Recommend a brand of lawn mower

tomwoh

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My lawn mower is on its last legs. I am looking for another walk behind lawn mower. My yard is not the smoothest and my current lawn mower has large wheels although I don't know how much they actually help. I'm thinking either Honda or Snapper. Anybody have any experience with these brands or have another brand they really like?

Specs I'm thinking

- 6+ HP
- Large wheels ?
- Self propelled
- 20+ inches wide
- Rear bag discharge
- Under $500.00
 

MarNav1

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If your wanting those brands $500 probly won't be enough. I have had great service from just regular Craftsman mowers, with normal service the last one lasted 20 years. I changed the wheels and a couple blades, other than that it was just normal cleaning, plugs, oil changes every season and air filters. The front wheel drive never broke down once, just the wheels wore down. I think it originally cost $225 or so. The guy at the mower shop made some negative Craftsman comments, I just said you have to use what you can afford.
 

Diesel_Bomber

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Got sick of disposable mowers and bought a commercial Toro. Aluminum deck, three self-propel speeds, 6.5hp Suzuki two stroke engine. The self propel speeds are aimed at professionals with a job to get done, not the homeowner looking to mow their lawn easily, so even on the slow speed you're not strolling along. The fast speed is impossible for me with my fubar'd hip(motorcycle crash) to manage, but normal folks like my wife and the neighborhood kids seem to handle it fine. The two stroke has fantastic power, and with synthetic oil there's no smoke nor smell. The spark plug doesn't foul, and no oil changes to mess with either. Fantastic maneuverability too. I don't think Toro makes the two stroke version anymore, but if I was in the market today I'd hunt around for a used one. Mine is not for sale.

:buddies:
 

greenpea76

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Honda
-Because I work for them ;)
Honestly, they have some of the best mower engines out there. Super quiet, smooth, dependable, and best of all, reliable!
 

Mjolnir

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I also use a commercial mower, but it is an exmark metro with 12 horsepower, 2 blades (a 36 inch deck I believe), and 5 speeds, as well as a reverse (which is basically completely useless). My lawn is a very bizarre shape, so it helps to have a good mower. I can keep up with the mower on 4 of the speeds, but I basically have to run after the mower on the 5th speed, which is more for people with the ride on attachment. Of course, one of these would probably be way above your budget, however It works very well for my somewhat large lawn.
 

Wattnot

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Husqvarna is a great middle of the road brand. Great quality and great prices. They might even be better than middle of the road! I'm not familiar with their push mowers but I bought a mid line garden tractor last year and couldn't be happier with it.
 

monkeyboy

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+1 on Honda. Had the same one for 20+ years and still going strong with minimal maintenance. Costs a little more to buy, but cheaper in the long run due to better reliability.
 

tomwoh

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For those of you using Honda do I have to buy a commercial version to get the reliability or will the home owner line give me reliability also?
 

Flying Turtle

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I've been very satisfied with a Toro for about eight years now. It's the one you see at the Depot, Ace, etc. for about $299. I got the high wheel, but probably wouldn't again. Just adds more weight for normal mowing. It's hasn't needed anything but a spark plug and air filter. I take a file to the blade now and then. Always started easily.

Geoff
 

coloradogps

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I had a Snapper for a 5 years.

I found a new Honda at a local shop.

I always wanted to try out a Honda.

I used the Honda one time and then the Snapper.

I went ahead and sold the Snapper.

The Honda is still going strong after 10 years.

The original tires were replaced last year.

The Honda is a way better mower!
 

monkeyboy

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The one I use (my dad's mower) is just a regular home owner version although it's only used on our own lawn so doesn't see heavy use. Every 2 years we service it; change oil, clean air filter, sharpen blade etc. It's just keeps going and going.
 

gadget_lover

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I used several Toros and was very happy with them. The stamped sheetmetal decks of most mowers just seem flimsy.

The problem with recommending a brand is this: A great model that has worked great for 10 years is probably not made any more, and if it is made it might not be to the same standards. :(

Daniel
 

yuandrew

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I have a Toro from 1989 with a Tecumseh (no longer in business) TVS-100 engine. We used it a lot for about five years before we hired a gardener. I resurrected it back in 2003 and currently mow the lawn for my parents with it now. You'll find the older Toro residential mowers use the same top discharge deck design as Toro Commercial and Exmark (made by Toro) 21" mowers. The cast-aluminum decks won't rust and should last many years with good care.

