Lawn mowers

[SJGUSMC21]

About 8 years ago, we needed to buy a lawn mower, as we were moving out of our apt and into a rental home. I found a Greenworks Dual Blade battery operated mower with 3 batteries for $99. This mower has worked GREAT and to be honest, I almost bought it again. The reason I didn't is it is not self propelled (I just turned 58 and the summers in San Antonio are brutal), the mulching on it is horrible, and I would have to wait a week to get it (my grass would be fully overgrown by then). This past Thursday the mower crapped out on me about 1/3 thru mowing the backyard. Damn. It has something to do with the main board, and screw that. The good thing is that all three batteries still work great, so we use them on the blower we have. When the POS Lowe's gas weed eater finally dies, I will get the Greenworks weed eater and use the batteries with it as well. I was really not trying to spend over $400, as this was completely unplanned for. It came down to two mowers:

Toro 22" recycler mower Model 21465

Toro Recycler 22 in. Briggs & Stratton SmartStow Personal Pace High-Wheel Drive Gas Walk Behind Self Propelled Lawn Mower 21465 - The Home Depot

Introducing a mower that adjusts to you, with no knobs, no levers, no messing around. Grab the easy-to-steer handle, engage, and go - with Personal Pace Auto-Drive. Supercharge your mowing with an amped

www.homedepot.com

Or...

Honda Model HRN216VKA 21" Mower

Honda 21 in. 3-in-1 Variable Speed Gas Walk Behind Self Propelled Lawn Mower with Auto Choke HRN216VKA

The Honda Self-Propelled 3-in-1 Variable Speed Lawn Mower with New GCV 170 engine and auto choke offers a simple, adaptable and reliable design. It efficiently adapts the mowing speed to match your stride

www.homedepot.com

I know many would say go with the Honda, and I almost did. However, the only one available was about a hour drive away, and it cost $40 more. The cost wasn't really a consideration, more so I know how much anything 'Honda' costs to get worked on or to buy parts for. And that is the main reason I went with the Toro.

I have only used the Toro twice, but each time was freak'n amazing. I was in the stone-age using the old battery lawnmower. Please don't take that as me bashing electric mowers..I MISS the quietness and ease of just inserting the batteries...but that is it. I wanted to get the battery version of this mower....I just couldn't see having to spend $350 for a new battery if the current one quit! THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS. NOPE. The personal pace deal on this mower is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Even my 9 year old daughter can use it! (no, she isn't as she has a few more years to go) and it was a breeze for my 13 year old. It started with one pull each time. I am unsure about the 'never need to change the oil, just top it off' deal but time will tell on that one. As for gas, I only use premium and I treat it with the Ethanol Shield. I also add a few ounces of octane boost each time I fill the 2.5 gallon jug I use.

As for mulching, my yard had about 6-8'' tall grass....way taller then it should have been (St. Augustine). I set the four wheels on medium high and put it into mulch mode. This is so easy now...just flip the lever and done. Wow. I do miss a single raise and lower lever for the height adjustment, but on this mower, there are I believe 9 height adjustments, so that is very nice as well. Normally with my old mower, I bagged EACH AND EVERY TIME and THAT was a royal pain in the @ss. This time....not ONE SINGLE BAG did I use! I mulched EVERYTHING. No clumps left, no grass clippings to be seen. Holy crap...going to call it 'Elvira' and make her my mistress! For some of you, this might seem normal, but for me, having been bagging for 7+ years now, this was a revelation! Just freak'n awesome!

I am still getting use to the noise, but I will deal with it. That is the great thing about electric lawnmowers....just sounds like a big, angry bee, that's it. The gas tank is HUGE on this thing, and I didn't even use half of it do the backyard (backyard is fairly large). I know the one I have is the 'SmartStow', but I don't plan on using this feature as I have plenty of room in my garage or patio for it (have cover as well).

That kind of sums up my review thus far of this wonderful lawnmower. I will continue to post here as time and use progresses with it, good and bad. If you have any experience or thoughts, please post.

Stay safe and stay hydrated out there. Semper Fi!

