Honda Harmony II....any good?

[Youngster]

I am about to purchase a Honda Harmony II model HRT216S3DA. Does anyone have any opinions on this mower? I really dont use it commercially. I cut 5-6 yards a week just for a little extra money. I havent convinced myself to buy a big walk-behind yet. So I figured I'd buy this mower thats relatively cheap ($429 + shipping) and start saving towards a bigger one. So, whats your thoughts on this mower?

 

[GrassMaster]

Hello Youngster:<p>I would really think about ordering one in a box. If a mower is used one time for cutting for profit or used cutting a income producing property then it is used commercially, voiding your homeowner warranty.<p>If it breaks down during your warranty which would be most likely because you would be cutting 5 to 6 times more grass than what it was designed for. About every 5 to 6 weeks you would be cutting the same as a homeowner would in a year.<p>This is one of the bottom of the line Hondas built for homeowner use only. Get a Harmony that has BBC clutch & a hydro trans. <p>You will make more money in less time, but it's not for Commercial use either but a far better mower! At least it has a Commercial grade engine on it. It's the better overhead valve engines not over head cam ones.<p>The person that sold you the mower & shipped it to you, if it breaks down under warranty is this person going to pay you to take it apart, box it up & pay for shipping both ways? Then fix it free of charge. I do not think so! In most cases people that do this figure that they will never hear or see from you again unless you both are very lucky.<p>Then if you take it somewhere else locally like your local Honda dealer & try to get warranty work performed on it. The minute the dealer finds out that you ordered it in a box, will probably call Honda & tell them. <p>You could have your warranty voided for that & the dealer that signed his dealer agreement, agreeing that he would put together & service all Hondas that they sell could loose the right to ever sell Honda again.<p>It's a loose-loose situation, buy from your local dealer & pay a few extra bucks. Do it right the first time & you will never be sorry. <p>The dealers will not be around much longer any way, thats why they can't sell in a box. All the manufactures in this industry are making preparations to start selling equipment & OEM parts on line in the near future. Then it will be OK to sell in the box because they call all the shots.<p>Then all your power equipment dealers & distributors are out of a job. But the Manufactures will pocket this extra profit without ever lowering the price but probably cutting the quality to make more profit.<p>Also these guys (dealers & distributors) will be looking for a way to make a living then & they might start cutting grass for a living. <p>If they do look out because they know a lot about business, retail is a real tough business. When they find out how easy it is to make a dollar cutting grass without putting up 100's & 100's of thounsands of dollars just a few 1000 dollars, they will drive the profit in the lawn business down.<p>Give the local dealers a break, some of them will make it but all they will be doing is repairs & selling after market parts. Some of these dealerships are generations old & they all have their hard earned money & their lives in this. <p>They are facing extinction very soon!<p>----------<br>GrassMaster - Home: www.lawnservicing.com<br>My Start Up Page www.lawnservicing.com/startup/

 

[bdemir]

Honda makes great engines and mowers but i would save my money and buy a used or new commercial 32 or 36 inch walkbehind for 800 to 1100 dollars . They move faster and will cut twice as much grass as the honda 21&quot; and you wont have to upgrade also if you go out and get two more accounts then you will cut more grass in probably less time and pay for the cost differnce in the mower too. Look to make sure its taken care of and if the mower is good then you will be much better off if you plan in growing and you will probably have an easier time selling it if you want to get out if the business.<p>

 

[Youngster]

Reply to Grass Master......This is a brand new mower. I'm ordering it from Mayberry's. www.mayberrys.com I just want something to do a good job for about a year or two. I plan on buying a bigger walk behind, but I have to have something for now and dont want to spend a whole lot. Thanks for the info, i really appreciate it.

 

[JohnyNCa]

Hi youngster, I have a Honda harmony II bought it 2 yrs ago at the local Home depot, engine works great, havent had any problems with the engine other than the parts (tires got worn out and needed a new throttle cable) other than that its worked great and I mow about 30 or so lawns a week...I wouldnt buy a lawnmower through a mailorder outfit, look around for a local honda dealer and if u do purchase one just keep up with the maintenance of it so it can last you..later

 

[JimLewis]

For you, that mower may do ok. For most others in this forum I would say no way. The smallest honda any commercial outfit should use is the HRC216 - the Commercial 21&quot;. But if you are doing, like you say 5-6 per week, that may work. <p>Harmonies at all levels have great engines. But the quality of the other parts go down with the model, the harmony II being pretty low on the list. Tranny on that mower isn't as good. A lot of other parts aren't as good. <br>The challenge I have always had with anything but a commercial unit was not as much a result of mowing frequency as it was a result of pulling it around in a trailer. We used to use a regular harmony (a step up from the Harmony II) as a backup mower. We'd carry it around in the trailer with the commercial units and use it only every once in a while for a day or two if one of the commercial units went out. The problem was always that the belt that drove the tranny would always fall off due to the bumps and stuff in the road - the trailer being more vulnerable to them. So when we went to use it as a backup the belt was off and the tranny wouldn't engage. And it wasn't something you could just take apart and fix real easy. You had to take it to the shop. I must have taken it to the Honda shop 5 or 6 times before we finally realized the problem and sold it to a homeowner. the commercial units are built for this kind of travel and abuse. And they don't use belts. <p>Anyway, that's my 2¢.<p>Jim <p>----------<br>Jim Lewis - Lewis Landscape Services<br>http://www.lewislandscape.com