Best Flail Mower – Buyer’s Guide

When it comes to maintaining farmland, having the right tools is essential. One tool that has become increasingly popular among farmers and property owners is the flail mower. This type of mower is designed to handle tough vegetation, including brush, tall grass, and weeds, making it a great option for those who want to keep their property tidy and well-maintained. However, with so many different flail mowers on the market, it can be tough to know which one is the best fit for your needs.

In this blog post, we’ll dive into the world of flail mowers and explore the features and benefits of the best models available today. From the size and weight of the machine to the durability and efficiency of its blades, we’ll cover all of the important factors to consider when choosing the best flail mower for your needs. Whether you’re a seasoned farmer or new to property maintenance, this post will help you make an informed decision about which flail mower is right for you.

1. Titan Attachments 185Flail – Best Flail Mower

Titan Attachments is owned by Titan Distributors Inc., and although it is made in China, it maintains a high level of quality, specializing exclusively in implements and other accessories for outdoor lawn and land care.

The Titan Attachments 185Flail excels in its ability to chew through anything, making it a great option for mowing areas with loose gravel and debris, as well as areas with a bit of brush. This flail mower can mulch through brush up to 3″ in diameter, making it an impressive lightweight mulcher. The forged hammer flails, combined with a 72″ working width, allow the Titan Attachments 185Flail to cut through 5 acres per hour, making it an efficient and effective option.

Additionally, the solid construction of this flail mower meets or exceeds industry standards, with the thickest steel housing we have seen at 0.25″. The Titan Attachments 185Flail outperforms its competitors with its large 72″ working width, which is by far the largest on our list.

Overall, the specialization of Titan Attachments in outdoor lawn and land care enables them to identify potential issues that consumers may face in the real world and provide solutions to them. The Titan Attachments 185Flail’s ability to mulch through brush and its solid construction make it an excellent choice for professionals in the industry.

2. Farmer Helper FH-EF155 – Best Flail Mower for Compact Tractor

Farmer Helper is an agricultural implements brand under the ownership of Betstco, a company with a reputable presence spanning over three decades. While not aiming for absolute peak performance, this flail mower demonstrates commendable capabilities and falls far from being classified as a subpar performer. In fact, if one is willing to exchange monetary resources for a longer duration of operation, we assert that the Farmer Helper FH-EF155 stands out as the most cost-effective flail mower within our survey. It is important to note, however, that this entails certain limitations compared to its competitors, yet it remains a dependable and robust flail mower.

Impressive Features

The Farmer Helper commences on a strong note with a substantial working width of 5 feet, which although not the widest among our selections, is typically more than sufficient for most commercial applications. Additionally, this flail mower boasts the highest maximum cutting height observed at 6 inches, while maintaining a minimum cutting height of ¼ inch. Nevertheless, it is worth acknowledging that one of the primary concerns with the Farmer Helper is its relatively slower cutting pace compared to certain other models, often necessitating multiple passes or a reduced operating speed when encountering denser grass. This can be attributed, in part, to the fact that the Farmer Helper is equipped with the fewest blades observed, totaling only 54.

Decent Customization and Build Quality

In terms of versatility, the Farmer Helper offers two offset positions, albeit both located to the right of the center. Another aspect of versatility that varies in its effectiveness is the availability of a mulching function, contingent upon the separate acquisition of a designated set of mulching blades. On a positive note, this flail mower exhibits considerable durability, constructed with 6-gauge steel, which while not the thickest in our evaluation, is of solid caliber. Lastly, the power take-off (PTO) drive adheres to industry standards, with the use of three belts at this size indicating a commitment to quality.

3. Titan Distributors Inc. AT120< - Best Heavy Duty Flail Mower for ATV

Titan Distributors Inc. is actually the parent company of the Titan Family brands which includes sporting and outdoor equipment, warehouse equipment, and agricultural implements. Though Titan Distributors may not specialize in implements specifically, they still provide what we find to be the best gas-powered flail mower on our list. Of course, this offers the AT120 some legitimate versatility with which a PTO-driven flail mower cannot compete. On the other hand, having to support a powerful 420cc Briggs & Stratton Professional Series engine does limit it in other ways.

Amazing Versatility

Once you hit the border between commercial and industrial equipment, the power begins to settle a bit more with most manufacturers able to make the necessary grade. In this instance, one of the more important considerations often becomes either efficiency or versatility. Efficiency is fairly straightforward as a measurement of effectiveness, but versatility is a bit more complicated. For the AT120, its ability to serve in a number of different situations and configurations allows it to be used for virtually any arrangement. For instance, the 5 offset positions allow this flail mower not only one of the widest offset ranges we saw but the ability to offset to the left as well as the right.

Solid Specs

The engine we mentioned earlier does come with the downside of making the working width smaller at 4’, even though the total width of the AT120 is 6’.  Still, the 13 ½ hp that it generates is more than enough to spin its drums at a blistering 3150 RPMs. On top of that, this flail mower also features 80 y-shaped teeth which altogether make this one of the fastest cutting flail mowers that we saw.  However, this flail mower is also the most expensive on our list, though its options are extended further with the ability to be towed by an ATV or UTV.

