Honda Lawn Mower

I have owned a Honda lawn mower for about 10 years and I've had really good service from it. It is a self-propelled 'Hydrostatic' mower.

I am considering replacing the mower and may get another Honda mower.

I have seen Honda mowers in the big box stores (Home Depot I think). Of course, Honda dealers will tell you that the Honda mowers that they sell are better than the ones at the big box stores. The Honda dealers will also charge more for their mowers, sometimes a great deal more.

Are the Honda mowers at Home Depot the same quality as the ones at the Honda dealer, realizing that there may be differences in the various models?

Thanks

Reply to
trailer
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Yes.

The model I purchased from Home Depot is the EXACT same model that is available anywhere else, including my local (small) mower dealer.

I would have purchased from the local guy as his price was virtually the SAME as HD - but I bought on a Sunday when the little guy was closed.

Reply to
Jim Redelfs

You might want to at least look at some other alternatives. I had a Honda for years, and it was bullet proof and a great little lawn mower, just to small for my new yard, so I bought a new one. I have not been happy with the new Honda at all. It does a terrible job cutting grass, it clogs up when the bag is less than half full and after 2 years the Carburator had to be replaced. My neighbor bought a Sears for less money at about the same time and it is superior to my Honda in how it cuts grass, he can cut far more grass before he has to empty it than I can with mine and hasn't had any problems with it.

-Tom

Reply to
TH

On my 3 year old Ariens with a Kawasaki engine... it ran/runs GREAT. But this year I couldn't get it started. No how - no way. So I brought it to the dealer who had to install a "new" carburetor to the tune of $150+ (Ouch).

What is it with these carburetors? I NEVER had to have one replaced in all the older units I've ever had. Also, do they not make rebuild kits anymore?

Thoughts?

Reply to
bobmct

Just be sure the "Honda" at the big box is really a Honda mower, not just a Honda engine on a "no name" deck.

Reply to
gfretwell

Not necessarily a bad thing, unless the no-name deck is utter crap. I bought an MTD with a Honda engine like that 3 years ago, and it still runs great after lots of abuse. Considering it was half the price of a 'real' Honda of the same size, I'm happy. As long as you stay away from self-propelled (which I never understood the appeal of), most of the failure points are in the engine anyway.

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

I have not caught grass clippings since I bought my mulching mower.

I bought a personal pace, mulching Honda about six years ago and it does a terrific job. The only time I use the catcher is in the fall when I am preparing my lawn for overseeding.

I bought it from a mower shop, but I checked the price from a number of stores on line and the price was about the same everywhere I checked.

Don

Reply to
freckles

I had a Home Depot-bought Honda 214 self-propelled with an aluminum deck that I kept for 16 years of heavy use (big lawn, southern state, mow from March to early December). It needed nothing but routine maintenance-- which I did myself so I know it was done right. It just ran and ran and ran-- always with a one gentle pull start (remember the Clara Johnson test?).

Eventually it got tired/loose/worn. I suppose I could have fixed it up--but I sold it on craigslist for $175, replacing it with a Sam's Club SS deck mower-- Honda engine on an MTD deck. Been using it hard three years now-- so far so good.

Only thing I don't like is the government mandating the engine to quit when I release the deadman lever on the handle....a real PIA to restart all the time.

Eventually it

Reply to
command.com

I have a MTD/Honda from Sams and the weak spot is the self propel transmission. They replaced one under warranty and I think it is fix'n to go bad again.

When I fix it this time I am going to disconnect the deadman and connect the SP cable to the handle grip instead of that little trigger. I have had a velcro strap around the handle since I bought it, sliding it down when I want the mower to stop. I also made the choke a manual deal. That "open the throttle all the way" thing never worked. I am in Florida and mowing is a once a week thing, pretty much all year. I can get away with every 2 weeks in the winter. It is a "one pull" mower tho. The Honda engine is great.

Reply to
gfretwell

Mulching is definitely the way to go. The only problem is that you have to do it when the grass isn't very high and relatively dry, and I seem to always wait too long. If I try to mulch with this Honda lawn mower when the grass is over an inch high it just leaves clumps of grass all over and the grass is cut unevenly.

Reply to
TH

I think its just easier for the repair shop to just bolt on another carburetor. I was away and my wife took it in. If I was home, I would have at least tried to pull the thing apart and clean it, which I suspect is all that it really needed. I can't imagine what else could have been wrong with a carburetor that new, but who knows.

Reply to
TH

I bought a 30 year old Case Ingersoll hydraulic drive with 44 inch mower deck and snowblower for $300. Put a new engine in it and been happy ever since. And I don't have that bull crap deck shutting down when I back up or the engine dying when I get of the seat. I did put new bearings in the mower deck, now it's the quietest machine on the block. ( doesn't sound like a flock of angry bees when it's mowing)

Reply to
Blattus Slafaly

Real easy cure for that one- 4 'super' magnets stuck to the handle, that hold the deadman lever down, but still let you flip it up easily to use as a kill switch when you want to. First thing I did when I brought mine home. 2nd thing was to add padding to the handle, and 3rd was to use a king-size zip tie to fasten that silly hanging rear skirt in the up position, so I could pull the thing backwards. Sorry, OSHA, but in the real world, mowers do need to back up. (Yes, I wear real shoes and long pants when I mow.)

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

I was experiencing similar, less-than-satisfactory bagging with my Honda.

I replaced the bag and the improvement was amazing. The fabric on the old bag was apparently clogged. The new fabric allowed significantly greater air flow thereby improving bagging performance.

Reply to
Jim Redelfs

Try it sometime, Jack Benny.

The self-propelled feature, particularly rear-wheel drive, is easily worth the added cost, particularly if mowing uneven or sloped terrain.

Reliability? GREAT!

I have owned two self-propelled Toro mowers and one self-propelled Honda over the past forty years and NEVER (read: not once) had a drive failure. This included a LOT of "commercial" use when I was a kid using my first Toro to earn money.

Reply to
Jim Redelfs

Uh, for the record, Personal Pace is a registered trademark of Toro.

That aside, I agree that mulching mowing is the "only" way to go.

Reply to
Jim Redelfs

Oops! I meant Toro.

Don

Reply to
freckles

The Honda dealer stocks the commercial versions. Probably the engine is the same, but the rest of the mower may be different.

I bought a mower with a Honda engine at Costco, but it's not a Honda mower. I think it was around $180. So far so good (about three years). My pressure washer also has a Honda engine (five years so far).

Reply to
SMS

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