Honda Lawnmower

S

Street5927

New member
I recently purchased a new Honda HRX217HMA lawnmower with electric start. Let me tell you that this thing is a bear and puts my old push mower to shame. It is nice because it offers the hydrostatic cruise control (which on highest setting, it is hard to keep up with the mower...don't even know why it goes that fast, but it does and it is awesome...for transporting anyway...would never cut that fast); it has the bag/mulch selector switch, composite deck, twin micro cut blade and alot of other neat options. I have used it twice to cut my lawn now, and absolutely love it. It was rated #1 in consumer reports, followed by the Toro SuperRecycler. On mulch, it cuts up the grass so fine, that you don't even know it was mulched. If anyone is in the market for a new mower, check it out, you won't be disappointed. The only downfall that I have seen so far is that it is a bit of a gas hog, but not a whole lot more than my previous one; but nonetheless, it does suck up a little more gas.
 
I have the same one without electric start. Mine is awesome on gas. I used to need 2.5 tanks to mow my yard. About an acre, all hills. The honda only uses a little over 1 tank to the yard. One one was only 4.5 hp and not self propelled. The honda literally pulls me up hills. Love it !!! Pricey but totally worth it. Could have bought an entry level rider for the same money, but I don't want to store it and the hills would be a little dangerous on a rider. Backyard is sort of a cliff. Bad news if you don't make the turn at the bottom of the hill.
 
I've been selling mowers for a little over 2.5 years and recently replaced my own Toro Super Recycler from '99. It'd been a good mower, but replacing a few more parts every year gets old.



Finding a suitable mower that will last another ten years was pretty easy: Honda. As much as I would like to have the hydro transmission, I had to go with the HRX217VKA because of the amount of turns in my yard. So far, it's just about perfect. The fit and finish of the mower is superb, yet functional. Many of the mowers I am forced to sell have interesting features that tend to go bad. Not so on the Honda. The mower has plenty of lift to discharge and not leave any stringers when mulching. No, the cut doesn't look as good as the Toro with an Oregon Gator blade, but I have to overlap less. The Honda is much lighter and maneuverable than any other mower I've used.



In conclusion...

Does the Honda have a perfect cut? No, but it's good at everything. Toro gets the nod if you like mulching, while Snapper makes a great bagging system.

Does it have plenty of power? It's got gobs of power and I've yet to stall it. Briggs makes a fine engine, but I prefer the Hondas for their dependability.

Does it start easy? One pull, every time. Can't get much easier.

Will it last ten years? Besides replacing the drive wheels due to wear and the occasional cable, I doubt I will really wear it out.

Is it worth the money? If you want something that will last, you'll need to pay a bit more. To me, the Honda was well worth the extra $ over another brand.
 
I agree that it is a little pricey, but so far (only had it three weeks), it is definitely worth it. I can't compare it to the "oregon" blade you refer, but it cuts very nicely in my eyes, and the clip director when on full mulch does an excellent job; and when on half mulch, half bag, it cuts down on the amount of clippings I have to haul to the community mulching/recycling center by a little more than half.
 
I bought my Honda Harmony (don't have the model # handy) which was a 21" self propelled mulching mower 17 years ago. Had to replace the throttle cable pretty often and the drive wheels a couple of times but it started on either the first or second pull every time for 17 years, was easy on gas, had a very even cut, and basically never let me down until about a month ago. The front wheel attaches to the deck in two places and broke off and cannot be repaired. The cost of a new deck and the labor involved is prohibitive so I am looking for a new mower but only anticpate needing one for 3 years at most. The weird part is I have been able to mow riding on only three wheels.....but it does create problems when I manuever around holes that my puppy digs.



I believe I am going to buy the Toro Recylcer from Home Depot for $279.
 
Quite a few years ago I posted threads on detailing my lawn mower and snow blower. Isn't it nice that we love things besides just our cars! I always appreciate and take care of good 'stuff'.
 
Wonder what you could do to detail the mower I had as a kid. It had a blade which was attached to two wheels which had a pole attached. Then ya had to go behind it with a rake to get the grass. Ah those were the days. Backbreaking labor and blisters. :lol
 
In April of 03, I purchased a husqvarna with a 5.5 hp Honda engine. Push mower, not self propelled, but mulches and has a bag. Here, we have to mow 10 months out of the year. Since day 1, it has started on the first or second pull. All I do is change the oil at the end of fall, and clean or replace the filter. Last year, we built a new house in the country, and I have a couple acres to mow, so I bought a small John Deere tractor. I do occasionally use the push mower on areas where i seed, since it isn't as hard on new grass as the tractor tires. I anticipate that husqvarna lasting me forever.
 
One thing I just found out the hard way is that these honda mowers DO NOT like stale gas. The gas I had for awhile worked fine in a motorcycle and another mower, but the honda wouldn't even pretend to try and start...lol. Just fyi, in case you ever have this happen to you. I hate the gas these days with the ethanol in it. Garbage ! I'm now on a 30 day max fuel storage plan.
 
Just a little tech advice here.

Do not use ethonal blend gas in lawn mowers, vehicle made before 92 or your motorcycle.

Use reg. unleaded only.

