Lawnmower question - honda or briggs & stratton engine?

[NeoSolo]

should i go buy
(MTD Pro) 5.5hp honda engine mower for $199+ tax (samsclub)
or
(craftsman) 5.5hp Briggs & Stratton Engine mower for $170 - (10% + $5 coupon) + tax

i bought 4.5hp Eager 1 engine mower (craftman) but it stopped when cutting longer grass. This one is going back to sears.

First time buying mower, first time home owner.

Any advice will be great.
thanks in advance.


Sorry i meant samsclub

 

[DougK62]

Definitely B&S. They run forever.

 

[woowoo]

Hate to say it but




Honda



Never buy a Craftsman lawnmower

 

[kranky]

Ask Eli, he's a small-engine expert.

 

[Kalvin00]

Originally posted by: DougK62
Definitely B&S. They run forever.

Agreed.

 

[Vortex22]

I used to have a Snapper with a B&S engine... more like POS engine. Constant problems with it not starting, dying in the middle of cutting, etc. I maintained it very well too...

I've had a Honda for almost 5 years now with no problems.

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: woowoo
Hate to say it but

Honda

Never buy a Craftsman lawnmower

That Craftsman sticker on the side doesn't mean jack$hit. That's like saying not to buy a Geo Prizm because it's an unreliable GM POS, when it's really a reliable Toyota Corolla.

 

[NutBucket]

Honda mowers are very highly rated. I'd go with that. Plus, the deck will never rust

 

[Gagabiji]

Honda.

 

[StageLeft]

No brainer. The honda. Holy crap how did u find one for so cheap (you answered in your post )? I bought a B&S last year because the hondas were at least twice as much.

 

[Vortex22]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
No brainer. The honda. Holy crap how did u find one for so cheap? I bought a B&S last year because the hondas were at least twice as much.

Yeah I know... they are like $500 for a decent one around here.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Vortex22

Originally posted by: Skoorb
No brainer. The honda. Holy crap how did u find one for so cheap? I bought a B&S last year because the hondas were at least twice as much.

Yeah I know... they are like $500 for a decent one around here.

Actually come to think of it the toros were around twice as much. The hondas were like 3 X the price.

 

[Ryan]

Honda all the way baby

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: woowoo
Hate to say it but




Honda



Never buy a Craftsman lawnmower

Actually, I own a 6.5 hp craftsman mower that does fine, however, the bag sucks because it puts cut grass at the bottom of the bag which, as you can guess, fills up quickly.

My neighbor has an old honda that shoots the grass out the side and it follows a path back behind the mower to the top of the bag. He can mow much much longer times than I can before emptying his grass catcher, plus his mower always starts on the first pull, plus its super quiet. His honda is 10x better than my 2 yr old Craftsman 6.5 hp push mower

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
No brainer. The honda. Holy crap how did u find one for so cheap (you answered in your post )? I bought a B&S last year because the hondas were at least twice as much.

AH-HA! So your true colors are beginning to shine through eh!

BTW, to the OP, you put MTD in parentheses next to the price. Is this not a Honda mower (ie gray plastic deck)? Even so, MTD makes good products. Just curious.

 

[NeoSolo]

it is MTD mower with honda engine. Sorry for the confusion..

 

[Homerboy]

LawnBoy

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
LawnBoy

Heh. At least they finally got rid of the 2 cycle engines

 

[Homerboy]

OMG that is WHY I bought a LawnBoy... NOTHING says old-school Miller time like mixing up some 2-cycle and gas on a Saturday morning (and maybe just slipping in a bit more oil to give a nice smoke cloud....) MMMMMmmmm love the smell.

2-cycle for life

 

[Vortex22]

HAHA! My neighbor just came over a minute ago and asked to borrow my lawnmower because his Snapper with a B&S engine crapped out. What perfect timing for this thread.

 

[NutBucket]

Yeesh. Have fun with that. The only 2-cycle I like is the one on my RC car

 

[NL5]

HONDA!

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: NutBucket
Yeesh. Have fun with that. The only 2-cycle I like is the one on my RC car

Every Saturday morning at 9am I sure as hell do.
Just the way Grandpa and Dad did it.

 

[Linux23]

none. electric all the way baby.

 

[flot]

Well, the honda certainly seems to have the edge in popularity.. but I bought a craftsman (with a 6.5 hp B&S motor) about 9 months ago and I've had no complaints or issues with it. I figured the craftsman would have the advantage in that if I needed a part etc for it I could always find a sears nearby.

Edit: Here's the one I bought

Edit 2: The ONLY thing I don't like about it is the fact that the mechanism for folding up the handle is a pain in the neck. You basically unscrew two big thumbscrews on either side of the handle, and then half of it collapses, and then you have to sort of bend the side arms inward to fully collapse it.. it's just annoying because after you've spent an hour out in the sun mowing your lawn you don't feel like screwing with something to put it away. But it DOES fold up pretty nicely.