# Honda lawnmower



## SLaw (Jun 5, 2004)

Need a new lawnmower. Honda's about $500 compared to some other brands of $300. Is it worth it?


----------



## macintosh doctor (Mar 23, 2009)

SLaw said:


> Need a new lawnmower. Honda's about $500 compared to some other brands of $300. Is it worth it?


what is wrong with a black and decker plug in.? that is what i use..

long time ago i had a Lawn Boy - got sick of mixing gas and storing it.
then i went electric. 

just have to watch the cord...

I figured unless you purchasing a ride on.. it does not matter.. this black and decker is now 5 years and still going.. got it with my airmiles LOL


----------



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Depends on the lawn size but the Gardenia cordless steerable is terrific - but not for acreage.



> GARDENA Electric Lawnmower 34 E basicMove (04032-20)
> Motor: 1,000 watts.
> Cutting width: 34 cm.
> Recommended for lawn areas up to approx. 500 m².
> ...












Home Depot Gardena 24V Accu Steerable Lawn Mower Customer Ratings & Reviews - Top & Best Rated Products

Very quiet, no fossil fuel, steerable makes it easy around trees and other obstacles. Packs down to a very small space - just make sure you bring it out of the freezing for winter ( something I almost forgot )

For typical suburb lawn one charge is more than enough.


----------



## Niteshooter (Aug 8, 2008)

Probably the name.....

I have a Lawn Boy 4 stroke, no gas oil mix but you still have to use fuel conditioner or it will be DOA the following year.

We stopped using it in favor of an old fashioned push mower, cuts better, is quiet and doesn't smell. Plus the wife likes pushing it!


----------



## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

Either get a Honda or a Lawn Boy in terms of gasoline. 

Lawn Boys are really reliable and last till your grave.


----------



## macintosh doctor (Mar 23, 2009)

MacDoc said:


> Very quiet, no fossil fuel, steerable makes it easy around trees and other obstacles. Packs down to a very small space - just make sure you bring it out of the freezing for winter ( something I almost forgot )
> 
> For typical suburb lawn one charge is more than enough.


Doesn't say how much it is?
but not to play devil's advocate - but you are still using fossil fuels - you got to plug it to charge don't ya ? 

my only concern is the bringing it out of the freezing for winter... - why? because of the batteries? is my garage not good enough... it is about 1 to 2 C pretty much all the time. ( not to mention batteries loose their charge over time and then you have buy new batteries and dispose of the old ones, not very environmental after all.

if so then i will stick with my 50' electric extension cord and my electric mower. 
People make fun of me - when i mow - but at least i am environmentally friendly and do not have to stop to refuel, i also have an electric weed whacker. Both are quiet and do not smell.


----------



## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Adrian. said:


> Either get a Honda or a Lawn Boy in terms of gasoline.
> 
> Lawn Boys are really reliable and last till your grave.


Had one Lawn Boy. Was a POS. Never again. Guess I got the one bad one, 'cause I ain't dead yet.


----------



## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

SINC said:


> Had one Lawn Boy. Was a POS. Never again. Guess I got the one bad one, 'cause I ain't dead yet.


We still have ours up at the cottage, had it since 1984 and she still runs first pull! 

Had the blade sharpened, filters changed and a new prime pump put in three years ago.

That's all.


----------



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

> Doesn't say how much it is?
> but not to play devil's advocate - but you are still using fossil fuels


that would be no - see my signature.
They are about $450-500 and pack down to a tiny footprint for storage.

Gas mowers are horrors for emissions as well as noisy.

This takes a bit longer but is quiet and steers. This is very well made and the features thought out. Has lots of safety features.


----------



## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

I still like my hand-pushed lawn mower. I was just outside with it about an hour ago, and no one complained to stop mowing my lawn at 8AM on a Sunday morning.


----------



## ChilBear (Mar 20, 2005)

Our last was a Lawn Boy and the electronic module quit. Repair the $100+ part or the Honda was my question and we bought the Honda. REALLY easy to pull start and quiet compared to the 2 stroke LB. Our cottage LB is an 80's vintage - no electronics and it still runs also.

