Which self-propelled lawnmower do you recommend?

I’ve had a Honda self-propelled and it’s worked for more than a decade, if not even longer. If you’re still really desperate for a BS (lol, i’m so immature) motor, go to The Home Depot or Lowe’s and ask the guys there. They should know their mowers enough to help you find what you’re looking for.

@john65pennington

Don’t go to the big box stores, they buy a cheaper version. Poulan Pro makes a good mower but I can’t say it isn’t made in China.

It’s been quite some time since I shopped for mowers, as well, so I can’t really help here but am interested to see what others have to say. When I did last look, riding mowers with built in ice chests and cup holders caught my eye. Self propelled, huh? Let me know if they now also have the initiative to start themselves when appropriate, properly mow the lawn, edge and clean-up without having to bang on my door with outstretched palm seeking a monthly check. I’ll take one. See ya…..Gary/wtf

I have a self-propelled mower from Sears- not sure what the motor is. It’s about 13 years old and that little honey cuts everything-nice and wide-can bag or not. I leave whatever gas and oil are left in it all winter and top it up in the spring. It failed me once because it had a hard pinecone trapped in it.

This is probably a tough sell, but at least give a look-see at electrics. When I had a lawn, I bought one and freedom from gas cans, oil spills and engine maintenance was a revelation.

But if parts of your lawn are more than 75 feet from a socket, then I’d go with gas.

I had this one, it’s been around for years which is a good recommendation in itself – Black & Decker 19-inch Electric Lawnhog

We had a big, strong, expensive Kubota for about 20 years to take care of a long hillside with very rough grass and occasional poplar upstarts. That worked beautifully till my renter ran it over a rock that he had thrown into said rough grass, and broke it irrevocably. I hope he dies of a painful wasting disease; but, sticking to the point, I then bought a series of four electrics, hoping to save the planet. I had to send each one back – none were strong enough for the task at hand. Now I have a mid-range key-start 700-series Briggs & Stratton from Sears. It’s great – reliable, fast, isn’t a prima donna -except for the keystart, which never looked too reliable (it’s a plastic key, for heaven’s sake – plastic!) (it bends!) but you can start them with a pull cord as well. This number cost me about $325.

a long hillside with very rough grass and occasional poplar upstarts

True, electrics are not up to that. If you are simply cutting grass, though, they work fine.

Actually, an electric was the only thing that could handle my old yard in NH. When going far from the house, I actually toted the generator along (great excuse to start/run the thing periodically) so I didn’t need more than one extension cord.

The problem I had with gas-powered mowers was that they would stall too easily. The electric we had was rated at the equivalent of just over 3.5 HP, less than the gassers we had, but since torque actually increased as RPMs dropped, the thing would just brute-force it’s way through our yard, pine sproutlings and all.

I truly think it’s a case of “your mileage may vary” though.

Honda make good pedestrian mowers and you can normally disengage the cutters, and still operate the drive which is handy when going over stony areas.

Poulan is nothing but junk. It is overpriced scrap made to be sold at WalMart. Go with something like Troybilt with a briggs and stratton engine, or a John Deere. Honda is good but they are harder to get parts for and more expensive to get fixed.