Need some lawn mower advice. What is the best?

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I've been very happy with my Honda powered MTD 20" push mower. It has a stainless steel deck, which I think will last a lot longer than an aluminum one. The OHV motor starts on the first pull, so I really don't think electric start would add much value. Plus, the weight you save by not having a battery can go to the heavier but far more durable stainless steel deck.

 

The only repair I've needed has been to replace a couple of the wheel bearings - which was quite easy and the bearings are readily available at the local HW store for about $5 each.

 

I do rinse off the underside of the deck after each mowing session. Even though it's a stainless deck, no sense in letting grass clippings build up under there.

 

 
 
I have a John Deere JS30 mower that I bought 10 years ago this month, and I've been very pleased with it. I got it at an authorized JD farm equipment dealer, and take it back every other year for servicing.

I noticed a couple of years ago they no longer had the push mowers on display there, and when I asked, the salesman said they had declined in quality in the past couple years, due to cost cutting to reduce the price to what more people would pay for that type of mower. So I don't know if I could recommend that one anymore or not.

My suggestion is to shop for it at a place that specializes in outdoor power equipment, rather than a big box store.
 
So I ended up "snapping " up a vintage snapper hivac for about $110. I'm going to beat that one around my yard for a couple weeks before I drop the big bucks on a new one.

The tinkerer in me already wants to repower it ( can we say more power) , but I'm going to show some restraint.
 
I am not sure if it is still available,

But Snapper used to have a "Bag-N-Sac" attachment where you lined the tub with a yard bag, the sack filled from the top, when full you just pulled out the bag and close it. 

 

I empty my bag in the compost bin, but have used bags before.  

what you do is open the back of the bag all the way and place it into the bag.   As you empty the mower bag, allow gravity to let the yard bag drop, when you pull out the mower bag, your sack is full.

 
 
Must be 9 years now since I bought the LawnBoy with Honda engine and Sensa-Speed self propel.. it's the same system as the Toro Personal Pace . It's been a great lawnmower and what I particularly like about it is the the way the bag attaches . You just have to reach down, barely stooping and  life it off the mower, empty it and drop it back in. Many lawnmower bags require you to fuss and/or lift and hold a plate covering to put the bag back on,  that requires stooping.   Our next door neighbor bought a new Honda and while it's nice, the bag isn't near as easy to remove/replace and I didn't care for the propelling mechanism which you operate with your thumbs.. it's not quite as "foolproof" as the sensa speed / personal pace system. Even the Toro's don't have such an easy to use bagging system.. 

 

We have lots and lots of gigantic oak tree's . In fall I just do like mentioned above.. I mow them with the mulch plate in which chops  them into small pieces.. then I put the bag on and re-mow the lawn which chops them up even more and bags em... easy peasy.  Instead of using 60 or 70 plastic bags full of raked leaves I'm reduced it to about 15. I can do in an hour what would take hours of blowing, raking and stuffing into bags. 
 
Thankfully, I have woods on either side and can TRY to get the leaf mess there, except it never seems to dry out enough. Trying to rake wet leaves stinks. Maybe by July 4th I can. Mower wont pick up wet leafs, but still mows down all the stupid weeds which is all I care about. I do like the self propelled mower now on this hilly lot.
 
All of my mower grass catchers sit unused-I MULCH the clippings!!Use the mulch adaptor with my mowers.You could say I have a collection of mower grass catchers along with the mowers.I have gravitated to cordless electrics and won't look back to noisey,stinky,maintenance prone gas mowers.And the cordless mower runs a lot cooler!!!Gas mowers-the heat from the gas motor heats you up!!Beautiful lawn in the picture!!!Mine doesn't look near that good.The soil in my area is poor.
 
Nicely mowed lawn:

Looks comparable to the job my Toro Super Recycler would do. Only without bagging. While the Snapper Hi-Vac is a well made machine and does it's job VERY WELL it is only good for bagging and is a very crude machine compared to the Toro SR-4. The robust deck and Disc-Drive system are well thought out and well made. However I would still place a Honda powered Toro SR-4 in the lead.
WK78
 
I rarely bag grass clippings, occasionally in the spring when it grows like crazy and I can't keep up. I keep the grass at 3.5 inches so it seldom needs watering either.  I don't understand people who try and keep a near putting green lawn and then end up having it burn or trying to keep it watered every day..   My neighbor, she likes her grass about 1" and it's thin and always weedy.. Her hubby comes over and says how nice my lawn looks and I tell him why cuz she cuts it way too short,, yes she does the cutting. No changing her mind, nor some of the others around here. 
 

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