Lawnmower advice needed

[Shannon]

Glad to be of service Davo,

I don't think you will really go wrong with the Honda. As for max length before mulch doesn't work, I think the only down side you will find will be that when grass is too long, or wet instead of the mower sprerading the clippings evenly through the lawn, you will start to get clumping of clippings (sort of like the trail you start getting when a catcher is overly full) In the wet this will be far more noticable.

Thanks for the tip regarding the blade, I will look into it.

[TassieKiwi]

I bought the Honda 19D 3 yrs ago. Just simply excellent. More power than you'd ever need. Mulches, catches, and chucks it out (with an optional ocky strp on the flap). very hard to fault.

[davo]

...with an optional ocky strp on the flap

Can you elaborate on how this works a little more please?

[Buzzer]

Hi,
I too have a Honda push and ride -on mowers, along with 4 Honda powered firefighters (stock water bore pumps). All are very reliable with very little trouble since I started using themm about 13 or 14 years ago.

[Shedhand]

If anyone's lawnmower is vibrating NOTICEABLY then get it checked straight away. I ignored the vibration when I got my Honda back from the serviceman and nearly lost my foot when a blade was flung off the plate at full throttle. :eek: Landed in the next door neighbor's driveway. :eek: They neglected to tighten the retaining bolt. :mad:

If you hit a stone, even a slight chip in a blade will cause a vibration which transfers to the driveshaft and can cause problems in the motor.
Cheers

[TassieKiwi]

I have an ocky strapwrapped a couple of times around the handle, and down to the flaps' handle, with some tension on it. This opens the flap about half way, and spreads the grass out to the side about 1m or so, but still deflects sticksnstones away from the nether regions. Good idea to wear long trou though - I wear my hiking leg thingoes.

The lawnmower safety pointy heads owuld hate me.

[Fozzy]

Hi Guys,

I am in the same situation trying to decide between a Masport at $600 and the Honda at $700. I know that everyone says that the Honda is the better mower, but how good are the Masports? The Masport I am looking at is the MSV President 5000. It has a 6HP Briggs and Stratton motor versus the 5.5 HP Honda mower. The Masport looks solid and it has some nice features like the Smart Chute and the snorkel air filter, while the Honda looks like a basic mower with legendary reliability. $600 is already a bit of a stretch on the budget, but is it worth spending that extra $100?

Thanks for any help.

[davo]

...trying to decide between a Masport at $600 and the Honda at $700.

Fozzy, which model Honda is that?

[Fozzy]

Hi Davo,

Its the HRU19R1 Buffalo Buck, which is their residential model.

[davo]

I think it helps if you can put the $100 price difference aside for a moment and view the purchase over say 10 years. That $100 might come down to something like 20 cents a week or 40-80 cents per lawn mow. What we really want to achieve is an easier or more satisfying lawn mowing experience rather than saving 40c - 80c each time.

What seems important is to address your main needs, otherwise you end up like me who couldn’t stand using a perfectly good 7 year old Victa 2 stroke that started first go every time - simply because I bought on price and not performance.

What I didn’t like about the Victa was mowing in a cloud of fumes and the effort required to push it (with the catcher full of clippings) around my sloping block. The noise was a turn off too but I always wear ear muffs.

My list of priorities was

Making it easier to push around
Mowing in a clean atmosphere
Quieter would be nice
Utter reliability highly desirable.

The Masport self propelled looked attractive - Masport do a very good job of marketing – everything from appearance of their mowers to their web site - and so many models to choose from.

But when I went to see one, the local Masport dealer didn’t stock Masports (!) He said he’d get them in if anyone especially wanted one, but they’d struck a few little problems and in his words “preferred to sell things that don’t give them trouble”.

When I asked what kind of trouble he gave me an example which I mentioned in an earlier post but will repeat here…,

… they'd had a few problems with the blade bar. He showed me the bar which is about 18" long and goes right across the cutting deck. In the middle there's a special alloy connecting piece which is designed to break if you hit a rock so the motor isn't damaged. He said not all Masports use this design and that it does work well on smooth lawns. But they'd had a few problems with customers hitting rocks.

So this sounded like a design issue where the machine was designed for one kind of mowing environment and it didn’t fare so well in another.

They had Victas, MTD and some other machines there – but in the Hondas, they had every single model in the range. Looking at the Hondas again, I think I began to grasp their design philosophy. They seem to be designed to be a rugged, reliable machine that does a good job, but without much styling - things like mag wheels and some features like Smart chutes.

When it came to choosing which Honda, the self propelled models are big heavy mothers, designed for the wide open spaces. So it was back to the push 19” models.

I studied the different engines in great detail – there’s three of them - GCV160, GSV190, GXV160.

It’s worth reading up on these engines so you know what you’re buying – manuals are downloadable. But in summary, the GXV160 is the most rugged engine of the three. The GCV160 is a lighter built model and the GSV190 is “a blend of the two designs” as Honda says. You can do the same exercise for the Masports and Briggs and Stratton engines.

Interestingly, the guy serving me in the shop was also the mechanic and said they’d never had to pull a Honda engine down for repairs. I was surprised to hear that, as they’ve been in the business at least 10 years – probably more - and are the major mowing shop in town.

As far as making it easier to push, I had to rely on getting the overall weight down. This meant mowing without a catcher. So mulching capability was essential. I took the bathroom scales into the mower dealer, hopped on and weighed each model.

What I found was the Buffalo Classic – Mulch & Catch mower with the GXV160 engine was about 31kgs while the Buffalo Bull – Mulch and Catch with the GSV190 engine was about 27kgs. The GXV160 engine seems to be a little heavier built and the Classic has steel in places where the Bull has plastic. I think the GXV160 engine has quite a following amongst the pro mowers and that's why Honda offer it across the range.

