Just bought it and mowed my yard. I have a half acre total suburban lot so maybe 2/3 of that is mowable. Grass was 6-7" and damp in spots on the bottom half.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a dyed-in-the-wool 2-stroke fan. I've been mowing with my 1996 Gold Series, aluminum deck Lawn Boy since I bought it new. It may be the fastest, lightest, best cutting residential mower ever produced. Alas, it is a victim of the EPA-which has made me determined to preserve it at all costs. It was in the shop for its once-every-three-year maintainance then broke down after a couple of mowings, so it's back in the shop. [Turns out the ignition coil broke.] I had no reliable backup so starting shopping.
I chose this particular Honda because it has: larger 190cc engine; blade clutch; riding mower type hydrostatic transmission with nine speed settings; composite deck and 4-in-1 "Versamow" system. I purchased from Runyon's Equipment Rental which offers full sales and service. They had models pre-assembled so I didn't have to fool with putting the thing together. All I had to do was gas and go. And that was the first issue. The gas opening is tiny. Even using a one gallon gas can, I overflowed the small tank (more on that later) on my brand new mower. Good thing it wasn't hot. The mower basically works as advertised. I experimented with Versamow but found that speed was really the key to eliminating clumps of cutting while mulching. On my tallest, thickest grass, I had to slow down to setting 4-5 which is slower than I would normally mow. Height adjustment was at maximum 4". But, as I stated, the grass was abnormally long and somewhat damp. The primary issue with this mower is weight. At 96 lbs dry, this thing is a heavyweight compared to my AL LB. my forearms we're pumped up after all the turnarounds I have to do on this smallish yard. I especially appreciate the blade clutch as I could stop to pick up debris I didn't want to run over and not have to restart the engine. This will be especially helpful for me in the fall when bagging with some leaf coverage. Finally, I ran out of gas before completing one mowing of my yard.
I suppose this Honda represents the state-of-the-art of the current crop of EPA 4-strokes but for everyday mowing, I'll be choosing my 20 year old 2-stroke.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a dyed-in-the-wool 2-stroke fan. I've been mowing with my 1996 Gold Series, aluminum deck Lawn Boy since I bought it new. It may be the fastest, lightest, best cutting residential mower ever produced. Alas, it is a victim of the EPA-which has made me determined to preserve it at all costs. It was in the shop for its once-every-three-year maintainance then broke down after a couple of mowings, so it's back in the shop. [Turns out the ignition coil broke.] I had no reliable backup so starting shopping.
I chose this particular Honda because it has: larger 190cc engine; blade clutch; riding mower type hydrostatic transmission with nine speed settings; composite deck and 4-in-1 "Versamow" system. I purchased from Runyon's Equipment Rental which offers full sales and service. They had models pre-assembled so I didn't have to fool with putting the thing together. All I had to do was gas and go. And that was the first issue. The gas opening is tiny. Even using a one gallon gas can, I overflowed the small tank (more on that later) on my brand new mower. Good thing it wasn't hot. The mower basically works as advertised. I experimented with Versamow but found that speed was really the key to eliminating clumps of cutting while mulching. On my tallest, thickest grass, I had to slow down to setting 4-5 which is slower than I would normally mow. Height adjustment was at maximum 4". But, as I stated, the grass was abnormally long and somewhat damp. The primary issue with this mower is weight. At 96 lbs dry, this thing is a heavyweight compared to my AL LB. my forearms we're pumped up after all the turnarounds I have to do on this smallish yard. I especially appreciate the blade clutch as I could stop to pick up debris I didn't want to run over and not have to restart the engine. This will be especially helpful for me in the fall when bagging with some leaf coverage. Finally, I ran out of gas before completing one mowing of my yard.
I suppose this Honda represents the state-of-the-art of the current crop of EPA 4-strokes but for everyday mowing, I'll be choosing my 20 year old 2-stroke.
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