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recommend me a lawn mower

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My Briggs and Stratton cheapo from KMart keeps on ticking. Its about 15 years old and I've changed the oil maybe 3 times. I've replaced a wheel and the self propelled mechanism is stripped or something. My Grandpa had a Honda.. that thing was very nice, ALMOST made mowing the lawn fun.
 
Bump. Looking myself. Figure this is a good time of year. My current push mower is about 17 years old bought as an HD scratch & dent and has served me well. Still ok but needs about 20 pulls to start, especially in the cold of winter. My arms tired and I ain't gettin any younger.

Thinking of suggesting it for the wife as a gift idea as she says I never give ideas but it's be of the things I like to research to death.

Thinking craftsman or Honda.
 
make-soap-goat_s-milk-glycerin-800x800.jpg
 
Mermaidman said:
If you go electric, then go with the corded version. I used a cordless one for a few years, but the battery slowly diminished in max capacity and eventually wouldn't cut the whole lawn in one charge. The battery also made the mower heavy. I switched to a corded electric mower and have been using it for 6-7 years now.

http://www.blackanddecker.com/outdoor/MM875.aspx

It's very light, quiet, no emissions, negligible cost for operation (Other than the electricity, I had to buy a 100' extension cord--My back yard is ~50'x70'). Over that time span, only made one repair--The handle switch broke. No oil, no carb to clean, no gas to buy!
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I had a B&D mower several years ago and you have to be very careful with it if you have trees on your property due to the plastic deck. I basically destroyed my deck because I didn't get every little stick before I mowed, too many trees, had about 10 on my lot.

I currently have a ryobi 48v 20'' mower and it does well and it has a steel deck.
 
Ive been using this for the past year woth no problems:

http://www.amazon.com/Gilmour-RM30-2...+Grass+Catcher

Blades self sharpened as you cut, powered by the contents in my stomach and expect the engine to keep working another 30 to 40 years. I usually do two passes on my lawn. One with the bag attached to catch long grass and another pass without the bag to use the tiny pieces of grass cut as fertilizer for the lawn.
 
We own both a Snapper and a Honda gas powered mower. Both have been extremely reliable, but the Honda is the better one (but more costly)
 
I've got a Toro Personal Pace model with a 6.5hp Tecumseh engine. Purchased from Home Depot in 2004 by my wife when I was not able to help decide. Probably wouldn't have mattered anyway, I didn't know HD sold anything different than a Toro dealer.

I generally mow ~25 times per year. I add new 30W oil as needed, clean the air filter with compressed air, replace it every year, *replace the blade every ~10 mows, keep the underside clean by spraying water near the left rear wheel while the engine is running. It works.

Damn thing starts on the first pull every time. Press the priming bulb three times, yank the cord. And away I go.

*My Toro dealer no longer sharpens blades. I give them my old ones, they give me a brand new blade for $7. Kind of wasteful...
 
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JulesMaximus said:
I have a Craftsman mower and it's a piece of crap. Not sure who makes the engine for it. Pretty sure it isn't Honda though.
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I had a Craftsman riding mower with a Briggs & Stratton engine. The engine was fine, never a problem, but everything else broke at some point or another in the 10 years I used it. Starter, deck rust-through, steering, bent shafts, grass catcher bolts, tires, ate batteries...probably more, that's all I can think of now. I literally hate that POS.

I wouldn't want a cordless electric, I can't imagine it would have much power, unless I had a tiny sparse yard. Honda and Toro as stated often are great (word of mouth, never had one).

I currently have a ZTR Husqvarna rider that is awesome but only a year old. I also have a 15 year old cheapo Walmart Murray/B&S that has actually been extremely reliable and never given me a problem. It is starting to show some deck rust-through though. My lawn equipment is stored indoors but I don't always rinse the grass out from underneath after usage which is probably the source of the rusting.
 
JoLLyRoGer said:
^^ This ^^

I own one and love it! Starts on the first pull every time and is a lot quieter than my old Briggs.

Word of advise that most people won't do but turn the fuel off and run the engine until it dies after every use. It gets all the fuel out of the carburetor so it doesn't sit in there and gum up the jets/floats.

I do this with all of my stuff. Lawnmowers, Weedeaters, Chainsaws, Generators, 4-wheelers. Basically anything that doesn't get gas run through it regularly (like on a daily basis) and I practically never have problems with hard starts. 2-cycle or 4-cycle.

The other thing I do with the mower is get the hose out and spray out all the clipping and gunk that cakes up on it after every use. I figure a clean machine is going to perform like new longer.
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No need to run it dry unless you're getting ready to store it for the winter or something.