I seems to remember we bought sub $400 base model and find it is lighter to push. We lucked out as Honda was having a sale at the time hence the saving.


----------



## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

SLaw said:


> Need a new lawnmower. Honda's about $500 compared to some other brands of $300. Is it worth it?


Honda makes an excellent lawn mower - easy to start, reliable, and easy to maintain. You will get years of life out of one. I'd say the only machine in the same class these days is a Toro, which for an equivalent model will be an equivalent price.

Lawn Boys are fine machines, but they are not as good or as powerful as they were when they were 2-cycle. The 2-cycle were very sturdy, would chew through everything, but smoked because of the oil mix. You do not need gas stabilizer on a Honda, so long as you are not storing the gas for more than say, two or three months. On my Toro, I'll tank up, and since it is stingy on gas, I'll pour the remant of the gas into the car if it has been sitting for a while.

Cordless lawnmowers are not very power efficient, and tend to be either heavy, or have fairly short life between charges. They are fine on a small lawn, and are easier to store than a gas mower - but if you have a big lawn, then gas is the way to go. Cordless mowers also have a number of service issues that creep up, especially if the batteries go. It ends up being almost as expensive to replace batteries than it is to replace the whole mower. Overall, an corded Electric mower will give better service life on a small lawn. Having services such machines for six years, the cordless machines come in far more often with blown motors, blown batteries, or dead chargers; while the electric machines eventually burn out the brushes after ten or twenty years of service.

On a small lawn, a push mower is another option, but it is important to keep a push mower sharp, free of corrosion, and well adjusted so that it doesn't kill you to mow with it.

If I was in the market right now - I'd go Honda since I have a rather long back forty to mow down, though the Toro had provided six years of trouble free use so far. (And stil lstarts on the second pull)...


----------



## Sitting Bull (Feb 4, 2008)

I would spend the extra money and go with the Honda.
I have a commercial lawn maintenance business and have used many different brands along the way. I currently have 3 Honda's, Ariens and John Deere with a Kawasaki engine. The honda's have outlasted all of them, and I put a lot of hours a year on them. In one year I will put as many as 10+ yrs of hours on one machine of equivalent residential use. My Honda's are 3-4 yrs old.


----------



## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

Sitting Bull said:


> I would spend the extra money and go with the Honda.
> I have a commercial lawn maintenance business and have used many different brands along the way. I currently have 3 Honda's, Ariens and John Deere with a Kawasaki engine. The honda's have outlasted all of them, and I put a lot of hours a year on them. In one year I will put as many as 10+ yrs of hours on one machine of equivalent residential use. My Honda's are 3-4 yrs old.


My Honda mower was purchased in England 20 years ago. It still starts on first pull every time during the season. It is on its second spark plug. It sits in a snowbank all winter and starts after a few yanks in the spring. I've never used 'fuel stabiliser'. There is a tap in the gas line - I just close that and run the carb dry. The longest any other mower lasted on my 2 acres was a couple of seasons. Buy the Honda.


----------



## SLaw (Jun 5, 2004)

Thanks guys for the input, that's why ehmac community is so great. I also noticed some brands advistised "power by Honda". Does it mean the engine is a Honda engine and how's this compare to the "100% Honda". I assume the "100% Honda is better but is it worth the $ to choose it instead ofbthe brand that is "power by Honda"?
Thanks again


----------



## lyonsnet (Feb 19, 2008)

My Dad still uses his Honda, purchased new almost 23 years ago. Infact, he boasts the fact it started on the first pull this spring... an amazing, reliable machine, worth the extra money if you plan to keep it a really long time.


----------



## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

2-stroke mowers emit a fair amount of pollutants, but 4-stroke mowers are clean and running them for the fractions of an hour a week most people will, in comparison to your car, is not a serious emissions issue.

You can get battery powered mowers, which recharge with household current. Wall-Mart even sells them. I have no experience as to how they deal with tough grass, but they may be fine with regular groom mowing. You can always hire someone to do a one-time cut if necessary, and then maintain with yours. Still, I would like to hear more feedback on them.

They are cheap though; I've seen then under $200. Might be worth a little digging to check them out more thoroughly.

As for Honda, they make good engines. The distribution is limited, so prices are high. The rest of the mower is no better than anyone else's well-built example.

