I confirm that Honda is far ahead of its competitors in terms of quality and longevity for all gardening equipment. I use a Honda lawnmower from 2002 and guess what : 0 problem for 22 seasons of consecutive service
This would've been my 13th season with a decent craftsman with a 190 Briggs motor but the motor blew on the 3rd mowing. I always changed the oil and filter and plug. Just bought this and just got done with the break in. Hopefully it gets more than 12 seasons lol
As much as I would like to have a Honda mower, I have 6 good mowers which are old Briggs and Stratton flathead engines which run forever if taken care of, so I just can't justify buying one. If one pops up non-running for a low price though, I would gladly pick one up.
Hey, if it works for you, run it! I got a brand-new Murray 20" mower for my 11th birthday (which I asked for so I could make money mowing lawns). This was a 1995 model, super-strippy edition, side-discharge, flathead "Classic" 3.5 HP engine... I couldn't kill that thing even if I tried! (it was scrapped because my dad "inherited" it when I moved out, and he wanted a fancier mower).
I had the HRX Honda with the key start. Had this mower 16 years and still was running well. Wanted to get something newer but was afraid to chance another Honda now, even though buying at a dealer. Big Box stores did NOT sell the key start Honda. Other issue is HRX is 100 lbs or more. Too heavy for me to load in vehicle even with a plywood ramp. I bought a Stihl battery mower -- same company that makes Stihl chainsaws at a DEALER. Spring Special and I got an extra heavy duty battery. There's many changes in life. Mowing with this Stihl I feel like I'm hardly doing anything. Self-propelled, light, quiet. NOT putting Honda down. My opinion is they let a lot of people down.
My current mower is on its last leg. Decided I was going to get a new mower for 2025. Wanted a self propelled reliable mower. Looked at multiple options and did my research. I was looking pretty hard at Torro and possibly electric. But started hearing of quality and reliability issues and Torro moved its production out of the US. Then my 2 local Torro dealers were less than helpful. Seemed like they were more interested in selling the big mowers and not push mowers. Anyway I started looking back at Honda even though my local dealer closed shop. Order a HRN216 online. Hoping this was a good move.
I need to do some maintenance on my 1977 Snapper, but I think it should be good for a while longer. The recoil has recently stopped retracting, so I have to look into that. And I should probably change the oil for the third time in the year since I got it because of how bad it was when I got it. I also need to figure out what kind of oil goes in the gearbox for the self-propel; it has a drain plug and a fill plug, and it has some oil in it, but not as much as I would like to see. The belt is also quite worn for the self-propel which seems like it is going to be fun to change, and for some reason all of the paint (which was fine last year) has flaked off of the top of the blower housing. I found a blower housing with one of those crank wind-up starters on Craigslist, I think I may throw that on there.
I’ve got both a late model (200cc) hrx217hya and a 2 month old hrn216vka and I’m sitting here seriously jealous of that Toro. What an awesome machine. I seriously dreamed of having one of those when I was a kid mowing my family’s lawn and the neighbors for a few bux. We knew some folks with one and I’d volunteer to use it every chance I got. Was my first introduction to the blade clutch system and loved the whole thing. Very nice machine!
I know a guy (or used to) who buys pallets of return items from Lowes and re-sells the items (normally at a loss, so I don't know why he kept doing it.) The amount of 2 stroke weed wackers/trimmers which were locked up or scored to the point of no compression was quite amazing. It seems people mix the gas wrong and then return it when they blow it up. I don't recall any locked up or blown up mowers though.
I have a 1992 plastic deck Honda . Still going strong. No cracks. I bought 2 brand new in the boxes still HRX217HYAs .I prefer the larger engine with more torque to cut through my very thick St Augustine grass that I cut taller than most people that cut it to low .
I like how Honda mowers have the same color scheme as my Milwaukee cordless. Dark gray with a red top looks so commercial to me; probably because I've seen Hondas commercially operated for as long as I can remember. I know what it's like to go somewhat cheap on lawn mowers. I had 2 corded Black & Deckers (MM875 and MM2000) thinking a well-known name brand would be okay even in the $300 price range; I couldn't have been more wrong. Both motors failed within 3 years of ownership each. Never again will I spend less than about $700 on a new lawn mower, even if it means I have to get a commercial grade one, especially if residential ones are are as cheap as they look.