FWIW my opinion is any of big name small motors will probably run forever anyway as long as you do simple stuff like oil changes. A couple years ago I helped my dad sell his late 70's vintage Lawn Boy edger with a B&S engine. Still fired up with 2 pulls.

I would pay attention to the rest of the mower as others have mentioned.
 
my Farther's Turro lasted forever without any real problems. He Craigs listed it after he sold their house but the thing must be 25 years old.
 
I've been cutting my grass with a Poulan Pro $120 dollar cheapie push mower from Walmart for the last 4 years. It has a Briggs & Stratton motor. I just change the oil before the first cut of the season. Starts every time on the first pull.
 
The quadra-cut system the Honda's use (I am not sure if the non-honda mowers with honda engines use it) is excellent. I mulch exclusively now my St. Augustine and there are no visible clippings. My lawn has been much healthier because of that.

It's been over a year with weekly cuttings (sometimes two a week) and no signs of thatch.

One thing I am unhappy about is the handle has some rust. When I send it in for yearly service soon, I will see if I can have it warranty replaced. It's like the coating wasn't in place in some areas. It's not horrible, but not expected for a mower not put away wet nor left outdoors.
 
Seems a strange time of year to ask about mowers.

Mermaidman said:
If you go electric, then go with the corded version. I used a cordless one for a few years, but the battery slowly diminished in max capacity and eventually wouldn't cut the whole lawn in one charge. The battery also made the mower heavy. I switched to a corded electric mower and have been using it for 6-7 years now.

http://www.blackanddecker.com/outdoor/MM875.aspx

It's very light, quiet, no emissions, negligible cost for operation (Other than the electricity, I had to buy a 100' extension cord--My back yard is ~50'x70'). Over that time span, only made one repair--The handle switch broke. No oil, no carb to clean, no gas to buy!
Click to expand...

Aside from the power plant that is running it 😛

I'm using a really old Toro 2 cycle push mower. It has zero bells and whistles, just a deck with an engine, blade, and handle on it. Works fine however, was free, and the best part of being 2 cycle is it never needs an oil change 😀
 
If you're going self-propelled, take a long, hard look at the drive mechanism. I bought one, a few years ago, and returned it the same day that I used it the first time, because the drive mechanism broke. Come to find out, there was way too much plastic used, and it couldn't take the stress.

IMHO, if you have a big enough yard to need a self-propelled unit, just buy an inexpensive riding lawnmower.
 
marvdmartian said:
If you're going self-propelled, take a long, hard look at the drive mechanism. I bought one, a few years ago, and returned it the same day that I used it the first time, because the drive mechanism broke. Come to find out, there was way too much plastic used, and it couldn't take the stress.

IMHO, if you have a big enough yard to need a self-propelled unit, just buy an inexpensive riding lawnmower.
Click to expand...

I don't have that big a yard but there's some incline that would be a pain to push, not to mention would probably tip over a riding unit...so self propelled it is. Scored a nice used self propelled Toro off CL for $75 last weekend. It sure beats my old 12 yrs old Craftsman that died.
 
I don't like my Toro. It's self driven, but its front wheel drive which makes turning a bit difficult.
 
Well, shoot. I'm still chewing on this one.

I can get the toro 20332 for $299 locally as they're getting rid of the last few....

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/outdoo...l_B7tkVD5Sg0_EnG.2_0_0_0&cj=true#.UN22CxB5mSN

But the Hondas reviews are installing more confidence. None available locally so I'll have to order but I can get the hrr2168vya locally for $449 right now. Not sure I need the blade brake option as my lawns small. But I could pick up and take home. Meh.

Here's the hrr216vya.....

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...ct-2-_-100617641-_-100617642-_-N#.UN22tRB5mSM

And the less frilly hrr216vka.....

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...ct-1-_-100617642-_-100617092-_-N#.UN223xB5mSM

Decisions, decisisions.
 
i ended up getting the one in the 2nd honda link you have there (i think that was the one). only used it like 4 times or so when in season but it worked great.
 
And I hate reading some of these reviews as if you google, you come up with similar stuff often like this popular mechanics article.......

And I quote.....

"Good cut quality and bagging. Maneuverable. Did reasonably well uphill despite front-wheel drive. Easy deck height adjustment. Push-button start is helpful."

This mower is neither FWD or push button start. :facepalm: WTF?!?!?

And then you read the Toro 20332 article and you'd come away thinking it's flawless....

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/lawn-garden/4349693-toro-20332#slide-8

Trusting these folks is dicey at best!
 
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