then. But the updated version, launched at Saltex 2004, is even better.
Taking all the strengths of the first machine, the Stealth S2 has a host of improvements. It's still linkage-mounted and it still has a 3.4m cutting width - folding to tuck in behind the tractor for road-legal. 2.13m-wide inter-site travel. New features include down-wing flotation, a full-width roller and easier, more user-friendly adjustments.
The down-wing flotation of the Stealth...