@@bbishoppcm Gee, I was wondering when someone would mention that! This username was never linked to a printer, nor do I have a printer obsession. I came up with the name in my early teen years due to how fast I could sprint in gym class. RU-vid's layout keeps moving the settings to change it around, but I finally fixed it!
Thank you for the video I’m in the market for a Honda mower and am trying to figure out what one I want. Although I agree that Home Depot is not the place to buy small engines I thing it would be bad karma and a pretty wrong thing to suggest someone intentionally seize up a mower and bring it back just for a good video haha hope your mower treats you well thanks for the video
I wish I'd have gotten the blade clutch version. They didn't have it at Home Depot and I didn't even think about a local shop. Dang!! Lesson learned. At least they'll get my business from here on out.
I don't care for the blade clutch system because of something else that needs to be replaced further down the road. Last year we were in the market to purchase a mower to replace a red Murray that has a tiny bit of sign of deck wear with a very small hole but the mowers that we looked at were priced at $350+ for a gasoline powered mower and we found a battery operated one for a little bit less than the gasoline powered one. I heard great things about Honda mowers being really good and the same with Toro's especially their Recycler mulching mowers. Your cats are adorable.
I got a HRX217 this week, I wanted to buy it from a dealer. No dealer my me has Honda mowers in stock. I got it from HD online and got it delivered to my house, it also had the camshaft recall already done.
Honda is amazing for certain. However, HRN216 series has gone drastically down in quality (ex. lack of the unibody structure, flimsy wheels with no bearing) compared to its prior generation (HRR216). The one that has preserved its quality is the HRX217 series (or the HRC commercial series).
Consumer line Toros have been made by MTD for Toro since 2007, when I worked at MTD we made plastics for them and shipped them to another MTD plant for assembly. Even Snapper push mowers are made by MTD anymore.
I knew *some* Toro tractors were made by MTD, but I was not aware the entire consumer line was… this actually makes sense, as they have an overwhelming MTD feel to them
@@bbishoppcmYep we made the grills for the rider mowers too, pain in the butt putting the sticker on the hot plastics as they came down the chute after the robot removed the part from the mold. Once I went from operator to maintenance I was able to adjust the cycle so the robot paused a little longer and we put a cooling fan up there to help cool the parts down a little more than they were, still warm enough to allow the stikcer to bond but not so hot that the operator had to wear thermal gloves and have the heat coming off the parts during summer shifts. They closed the plant here in KY 5 or 6 yrs ago but I ditched them to work in the woodshop at a beekeeper supply maker here about a mile from the house.
Toro’s new mowers are assembled at their plant in Juarez, Mexico as it says on the data tags. Their zero turns are American-made, but MTD does not make any of today’s Toros. I’ve seen MTD mowers hold up over ten years, but they are still a cheap piece of junk.
I heard Honda was getting out of the mower business. I have a 20 ? Year old Honda 160 cc mower that starts 1 put every time. It started life as a self perpelled, that died years ago..sooooo I went to Do Cut ,Warren, Ohio and got the poverty version of the top mower today they do have the top model with the electric start on the show room floor ready for sale They have all 3 top models left.
Spring of 2021 I started looking to replace my 2007-ish Toro Recycler with a new Super Recycler, having seen the Recycler line was "new"/cheapened for 2021 I figured the Super was next. I was right, in 2022 they "updated" the SR. Fortunately I was able to order a 2021 SR with a Honda GCV160 motor (wanted the Loncin as it had a cast iron cylinder but I was 1 season too late to get one) before they discontinued them for the newer style. I considered the Honda HRX and HRN too but preferred the Personal Pace system on the Toro so went with the SR. I was also leery of how well the HRN's rear end would hold up over rough terrain being plastic. Last spring I was able to purchase a basically new 2017 Honda HRX217 with blade clutch and hydrostatic, it's a great mower also so far (hopefully the plastic deck holds up) and it has been interesting to use the HRX and the SR side by side as both Toro's and Honda's "premium" non commercial mowers. Perhaps I missed you discuss it but I noticed your HRN box didn't have the green dot to indicate that the compression release recall fix has been performed (all mowers were to be opened and fixed, and have a green dot marked on the right corner of the box label and also a dot punched on the engine block next to the serial number). Or did they manufacture some mowers after the recall but before the end of manufacturing that had the new part and didn't need the recall fix?