 

[vandyman]

The Honda motor is the better choice.
They are cloned by multiple manufacturers and parts are cheap.

 

[David L]

So Toro is actually a very preferred brand for Commercial use. Their Zero-Turns are among the best.

This is what I did years ago, actually a couple of decades ago. I kept buying Sears mowers and other cheap mowers only to have to replace them way too often. The neighborhood we used to live in, which was filled with Lawn Services/Crews, I finally started to notice their equipment. Duh. Surely they did not throw away as many mowers and cheap Weed Eaters as I did. So I ended up going to a shop where they would service/maintain/buy their equip. So, so glad I did, for what I paid on all those mowers/weed eaters I could of bought some actually good equip., which I did. I bought a Stihl Weed Eater, this baby rocks, can cut down small trees, it is actually a 4 stroke that uses gas/oil mixture just like a 2 stroke (50to1). Yes I said that right. So far I have only had to replace the primer bulb, that's it in almost 2 decades. I remember paying under $300 for it. It is the lightweight 100 model, which they no longer make...

For my mower, which is also about 2 decades old, I bought a Snapper, a model right below their commercial line, you can normally find them on sale at the end of the season, or used to. I paid right under $400 for it. This Snapper has one of the best self-propelled designs I have encountered. Have only had to replace some bears on the shaft. I remember when I bought it, I was told only difference with their next line up was the wheels, mine are plastic, and the next model up was another $100. I did notice, back then, you could tell the commercial models all had metal wheels. Oh yeah, no priming on this mower, starts the very first pull, don't know how it does that. Self primed? I mean, first pull after winter too, crazy. This mower also has the mulch blade, never have used a bag. That is a real nice feature.

These two buys have to be on top of my best buys, my grandson came to mow, while I was recovering from knee surgery, he kept telling me how much he liked my mower , what every grandpa wants to hear

As for, the Electrics, many people have had great luck with them. Who knows, I may go that route one day. My yard is small, can complete Mow/Edge/Weed Eat/Blow in about an hour, well a little longer during scorcher days , I am 59 myself, and recovering from knee surgery, normally I stop, at the most twice, had to stop 4 times this last mow.

Toro was a good choice...as far as noise, hey all the commercial crews have loud everything, especially their Blowers, only thing I have not so loud is an electric blower I just got a couple of years ago. It is ok, not like my corded blower, which could blow wet grass...but I don't miss the cord...

Had a old Welder, Jack, that use to live across the street in our old neighborhood, he was in his early 80s, still mowing his own lawn, it would take him the better part of a day, but hey, hats off to him. He is what keeps me going, not sure I will make 80 and still mow my own, but there are only a few of us who mow in our new neighborhood and we are all old. Crazy, no young people mowing, not even kids anymore. So to all the Jacks in the world, I salute you...

 

[whoami ™]

Oh shit... Two topics I go straight autistic on in one place... Computer & Lawn domination.




A lawn mower should last and be fun to use. If you want to dominate your neighbors with St. Aug you need to mow twice a week and cut it as high as possible (4" or greater). In order to cut twice a week it needs to be fun and can't feel like work, or your not going to want to do it. I've done a lot of research on push mowers and the best option I found was the murdered out 21" Toro Super Recycler® . If you have less than 5,000 sq.ft. a 21" should be just right. You're going to need to mulch in order to achieve successful domination. The only exception to this is if you have too many leaves in the fall to mulch or your under disease pressure from fungus, then you'd want to bag.




There's better reviews on actual features but Jake the Lawn Kid makes this mower look so FKN sexy in this vid I immediately dropped the Nvidia Shield remote and went out and bought this Toro last year.

 

[sebastiantombs]

I envy you folks with regular mowers. I've got a 48" deck on a Sears, NEVER AGAIN, lawn tractor and it still takes 3-4 hours to mow the yard. Lots of trees, even with a weed wacker treatment before mowing, take a lot of time. Maybe I should get a regular mower, too, to get around the trees wider and quicker. I'm 73 by the way.