Use of the blended will result in higher gallons used, and carb/injector concerns, especially if you let the unit set for more than a couple of weeks to a month.

Stopped using in my lawnmower, Honda m/c and the old 75 Ranchero.

No more concerns, just use reg in them now.

Also, the milage on the Ranchero is about 15% better than with the blended.

Grumpy
 
Ron, what are folks supposed to do when all fuel is blended with ethanol across the state?



I've got a Honda HRT216 SDA :) It needs new drive wheels and doesn't get much use.
 
Spend extra money on fuel stabilizer, I guess.

Heck, I live in Iowa, corn, corn, corn, the famers are loving this scam of using a food source for fuel.

Blended is 10 cents a gallon less,due to subsidy, and provides 10 to 15% less fuel milage.

Yet we got billions of oil setting in the ground, in the US that we are not allowed to extract?

This ethonal thing is a boon doggle for politicans and someothers.

They approve them to build plants to produce it, but won't allow oil companies to build any new refineries, we haven't had a new one in 3 decades.

If we could build new ones, production cost would be less and more efficent, less pollution, etc, instead they want the oil companies to "up-date" 50 year old refineries.

Do I smell something bad?

Am I the only one that suspects some one's pocket is getting fat?

Grumpy
 
Ron Ketcham said:
Spend extra money on fuel stabilizer, I guess.

Heck, I live in Iowa, corn, corn, corn, the famers are loving this scam of using a food source for fuel.

Blended is 10 cents a gallon less,due to subsidy, and provides 10 to 15% less fuel milage.

Yet we got billions of oil setting in the ground, in the US that we are not allowed to extract?

This ethonal thing is a boon doggle for politicans and someothers.

They approve them to build plants to produce it, but won't allow oil companies to build any new refineries, we haven't had a new one in 3 decades.

If we could build new ones, production cost would be less and more efficent, less pollution, etc, instead they want the oil companies to "up-date" 50 year old refineries.

Do I smell something bad?

Am I the only one that suspects some one's pocket is getting fat?

Grumpy
Click to expand...



I do believe that we should have the technology to extend our resources and ethanol is good for that,

but yes, they way we produce, market and sell it, is nothing short of a scam. It does create jobs for

those that have to repair all the damage the fuel does. That's a bonus...ha ha.



Anyway, yes I am already using Stabil for my bulk storage gas just in case. Bulk storage is now

2.5 gallons at a time instead of keeping 5 or 6 gallons on hand. If after a month I haven't used it,

I'll put it in the car. I'm just suprised how much more sensitive some engines are to stale fuel, than

others.
 
When the cost of seed, fertilizer, fuel to plant, harvest, etc is put in the equation,corn is at best a "break even" on energy, additional emissions when producing the corn, etc. so no real gain.

If, like Brazil, we used saw grass or such, which can be grown on scrub land, not highly productive farm land, in place of a food commodity, then the ethanol would be an advantage.

Just my take on this important subject.

Grumpy
 
First -agree with Grumpy 100%



Second, I have a Kubota ZG327 that does most of my yard, my Toro recycler from HD (bought on sale 30% off!) does the trim work - great little mower and that personal pace thing really works!
 
Now just had a gas leaf blower act up on me--starts,runs for a few mins,stalls. Spark plug and filter look okay. So much for Stabil in the fuel I guess :(
 
I'll preface my comment with this statement. My father has had a small engine repair business for over 30, as an Automotive Technician I was always able to jump right in and help him when he's been busy whether I wanted to or not. I don't turn wrenches on cars anymore but still help him all too often, he's getting older and slower. I've seen virtually every type of mower on the market. It gets to the point that when you think of a specific model you mind goes to a specific problem that you see regularly.



Honda makes some very nice mowers. That said, until you step up to their commercial engine you don't get the best of what they have to offer offer and the difference is significant. I mean no offense with this but I see tons of problems with the engine on the mower in this post. It's very easy to identify as the engine case is split diagonally or has a diagonal seam. One of the most common problems I've seen is that the intake valve sticks open. Runs one minute and the next minute it has no compression. More often than not these can be freed by pulling the valve cover, rocker arm and spring and manipulating the valve, while using a cleaner on the valve stem. I can't tell you why the deposits develop on this valve the way they do. I must have repaired 5 of these this past season alone. They also have their share of carb problems that utilize a stack of gaskets, heat shields, phenolic spacers between the carb and engine. The average backyard guy may not want to mess with these simply because it's a blind install and very easy to drop one of the components out of the stack. I think most guys like to be able to work on their own equipment. These engines also have issues with their timing belts. This particular engine is the largest Honda offers and is quite powerful.



Their commercial engine drops back down to 160 cc but has none of these problems. This all said, it'll cost you approx. $1200 to step into one. I've also seen the Toro spoken about here. Toro labels several models Recyler. They too make a fine mower once you get to their commercial product. My son has ran a lawn care business the past 8 years and uses a commercial Toro and commercial Snapper with good results in hard use environments. Toro's personal pace system has it's share of problems as well.



Don't mean to be a downer on a guy that's spent a good sum on a new product but thought others might want to know this as they consider their purchase. Honda's HRC Series is a killer product.
 
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