The 3-4kgs, doesn’t sound a big difference but it’s about equivalent to having a two thirds full catcher attached. The old Victa was also 27kgs without catcher – but unusable in that mode unless the grass was really short.

So that pretty much left me with one option - the Buffalo Bull – Mulch and Catch with the GSV190 engine.

When I got home and read the service manual, the difference in engines also became apparent when you look at the service intervals. See attached.

Then a couple of days ago, I mowed the lawn with it for the first time. Everything about it felt quite stiff – wheeling it around, the controls, starting it etc – but I guess that’s how it should feel when new.

Pushing it around the lawn is definitely easier than the Victa (with catcher) - though still a little stiff in the wheel bearings. It also seems to fit under trees better (which I have a lot of). The cleanliness is stunning – barely a fume to be sniffed.

But there were two really big differences. First - I mowed all the lawns in one go. Usually it takes me two sessions over two days, sometimes three days. I didn’t really notice I was doing it until I’d finished and realized – wow – I just did all that in one go. I think the weight and lack of fumes made the difference.

The second was the quality of the mowing job. I’d let the lawn grow so it was 50mm – 100mm and even 150mm in places to see how the mulching option worked and whether there would be any clumping.

The grass was dry was when mowed and the finish was the best I’ve ever seen it – like a pile carpet. The Honda uses 4 blades – two low lift ones and two high lift ones – I think the high lift tosses the cuttings up in the air (under the mower) - forget exactly what the low lift ones do - maybe more of a cutting blade - but gee, they work well in combination. You can vary the setup and go all high lift or low lift - something I need to find out about.

My lawn is probably best described as “mowed grass” rather than a super smooth high quality lawn. But still it looked pretty damn good and not a bit of clumping even in the longer sections. I should also mention that I cut the grass on the long side - not super short.

So early indications are that this mower will do what I wanted. I would have liked a self propelled model but with my hilly, sandy soiled block and lots of trees to work in and around, I may have had difficulty maneuvering it.

My main suggestion when buying is to take your time. Try not to rush out and buy one because the grass is long. Work out your main requirements, download all the manuals so you're familair with the different engines, ask the shop guy to tip the mower up and explain the cutting actions for you - how the blade design and underbody work, what are the most common repairs with each model, what would we he choose if he could have any model for free ... and why. If you can get them to start one up so you can feel it - all the better. Then say, thanks very much and go home and think about it.

I reckon one of the reasons we hate mowing the lawn so much, is coz we tend to rush out and buy what's on special. Then have to spend 10-15 years living with the monster.

Davo

[Fozzy]

Thanks for that advice Davo. I have been thinking about getting a mower for quite a while and I was originally going to get a cheap $300 Bunnings or Big W mower, but then I decided to spend more and get something decent. A few people have said to get the Honda because that is what all the contractors use, but the Honda that I am looking at is the cheapest Honda with the GCV160 motor, which is different to the motors that the contractor mowers use. On the other hand I will probably only use the mower for an average of an hour a week.

I must admit the main reason I like the Masport, apart from its features is that it looks good, which I know is not a valid reason for selecting a mower. If the difference in price between the Masport and one of the contractor type Hondas was only $100 I would almost certainly go with the Honda.

The GCV160 looks like a good motor, but I'm not sure how it compares to the Briggs and Stratton motors. I've had a look for some information on the B & S motors, but it seems harder to find any detailed info.

[davo]

Fozzy, what's your lawn like? How big? Flat or sloping? Is it a straight up and down mowing job or lots of manoevring? Many low trees to mow under? Any rocks, roots or other obstacles the blades might hit? Have you thought about whether to catch or muclh? How important is noise, fumes, reliablity?

Re B&S engines:

You can sort of figure out how the engines rate here - http://www.briggsandstratton.com/dis...sp?DocID=66939

If you get the model number off the actual mower, you can download manuals here - http://www.briggsandstratton.com/dis...sp?docid=67021

You've probably found all the Masport manuals on their site.

Davo

[Fozzy]

Thanks again Davo,

The lawn is mainly flat, although there is a slight slope. I have about 200 m2 of new buffalo turf and about 100 m2 of newly seeded rye grass. Noise, fumes and reliability are all important. I think the area should be straight forward to mow, no trees or rocks, but there are some curves around the garden beds.

Because it is a new lawn I will need to catch the grass, but I may want the option of mulching later on. Both mowers I'm looking at have the option of a mulching plug that I could possibly get later on, but I have heard that mulching is not good for buffalo grass.

I'll have a look at the Briggs and Stratton link.

[davo]

Well, your lawn sounds like a straightforward mowing job - the Masport would probably be suitable if there's no likely rocks etc. Did you read Shannon's comment from page 1 of this thread about mowing close to walls?...

I guess for me the biggest down side has been that the cutting diameter is not in line with the wheels - meaning that when mowing to retainer walls (which I have a lot of) the cut is a wheel width away from the edge - this was my error in not seeing before I bought, and it is only a minor thing as are all of the negatives here.

There was something in the Masport manual about that. Not sure if he's tried it yet. But his comment about vibration worried me...

On the down side - It has as much vibration as my 15 y.o. Rover, being double the horsepower it is a little on the heavy side (that is in comparison to the 3hp rover though, I think most of the 5 - 6 h.p mowers are much the same)

I didn't notice any vibration with the Honda the other day - but I wasn't looking for it either. Might start it up this arvo and see what it's like.

A good move might be to call your local Masport dealer(s) and see if they can show you one running. Then do the same with the Honda dealers.

Davo

[Fozzy]

Thanks again Davo,

I did read Shannon's comments. I'm going down to the 2 mower shops on Saturday morning to have another look at both of the mowers. At this stage I'm leaning towards the Honda.