Help a brother out new 21" Discussion

[jakespop1]

I have been a reader of this forum for a long time and love all the advice you guys have to offer so I am posing a new question
Residential home user only
I have a MTD Yardman which is a POS. Have about 1/2 acre and with the yardman it takes roughly an hour of cutting. I do not want a rider so I Starting looking at 26 and 33" walk behind mowers and like what i see so far (Troy-bilt 33 looks great)

Problem: Wife - There is no way I can justify $1500 on a mower -

I jest about the wife but with 3 young kids I do have concerns about spending that much money for a mower and than tell little johnny he cant get an ice cream cone , then have maintenance costs higher than usual as well

So I started looking at 21" mowers and have narrowed it down to the following non commercial brands and would appreciate your feedback.

Lawn Boy Gold Series
vs.
Toro Super Recycler
vs.
Honda - Way too many to figure out the differences

Again, I really do appreciate all your advice and look forward to your responses

Thanks in advance
:D h

[twins_lawn_care]

I think all three of those choices should work out ok for home owner use. Myself, I have the Toro which I will be using, but do not have experience using the other 2, and am only going by word of mouth usage on those. A good thing to do is keep your blades sharp, and the cut should stay clean.
Unfortunatley you will not be able to increase your efficiency with sticking with the 21", but if you are going with the 21", I'd say you are ok with Toro.

It is a possibility to maybe get a used walk behind for a bit more, but still under the $1000 mark.

Good luck, hope this helped.

[The Lawn Boy Pro]

Dont let the TORO GTS (Guaranteed to Start-for 2 years) be a selling point. It aint worth it. Honda is the way to go. Honda small engines (less that 13 HP) have proven themself beyond expectations of probably everyone on this site. As far as your yard goes, I would say the Honda HR215HMA
( http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/hr215hma.htm ).

The price is around 750-850, depending where you buy.

The blade break will keep you from losing your hand (especially benificial when you have kids) and the Aluminum deck will assure you that the mower will still be around when we dicover aliens on mars, and they decide to come and see what we mow our earth with.

[ZaK18]

I dont know if you have checked this mower out. encore makes a 32" walk-behind with a briggs engine for about $1000.

All 3 of the 21" mowers you are considering are ok. The toro/honda are good mulchers. if you're going to side discharge go with the lawnboy

[Lawn Dog2001]

Hey you can find those Troy Bilt 33"s on ebay for less than $1000. They are constantly on there being sold new. Search ebay. For homeowner use they will work great.

[Spanky64]

I currently own 2 honda's. One HRC216 Commercial, and one HRA 215 3 Speed. The 215 is 14 years old. It is very reliable. Great bagging, and by bending the choke arm out slightly it will run 4 mph in 3rd gear. Excellent mower, and 26 pounds lighter than my HRC216. I would definately recommend the 215.

[grassrootsinab]

I've run Honda, Toro and John Deere. The Honda was the nicest to use if you were strictly bagging. Tough to discharge with (I forget what model it was, but only a rear discharge). The Toro was ok but for my money if you want a bagger and a mulcher try out the JD JS 63. It is a homeowner mower, but I've used mine for commercial cutting and they stand up pretty well (I'm only a part-timer). They are AMAZING mulcing machines...you can mulch in the rain and with the 3 speed self-prop you can dispatch your yard quite quickly. I paid about $650 Canadian ( 3 bucks US) for mine. I'm going to be buying another this spring. Hope this helps.

Jeff

[metro-hp_48]

I would have to agree with The Lawn Boy Pro (and other's) and say Honda. Have always had good luck with (any/every) Honda.
(but, just me, I would spent a few hundred more, and get a used 36" comm. walk behind for 400.00 -600.00)

[qualitylandscaping]

I run Toro Recycler's. They run great!

Maybe you should consider hiring a lawn care company.. Not trying to push our industry on to you, but a 1/2 acre lawn @ $30.00 per cut would be $840 max per season (@28 cuts).. Cost is less than a new mower and you don't have any mower to worry about maintaining.

[jajwrigh]

I have used all 3 and I always have really liked lawnboy. They do an excellent job when using side discharge. You should be able to get a silver pro aroung $300. The other two brands are good too, but some of the hondas get real damn pricey!

[primecutmo]

I have a lawn boy mower that is older than me and it still runs great. Last year i bought a boy commmercial series.
I like it alot. Remember if it is not an aluminum deck and a 2 stroke motor it is not a real lawn boy

[KCLandscape]

With Honda, you dont get what you pay for.
At least that is what ODIN told me...

[The Lawn Boy Pro]

Originally posted by metro-hp_48
I would have to agree with The Lawn Boy Pro (and other's) and say Honda. Have always had good luck with (any/every) Honda.
(but, just me, I would spent a few hundred more, and get a used 36" comm. walk behind for 400.00 -600.00)
Yeah. As an example, If you're just making the first steps in business, I personally think its best not to buy all new stuff. You dont know that you will succed in the biz, so theres no point to buying a munch of new stuff in my mind. I think a good deal on well-maintained equipment is the way to go. Sure, breakdowns are a possibility, but as is with anything. Think of it this way: If you were to go to a truck dealer and get a new truck for $40,000, the second you drive out of that parking lot, the truck has already lost about $5,000 in value. If you buy a used truck, then you can get it as a better deal, and you can always fix some ofthe inperfections to sell if possibly for more than you bought it for.

I think used is the way to go.

[jakespop1]

Just wanted to say thanks to all for the excellent feedback. It definitely helped guide my decision

For those interested, I decided to go with the Honda HRX with the hydrostatic drive

http://hrx.honda.com/index.html

Thanks ALL!