I'm sure some of you use trim mowers and some of those might be dedicated mulching mowers. I'm looking for opinions on the best walk behind mulcher around 20" or so. Thanks.
Best mulching mower?
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VegetiveSteam
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I'm sure some of you use trim mowers and some of those might be dedicated mulching mowers. I'm looking for opinions on the best walk behind mulcher around 20" or so. Thanks.
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I use a honda hrn216vka . Got it in 2020 I use it for a wide variety of properties. Most of the time I have to bag because of bi weekly clients. But it's a great mulcher!!! Even on biweeklys!
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I love toros newer line of super recycler mowers. they mulch really well and the personal pace system is def something to consider. honda makes great machines as well but i find toros personal pace system much easier to use.
the 21" is great but if you can fit it on your properties id look at the timemaster 30"- it can mulch leaves to dust and leaves a very nice cut.
i think you cant go wrong between tried and true brands such as honda, toro, or cub cadet but i would stay away from box store brands such as craftsmen, troy bilt, or bolens because they tend to cheap out on the parts and its a high possibility you will be looking for a new trim mower within 2 years, when used commercially.
the 21" is great but if you can fit it on your properties id look at the timemaster 30"- it can mulch leaves to dust and leaves a very nice cut.
i think you cant go wrong between tried and true brands such as honda, toro, or cub cadet but i would stay away from box store brands such as craftsmen, troy bilt, or bolens because they tend to cheap out on the parts and its a high possibility you will be looking for a new trim mower within 2 years, when used commercially.
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honda twin blades suck in lush turf if you're mulching. Toro SR keeps the deck cleanest but the venerable 22290's power through almost anything wet or dry and leave a clean cut
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Wait, a Timemaster? My Turfmaster is getting a packed deck with me just reading about mulching with a 30” and it’s not been run in months lol.
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i havnt run the turfmaster before but i have literally mowed swamps with a timemaster no issue. mulches very well. what are you cutting with the turfmaster?
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I've been running Toro Super Recyclers (SR4s) since 2010.
I think they mulch very well, but I've never compared one to a Honda.
I LOOKED at buying a Honda because everyone says "Buy a HONDA", but looking at them, all I see is more crap I don't need (TWO blades to sharpen?) and a mower that isn't as easy to roll freely when not under it's own power.
Not to mention trying to scrape the deck on a Honda with 2 blades. No thanks.
I just couldn't convince myself that switching to Honda would be to my benefit.
That said, I predict that Toro will be discontinuing the venerable Super Recycler SR4 mowers now that the newly redesigned Super Recycler is out.
THIS is the one I would suggest. (Still being sold - they started painting them black the last few years)
Link
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NOT this one (the 2022 TOTALLY redesigned model)
![Image]()
I think they mulch very well, but I've never compared one to a Honda.
I LOOKED at buying a Honda because everyone says "Buy a HONDA", but looking at them, all I see is more crap I don't need (TWO blades to sharpen?) and a mower that isn't as easy to roll freely when not under it's own power.
Not to mention trying to scrape the deck on a Honda with 2 blades. No thanks.
I just couldn't convince myself that switching to Honda would be to my benefit.
That said, I predict that Toro will be discontinuing the venerable Super Recycler SR4 mowers now that the newly redesigned Super Recycler is out.
THIS is the one I would suggest. (Still being sold - they started painting them black the last few years)
Link
NOT this one (the 2022 TOTALLY redesigned model)
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HAHAHA!!!
I find that the Timemaster does mulch pretty well.
The problem is buildup on the deck - which is horrible if the grass is wet.
I typically do a quick scrape between jobs for best mowing performance. It's easy to do if you have a system in place.
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because of the nature of mulching with the grass recycling through the deck your bound to get a lot of grass buildup in any mulching mower in wet condtions. I ran a scag vride 2 with a mulch kit and while its one of my favorite mowers i curse it under my breath when i have to clean the deck out every 4 lawns when its wet out.
now i dont mind getting dirty and scraping out mower decks but id rather not do it 3 times in a day haha
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Sure, but compared to the 21" Super Recycler, it's not even close - the 30" deck just gets PACKED with clippings.
Once you run one a while, you can hear when it's so packed that the blades are cutting a groove into the buildup - the sound just changes once it's "full".
I have a Ferris 36" walk behind with a mulch kit. It gets build up, but not as badly, or fast as the 30". Of course, the decks are nowhere near the same "volume" underneath, so it's not a fair comparison, but for me, the bigger problem with my 36" when mulching, is how it throws SO many clippings down into the grass any time you stop to turn around.
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I appreciate all of your responses. I will check out both the Honda and Toro. Thanks.
