My new Honda mower vs. my old Toro

[dasherHampton]

I didn't buy a robot mower (obviously) but my trusty old Toro finally kicked the bucket so I went to Home Depot and picked up a new Honda. I got the one that's like $500. When I first looked at lawn mowers many years ago the cheapest Hondas were like $800+. They've come down quite a bit.

For pure cutting it really puts the old Toro to shame. That one was about $399 new so I assume it's a step down in level from the Honda. The Honda slices through everything, no matter how tall or thick. Even when new the Toro would chug with the same grass density. I would often have to go with half swaths to make it to through.

The Honda also mulches WAY better than the Toro did. If I let the grass get a little too tall the Toro would leave big piles of grass clippings all over the lawn. The Honda doesn't seem to leave any piles; It's pretty impressive.

What was better about the Toro? It was quite a bit easier to handle. There are some places in my lawn where I have to go underneath branches and navigate thick bushes, and with the Toro it was quite easy to reach wherever I needed to while keeping the throttle bar down. The new Honda has an annoying "throttle paddle" that's located in the center of the bar. Its very hard to keep pressed down in certain situations. The Honda is also appreciably heavier and harder to maneuver when things get tight.

All in all though I'm sure I'll figure it out. I would even give the Honda a 5/5 rating.

Little fun fact - when I first got it started it was extremely difficult to move. I thought something was wrong.

Then I looked down and realized I had forgot to set the deck height. It was on the lowest setting. Once I raised it to 4 it was fine. I now have a small stretch in the middle of my lawn that looks like a golfing green. I wonder how long it'll take for that too grow back.

 

[bfun_x1]

My last Toro from Home Depot was awful. It had no power and couldn't handle my small back yard. It seems EGO or Honda are the only mowers worth buying.

 

[pauldun170]

How often did you sharpen the blade on the Toro?
What was the size and HP of the old Toro vs the new Honda?
What was the official cause of death of the Toro?

 

[dasherHampton]

I don't know the exact specs of the Toro. I know it's a bit smaller and lighter the the Honda.

I had it serviced every two years and had new blades put on each time.

In my extremely expert opinion - it just died. The last couple of times I used it it was chugging pretty badly at times. It was dying every time I hit even somewhat heavy grass. Then it finally seized in the middle of a mow. The pull start felt very awkward and heavy after that, and the motor never turned over again, no matter how many pulls. Something broke.

 

[mindless1]

Meh, just about any mower does fine with a sharp blade, good gas, and a clean carb, though I've no doubts that a commercial grade Honda motor will last longer and often start with fewer pulls, but it always made me chuckle when someone is going out to MOW and they think whether it starts on one pull or two or three, matters. The horror of pulling a string twice lol.

 

[dasherHampton]

Ironically the Toro never failed to start on the first pull.

It was a good little mower, but even brand new it couldn't hold a candle to the cutting power of the Honda.

But that's no shame - I'm sure it was just a level down in power, probably meant for people with smaller yards than me. I leaned my lesson: if you have a big, thick yard go for a more powerful mower.

I remember about 5-6 years ago it rained for almost a month straight where I live. By the time I could mow the grass was out of control. I had to take quarter swaths with the Toro to get through it. Took me many hours.

 

[colonel]

a lot of times is a Ethanol issue, I prefer to buy gas without Ethanol in all my machines. Free Ethanol gas is a little more money but in the long run I save a lot money and headaches with malfunction machines. I got 2 lawnmowers one of them the motors went south and I replaced with a Predator from Harbor Freight, the machine is a beast, this motor is a clone of the Honda engine, I save a lot of money. The other lawnmower is a Toro Timesaver with 33' deck, I use it because i like to make compost back in the yard.