BACKGROUND:
Only my second mower in 13 years! The mower at the lake needed replaced so I decided to to give my 13 year old HONDA HR215 (Masters Series type deck, 5.0 HP GXC-140 OHV engine)a new home. This HONDA has been nothing but a superb mower that gave a carpet like cut for the last 13 years.

WHICH MOWER:
This was going to be the tough part, as I mentioned above my HONDA had been a "World-Class" Mower for me, and I thought it would be as simple as going to my HONDA dealer and picking out a new one...not so fast! I compared three quality mowers, the TORO SUPER RECYCLER 20038/39, the HONDA MASTERS HR215K1HXA,and the JOHN DEERE JX75.

TORO had the best warranty of the group, but I felt when you are buying this quality of a mower from a great company, that that alone wasn't enough to tip the scales. As far as price, the TORO came in at $639.00 compared to the HONDA at $899.00 and the JOHN DEERE at $839.00 and the TORO had their "Key-Lectric" start on it. Once again a good selling point for TORO, but in my case still not enough to tip the scales in favor of TORO SUPER RECYCLER.
My bottom line was I wanted a mower that was as reliable and had the durability and the excellent cutting ability of my HONDA, and was a great mulcher as well, since I have decided to mulch during the main part of the growing season here in the Northwest. After visiting both dealers (THE HONDA/TORO dealer and JOHN DEERE dealer) and reading everything I could get my hands on, but most important "Epinions" on all 3 mowers, the decision was easy. HONDA got killed on this web site, JOHN DEERE was much better, and if I didn't know better I would think everyone who wrote on the TORO was on their payroll! Enough said.

FEATURES I LIKED:
1. 4-Cycle GTS OHV 6.75 HP engine. (plenty of power for mulching even heavy grass.
2. Key-Lectric Start, not required, but nice for my wife since this mower doesn't have a BBC.
3. Personal Pace, This works fantastic, superb but simple engineering.
4.Cast-Aluminum Deck, will not rust or bend, and no welded supports. which allows air to flow freely, increasing the mowers ability to mulch clippings into fine mulch particles.
5.The ability to bag when I want since the bag is included.
6.Six height adjustments from 1" to 3" in 1/2" settings.

BOTTOM LINE:
I have only mowed my yard 3 times so far, but I can say TORO makes one great mower. My yard looks every bit as good as when I mowed and bagged it with my HONDA. It is a very even and clean cut in the mulching mode. The grass clipping are mulched into very fine particles and disappear into the grass. So far I've mowed at height setting "B" (1.5") and the yard looks like a carpet when I'm done. It also only takes me 65 minutes compared to 1hr and 45 minutes with my HONDA, plus I don't miss 3-4 30 gallon size bags of grass!

It will be interesting to see how well this mower will bag compared to my HONDA since it doesn't have a high lift blade on it, but one thing for sure I don't think HONDA or JOHN DEERE would mulch as well as the TORO. The patented Super Recycler cutting system really works well on the TORO.

The Personal Pace System is outstanding! I love it, and in my opinion it is easier to use than HONDA's Hydrostatic Drive since you do not have a another lever control to disengage and engage when you want to back up and start again. The only thing I miss is the BBC, but like I said the electric start makes up for this.





Recommended: Yes