It’s between 2 lawnmowers now, both sold at Home Depot because I have a gift card for there. My old 4HP push mower is giving up the ghost, and I have decided to upgrade a bit and get a self-propelled mower with better mulching capabilities than my el-cheapo model.
Pros: Uses an OHC engine, so it’s cleaner, quieter, and more reliable than a side valve engine.
Has single-lever height adjustment
Inexpensive, at only 259
3 year warranty
Cons: it’s only 19 inches wide, compared to 22" for the Toro, which means that I lose about a foot’s worth of cutting with every 4 passes. And I have a decent size yard for the city (1/3 acre).
Also, I don’t recall ever seeing cub cadet pushmowers before, so I am unsure of their quality and reliability.
Next up, the Toro (note this is the Recycler model sold by HD, and not the Super Recycler model sold by most independent shops…the super recycler is rated higher) Toro
Pros: 22 inches wide, so a better cutting path.
Toros are well known for their mulching ability, which is what I do.
Personal Pace variable speed supposedly makes using it easier.
Cons:
GTS engine is a side-valve engine, noisier, dirtier, not as reliable
2 year warranty
More expensive (the model I ave linked to is listed at 399, but a local HD has them marked down to 329)
So, anyone with knowledge either way, chime on in, wouldja? Thanks!
Of course, this is not empirical or anysuch, and I have little knowledge about them, but I remember when I was younger, and my father still kept his farm as a farm and not a retirement home, we had a Cub Cadet - but it was a riding mower. We never had any problems with it, the only reason we got rid of it was mowing more than an acre with it seemed ridiculous after dad bought a zero-turn mower.
Again, I have little knowledge of them, but from memory, Cub Cadet’s aren’t bad. I would go with the cheaper just because I am a cheapskate…heh…
I looked at those on Wednesday. We ended up with a Toro electric start, from the local dealer instead of from Home Depot, which is the store we looked at mowers in. We had a Toro of the model you looked at or an older equivalant. We had to have an electric start though. The death of the previous one is because a certain person is super hard on them. The old blade is one inch shorter, due to somebody that thinks its a rock mover and stump remover. The Toros looked better than the Cub Cadet. The Honda were very expensive, but they looked like they had some better design features. I would have liked to try one. The Toro we got and the one that was abused work well and Toro does have a two pull start garantee on the mower for 2 years. I’d get the Toro. By the way the links open to the start page, and whatever mowers you originaly had have to be navigated to. You might want to post the model numbers for people. Like I said I know what you looked at, because we were shopping the same mowers.
The new Toro mulched up the fallen 6 inch blue spruce cones into little flakes with no effort. You’ld have problems finding where I did it.
I wasn’t hugely impressed by the personal pace system. I would prefer to choose a gear and go with it. Might just be a matter of getting use to it but my impression is that it would feel funny if you have to go back and forth up a hill. I’ve got a tight area that requires this and I want the mower to respond immediatel to my input.
Last time I checked, most good mowers had a primer for cold starting so that should eliminate any starting issues. You just have to learn to prime it according to temperature (colder gets more fuel). If you’re mulching then I would choose the best rated deck design for mulching.
I’ve got a Poulan with a 6.5 hp Briggs. It’s more hp than I need so the choice was based on RR drive, single action height adjustment, 6 speeds and 3 way operation (side discharge, back bagging, or mulching). I picked the type of engine based on a repair shops recommendations, went with the OHV intek engine because it was supposed to handle rough work. When mulching high grass you can get into a clumping situation which is tough on mowers.
Probably the only thing I would really like to have had was caster front wheels but the next closest lawn mower was over a $100 more. If I had the money I would have gotten a Snapper with the old style rear wheel drive gearing. I like the drive mechanism in it.
Well, electrics have an even narrower cutting path, and you aren’t supposed to use an extension cord longer than (I think) 50 feet? My yard is 100 x 150, so that definitely won’t work. Also, from what I read they are not good on wet grass.
I live in Michigan, and my life is busy enough that I don’t necessarily get to choose the day I can mow the lawn so that it’s dry and short. Having a mower with the ability to mulch really well on tall grass, etc, is important.
To the poster who was marvelling at Hondas, Hondas are good if you want to bag the grass, but are inferior at mulching. But the engines are good
The best model is not self-propelled. It is a manual reel mower.
Many people think they are hard to push because old ones always are.
But if it’s news. or even and old one that’s sharpened and oiled, it is fine.
It is absolutely less work than any rotary mower, and a lot quiter.
Besides, all one-cycle engines should be outlawed for their pollution.
Well, you REALLy have to keep up with mowing the lawn if you use a reel mower, or you’re screwed. Also, you can’t chop up leaves, twigs, and pinecones with them. I have 4 mature (read 100 feet tall) trees on my lot, and they drop a lot of sticks, pinecones, and other detritus on my lawn that a reel mower won’t handle well.
I was under the impression that one-cycle engines were banned not by the government, but by the laws of physics.
Where did you hear this? I was under the impression that having the valves over the cylinder as opposed to the side resulted in less buildup over time and more reliability. Aren’t most verhicle engines OHC now, and much more reliable than the old pushrod types?
I just mulched and baged the leaves from piles 4 to 6 inches deep. The leaves and twigs were a fine mulch in the bag. It was fine enough I put some on the garden to add organics, and I don’t want large chunks in that. I don’t bag normaly, just mulch. Toro works pretty good most of the time. The rear bagger actualy works unlike most mmowers I’ve tried a bager on.
I have the Toro with the personal pace and I’ve only used it a few times now (bought it a few months ago) but I love it. So much better than the 1-speed self-propelled models.
