re: Recommend me a good self-propelled mower UPDATE on page 4 - used husqvarna question

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I have a Snapper Ninja. 19 years old. Starts 1st crank every time.

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ok it looks like neck & neck between snapper & honda.

i think the snapper ninja is the clear winner though. love the cup holder and the fact there's no stupid bag which is useless with a yard my size.

to the poster w/ pics; i'm in tn so that probably counts me out coming over & picking one of them up.


ETA why don't more mowers come with cupholders?? this is a no-brainer. i keep my insulated water mug on the brick at the top of my driveway and its a haul going uphill to get it when i'm thirsty. much rather have cup holder on my mower & be able to drink when i get thirsty.

i'm probably the exception. it takes me 3 hours to mow my lawn and 3 full gas tank refills. i'm guessing other people don't have as much to mow so they can wait & drink water when they're done.

must haves:

- good on hills (2 wheel drive needed, not 1 wheel or else i cant make slanted routes easily)
- large back wheels for same reason
- good at mulching because my yard grows like crazy
- would prefer a larger fuel tank but it seems these all top out at 1qt.
- why are all push mowers 21/22" blades? why not 24"? 25"?
- bagging apparatus is wasted on me. wish you could buy a pure mulching mower without the excess...'baggage' :rimshot2:
- would prefer a metal transmission but at $1500 i can't really afford a toro 22290.
- need a reliable deck lever system in front. the plastic deck selectors wear out after 1-2 seasons for me and then the lawnmower is pretty much trash at that point. you can overcome alot of problems with a mower but if its scalping your lawn its worthless.

i'm actually looking at the toro super recycler and possibly another troy-built if i can find one without that shitty plastic front deck with screws that work loose over time.

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Because the whole idea is fricking stupid.

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clearly it doesn't take you 3 hours to mow your lawn and your house isn't at the top of a hill you have to walk up to get water.

its not stupid to me at all. i waste time stopping the mower and going to the house to get water.

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Or, mow in a way that takes you back to where your water is.

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this is probably the dumbest comment you've ever made

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with your budget have you looked at this 30" mower?

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yep. that mower is notorious on the forums apparently for constantly falling apart and needing all sorts of belts and other parts to keep it going to the point 'timemaster' is synonymous with 'timewaster'.

so no, i'm not looking at that one based on reviews of people who own them. most of the people who own them say these stay on their garage most of the time and they use a super recycler or something else that even with a 21" blade they claim is faster.

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Whether if you run the Exmark 30 or Toro 30s they both share a common problem, rapid bbc.belt stretch, mine(Exmark commercial 30) started slipping around 50 hours.So I removed the shroud and inspected the belt, it still looked new, however it was sloppy.Most operators tighten the cable so the idler is forced closer to the belt to prevent slippage,theres 2 problems with that, 1 you'll lose the brake for the blades and 2 the cable will be under stress all the time

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Absolutely agree with you. No doubt the 21 is the real tank. And going to work with a 100% reliable mower has no cost. When you buy a turfmater/timemaster you NEED to learn to repair it and maybe buy some pulleys, belts, cables... because it WILL happen. Boring.

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TurfMaster was updated but OP and OakNut were talking about the TimeMaster which, to my knowledge, hasn't been changed much since it came out and still has its original faults. I just did bearing kits on one and they're still supplying dollar store bearings. Between the two for commercial use i'd definitely stick with a 21" simply due to its proven mechanical reliability while the TimeMaster has proven mechanical unreliability.

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how much sq ft are you mowing?

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my yard is ASSHOE. when we've paid people to cut it in the past they came with all sorts of mowers and charge too much.

i had a lesco 36" walk behind for a short time until it went backwards and pinned me against a telephone pole when i accidently took it out of gear to change direction. i turned it off but was pinned against my chest for a good 30 seconds while i had to figure out how to get it off me before i suffocated. scariest freak accident of my life.

it went on craigslist the next day.

its about an acre; split into 3 big sections due to a circular drive.

inside the drive can take an hour or longer depending on whether or not i've let the grass go for more than a week. i spend much of my time scraping the buildup from the deck. the ditch has a significant slope and i need cleated shoes to keep from slipping down when trying to mow sideways.

to the right of the driveway there is alot of cuttting in to do and again; slippery grass is a recipe for disaster as i have to plan the angles to keep from slipping down. this takes a solid hour to finish.

the left of the driveway is similar but slightly less land so i can finish this side in 45 minutes but its MUCH STEEPER so i get exhausted from going up and down and thats why i save this for last.*

finally there are 2 berms in front of the house that the yard guys used to cut with string trimmers. however i can handle these with a light mower and it looks much better than doing it with a trimmer. these take me anywhere from 15-20 minutes and i save these for LAST LAST.

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this is probably the dumbest comment you've ever made

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Not even close.

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apparently the new timesaver (21190) uses a metal pulley now which is the part that broke the most with the prior model.

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My coworker bought one 2 months ago. Oil was gone after 4 cuts, no leak. Warranty will not cover anything of it. crock of shite. the Toro mechanic did state the commercial model would have been covered

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if you're referring to the 'turfmaster' version of this mower i think you're looking at $4K instead of $1K and no way i could justify that.

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They are 2000-2500, but great time at end of season to find one from a lawn service company looking to sell

But that mower should last you a lifetime, plus it cuts faster and has a much larger gas tank.

I know you said you had a hill, is it crazy steep? A walk behind 36" or bigger would really be the best solution. They will last forever with a Homeowner and cut tremendously faster and better in the thick wet stuff