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I own a personal pace Toro that is about 14 years old and it has been a great mower and the cut is excellent. I am still using the mower now and can use the bag or much and switching takes seconds only.
Had it in the shop on one ocasdion due to carborator gum up thanks to ethonal in the gas.
Looked at some Honda models and I don't think they are worth the price. Definitely don't like the fact the Honda models only go to 3.75" cutting height...too short.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rickcin
I own a personal pace Toro that is about 14 years old and it has been a great mower and the cut is excellent. I am still using the mower now and can use the bag or much and switching takes seconds only.
Had it in the shop on one ocasdion due to carborator gum up thanks to ethonal in the gas.
I have vowed never to buy a Toro again. I started a thread somewhere in this forum about which mower I should buy next. (Ended up with Honda. Not thrilled with that, either, but that's another thread.) A couple thoughts:
(1) Personal pace is nice, I'll give it that. Much better than Honda's equivalent, which knows only 2 speeds: slower than a turtle and wild horses running away.
(2) The last 2 Toros I owned had a design flaw where the spark plug wire kept getting cut or melting. It drove me crazy. The most recent Toro is in my shed, just waiting for me to offer it to someone for free. I refuse to pay to fix it again.
(3) My first Toro had a key/electric start. It was nice for the first year and then became crankier and crankier, until finally it didn't start any more (it was NOT the battery) by the end of the second year. Unfortunately, the model I had did not have an option for pull-starting, so I was S.O.L. when the key start mechanism stopped working.
(4) The battery in the key/electric start models adds a LOT of weight. Recyclers tend to be heavier units to start with, and when you add the battery, they are that much harder to maneuver, due to the weight. I am a petite female, so maybe that was the problem. If you are a big guy, the extra weight may not be a big deal to you.
(5) The Super Recycler is better at handling weeds and tall grass. When mine was actually working, it never bogged down. My first 2 Toros were regular Recyclers and they would cough and choke on tall grass, no matter how high I set the cut height.
End of Toro rant. If you like yours (assuming you buy a Toro) and it cuts well, that's all that matters.
I've got this mower, except mine is the AWD version. It's just ok. Always starts, but I've had to adjust the personal pace cables a couple of times and the belt underneath the deck. It doesn't mulch very well to be honest, but think that can be fixed with a better blade. If the grass is anything but bone dry, save yourself the agony of trying to bag it. Gets clogged a lot if grass is even remotely damp (say morning dew). On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 7.
I have vowed never to buy a Toro again. I started a thread somewhere in this forum about which mower I should buy next. (Ended up with Honda. Not thrilled with that, either, but that's another thread.) A couple thoughts:
(1) Personal pace is nice, I'll give it that. Much better than Honda's equivalent, which knows only 2 speeds: slower than a turtle and wild horses running away.
(2) The last 2 Toros I owned had a design flaw where the spark plug wire kept getting cut or melting. It drove me crazy. The most recent Toro is in my shed, just waiting for me to offer it to someone for free. I refuse to pay to fix it again.
(3) My first Toro had a key/electric start. It was nice for the first year and then became crankier and crankier, until finally it didn't start any more (it was NOT the battery) by the end of the second year. Unfortunately, the model I had did not have an option for pull-starting, so I was S.O.L. when the key start mechanism stopped working.
(4) The battery in the key/electric start models adds a LOT of weight. Recyclers tend to be heavier units to start with, and when you add the battery, they are that much harder to maneuver, due to the weight. I am a petite female, so maybe that was the problem. If you are a big guy, the extra weight may not be a big deal to you.
(5) The Super Recycler is better at handling weeds and tall grass. When mine was actually working, it never bogged down. My first 2 Toros were regular Recyclers and they would cough and choke on tall grass, no matter how high I set the cut height.
End of Toro rant. If you like yours (assuming you buy a Toro) and it cuts well, that's all that matters.
I used to be a Toro dealer about 42 years ago. At the same time I sold Toro I would go to the National Hardware Show in NYC and buy fifty to one hundred cheap mowers for about $25 each. The cheap mowers I would sell for about $50 each and most Toro's, at that time, were well over $100 (if I remember correctly). While I sold more 'cheap' mowers than Toro's; I saw fewer cheap mowers in my shop for repair than their more expensive counterpart.
I have been out of business for many, many years and I really am not familiar with today's Toro's. My experience is that name brands and cost do not always make a great mower. People have to do their homework.
One thing that hurt the cutting ability of all mowers were the safety regulations when they, OSHA, restricted blade tip speed to only 19,000 feet per minute: https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owa...ARDS&p_id=9850. "1910.243(e)(2)(ix)
The maximum tip speed of any blade shall be 19,000 feet per minute." Many of our small motors were designed to reach maximum torque at 3,600 rpm's. However, to achieve the 19,000 fpm we can only run these motors at 3298 rpms (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...jlxwah0bcLvPIw) - which is well below the most efficient operating rpms. Of course there are ways around this with gears or pulleys where we can operate mowers at faster rpm's and still maintain only the legal maximum blade tip speed. These regulations went into effect when I was in business and customers were not happy that I had to turn their rpms down to avoid law suits.
So if you were to do it over again, would you have gone with something else?
Always bag here so need something with a 4" cut height and easy and effective bagging system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NC211
I've got this mower, except mine is the AWD version. It's just ok. Always starts, but I've had to adjust the personal pace cables a couple of times and the belt underneath the deck. It doesn't mulch very well to be honest, but think that can be fixed with a better blade. If the grass is anything but bone dry, save yourself the agony of trying to bag it. Gets clogged a lot if grass is even remotely damp (say morning dew). On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 7.
I think I would've done a little more research on bagging ability, to be honest. Otherwise it's been a pretty good mower. I would definitely get a better blade though, no question about it. I haven't used mine in a couple of months, as I finally hung it up and handed over the mowing duty to one of the several landscapers who come through our neighborhood every week. They can mow and bad my yard inside of 20 minutes, whereas I was spending 2 hours and dead tired afterwards. Grew tired of being so tired on my Saturday or Sunday, and have too many other projects to focus on. So, I shelved the mower for another time when I have the free time.
I really can't say what mower is best anymore. I hear good things about Honda, but they're pretty steep in cost. I used to have a Sears big wheel and rear-wheel drive. It was great at bagging, but everything else broke (won't ever buy sears again). The Toro has taken a beating far worse than the sears did, and nothing has broken (specifically wheel mount brackets). It just struggles to bag if the grass is even remotely damp. The opening to the bag is too small and not quite a direct shot for the clippings to enter the bag. Damp grass ends up sticking to the deck and clogging up about every 50 feet or so. If the grass is very dry, it's excellent. Not 110% dry, and a bit of a hassle.
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Appreciate the feedback.
If you like yours (assuming you buy a Toro) and it cuts well, that's all that matters.