 

[biggen]

I have a Lawn-boy that is 12 years old and I’ve never changed the oil, changed the air filter, or changed the spark plug. It still runs believe it or not and I use it every two weeks. Hell it even says not to put Ethanol fuel in it and I even do that. I can’t kill the thing.

 

[grumpywilson]

I use to have a cub cadet lawn tractor of the 2004 vintage with a 54" deck that was great for about 6 years. Then things on the deck started to break off and I was welding it up every other week or so. Now the mower deck is off and has a dedicated snow blower attachment on the front and that's all I use the cub for now.

Now I have a Dixie Chopper of the 1999 vintage with a 60" deck. Besides the opposed twin Koehler, it's a beast. It really needs a higher HP vtwin so I don't have to double cut if I miss a week.

 

[SJGUSMC21]

I read a lot about the Toro Super Recycler, but it wasn't available locally. It certainly is a nice Lawnmower, no doubt. And as for 'dominate', I don't want to mow my lawn even 'once' a week... My backyard grass looks great...until the 3r week of July thru Sept when the sun here just kills parts of it...I can't afford to throw water at it like it needs...no way. My front yard always was one of the best on the block...until this freak @ss weather winter we had and it killed off a third of my St. Augustine and must have super charged the sleeping grubs, as they killed off another 1/3. I had to poison 3 times to get them under control. Yard is looking better now...but 1/3 of my yard is freak'n Bermuda again....stuff is almost impossible to get rid of. When we first moved in 6 years ago, half the yard was this way...I eventually got it to 100% St. Augustine....now this. It has been a battle, no doubt. Can't buy 10 squares of sod...you have to buy a pallet...screw that. So my St. Augustine is coming back...but it will take time.

I can't argue with Stihl. They make VERY GOOD equipment.

Snappers are very nice as well as Lawnboys. I use to have a Sears 21" BEAST self-propelled lawn mower. Thing was awesome and lasted a very, very long time. Didn't do crap to it and had pliers holding parts of it together. Thing just wouldn't stop running. If I get 12-15 years out of this mower, I will be happy. I should, I take good care of my crap. Or I try to.

 

[looney2ns]

Just for reference my dad will be 98 in december, he still rides his zero turn Craftsman mower and Mows about an acre and a half roughly every 10 days.

I purchased a Honda push mower around 12 to 13 years ago. Parts are no more expensive if you buy them off Amazon or someplace like that then for any other mower. I've not done anything but replace the spark plug keep the oil changed each season, keep the air filter cleaned and change it once awhile and it starts first pull every time. I have replaced the blades once. I use Sta-bil in every gas can fill up. Still has the original drive belt.

 

[Holbs]

I bought a GreenWorks electric lawnmower. Well, folks who know me know when I say "buy", I mean won at local auction for 75% off retail at around $50 I have a very small lawn and a 100' extension cord. As a wood worker and construction guy at work, battery operated devices are ok but I prefer corded electric tools. I have some battery drills & such but most of my hours-and-hours-of-constant-use electric tools go with cords.
I gotta say...first time ever having an electric lawnmower and I am impressed. For small yards, electric lawn mowers work great (battery or corded). Unsure how would fair on medium/large square footage yards. Still, would give it a shot.
Can't say if it will last 15 years but for $50, win win for Holbs!

 

[dudemaar]

Funny topic because we just moved out to the country last week and trying to mow 0.6 acres with our Honda self propelled in this heat just wasn’t cutting it. Lucky for me a good friend of mine gave me his old bolens st140 rider. It had been sitting for 3 years in his barn. A new battery and a tune up, now she purrs like a kitten.

 

[Holbs]

Funny topic because we just moved out to the country last week and trying to mow 0.6 acres with our Honda self propelled in this heat just wasn’t cutting it. Lucky for me a good friend of mine gave me his old bolens st140 rider. It had been sitting for 3 years in his barn. A new battery and a tune up, now she purrs like a kitten.
View attachment 94352

with a riding lawn mower, you can install an overhead canopy to keep sun rays off, attach beer/water cooler to the seat, 12v fan and car audio system. wow...I would really deck the thing out of I had a riding lawn mower

 

[dudemaar]

with a riding lawn mower, you can install an overhead canopy to keep sun rays off, attach beer/water cooler to the seat, 12v fan and car audio system. wow...I would really deck the thing out of I had a riding lawn mower

Absolutely. Lol you read my mind. First a nice seat with arm rest and cup holder.might just Cruze into town with it once it’s done.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Just remember that the suspension of a lawn tractor is the tires only. They tend to ride just a "little" rough. Throw in the dust/clippings flying around and you need a closed container for drinks. The noise level of the motor and blades drowns out ear buds, on high volume, so I don't think a stereo is going to make it either. Just my cynical side showing

 

[Mike A.]

