Mower Decision: Toro Super Recycler vs Honda HRX

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I've got a Snapper Ninja Commercial mulcher. It definitely does not mulch as well as a Toro Super and I've got pretty easy grass to mulch. IMO, lets say a Super Recycler is a 10 out of 10. I'd call my $600 Snapper an 8 in terms of mulching.
 
I bought the exact same Honda model you were looking at. I've had it for about a year now. For me the electric start is a very convenient feature. People are always saying that will fail....which may or may not happen, but you do have to remember you still have a pull start cord. I like the blade stop feature because there are many times when I'm mowing and I see a small branch or twig with pinecones and I can stop the blade without turning off the motor. The HRX217HZA mower is Honda's top of the line residential mower. I got it for $665 brand new.
 
I would go for the Honda. I was never impressed with my Recycler. It is highly over rated.
 
I had the Toro Super Recycler and loved the personal pace on it. The personal pace worked very well, it was very responsive at copying my speed and felt like I didn't have to do anything to move it. The briggs engine only lasted 3 years because of an idiot I lent it to who didn't know what he was doing.

When shopping for a new mower, I decided to try a Honda mower. I have the first of the line Honda mower from Home Depot (about $399) and really like it. The smart drive on the mower does not work nearly as well as the personal pace; it doesnt feel as natural as the personal pace did on the Toro.

Both cut my lawn very well. If I were shopping for a mower now, I would go for the Toro Super Recycler with a Honda engine.
 
Originally Posted By: Lubener
I would go for the Honda. I was never impressed with my Recycler. It is highly over rated.


Super recycler or standard "recycler"? Just curious. Big difference between the two.
 
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I've always been a Toro fan. For the past few years i've been loving the Timemaster 30" model. I side discharge with it and it ends up looking cleaner than mulch cuts. Sometimes i go over clippings twice but at 30" wide that takes no time at all. I don't think i could go back to a "small" mower.
 
Having had nothing but trouble with my wife's Honda HRX transmission, I bought her the Toro Super Recycler with the Honda engine...she hated the personal pace at first, but got used to it.

I prefer my raggedy old Snapper Hi-Vac with 5.5 HP B&S (I tried to just type the letters together but it got censored?!?) on it. Primitive looking old thing but it gives a great cut and the bagging suction is unbelievable.
 
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We run 2 HRX's (VKA) in our small lawn maintenance business and couldn't be happier with them. Had the much better built HRC with commercial 160 engine, but was just too heavy and the 160 just lacked power to the lesser built GCV 190 on the HRX's...sold the HRC.
 
My land has some steep hills in some areas, and I was advised that the Toro Personal Pace is great for the flat land, but not good for hills. Went with the Honda, and when it wears out I will buy another one.
 
I use a Honda HRX217VKA in my lawn care business as my primary 21" mower. It's used almost daily, usually several times a day, and never skips a beat. I upgraded from a Honda HRR216VKA, and now use it as my backup 21" mower.

I've used Toro Recyclers in the past, but never had the Super Recycler - so I can't honestly compare the two. For chopping up grass clippings, it's very hard to beat Honda's twin blade system - standard on all HRR and HRX models.

But I will say this: If I were to buy another 21" mower, it would be another Honda HRX. It's not exactly rated as a commercial mower, but many large Lawn Care companies (that I know personally) use them in commercial service - and get many years of heavy/hard use out of them.



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I had a 30" Toro Timemaster. Love the speed at which I got a small lawn done with the 30" cut. It was great in dry grass, but would bog down and clump up / stop up the deck in wet grass. That's really it's only downfall - wet grass. Even discharging, it had problems with early morning cuts. In the afternoons it did fine, but I got tired of scraping and cleaning it's deck daily.
 