I shopped hard at mowers. I almost spent big bucks on a Scag push mower but I didn't. I ended up with a Honda HRX. I looked at the Toro products and I was not impressed.
Still waiting for an adequate reason why they are ceasing production. Law suits? Give me a break. That has not stopped Toro or others, although others have decided on only producing larger commercial machines. Seems like an open market.
It’s obvious why they’re pulling out of the US consumer (NOT COMMERCIAL) market - go to any big box retailer and check out the array of CONSUMER mowers; mostly electric and a few gas units priced under $500, all made in China or Mexico. EVERYONE is jumping onto the electric mower bandwagon, including all the power tool manufacturers. Honda is first and foremost a gas engine manufacturer - they cannot compete in this market selling $500+ gas mowers.
@@bbishoppcm Interesting that Honda commercial mowers also failed, unlike Toro and Jacobsen, although Jacobsen gave up the residential market which I have never understood.
Just got done returning my brand new HRN216 VYA Honda mower ...back to the dealer I purchased it from ...for a full refund. And it's a shame.; for the $750 I paid for the mower, it couldn't cut the grass level. There is a serious design flaw in the two-wheel, cutting height adjustment system on this model. Specifically, the issue is with the right rear wheel and the fact it will flex, under relatively light loads, causing the mower housing to rack and resulting in an uneven cut. If you have this mower, push down on the the right side of the handle bar, down where it attaches just above the right wheel. You'll see the wheel bend ...flex upward ...racking the mower housing and lifting the left front wheel off the ground. Now, try doing this with the left rear wheel; you'll find everything rock steady. If you tilt up the front of the mower, using the handle bar like you might if you're cutting with it, you'll see and feel the right rear wheel flex and the deck housing rack slightly. The least amount of force will cause this rear wheel to flex which skews the cutting height just enough to be noticeable. Depending on how the wheel reacts to the torque applied by the drive system may make it worse. When I took it to the dealer, the service tech and the head of sales both saw the issue. We then dug out another, new HRN216 VYA from stock, and the same thing happens. The service tech was easily able to make the wheel flex just using his hands. My hats off to Jack Peek's Sales in Palmetto, GA for the no quibble return and immediate refund. I would've liked to have made my replacement purchase from Peek's Sales, but they only had more expensive model Honda's and some Stihl mowers (which were all battery powered). The rest of their push mower stock were all commercial mowers and selling north of the "grand" price point.
I’ll check that out. Unfortunately, EVERY consumer class mower on the market is a colossal piece of shit… the Honda seems to be better in almost every way, but I’ll check the deck flexing issue
@@bbishoppcm Yup.The Honda was great ...but it couldn't make a level cut; it pained me to have to return it but for $750 and getting a lousy cut? I thought maybe a support bracket or bushing was missing but the shop guy said that's how they are made. More and more of the equipment manufacturers are getting out of the consumer market because of the insane emissions restrictions and the coerced influx of battery-powered mowers ...which after a few years, owners will find how totally worthless (and expensive) these things are. The first time they try to get a set of replacement batteries they'll realize what a load of manure they've been served up. So I was once again without a mower and said, screw it; I scored a mid-level Toro Mulching mower from Lowes for about 2/3 the price of the Honda. Like the Honda, it uses the "two-point" cutting height adjusters. Unlike the Honda, these are actually sturdy at all four corners.
this new line of engines doesn't have me impressed, runs too lean(most mowers do now) hard to start and leaks oil from the head gasket at less than a year old.
Entirely possible - but it's a better engine than the competition at this price point. Lean-running is the name of the game, and I'll take it if it means I can still mow my lawn with gas. With a three-year warranty, I'm not terribly concerned.
@@bbishoppcm absolutely. Considering everything starts at 400+ dollars with self propell now it only makes sense to get a brand for 550ish that's got a good history and at the minimum not even considering the engine has a VERY reliable self propell system.
Greeting I have one question. I have the same machine (TORO OHV). My pulling rope broke - start. Do you have such a video on how to change the rope? Thank you in advance.
