recommend me a lawn mower

[purbeast0]

i am in the market for a lawn mower. my brother is into yard maintenance and stuff, and actually studied agronomy in school, and worked as a manager selling commercial grade lawn care products for 5 years before becoming a fireman.

he recommended toro or honda as the brand to get, so that is what i've been looking at.

he basically said if there was a tie between the two, that he personally would go with toro, simply because he has had one for a long time and it works fine. but he also said a honda should be fine as well.

i'm looking for a self propelled push lawn mower. i really don't know what to look for other than that, and i see some that are in the price range of like $250 up to near $500 with what seems like little difference, other than the blade-stop thing where it will stop if you are going over a stick or something hard.

i was also wondering if people have opinion on the cordless electric ones. are they as powerful as the gas ones? do they really save any money even though there is no gas, but you pay for the charge it takes, and how long do they last?

i'm not one to go cheap on things if there are reasons to pay more money for more durability or easier useage, but i simply do not know the difference between some of the models priced so different.

so anyone have any that they recommend between those 2 brands?

EDIT:

here are 2 i'm considering

Toro: http://www.homedepot.com/Featured-P...Id=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051#.UEZIWqOVHJg
Honda: http://www.homedepot.com/Featured-P...Id=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051#.UEZIp6OVHJg

 

[SandEagle]

i bought a honda last year and absolutely love it. it was close to $700. got a thread out there somewhere. go honda over toro

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Costco

 

[vi edit]

That Toro is just a rebadged MTD with red paint. It's not the same as a Toro product you'd get from a commercial Toro dealer.

 

[alkemyst]

i bought a honda last year and absolutely love it. it was close to $700. got a thread out there somewhere. go honda over toro

QFT...their resin base/deck is unbeatable in the market. Mower starts on one pull every time and nearly impossible to bog down.

My dad was a Toro guy for a long time and made the switch to Honda's Commerical mower (same as the residential, but with an aluminum deck)

 

[mshan]

My dad bought a Troy-Bilt push mower with Honda motor from Home Depot a few years ago.

Nice engine and always starts with first pull.

 

[SandEagle]

this is the one i got. you'll love it

http://www.mowersdirect.com/Honda-HRX217VKA-Lawn-Mower/p7830.html

 

[edro]

Doesn't matter, as long as it has a Honda engine.

 

[postmortemIA]

i have push mower with Honda engine. I think you are on the right track. Self propelled helps. Honda engines are the best for that $.

 

[alkemyst]

this is the one i got. you'll love it

http://www.mowersdirect.com/Honda-HRX217VKA-Lawn-Mower/p7830.html

Same here...the only other option is electric start which I think is more trouble than it's worth.

I have been mulching lately with it and it cuts my St. Augustine so fine I don't notice any clippings at all even when it's very tall (I cut at 3.5").

Great mower...it will set you back about $700.

 

[torpid]

Toro or Honda sounds right to me.

FYI, the honda you linked was listed by consumer reports as a best buy. I think the toro model # is specific to home depot but I could be wrong.

One thing that will be typical of a lower proced ($200-250) model would be single speed as opposed to variable speed.

 

[Northern Lawn]

I'm in the lawn care business. Just buy the cheapest mower, with the best engine. Honda engine is good, kawasaki also. You don't need a commercial grade mower and places like Home Depot doesn't sell them anyway.

But if you want a little better you could buy a personal pace Toro from HD.

 

[purbeast0]

this is the one i got. you'll love it

http://www.mowersdirect.com/Honda-HRX217VKA-Lawn-Mower/p7830.html

serious question ... why does that mower cost about double the one I linked in the OP? what features are causing the huge price increase?

 

[torpid]

serious question ... why does that mower cost about double the one I linked in the OP? what features are causing the huge price increase?

slightly better handling, better bagging and side discharge, bigger motor are the better features; no idea what justifies the price increase.

 

[alkemyst]

also the better mowers are usually faster moving. My Honda goes pretty fast, I still sometimes just push it though

 

[mvbighead]

Go big or go home:

https://www.exmark.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProductType=70&TypeOfProduct=mower

I kid, as this is way overkill for most. I have a few acres to mow, and this handles the terrain better than anything else.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

My dad bought a Troy-Bilt push mower with Honda motor from Home Depot a few years ago.

Nice engine and always starts with first pull.

^^ 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.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I have a 25ish year old Toro mower. I got it for free from my grandmother several years ago as she's on an acre and a half lot and they have a tractor mower and a newwer Toro mower as well. At the time, the float wasn't working and this one was leaking fuel. A guy I know who does small engine work fixed it in trade for fixing his PC. It's not given me any trouble since then.

 

[Fritzo]

Anything with a Briggs and Stratton motor. Don't know what they do to those things, but I have a push mower and a tractor that start on the first try for the last 15 years. I don't think I've ever changed the oil on my push mower

 

[Leymenaide]

this is the one i got. you'll love it

http://www.mowersdirect.com/Honda-HRX217VKA-Lawn-Mower/p7830.html

I have the 10 year old version. It is a great mulcher. I have replaced some ware parts but nothing out of control. I would not buy anything else.

 

[Mermaidman]

i was also wondering if people have opinion on the cordless electric ones. are they as powerful as the gas ones? do they really save any money even though there is no gas, but you pay for the charge it takes, and how long do they last?

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!

 

[vi edit]

If you are considering corded electric then I'd just suck it up and go with a quality reel mower. Will get a better cut and even less to jack around with maint wise.

 

[KMc]

I have that exact model of Toro mower in the OP. This is my 2nd season with it, no problems. I like the way the self-propelled mechanism works in that you just hold the handle and walk. If you walk faster, it goes faster - if you slow down, it slows down.

 

[grohl]

Honda.

Echo or Stihl for all your other powered lawn care needs.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Sears > Craftsman with Honda motor ($250-300 bucks)