If you are considering $500 then you should not be looking at a 2-stroke engine. You are paying enough for 4-stroke.

Lawn-Boy is an excellent mower, partly built on the reputation of it's OMC engines, like Honda, but there have been issues since being bought out by Toro in 1989 following the Outboard Marine bankruptcy (the boat motor division was sold to Bombardier).

The modern Lawn-Boy is a somewhat premium mower with a premium brand but it's not the bulletproof workhorse of commercial groundskeepers of the past. Compare it to others in it's price range.

Briggs & Stratton and Tecumseh are perfectly acceptable North-American made engines and are plenty reliable, but don't pay a premium price for them.

I am wary of Chinese small engines from what I've seen ... the manufacturing is still in it's infancy and parts quality is extremely variable; there are a bewildering number of obscure factories, making any solid assessments difficult.

They are still in the "tear down and copy" stage and are not really actually designing engines at this point, which usually means tolerances are not well understood.

The thing you didn't mention is how much lawn how often. It's a critical question that has to be answered before you can really begin shopping, or even probably asking for advice ;-)

You don't need a commercial-quality mower if you live in a city lot, probably, but you might want to spend more for the 4-stroke engine (expect it to add about $100~150 over a similar 2-stroke model).

When you buy the gas mower (if that's what you choose) get two containers of a fuel stabilizer made for storage of gas engines. Ask the guy who sells you the mower (and note if he knows what you are talking about or can find out at that location from others ... big clue as to what to expect if something breaks with that particular retailer).

Ideally you should drain the gas at the end of the season because bacteria (yes, bacteria) eat gasoline and clog the works up over a period as short as one winter. I say two cans because you need to remember what it is you will need to buy when you run out, in the fall two years from now.

If you've ever noticed the characteristic odour of "old" gas, you are smelling the bacteria (or the bacteria's "gas", not the gasoline).

Ideally you would drain the tank, and add stabilizer to the remnants. But, you could also just be careful near the end of the season, and don't put much more than you need in the tank before you mow. Treat the remaining fuel after the season is over, run the mower until it stalls (insuring the stabilizer-treated fuel is in all parts of the fuel system) and put it away. You have now solved 90% of all problems owners will have with gas mowers, and it should last nearly forever.


----------



## Snowy (Dec 13, 2008)

We also have a Honda.
It's a self propelled and it's about 20 years old.
Not a hiccup in all those years.
The initial outlay was pricey, but well worth it.

We have Honda everything, power washer, quads, autos, bikes.
You can beat them...IMO.


----------



## sharkman (Nov 26, 2002)

My three-year old Lawn Boy is powered by a Honda engine.


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

Well I have a 1/4 acre property which is mostly lawn so there is no way I am going electric, the cord is a HUGE pain on a big property and rechargeables are out of the question (not enough running time).

About 6 years ago I bought a 6.25 HP Yardworks mower from Canadian Tire when it was on sale for about $250. It is a 3 in one, but not self propelled. I perform proper maintenance on it changing the oil every year. But I never empty it for winter storage, and in the spring after four good pushes on the priming bulb it almost always starts on the first pull.

I have never had any issues with it, it is a great work horse. So while I'm sure Honda makes good mowers, you don't always have to pay a premium to get a really good quality mower.


----------



## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

SLaw said:


> Thanks guys for the input, that's why ehmac community is so great. I also noticed some brands advistised "power by Honda". Does it mean the engine is a Honda engine and how's this compare to the "100% Honda". I assume the "100% Honda is better but is it worth the $ to choose it instead ofbthe brand that is "power by Honda"?
> Thanks again


It depends on the cheeziness of the deck. Honda sells all kinds of engines to other manufacturers for various applications. A cheap mower will have a cheap, light gauge stamped out deck that will end up rusting out; better decks will have heavier stampings; while the best will have an aluminum casting for longest life.

Other details will also affect life, like a cheap mower will have the wheels riding directly on the raised part of the shaft; while better mowers will have sleeve bearings in the wheels; and the best will have ball bearings for longest life. Cheap mowers will probably have cheap controls that will easily break, or inferior materials in the blade clutch which will wear out prematurely, etc.

