aroundtheyard.com Forums

Not trying to be a xenophobe here, but I am in the market for a new mower, and have a few requirements, about which I would appreciate feedback.

• *Not* made in China

• Walk-behind

• Self-propelled

• Gasoline engine. I have a thick lawn, and need as much power as possible.

• Electric start

I'm not saying money is no object, but I am willing to spend a bit more to get a quality machine with the features I need. On the other hand, I only have about 6000 square feet of lawn, so a $1200 Time Master is hard to justify. Lots of trees, raised bed gardens, etc. to maneuver around, so that is another issue. I'm an old (64) guy, so I am thinking that this will be my last mower purchase. Thanks for your help.

I added another Honda HRX 217 to the arsenal with the newer, more powerful engine late last year. I love it.

andy10917 wrote: ↑

May 6th, 2021, 6:07 pm

I added another Honda HRX 217 to the arsenal with the newer, more powerful engine late last year. I love it.

Thanks, Andy. From what I can tell, it's hit or miss as to where the engines are made. Mostly Japan, which is great. Some in China...

Built in America...

https://www.cubcadet.com/en_US/walk-beh ... led-mowers

edslawn wrote: ↑

May 6th, 2021, 8:36 pm

Built in America...

https://www.cubcadet.com/en_US/walk-beh ... led-mowers

Thanks, edslawn. I'm also looking at Cub Cadet, and I want to make sure that "built in America" doesn't mean "...from Chinese-sourced parts". I believe that is the case now with Snapper.

Here you go made in America.
https://www.scag.com/product/sfc30/

napper wrote: ↑

May 9th, 2021, 10:33 pm

Here you go made in America.
https://www.scag.com/product/sfc30/

Whoa... that is a beast! Military-grade just in case you have to take it into battle

napper wrote: ↑

May 9th, 2021, 10:33 pm

Here you go made in America.
https://www.scag.com/product/sfc30/

Wow, that's a beauty. But $2400!

The Honda HRX engines on mowers sold in America are made here.

https://engines.honda.com/oem-resources ... -locations

oze wrote: ↑

May 10th, 2021, 3:59 pm

napper wrote: ↑

May 9th, 2021, 10:33 pm

Here you go made in America.
https://www.scag.com/product/sfc30/

Wow, that's a beauty. But $2400!

I have heard it is worth the $2400.

For $2400, I want it to mow my lawn, massage my feet, and make me a sammich.

MorpheusPA wrote: ↑

May 12th, 2021, 4:35 pm

For $2400, I want it to mow my lawn, massage my feet, and make me a sammich.

A mower with a happy ending!

Buy the Honda, and spend the rest of the $2,400 on Bay State/Milo/Urea/Soybean Meal. Your lawn will look better than the $2,400 mower can make it look.

edslawn wrote: ↑

May 12th, 2021, 6:32 pm

MorpheusPA wrote: ↑

May 12th, 2021, 4:35 pm

For $2400, I want it to mow my lawn, massage my feet, and make me a sammich.

A mower with a happy ending!

At my age, a sammich IS a happy ending.

I bought the Honda HRX217VLA, with engine made in North Carolina. It was much more difficult finding *any* mower, let alone a Honda, than I thought it would be. Covid supply chain issues, I guess. Anyway, I finally found a place that had two of them in stock; a mom and pop place just out of town. I am always happy to throw my business at local, independent places, plus this one is a certified Honda repair shop. Also, they were $20 cheaper than any place that I found on line or big box. In the case of Home Depot, $60 cheaper.

Oh, and I learned my lesson about the not ready for prime time battery-powered equipment status the hard way. Anybody want to buy a 120 volt, 3 amp hour mower?

oze wrote: ↑

May 14th, 2021, 5:40 pm

Oh, and I learned my lesson about the not ready for prime time battery-powered equipment status the hard way. Anybody want to buy a 120 volt, 3 amp hour mower?

3 AH? Oh, heck no. My old one was 20 and that was barely sufficient. How did it handle wet or very thick late April grass? Mow for 10 minutes, charge for 30?

Mow for 30, charge for 45.

20 amp hour!?!?

Triple blade, robotic. 24 V, 20 Ah, twin batteries. That was enough to do the whole lawn with just the tiniest bit of power to spare.

2 month review of the Honda HRX: that machine is a beast! After a dry spring, we've more than caught up during the last few weeks. After a week in which we received 2.75" of rain, we got 3.25" last week. As the old-timers around here know, my back yard could host alligators after a couple of inches of rain, and so I wasn't able to get the back cut until just yesterday.

At the highest cutting height setting of 4", I still violated the 1/3 rule. By a lot. Feeling optimistic, I set the mulch/bag lever to 30% bag/70% mulch. There was no clumping whatsoever. The 203cc Honda engine had no problem whatsover, powering through the long, wet grass, leaving no clumps behind and filling the bag completely. I got another pleasant surprise when I flipped the mower on its side when I was done mowing. Almost no wet grass was stuck to the bottom of the deck, at least compared to the 3 previous mowers which I have owned.

Retrofitting the Big League Striping kit was quite the PITA, but with phone help from them, it is now attached to its 3rd mower. It still works well, but with the weight of the mower, the striper and a full bag of clippings, turns can become quite the workout. In the picture below, you can get an idea of how the still-wet grass doesn't quite fully stand up, even with the cutting height now set to 3.5"