What walk behind mowers do you like for Zoysia?

With Honda out of the game your options aren't all that great. Toro, Echo, or Stihl depending on your budget and local availability. High lift deck, sharp blade, and an engine with the power to keep the RPM's up is pretty much what you'd need for any grass. Just that most residential mowers are built poorly overall, the engines have poor durability, and you are still paying like you would for something that would have been commercial-grade in the past.

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I have a Honda

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You have the Cadillac, from everything I read

I would check Facebook marketplace often for a used Honda. If you want new, I would get a Snapper Hi Vac mower. ($799) If you want to spend a LOT, take a look at eXmark commercial walk behind. ($1,900)

It's basically in the same class as a Harbor Freight Predator engine, you might get by just fine as long as you maintain it well. I would run it lightly for a bit and dump maybe two oil changes through it before seriously running it, those engines generally come fairly dirty inside and produce a good bit of break-in wear metal that you are going to want to flush out right away. I would expect it to use more oil and gas than a similar sized B&S or Kawasaki engine.

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Too late for that!

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Not really, I'd go ahead and dump that oil now though.

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Any tips on maintenance?

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Oil change every season, doesn't have to be anything special, any 10W-30 would be fine. If there isn't a fuel shut-off valve on it now, get one, and use it to run the carb dry after every use. If you have access to ethanol-free fuel, great, if not then not a big deal if you throw some Stabil 360 or Stabil Marine in the fuel jug. I keep a can of TrueFuel 4-cycle fuel too, use it to run out and flush the carb of regular gasoline at the end of the season. Do the same with my 2-cycle equipment using Echo RedArmor canned fuel too.

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I really wish there was a <$1k option for a walk behind reel mower, gas

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Used 10-blade McClane on marketplace for $800 in my area...

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I don’t follow…

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I can buy a fiskars reel mower but at some point the manual mower becomes to hard to push through thick grass. Is there something in between that and California trimmer?

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Is there something in between that and California trimmer?

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There are electric reel mowers under or around $200 but who knows if they are worth even that. Gas-powered reel mowers are basically the tools of those whose grass is either a significant hobby or maintaining golf courses these days.