I've used that Toro, have the Honda now, and Snapper (and others) in the past. All mulching. I think the Toro cut the best out of all of those. I could never get used to the "Personal Pace" thing myself. Was good for long straight runs but my yard isn't like that much at all. Constantly going around something. Easier with a hand-type control to bump bump bump it. Traded it to a neighbor for something else I needed. It did cut great though. Probably the best one I've had as far as that goes.

Like the Honda better in some ways but really doesn't cut quite as well. Leaves a little trail of clippings to one side if my grass is thick. Easy to start pretty much no matter when. Cold/hot/whatever, max two easy pulls and it's up and going.

The Snapper with OHV Briggs was a good mower but expensive and didn't cut as well as the Toro either. Lasted forever. Hard to start and restart sometimes even being well maintained.

Any of those aren't bad choices for homeowner mowers depending on what you like and yard.

 

[SJGUSMC21]

That is awesome! My friends were shocked that I bought something 'new'. I always buy stuff and rebuild it. A friend of mine sold me his Honda Gas Pressure Washer for $100. I cleaned it up, did a tune up, patched the hole in the soap tank (rats or a mouse chewed a hole), sanded down and weather proof the engine deck, put a much higher pressure motor on it (by choice, did not have to) and BAM, thing kicks ass! Have fun as I started drooling when l looked at your riding project, I mean mower! My yard isn't near big enough for a rider.

Funny topic because we just moved out to the country last week and trying to mow 0.6 acres with our Honda self propelled in this heat just wasn’t cutting it. Lucky for me a good friend of mine gave me his old bolens st140 rider. It had been sitting for 3 years in his barn. A new battery and a tune up, now she purrs like a kitten.
View attachment 94352

 

[SJGUSMC21]

I use to have a cub cadet lawn tractor of the 2004 vintage with a 54" deck that was great for about 6 years. Then things on the deck started to break off and I was welding it up every other week or so. Now the mower deck is off and has a dedicated snow blower attachment on the front and that's all I use the cub for now.

Now I have a Dixie Chopper of the 1999 vintage with a 60" deck. Besides the opposed twin Koehler, it's a beast. It really needs a higher HP vtwin so I don't have to double cut if I miss a week.

I just looked up '1999 Dixie Chopper'....holy crap, looks like a Terminator! Found this funny as well......

 

[sebastiantombs]

My first rider, many years ago, was a Sears with a 32" deck. At the time my son was around 11 or 12 and it became his "car" as well as him mowing the lawn. Anyhow, the motor threw the rod which wasn't much of a surprise given he ran it full throttle all the time and we kind of "tweaked things" a little to up the performance. I took off that original 7.5HP motor and put on a 15HP, had to drill out the pulley to fit the bigger shaft. That thing would burn rubber and do wheelies without even trying and it never bogged down in high grass like it did with the original mower.

 

[vandyman]

Talking about mowing the lawn. I wore my "Get off my lawn" t-shirt to Wally world today and got some good compliments. Lol...

 

[Old Timer]

My first mower was a sears with a Onan motor on it. We wore it out several times mowing 3 acres.
Then I picked up a John Deere GT275, loved that mower, used it 15 years before picking up a Kubota diesel with a 6' mower.
We mow almost 5 acres now, and whip it out in about 3 hours. I picked up a set of muffs from northern tool with bluetooth in them for tunes.
The JD GT275 (it's 26 years old) is mowing my sons 4 acres. We had to rebuild the mower deck a couple time, but haven't touched the Kawasaki motor.