The Honda OHV small engine is probably one of the most advanced engines on the market in this day and age, and is tolerance of a fair heap of abuse - and their mowers are among the best for the money, especially in the long run. Honda is also pretty good when it comes to warranty issues - though the same can be said for Toro as well, for the most part.


----------



## MACenstein'sMonster (Aug 21, 2008)

SLaw said:


> Need a new lawnmower. Honda's about $500 compared to some other brands of $300. Is it worth it?


I bought a basic *Murray* brand mower from Home Depot about 6 years ago. I was getting tired of busting a gut pulling the cord on the used mower I had previously. The Murray has a 4.5 HP engine and does the basic job of cutting grass very well. I follow the maintenance instructions and store it properly for the winter. *Under normal conditions IT HAS STARTED IN ONE PULL, WITHOUT FAIL, FOR 6 YEARS.* The exceptions are few and far between and usually have something to do with excessive grass residue build-up around the blade shroud or something out-of-the-ordinary.

In other words, Hondas are awesome mowers by reputation, especially if you don't take the time to properly maintain your mower or have to use it under conditions above and beyond the average user (it'll possibly take more abuse due to it's better build). A little effort with maintenance every year and almost any decent made mower will do the average user just fine.


----------



## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

screature said:


> Well I have a 1/4 acre property which is mostly lawn so there is no way I am going electric, the cord is a HUGE pain on a big property and rechargeables are out of the question (not enough running time).
> 
> About 6 years ago I bought a 6.25 HP Yardworks mower from Canadian Tire when it was on sale for about $250. It is a 3 in one, but not self propelled. I perform proper maintenance on it changing the oil every year. But I never empty it for winter storage, and in the spring after four good pushes on the priming bulb it almost always starts on the first pull.
> 
> I have never had any issues with it, it is a great work horse. So while I'm sure Honda makes good mowers, you don't always have to pay a premium to get a really good quality mower.


Yardworks stuff used to be pretty decent - but their recent vintage is so bad that they stopped any notion of warranty repairs. It's all about replacing the whole unit, as they no longer have any parts or service depots for most of the equipment. Their cordless stuff is fodder for the landfill, with melted or leaky batteries, wiring that is fried, motors that chew up brushes or dispense commutator segments around. We had piles of this junk in the shop, and I mean piles, beside the piles of junk made in China pressure washers that are too expensive to repair...

A 6 or 7 year old Yardworks was a deal and were pretty good units - but the new stuff is rubbish, especially when one can't get any parts for it. Lawn Boy hasn't been the same since they pretty much abandoned their 2-cycle engines.

I have seen a lot of Honda engines troop through, and really, most of the units that become hard to start or fail to run is caused by varnish stuck in the carburetter, mostly when people leave the tank of gas in it for the winter. But then, in my experience, most of those units were coupled to a pressure washer pump that someone left out for the winter, thus blowing the pump to pieces in the frozen hell of Canada...


----------



## ScanMan (Sep 11, 2007)

Not for use at 8 am Sunday morning.


----------



## Darien Red Sox (Oct 24, 2006)

MacDoc said:


> Depends on the lawn size but the Gardenia cordless steerable is terrific - but not for acreage.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looks cool although how often do you need to charge it? How long dose the battery last. My yard it a bit too big and my ad assigns me the task of mowing it


----------



## macintosh doctor (Mar 23, 2009)

The politician's are out of control... today on 680 I heard they want to ban gas powered mowers!
so people wait till your purchase... just to make sure - they can not come to your place and seize it.


----------



## ChilBear (Mar 20, 2005)

Politicians - fine bunch. Better solution is maybe to provide a government owned electric mower to each unemployed to push and have the unemployed cut our grass. We the working are paying to keep this silly game moving. Bring on an election.


----------



## macintosh doctor (Mar 23, 2009)

ChilBear said:


> Politicians - fine bunch. Better solution is maybe to provide a government owned electric mower to each unemployed to push and have the unemployed cut our grass. We the working are paying to keep this silly game moving. Bring on an election.


no kidding we should have better time served with - federal and provincal and municipal
elections happen all at the same time!

now the idiots at city hall want to turn Jarvis in to a bike lane.. 
so 10 cyclist can ride bikes freely - while 200 cars can be in a stand still of traffic cause carbon build up. - idiots.