Currently, Toro has outsourced production of their residential mowers to MTD so the Toros you can get at Home Depot are really just re-badged MTD mowers. If you want a good Toro mower now, you'll have to spring for one of their commercial models. One landscaper I know recommends the models with the Honda engines. The Kawasaki engine models seem to bog down more on taller grass.
 

kitelights

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Another vote for the Toro. The Personal Pace series is not a commercial mower, but it seems like it compared to other mowers I've used. It'll go faster than I can and not bog down even with overgrown grass. The Toro is my GF's and I've cut her grass with it and borrowed it a few times for my own.

My mower is a high wheel because my yard is like you describe, but the Toro did a great job with no problem and it has standard wheels.

It is an impressive mower for under $400.
 

Lite_me

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I have a Toro Personal Pace also, and love it. If/when this one goes, I'll get another. It will self-propel from a creep, to a very brisk walk and everywhere in between by just walking at the "pace" you want. It matches your foot speed. There are areas of my lawn where I need to slow down, and areas where I can speed up. It makes it very easy. Almost always starts on the first pull. Nice mower for a homeowner.
 

binky

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I had a Honda homeowner (HRT-216 as I recall) and it worked great. Reliable and never had trouble starting.

Then I got lawn service for a few years.

This year I bought a Husqvarna homeowner self-propelled. Much less $$ than Honda. I think it's model 7021RB with the Honda engine. I'll check. It has been very reliable and has one benefit over the Honda that always annoyed me -- one single lever on this mower adjusts all wheel heights at once. Woohoo! I hated that about the Honda homeowner model I had. It had 4 separate levers and the front ones even pointed in a different direction than the back when they were all at the same height. Very un-Honda.

It also has a nicely variable speed with a grippy lever, but the lever is a bit hard to pull. I'm not sure my oldest son will be using that any time soon, and maybe only because of that stiffness.

Anyway, very happy with the Husqvarna so far. Only used it 3 or 4 times though. As with all these kinds, the thing is only about 21" wide.

I just scraped & planted a lot more grass, so next year I'll either have to get something bigger or go pro lawn service again. No more pro lawn service for us if my kids want their allowance, though. :)
 

ABTOMAT

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I'm just going to present some fast information related to comments in this thread, in no particular order.

Large wheels are rarely found on good mowers. They make it easier to roll over rough terrain, but harder to tilt to turn. The mounting brackets tend to fail faster than ones for normal-size wheels.

Front-wheel-drive mowers are not made in any quality, but they're well suited to smaller lawns. Better mowers come with rear-wheel-drive. RWD can be hard to turn in small lots until you become comfortable with the controls.

About the $400 point marks a huge jump in quality. Above that they get much, much better. Below that most are pretty mediocre.

I'll never own another Craftsman self-propelled bagging mower or a similar machine under a different brand. The older ones I've owner were pretty poor, the newer ones I've worked on were worse. The deck, drive system, and handles are what I'm talking about.

Honda engines are good, but the carburators (at least on the GC engines) are especially vulnerable to dirt. They're also often very hard to clean, although on the other side they're only about $15 to replace.

Honda's pro engines are the GX models. You won't need one of those for homeowner use. The GCs are fine for that. You also won't find a GX on a good mower in your price range.

Husqvarna isn't a mower maker. They slap their name on mowers made by AYP. AYP is a low-end brand who also make the same machines for Sears and a half-dozen others. You're paying for the paintjob.

In the $300 range I'd probably recommend a Toro Recycler (average quality but very good company support) or whatever the best single-speed Honda is in that price range.

If you can push it all the way to $500, you can get a Toro Super Recycler (THE Toro mower) or an Ariens LM21 (excellent mower, rarely recognized the way it should be.) If you can get a Snapper Hi-Vac for that that's also an excellent option, but I think Snapper has priced the Hi-Vacs out of that range. I'm not terribly familar with the Hondas in this price range. My impression of the ones I've seen were that they were overly complicated.

My preference is mowers with gear shifts and clutch levers. I don't like variable-speed (like Personal Pace, Push-to-Go, Honda's thumb drive) but most good mowers come with these things now. You generally have to go into the pro models ($800+) to get normal multiple-speed shift drives.

This is what I use right now. It's a 2001 Toro Super Recycler with a 6.5HP Briggs custom engine and BBC. It was the last consumer SR sold with a 3-speed, essentially a Proline with a cheaper engine. Sold for around $800 when it was new, I bought it used for $120. Before this I had two similar Toros from 1986 with Suzuki engines. The only reason I replaced them was parts availability.

toronew.jpg
 
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Mjolnir

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I also find having multiple gears very useful in a lawn mower. My lawn has many different parts to it; some which require lower speed for maneuverability, and some straight areas than I can go through pretty quickly. If you have a pretty uniform, flat, square lawn, you might not need multiple speeds, but if you have slopes or different areas to your lawn, you may want a mower that has a few gears on it.
 
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