Buyer’s Guide

Power

This is one of the more important considerations as it will determine how you can use the flail mower, but it is not actually all that important when determining how well the mower will perform. This is because both types of power that flail mowers use, a gas combustion engine and a PTO shaft, are able to transmit enough power to the flail mower for it to perform well. That said, PTO powered flail mowers do have a tendency to be a bit more reliable because they have fewer moving parts which could otherwise fail. The difference between the two will actually have more to do with where you can use the flail mower and with what vehicles.

Basically,  a gas-powered flail mower is more versatile than a PTO powered flail mower because it does not need to be attached to a tractor. Gas-powered flail mowers are generally able to be attached to a wide variety of vehicles and can usually expand that list further with a hitch adapter.  This allows gas-powered flail mowers to be used in a heavily wooded area that still requires landscaping. It is worth noting that gas-powered flail mowers will be more expensive over the long haul due to the expense of their fuel.

Blades

This is easily one of the most important considerations when choosing a flail mower, but it can actually be judged in a couple of ways. The first and most obvious way of comparing the blades of flail mowers is through sheer quantity. The more blades that a flail mower has, the more grass the flail mower will be able to cut in a single pass. This is especially true for flail blades which are generally designed to collapse should they encounter resistance. However, the number of blades can be a bit difficult to compare if the flail mowers have different working widths.

The other way to judge the flail mower’s blades is by considering the shape of the blade as well as the material. For the materials, most flail mower blades will be made of steel, but some grades of steel are longer lasting and will stay sharper than others. Another important feature when gauging the blades is to look at their shape with a preference for “Y” or “T” shaped blades.  The Y-shaped blades are especially effective as the vertex of the blade catches the grass before cutting it, making it a more effective design. 

RPM

There are a couple approaches when it comes to the technique used to mow with a flail mower, but the RPMs work hand in hand with the blades to determine how effectively the flail mower will cut grass with every pass. While some manufacturers will provide the PTO’s RPMs, that is a standardized number which does not help us. Instead, we are interested in the flail mower’s drum’s RPMs since that will often increase the rate of cutting. That said, the selection of a proper s�eed is a bit more paramount with a flail mower than it is most other landscaping equipment as you must make sure enough blades meet the grass per pass but also want to avoid disturbing the ground below.

Working Width

This is likely the most important consideration if you either have a large plot of land to mow or are a commercial landscaper. This is because the working width basically determines to a large degree how quickly you can cut a given area. With this being the case, there really is not a give and take to this consideration: the wider the working area the quicker it will mow. Granted, the larger flail mowers are meant to be used at larger properties and may have maneuverability issues if used on a smaller yard with tighter corners.

It is worth remembering that PTO powered flail mowers have a tendency to offer wider working widths than gas-powered flail mowers. This is because a gas-powered flail mower must maintain a higher level of structural integrity, and a more stable center of gravity, to support the mower’s engine.

Cutting Range

This is a fairly important consideration if you intend to use your flail mower in a fairly wooded area or one overgrown with brush. Basically, the cutting range refers to the maximum and minimum cutting heights, though the minimum is generally ground-level. The maximum cutting height, on the other hand, is not usually that low, though it may not necessarily be anything to brag about either. However, flail mowers which were designed for use in heavier brush than others will usually provide a solid maximum cutting height to allow for multiple passes over a more solid obstacle which might otherwise ruin a variety of mowing blades.

Offset Position

An offset position refers to the ability to position the flail mower to one side or the other rather than lined up center with the vehicle towing it. The reason to do this is generally either to mow an area that would otherwise be difficult for the towing vehicle to maneuver in or to be used as part of a larger multi-mower arrangement. It is worth noting that the ability to offset left as well as right of the towing vehicle is a bit more of a premium feature for a flail mower than it is many other implements. That said, the actual range of the offset position is not usually that impressive with flail mowers, so it may not matter as much anyway.

Transmission

While the specifics of most flail mower’s transmissions are not made explicitly public, but you can usually get a rough idea about the flail mower’s capabilities based on the number of belts the transmission uses. Generally, the more belts a transmission uses the better it tends to perform, but this is also heavily dependent on how large and powerful the flail mower is expected to be in the first place. Seeing that a flail mower has 3 drive belts might seem nice at first glance until you realize that the other flail mowers in that size category usually use 4. As such, this can only provide rough estimates in terms of reliable power, but it does definitely indicate how many belts will eventually need to be changed.

Conclusion

The Titan Attachments pretty much blows away the competition with a number of the more important metrics. Arguably the most important factor simply comes down to quickly that flail mower can cut. Throw the ability to mulch tougher brush and the toughest build quality that we saw, and the Editor’s Choice was a no-brainer. Of course, if you are looking for a more budget-friendly option, then the Farmer Helper flail mower is a solid choice. Though you may have to ride a little bit slower so that it can cut all of the grass, it provides you everything you need with the room to grow. Finally, the Titan Distributors offers the best gas-powered flail mower with a 420cc engine that spins the drums at 3150 RPMs making it one of the best level-field flail mowers we saw. The fact that it can also be towed by a wide range of vehicles in a number of different settings is just icing on the cake.