Mower Engines And Brands ?

[Robert11]

Hi,

Will probably go for a new Mower.

21' or 22". and self propelled.

Questions, please:

a. Any consensus re Briggs & Stratton vs. Tecumseh in the size ranges for the mowers I'd be interested in ?

Or, both pretty much the same in quality ?

b. I see Honda Motors on Hsquva brand mowers. Quite pricey.

Any thoughts on these, motor and/or Mower by Hsquva ? Worth the premium ?

c. Our Ace Hardware has Craftsman with the B&S engine. Can't imagine who makes Craftsman anymore. Do they still exist as a real company, or just someone using their name ?

Any thoughts on their mowers ?

Thanks, Bob

[dpb]

On 5/25/2018 5:01 PM, Robert11 wrote: ...

Same as always; Craftsman has never been anything but a brand; all products were, are and have always been made by contract supply; who makes what is embedded in the product number.

[hubops]

Why not go electric ?

John T.

[Frank]

I've been happy with my Honda. Going strong after 10 years and just talked to a guy this am and he has the same Honda and is happy with it.

I think it was Murray that made Craftsman.

If I had a small lawn, say less than 1/4 acre, I would consider a battery operated electric. The one suggested has 2 batteries which is good but I see nothing up front about run time and have seen an ad for one that runs up to an hour. I'd also want self propelled.

[Clare Snyder]

Cannot buy Tecumseh any more - period.

Now yopu have choice of Briggs, PowerMor, Honda, or unknown clone.

Husky will be expensinve nomatter what motor they put on.

Honda is generally speaking a better engine so worth a bit more.

Briggs isn't bad either.

I have a "bolton" Chonda clone on my old Yazoo.

Works fine, twice the horsepower of the 50+ year old Briggs that came off of it, on about the same fuel burn

They've pretty much always been made by someone else. The craftsman snow blowers a few years ago were made by Husky

Buy a TORO - either Briggs or Honda powered

Not cheap but generally worth the price premium

[Clare Snyder]

Murray made SOME craftsman mowers - but certainly not all. MTD made MANY, along with Husky (Husquvarna?) AYP has als omade Craftsman equipment. Stanley now owns the craftsman name. Stanley is part of the "Blackened Decker" group of companies so you can expect quality to go down like on everything else they have touched.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Yes, about the same, both good for a few years.

Yes, but having gone through a bunch of the others, Honda is the way to go. Cost per years will be the lowest starting about year 5, the time the others are going to crap.

Get the Honda and be done for years to come.

[rbowman]

None of the above. It's not self-propelled but I have a TroyBilt with a Honda engine that works for me.

[Vic Smith]

Unless you have to mow uphill, think hard before buying self-propelled. I have 2 Honda powered mowers, the new one being self-propelled. The non-self-propelled one is much easier to handle in tight spots, and easy to push on long passes. If I had to do it over again, I would not have bought the self-propelled.

[Terry Coombs]

  Have you considered re-powering the mower you have ? I purchased a "used" Honda OHC engine for my tiller , right at a hundred bucks . It looked brand new - these motors come off equipment with other problems , in my case a power washer with a bad pump . The paint on the muffler wasn't even discolored ... but it darn sure is now , and I'm very happy with my decision . Another thing , this is a 6 hp motor , the original Briggs was only 3.5 .

[rbowman]

I've never used a variable speed self-propelled mower but a non-self-propelled moves exactly as fast as I want to on any given day without messing with a complex drive train.

[Tekkie®]

Clare Snyder posted for all of us...

You have that right.