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Just FWIW, I just bought another Personal Pace Toro Recycler (not Super) and love the thing. I really don't think I can walk fast enough to keep the thing from keeping up with me...I also have some really steep semi-wasteland areas to cut and I don't feel like I have to push it up those (cannot go completely sideways over the either area).
I like it more than my first one, which only lasted 15 years. But, I have to confess that I did something really stupid with it 10 years ago...was in a huge rush for my first mowing after lots of rain (grass was jungle like) and could not remember if I had drained the oil in the fall. Pulled the dipstick quickly, decided it had oil. WRONG!!! Just a few drops on the stick...the mower seized up after a few passes. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I pulled the plug wire and forced the blade by hand. Once it was moving sort of freely, I added oil and the darned thing actually started. I figured the 10 years after that were gravy after doing something so stupid to it...it finally started getting really loud this spring and the motor casing cracked abruptly, dumping all the oil onto the top of the deck. Can't complain.
 
So a bit of an update on this topic.

I still don't have either the Toro SR or the Honda.

Instead, I found a guy selling an old Toro Recycler w/ RWD Personal Pace so I bought it for cheap ($25). It was in pretty bad shape with lots of evidence that it was used on wet grass and kept outdoors, and the motor oil was just a mess (it looked like someone had put trans oil in it). I took it apart, de-rusted what I could using Evapo-Rust and a rust wheel on my drill, and replaced a few parts. (About $100)

Gave it a proper oil change with some Trop Artic 5W30 (from my stash of old oils) and did my first mow.

Cuts like a dream and the personal pace on it is brilliant.

It has the Tecumseh 6.5HP which runs like a sewing machine when you put on a new carb. I'm not a fan of Tecumsehs, but I'll live with it.

What really helps me is the rear wheel drive since my lawn is hilly. I've got the idle screw set to where it runs pretty fast, which helps me get the job done faster but also provides a buffer for when the bag is just full and is bogging down the speed.

Compared to my old Craftsman, it seems like the Atomic blade on this mower chops up the grass much finer, almost dust-like.
 
Sounds good Reddy. You can't beat a DIY rebuilt. If you like that $25 recycler, you'd love a super recycler. They mow/mulch even better.
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
Sounds good Reddy. You can't beat a DIY rebuilt. If you like that $25 recycler, you'd love a super recycler. They mow/mulch even better.


It certainly has opened my eyes towards Toro mowers. I will probably try to find someone selling a used super recycler and do my magic on it.

While I could plop down $500 for a brand new one, I would almost rather get a used one that I have to take apart a few times before I use it.
 
I hear that. At any given time there's 5-6 used Supers on my local CL ranging from ~$50-150 asking prices. I'd go that route every time.
 
All: Just today I killed my 10 yr old Craftsman (MTD pvt label for Sears...) 21" non-propelled mulcher. Catastrophic internal damage to the Briggs, sounds like a crank bearing broke. I got in a hurry trying to get around a grapefruit size piece of rip rap rock near the culvert and pranged the blade causing catastrophic instant stop. So anyhow, it'done. God awful grindy gacky destruction noises coming from within the crankcase.

My neighbor was out and let me finish up using his Honda HRR216K9VKAA 21" rear drive twin blade he just got this spring. It was pretty nice. $399 is what he paid on sale at the big box store. Is there a Toro rear drive mulcher in the same price class as the HRR216 Honda rig?
 
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
All: Just today I killed my 10 yr old Craftsman (MTD pvt label for Sears...) 21" non-propelled mulcher. Catastrophic internal damage to the Briggs, sounds like a crank bearing broke. I got in a hurry trying to get around a grapefruit size piece of rip rap rock near the culvert and pranged the blade causing catastrophic instant stop. So anyhow, it'done. God awful grindy gacky destruction noises coming from within the crankcase.

My neighbor was out and let me finish up using his Honda HRR216K9VKAA 21" rear drive twin blade he just got this spring. It was pretty nice. $399 is what he paid on sale at the big box store. Is there a Toro rear drive mulcher in the same price class as the HRR216 Honda rig?
It looks like there is and you may even get cheaper than $399. There is even an all wheel drive in that price range.
 
399 is the usual price for an HRR216VKA @ the box stores. Honda claims they do not manufacture special models for box stores and they are all the same.

There must be better margins in some models though because a local dealer could beat box store pricing on some models but not others.

I don't know anything about TORO but I sure have no complaints about my HRX.
 
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