My Hand Me Down 19 year old Craftsman looks brand new but is Exhausted

SunShine_80 · Mar 1, 2019

So I am in need of some recommendations for a new mower-I have never purchased one before. When I purchased my home in 2016 my Uncle had given my my grandmas mower. And sad to say its in great perfect condition but it doesn't want to start anymore and I am done tinkering with it as Spring is coming soon here in Illinois (well hopefully) and I will need to make a decision soon.

I have been looking at the Honda HRX NeXite Deck 21 in. GCV200 Electric Start Self Propelled Walk Behind Gas Hydrostatic Mower with Roto-Stop & Versamow Model#HRX217HZA

So my lawn conditions I think i have about 1/4 acre maybe a little more but not much more. I have a pretty flat back yard just bumpy as all get out. The front yard has a slight to medium slope and its quite bumpy as well. I have only 1 silver maple in my back yard but my neighborhood is full of trees so I get an abundance of leaves ALL the time.

So I like the features of this mower and they seem to fit the needs of my yard....does anyone have any input/suggestions?

Thanks very much for your time!

Sparkland · Mar 1, 2019

I have the same mower, but not the 200cc. It is a pleasure to use. The transmission works smoothly. I don't have as large of a lawn as you do, so it only takes me about 30 minutes to mow the front and back yards. The hardest part of mowing with the Honda is backing up. The mower is fairly heavy, so you are pulling the entire weight of the mower when you want to go in reverse. The engine has never bogged down unless I get into fairly high grass.

The Honda is a sturdy machine which will stand up to frequent abuse. Some people complain about the auto-choke system on the Honda. My present Honda has a manual choke lever. Once in awhile the blade engagement lever will disengage and the blade will stop spinning. That is a rare occurrence. I should probably get the blade engagement setting adjusted some.

The grass does tend to collect in the rear corner of the mower when mulching. That causes a clump of grass to fall out onto the concrete when crossing a walkway or the driveway. That is a bit annoying. It seems like most of the improvements on the new 200cc are cosmetic and aesthetically pleasing. The added horsepower is nice, but everything else is about ease of use and perceived time savings. The mulching feature of this mower works great. I use it every year for mulching my leaves.

I have never ever had another brand of mower (owned 3 Honda's in the past 26 years). I thought about the Toro super recycler, which my neighbor uses all the time. He seems to like it, but has trouble with the carburetor on occasion. It was covered under some type of a recall. He does not have the AWD version and said he wishes he did have it. He loves the clean out feature of the Toro. I don't because his green grass clippings run down the gutter past my house, making for green concrete.

Have fun shopping!!

SunShine_80 · Mar 3, 2019

Sparkland said:
I have the same mower, but not the 200cc. It is a pleasure to use. The transmission works smoothly. I don't have as large of a lawn as you do, so it only takes me about 30 minutes to mow the front and back yards. The hardest part of mowing with the Honda is backing up. The mower is fairly heavy, so you are pulling the entire weight of the mower when you want to go in reverse. The engine has never bogged down unless I get into fairly high grass.

The Honda is a sturdy machine which will stand up to frequent abuse. Some people complain about the auto-choke system on the Honda. My present Honda has a manual choke lever. Once in awhile the blade engagement lever will disengage and the blade will stop spinning. That is a rare occurrence. I should probably get the blade engagement setting adjusted some.

The grass does tend to collect in the rear corner of the mower when mulching. That causes a clump of grass to fall out onto the concrete when crossing a walkway or the driveway. That is a bit annoying. It seems like most of the improvements on the new 200cc are cosmetic and aesthetically pleasing. The added horsepower is nice, but everything else is about ease of use and perceived time savings. The mulching feature of this mower works great. I use it every year for mulching my leaves.

I have never ever had another brand of mower (owned 3 Honda's in the past 26 years). I thought about the Toro super recycler, which my neighbor uses all the time. He seems to like it, but has trouble with the carburetor on occasion. It was covered under some type of a recall. He does not have the AWD version and said he wishes he did have it. He loves the clean out feature of the Toro. I don't because his green grass clippings run down the gutter past my house, making for green concrete.

Have fun shopping!!

Thanks very much for the feedback. I will check out the Toro-what is the clean out feature? (I just looked it up) So don't most mowers come with the clean out feature nowadays? I see where most have the hose connection port (if this is what you were referring to). I think I may still be sold on the Honda-unless someone can step in and give any other suggestions?

My Hand Me Down 19 year old Craftsman looks brand new but is Exhausted

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