# Swardman Vs Uk import



## Are-Jay (Sep 9, 2018)

I've been dead set on getting my hands on a Swardman Edwin 2.0 or Electra, but lately I've been browsing UK lawn forums, The UK FB market place and used equipment dealers from around the UK. I'm finding tons of folks willing to ship lightly used Dennis Ft range, Fox 20s, and Allett Kensington 20h and even C27s for a fraction of the price, even after shipping, compared to a Swardman. The cost of the Swardman, and yes I know you can get them for a little less with a free scarifier cartridge from Europe using promo codes, still seems a little steep. I've used an older version Swardman Edwin and it was a very nice machine, but is it as nice as a Dennis Ft? I would say no.

I'm also not super interested in a GM or the alike as I only have 4.2k of turf, and they are fast, aggressive units. I'm looking for that balance of professional and residential machinery.

Has anyone here gone down this path of bringing over a high quality cylinder unit from the UK? Any advice?


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## driver_7 (Jun 28, 2018)

@Shindoman, seems like it's in your wheelhouse here.


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## Shindoman (Apr 22, 2018)

How much is a used Dennis FT selling for in the U.K.? 
I think a Dennis or commercial Allett is far and away a better machine than a Swardman. Not really a fair comparison. 
I bought my Dennis brand new from a Canadian distributor. It's a fantastic well balanced easy machine to deal with. 
Shipping from the U.K. Can't be that hard. But it will be expensive and take a long time.


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## Are-Jay (Sep 9, 2018)

The cheapest Dennis FT willing to ship was in pretty rough shape for 3300 usd and 250 shipping. I shouldn't have maybe included that in the comparison, as you are right it's not in the same class. There were others (Dennis) in the 3k range that were a few years old but in great shape, just not willing to ship.

That said I've only been looking for a week or so and the dealers I spoke to all told me that I should find what I'm looking for quickly.


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## Shindoman (Apr 22, 2018)

For comparison, I paid $10k cad for mine incl the tungsten verticutter cartridge.
I think that's about $6500 usd.


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## Are-Jay (Sep 9, 2018)

Shindoman said:


> For comparison, I paid $10k cad for mine incl the tungsten verticutter cartridge.
> I think that's about $6500 usd.


Sounds about right if it was nearly new, or you got a good deal if it was brand new.


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## Lawn stabber (Jun 17, 2019)

I'm not a fan of the Kensington, I don't think it's a good system. The swardman is a fantastic design but for my money it doesn't weigh enough. If you can get your hands on the other stuff you won't be disappointed at all.


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## Shindoman (Apr 22, 2018)

Are-Jay said:


> Shindoman said:
> 
> 
> > For comparison, I paid $10k cad for mine incl the tungsten verticutter cartridge.
> ...


It looked brand new and had 15 hrs run time.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

How easy is service and reel maintenance on the imported machines? If you are willing and able to do most of your own that will make it easier and dealer support is less important, but if you need parts or have to send something back to them it will take a while. Like a lot of things, I think the dealer support is pretty important.


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## Shindoman (Apr 22, 2018)

bernstem said:


> How easy is service and reel maintenance on the imported machines? If you are willing and able to do most of your own that will make it easier and dealer support is less important, but if you need parts or have to send something back to them it will take a while. Like a lot of things, I think the dealer support is pretty important.


My Dennis is built like a tank. Honda motor, lots of grease nipples, clutch adjustment is simple.
I purchased the backlap tool for $130 and that allows my local Toro distributor to grind the reel on their Dual Express grinder. Cartridge style allows me to remove reel cartridge and drop it off for grinding without hauling the entire mower in. They charged me $120 for a grind. Pretty hard to break these things in normal use.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

@Shindoman sounds like a beast of a mower.


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## Shindoman (Apr 22, 2018)

bernstem said:


> @Shindoman sounds like a beast of a mower.


It's a beast but it's not. You can basically drive it with a light touch on one handlebar. It is like night and day to the Caltrimmer I had before it.


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## engineear (May 13, 2020)

Lots of YouTube vids on both. Allett may be a little less pricey. They both have interchangeable cartridges. Been in business for decades. Jeff Parker is in your area and is an Allett dealer. He's at Empire Turf Builders...very helpful and knows his stuff. Call him, tell him Brant sent you.
541-409-5432
Good luck in your decision.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Shindoman said:


> bernstem said:
> 
> 
> > @Shindoman sounds like a beast of a mower.
> ...


I was thinking "beast" in a good way.  Sounds like that is the case.


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## Reelrollers (Feb 6, 2018)

All really good points, but I have a lot of experience importing goods from Europe and there's a lot that goes into it. To import mowers you need to be prepared to:
-Pay a company to bond the import
-pay another company to be the power of attorney to import and complete that paperwork
-pay the shipping and ensure the shipment is packaged right
-then there is customs! Often they require a detailed explanation of the goods
-if it has a motor, you need to provide documentation on the engine from the manufacturer
-pay taxes on the import with invoices so you can pay taxes on it based on the classification of the import
-pay another company who will handle the transport from the port of entry to you
-sometimes, customs requires crazy documentation (it's not consistent) of the materials used in the product. We've had them question what type of paint is used, material belts are constructed from, and even the rubber or plastic in the tires

These questions aren't because we import larger quantities, in fact when sending in just 1 mower at a time the paperwork seems to be more significant.

We didn't even talk about the mower (I don't know much about the UK mowers being discussed), but thought I would share some of the challenges I've encountered with importing. If you are familiar with this process, great. But if you have an exporter you sells the mower and isn't going to be a resource to help you import the mower, it can be a good bit of work and at times frustrating.

Lastly, after I believe 7 days if you don't have the paperwork all aligned, prepare for a daily fee charged for storage until you do.

I would suggest finding a mower already in the states regardless of brand.


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## Are-Jay (Sep 9, 2018)

That's great info. The last thing I had shipped over from a private seller in the UK with a motor, years ago, was a 4k PSI pressure washer with a Honda 4-stroke. It was shipped via FedEx or maybe it was DHL and it just showed up on its plastic pallet in my driveway a few weeks after I purchased it. I do not remember any of those things outlined above, but maybe things have changed over the last 5 or 6 years.


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