Lawn Care Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

Honda HRC216 review

1 reading
Jump to Latest
1 - 20 of 37 Posts
K

K-OS

· Registered
Joined
·
115 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
So I finally got my Honda mower. After not hearing much talk about it, not being able to find any other reviews, it was a chance I took to buy it.

Controls: First off, they suck. They are well designed as to not pinch your hands, but Toro had it right all these years. Nonetheless, you Do get used to it and it gets easier, but will never be as comfortable as Toro. Traction on the hydrostatic is snappy but can be smoothed by feathering the clutch (but it is an ON/OFF system in that you cannot vary the speed by feathering).

Design: Beautiful mower. Hands down the best looking mower I have ever seen. Deck is solid steel. Wheels are plastic but have VERY durable, sealed bearings. The mower will literally roll down a 1% slope.

Engine: Quiet! Powerful! No oil filter? I found that strange, probably because I am so used to the Kawasaki engines. ALWAYS (so far) STARTS WITH ONE PULL!

CUT: This is where things get incredible. 20 years I have cut with Toros and it ALWAYS had the same problem: Leaves lines of uncut grass when it's too long. Now, I don't know if it's the fact it's new, but this machine cut through 6-8 inch grass at 2-3 inches high (Kentucky grass) and left not even one straggler! Oh my god! I was blown away! I then tried mulching relatively tall grass (clipping 2 inches off the top) and it had a hard time, but left NOTHING behind. A Toro would have left wheel stripes, blowout and general frustration.


Although it's only been 1 day so far, this machine quickly made it's worth today and I am very happy with my 1500$ investment. It definitely has it's issues, but the most important for me was cut, and it does a FANTASTIC job.

Thank you all that recommended it to me!
Dan
 
#3 ·
Hey man i was just wondering how is the speed on that bad boy, is it as fast as the toro's i need something fast like those toro's, and keep me updated with the cut quality without bag though when you mulch maybe in a week or two when the grass as a little shorter
 
#4 ·
i have been able to mulch more than 2 inches off and left nothing behind. simply amazed and wondered where in the hell the clippings went to!
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#5 ·
You are comparing the honda's commercial (not thumb) drive to toro's commercial (not Personal Pace) drive, correct?
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#6 ·
K-OS said:
So I finally got my Honda mower. After not hearing much talk about it, not being able to find any other reviews, it was a chance I took to buy it.

Controls: First off, they suck. They are well designed as to not pinch your hands, but Toro had it right all these years. Nonetheless, you Do get used to it and it gets easier, but will never be as comfortable as Toro. Traction on the hydrostatic is snappy but can be smoothed by feathering the clutch (but it is an ON/OFF system in that you cannot vary the speed by feathering).
Click to expand...
try one hand to hold the blade lever & the other to let the wheel lever off & on & you will find it easy!
 
#7 ·
K-OS said:
Traction on the hydrostatic is snappy but can be smoothed by feathering the clutch (but it is an ON/OFF system in that you cannot vary the speed by feathering).Dan
Click to expand...
I run two of these and that's how I vary the drive speed by feathering the clutch... and you say you cant with yours? I leave it in full speed all the time and just feather it as needed.
 
#8 ·
K-OS said:
So I finally got my Honda mower. After not hearing much talk about it, not being able to find any other reviews, it was a chance I took to buy it.

Controls: First off, they suck. They are well designed as to not pinch your hands, but Toro had it right all these years. Nonetheless, you Do get used to it and it gets easier, but will never be as comfortable as Toro. Traction on the hydrostatic is snappy but can be smoothed by feathering the clutch (but it is an ON/OFF system in that you cannot vary the speed by feathering).

Design: Beautiful mower. Hands down the best looking mower I have ever seen. Deck is solid steel. Wheels are plastic but have VERY durable, sealed bearings. The mower will literally roll down a 1% slope.
Six years in the business and honda commercial 21 inch is the mower we have been running. We believe it's the best 21 inch out there. In our area that is mostly what you see. Honda HRC 216. The motor is very quiet and it has a lot of power for it being a 5.5 hp. The reason that it cuts so well is because of it twin micro cutting blades. Now we have never used a toro 21 or any other 21 inch mower but the cut that this machine is awesome. You probably got the newest model? We have two older models (the ones before the new one you got. We are in need of another or maybe two new 21 inch Mowers and we were looking forward into buying exmarks but with all the problems that I am hearing about them we will probably go ahead and stay with what has so helped us this whole time.

Engine: Quiet! Powerful! No oil filter? I found that strange, probably because I am so used to the Kawasaki engines. ALWAYS (so far) STARTS WITH ONE PULL!

CUT: This is where things get incredible. 20 years I have cut with Toros and it ALWAYS had the same problem: Leaves lines of uncut grass when it's too long. Now, I don't know if it's the fact it's new, but this machine cut through 6-8 inch grass at 2-3 inches high (Kentucky grass) and left not even one straggler! Oh my god! I was blown away! I then tried mulching relatively tall grass (clipping 2 inches off the top) and it had a hard time, but left NOTHING behind. A Toro would have left wheel stripes, blowout and general frustration.

Although it's only been 1 day so far, this machine quickly made it's worth today and I am very happy with my 1500$ investment. It definitely has it's issues, but the most important for me was cut, and it does a FANTASTIC job.

Thank you all that recommended it to me!
Dan
Click to expand...
Posted via Mobile Device
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
The speed is the same as the Toro. I don't think cutting faster than that would make much sense since you would have to almost run behind it.

As for feathering the clutch, my bad, you CAN feather it to accelerate slowly. I just didn't notice it because it is so damn smooth and doesn't jerk like the Toro (I guess due to the Hydrostatic tranny).

Merkava: Are you sure about this? I haven't checked the way the system is made, but there should be a clutch that connects to the transmission, thus preventing the transmission from receiving direct input. I'm going to check this out, your post scares me lol

Keep the questions coming! Going to do another full day now with it :walking:
 
#14 ·
I have used this mower over 2 years. It is heavy and does not like clover and wet grass weed as most mowers do not. I bought the side discharge attachement to have all options to mow. I did have the front right height adjuster freeze this year and the dealer I bought from (Gambrells Memhis, TN) fixed both front adjusters for $30.00 labor and they work better than when new. This mower still starts on the first pull.
 
#17 ·
They don't mulch very good. Sharpening the blades with less of an angle helps, but it won't mulch more than 1.5 to 2 inches without leaving trails or bogging. Cuts and bags wet grass like a damn though! If you want a good mulcher don't buy a 216.
 
#19 ·
greenerman said:
They don't mulch very good. Sharpening the blades with less of an angle helps, but it won't mulch more than 1.5 to 2 inches without leaving trails or bogging. Cuts and bags wet grass like a damn though! If you want a good mulcher don't buy a 216.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. I'll bet the mower doesn't mulch well due to the honda gxv 163 cc engine. It's a great engine but weak. When you're asking to push 120 lbs and spin two blades, I think the engine can't handle it, the blades slow down and the mulching suffers. If honda would be a larger engine on it like 200 cc honda gxv engine, it would help a lot.
 
1 - 20 of 37 Posts
About this Discussion
36 Replies
22 Participants
Last post:
Reedo
Lawn Care Forum
posts
7.2M
members
230K
Since
1999
A forum community dedicated to lawn care and landscaping professionals and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Lawn Mowing Pesticide & Herbicide Application 🔧 Mechanic and Repair Business Operations Lawn Mowing Equipment