Fellow BBIers,
I finally took your sound advice and tossed my shitty old Charbroil grill and bought a Weber... Turned out that you all were correct.... Weber is worth the additional coin.
Now I find myself in need of a lawnmower. looking for walk behind not riding (I only have 1/2 acre and I actually enjoy mowing).
Self propelled is nice but not necessary, mulching and bagging a must.
For the last 20+ years I would go to Sears, by a Craftsman for 250-300 bucks, use it for 4-6 years, beat the shit out of it, buy a new one as soon as it dies.... repeat. the problem, with this is that I get good results for the first 2 years or so and then the mower starts to deteriorate and so do my results.
I am willing to spend more (around double give or take) to get a quality machine that gives me great results for a longer amount of time.
what say you BBI??
The mower is extremely economical- One 5 gallon can of gasoline lasts me A long long time with this mower. It's not the biggest or the most powerful but I've had no problems with it and it works great.
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The same neighbor is a contractor / carpenter; he swears by honda's small engines.
I loved the ease of use (started first pull) easy maintenance, and mulching, but it didn't last long. 5 years maybe and the self propulsion wouldn't work, then the blade broke (which isn't uncommon) but the whole assembly broke and couldn't be swapped out.
could have been a freak accident. regardless I'd buy Honda again.
jon.. agree. if I do spend more and get a better quality mower, maintenance will be key.
Ethanol in modern gas is a disaster for small engines. It gums up the carberator and fuel system, gradually making it difficult to impossible to start. I recommend the following:
1) Buy new gas for the mower every 4-6 weeks.
2) Use fuel treatment on each new can. I prefer Star-Tron.
3) If your mower has a fuel line cutoff valve, use it after each mowing and let the mower run until the excess gas in the line runs out. This keeps the fuel off the carberator and fuel lines between mowings.
4) Empty and run the gas completely dry of the mower at the end of the season.
My Honda cut better when it actually ran, which wasn't always when I wanted it to run, but overall the Toro was the better product by a wide margin.
My Toro was much more reliable, definitely easier to start, had better controls, nicer height adjusters, was much easier and less expensive to service, allowed service of important areas (rear axle / gear box) that the Honda didn't, required less service overall, didn't cost much more despite having more features including a cast aluminum deck instead of stamped steel, and lasted me longer.
No contest in my book. Toro wins hands down.
the pull start came right off (which was the final straw). the mechanism to raise and lower the blade was such a hassle and perpetually stuck, and rear wheel self-propulsion was useless on the slightest incline.
I am sure it was a lower end model ($350?) so you get what you pay for, but a similarly priced Honda was much better for me.
Used commercial equipment is excellent advice. I retired to a rural property on Canadice Lake in NY with 3 acres of lawn (on a steep slope) and a used Scag 61" 0-turn mower to convert another 3 acres of brush into lawn. When I moved to SC I sold it for more than I paid for it.
I know your acreage is not the same but the principle may be.