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I’m cutting my losses with it currently. I was mowing southern grass, centipede, Bermuda and st Augustine. I repowered it with the kohler cv224 and it was alright discharging but never had the umpth I needed. I got into the rainy summer here, Charleston SC and was about to burn it to the ground. I demoted it to leaf vacuum and it was only ok because of lack of power. One thing that really really bugged me was that the Turfmaster being underpowered was slower than my hrx217 on some accounts because I had to go slower to maintain qoc and it was a bear to operate. I don’t know how it would handle mulching grass but my Snapper SW15 turned leaves into powder and was twice as powerful.
Having owned a hrx217, a modded Turfmaster, a sw15/fw15, 36” stander, and now 48” walk I can list mulching power as such. Deere 636m, HRX217, Proline HDX 48, Snapper SW15 and then modified Turfmaster. It’s very well possible that the 30’s are great mulchers but I would think it’s like saying a dethaching rake is better than a machine but in practice the machine is better because it has enough power to move efficiently and two or three passes are able to be done in 1/10th the time with 1/10th the effort.
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I currently own a variable speed Toro commercial 21" with the super recycler set up.
This is considered the Cadillac of mulching push mowers
www.toro.com
I also currently own a Honda HRX-217 and have owned an HRC-216 in the past.
The HRC-216 doesn't have the balls to mulch anything but weekly accounts on dry grass. If I ad to choose between te Honda mowers, the 217 is cheaper and absolutely blows the 216 away in performance.
The best 21" mulching push mower I have used is the Exmark 21" with a mulching blade because that set up bogs down and clumps less than the commercial Toro with it's accelerator and those littel diamond things under the deck if the grass is wet or damp. I have my Toro currently set up like this, as I removed the accelerator and the little diamond things under the deck. The Exmark just requires an aftermarket blade to set up like this, as it's the same deck and motor as the Toro. I find that the Super recycler is a bit like Honda's stacked blade or Snapper's Ninja blade in that it mulches a little too well, which means it only performs well on short dry grass without bogging down. From the factory, the ExMark 21 is set up better for the more realistic crappy grass and weather conditions us commercial guys face regularly in the spring.
I also own a 30" ExMark push mower with the 200cc kohler.
It does well with side discharge, but is not a great mulching mower by any means as it lacks the power for that with the twin blades. I use it on most of my accounts as a side discharge. When I have to bag or mulch I use my Toro 21.
This is considered the Cadillac of mulching push mowers
Commercial Mowers | Zero Turn, Stand-On & Walk-Behind Lawn Mowers | Toro
Discover Toro’s leading line of commercial lawn mowers with professional-grade features engineered to handle extreme conditions and challenging terrain.
www.toro.com
I also currently own a Honda HRX-217 and have owned an HRC-216 in the past.
The HRC-216 doesn't have the balls to mulch anything but weekly accounts on dry grass. If I ad to choose between te Honda mowers, the 217 is cheaper and absolutely blows the 216 away in performance.
The best 21" mulching push mower I have used is the Exmark 21" with a mulching blade because that set up bogs down and clumps less than the commercial Toro with it's accelerator and those littel diamond things under the deck if the grass is wet or damp. I have my Toro currently set up like this, as I removed the accelerator and the little diamond things under the deck. The Exmark just requires an aftermarket blade to set up like this, as it's the same deck and motor as the Toro. I find that the Super recycler is a bit like Honda's stacked blade or Snapper's Ninja blade in that it mulches a little too well, which means it only performs well on short dry grass without bogging down. From the factory, the ExMark 21 is set up better for the more realistic crappy grass and weather conditions us commercial guys face regularly in the spring.
I also own a 30" ExMark push mower with the 200cc kohler.
It does well with side discharge, but is not a great mulching mower by any means as it lacks the power for that with the twin blades. I use it on most of my accounts as a side discharge. When I have to bag or mulch I use my Toro 21.
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You remove the kickers “diamond things” on the Toro. They just unscrew. Then use the eXmark blade or the SR flat blade on the Toro. The Toro does not pack the deck near as much as the eXmark X in long wet turf
Removing kickers should be the first thing you do to Toro pushers
Removing kickers should be the first thing you do to Toro pushers
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My Honda HRX was absolute trash at mulching, my much cheaper Toro Recycler would mow circles around that Honda. Id stick to Toro for mulching.
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the kickers help recirculate grass back into the blades. i have the feeling you cut different tpye of grass because up here in the northeast the toro super recycler mulches tall wet grass to barely anything. i rarely have to double cut
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Sure they help recirculate but if you want to mulch long wet grass they just act as grass build up under the deck and allow less room for circulation
they work fine in dry medium growth but I leave them off permanently as we mulch everything.
they work fine in dry medium growth but I leave them off permanently as we mulch everything.
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9,617 Posts
Own the Toro 22164, previous version of this. Been a great 21" mulcher.I currently own a variable speed Toro commercial 21" with the super recycler set up.
This is considered the Cadillac of mulching push mowers
Commercial Mowers | Zero Turn, Stand-On & Walk-Behind Lawn Mowers | Toro
Discover Toro’s leading line of commercial lawn mowers with professional-grade features engineered to handle extreme conditions and challenging terrain.
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