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Best lawnmowers?

F

Ferocious

Diamond Member
I'm in the market for a walk behind self-propelled lawnmower.

My one landscaping buddy swears John Deere and Honda are the two very best. I couldn't wrong with either.

What do you think?
 
can't go wrong with Honda engine-
Check out Sam's wholesale club or similar-
They had a Toro self-propelled w/ Honda engine for a decent price
 
I like my lawn boy, but you have to be very particular about mixing the gas and oil and also making sure the gas is clean.
 
I've got a 4.5 horse craftsman that has been handed down to me from my father. The thing is probably going on 15 years old now. I don't think we've ever done anything to it except put gas, and maybe a little oil in it every now and then.

I'd buy one again. 😕

My dad had nothing but hell about the deere he bought. Always needed work, and parts are quite expensive.
 
I'll add to the Craftsman list (my buddy accross the street and I just went in together to share one).

My $.02 is that self-propelled is not worth the expense (just more moving parts to break). If your yard is large enough that you don't want to push - then consider a riding mower 🙂
 
Lawn-boy
mine is like 15 years old and I can't recall doing anything other than putting in gas! (in the time i've been doing the yard maintenance anyways) and it starts on the first pull every time!!
 
If you don't abuse it, even an inexpensive mower will give you a decade or more of service.

In my experience, the blade you use is more important than your mower. Make sure you keep your blade sharp and if you're doing the mulching thing, make sure your blade has a sufficient "impeller" (the bent part at the ends that flips the cuttings up so that they can be recut again and again). My Murray mower supposedly came with a mulching blade but it'd leave clippings 2-3 inches long. I replaced it with a different design mulching blade and now the clippings are the size of my fingernail or smaller. Huge difference for $11.

 
Originally posted by: Electric Amish
My Sears Craftsman does just fine and is probably half the price.

amish
Click to expand...



Same here, Craftsman are nice but of course mines a rider since I have to mow 10 acres, the walk behind would take
me waaaay to long and I would probly be dead before I finished it with the temps that we get here in California.
 
My parents have a 20-year-old Lawn Boy that's served them well continuously. Lately, my dad's been taking it for yearly checkups at at mower shop, but it's never failed to give us great service. The crappy part is mixing the 2-cycle engine oil wit the gas every time you fill it up.
 
Toro makes Lawn Boy mowers so they use basically the same parts, just a different engine.

The Toro Personal Pace lawnmowers are great. You can get a 6.75 horse Honda engine (I believe) for a reasonable price. Make sure you get the electric start so you don't have to pull a muscle with that cord 😉

<------ parents have worked at the local Toro plant for ~30 years
 
we have a 20 year old self propelled 5hp toro thats just about at the end of its life, and a 5.5hp craftsman push mower. The toro is a much better mower.
 
Best lawnmower? Get a goat and enough rope so it can reach the whole yard.
It meets your criteria: self propelled
Walk behind though... maybe not too closely, don't want to get kicked.
Bonus: fertilizes yard AND requires no gasoline.
Just tell your neighbors that lawnmowers add more polution to the air than cars, you're trying to be environmentally conscious.
 
I have a Sears Craftsman that the self propel feature is almost worthless on. It is a 6.5 Briggs and Stratton and has no adjustments anywhere for the belt drive that propels it. Even worse it tends to clog frequently when bagging and does a horrible job mulching. Last weekend I bought a Honda and after running for 5 minutes the engine seized. Yes I did put the oil in it before I started it for the first time. Home Depot replaced it and I have to say that it is worlds above my Sears. The mulching is fantastic and the self propel very strong with no slippage at all.
 
I once bought a $100 Ace Hardware no name mower and it lasted for about 7-8 years with minimal maintenance before I sold it in a garage sale for $10. My family has also bought really nice Honda and Deer mowers. The last Honda we had lasted nearly 20 years, but required an engine rebuild at about 15. The Deer is still going strong about 6 years after we bought it. I think you can get a good mower cheap, but you are going to pay more if you want features like self propel or mulching. If you can stand pushing and bagging, get a cheap brand and just keep it clean and maintained.
 
Honda if you want it to last for 15 - 25 years.

Briggs and Stratton if you want it to last for 5 - 10.

The most important thing is oil changes. If you do not change the oil, the mower will not last. You have to understand that there is no oil filter in these small engines, and if you do not change the oil every 25 hours, you wear things out very quickly. Changing and/or cleaning the air filter is important too.

Of course, I'm just talking about engines here. I don't know who makes the best mower decks.

<--- resident ATOT small engine nut.
 
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