----------



## TheBat (Feb 11, 2005)

macintosh doctor said:


> ...turn Jarvis in to a bike lane..


The topic has shifted from lawnmowers to bike lanes!!

Lawn is, environmentally speaking, the worst possible coverage of your yard. It also requires the most time and effort to maintain. We should strive to have as little lawn as we can possibly live with.

A small lawn can be mowed with a push mower, which is environmentally friendlier, is very quiet, and has beneficial health effects.

I have come across a solar powered lawnmower, that requires minimal input from the owner.

On the topic of cars vs bikes, I was stuck in Toronto traffic (that some of endure daily), and realized that if could wave a wand and convert every vehicle to electric / hybrid / solar power / whatever, I'd still be stuck in traffic. 

So, while I am an avid cyclist, changing car lanes to bike lanes is not something I support. Sure, bike lanes, or bike paths, are needed, but public transport transport has to improve dramatically, in tandem with making it expensive to drive and park. Think London, UK, as a starting point.


----------



## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

macintosh doctor said:


> The politician's are out of control... today on 680 I heard they want to ban gas powered mowers!
> so people wait till your purchase... just to make sure - they can not come to your place and seize it.


They had better repeal laws that keep people from owning livestock in the city, because if they "ban" lawn mowers, they had better allow me to keep a few goats or sheep...


----------



## screature (May 14, 2007)

TheBat said:


> The topic has shifted from lawnmowers to bike lanes!!
> 
> Lawn is, environmentally speaking, the worst possible coverage of your yard. It also requires the most time and effort to maintain.


Maybe if you are in Arizona, not quite so true if you live in Ireland. It is all relative.

Most people appreciate at least a little lawn because of the versatility of use that it offers.


----------



## Sonal (Oct 2, 2003)

TheBat said:


> Lawn is, environmentally speaking, the worst possible coverage of your yard. It also requires the most time and effort to maintain. We should strive to have as little lawn as we can possibly live with.


In San Francisco, they are actually encouraging people to grow as much lawn as possible, since it provides natural drainage during the rain... otherwise, the city storm drains can overflow. 

As I understand it, that is among the reasons why the City of Toronto no longer allows new front-pad parking (existing is grandfathered in) though this does not prevent people from paving things over just for aesthetic reasons. Plus, and I can't recall where I read this, the average lawn creates enough oxygen for one average household.

Environmentally speaking, the problem is not so much having a lawn as it is trying to have a _perfect_ expanse of green velvety lawn short enough to play tennis on....


----------



## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Honda lawnmowers got a great review on the latest Chevy ads...

"Honda does make something we can't compete with... *shows a Honda lawnmower* It self propels."





+
YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.


----------



## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Honda also makes the best snowblowers for St.John's winters. My neighbor has one, which cost twice as much as my Toro. Still, it takes me longer to do my driveway for half the cost, which is fine with me.


----------



## TheBat (Feb 11, 2005)

screature said:


> Maybe is you are in Arizona, not quite so true if you live in Ireland. It is all relative.


True to a (small) extent. If grass is indigenous to your area, then it would be the plant to grow. But you still have to mow it, so that you have a surface to play on, or lie on.

I never meant to suggest that we just pave our entire yards. We should all be using more indigenous plants, ones that can live in our climate and soil conditions, without needing much watering or fertilizing.

i agree that a patch of lawn is useful, and enjoyable, but do we really need to plant lawn on the entire property?


----------



## ChilBear (Mar 20, 2005)

If you are still looking and live in the Toronto area, there is a Honda sale at Ready Honda and there is a mower for $369. Ad is in the Toronto Star Wednesday first section.


----------



## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

dona83 said:


> Honda lawnmowers got a great review on the latest Chevy ads...
> 
> "Honda does make something we can't compete with... *shows a Honda lawnmower* It self propels."


The same commercial states that the Malibu "gets better mileage than a Cord" - though I think a Cord would be cool to own, even if it gets poor mileage...

File:Cord-2.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------

