I bought a Honda Mower thinking I was getting a top quality product that professionals used.
For a couple of years I have mowed my lawn, the catcher rarely has grass in it as the chute clogs and the mower just spays cut grass all over the lawn.
Extremely angry that I have paid double what other mowers cost to buy something has a major fault in design, I didn't know this until I read reviews that others have left to say they too were having the same issues.
Avoid buying when mowers half the price would do a better job.
The one good feature o...Read more

I have been using this model for a year now and I have figured how to mow my lawn and get the clipping into the chute properly. Basically at each end of the lawn strip, you have to let go of the blade lever so it's just the engine running. Then after you turn your mower around, push the lever for the blade to start spinning again, the the blades will create an airflow to the back of the chute. You can see the chute puffing up! Do this as you go up and down the lawn and the bag will fill up quickly. Please note when i purchase the mower, it came...Read more

I wish I had done some research before buying this lawnmower. Where do I start.
1. I bought it because it was "commerical grade" thinking that would mean high quality. The engine seems underpowered to me but that is the least of it's problems. I cannot see how someone could use this mower if they had a mowing business.
2. The chute is too small. Way too small. It is also very poorly designed. I can see Honda have said there is no issue with it... but believe me there is. As an Engineer myself I can see straight that the design is e...Read more

I had an old Honda commercial mower I'm a mowing contractor the guys affectionately called her Ronda this thing was unbreakable it had 2 decks replaced as the guys were so rough with it they kept snapping its base it was thrown onto the back of a ute 4 days a week and did no less than 3 lagans of 200 mill + a day TOP machine then I bought the new one well were do I start
1) So heavy we cant lift it onto the back of the ute regularly
2) it mulches like a champ once you work out how to get the plug in
3) throw away the catcher tho it...Read more

I had Masport lawn mower with a Honda Motor for over 10 years and decided to replace the mower and give the old mower to my son. Long story short we bought a new Honda Heritage lawn mower $1,100. The salesman (Rising Sun Honda in Townsville) said it will run better if you use 95 unleaded which we went and bought.
Got the mower home, followed the manual for starting and doesn't even want to give an indication that it wants to start. "Easy start" it said, I think not. I've read the manual to find out the 4 year warranty isn't worth the paper it'...Read more

I replaced my 18 year old Victa with a Honda HRU196M1. At the time I thought I was buying a Honda product that was well designed. It seems that some kind of engineering focus group with no lawn mowing experience thought they new better and introduced some very ingenious design features.
1. It's very heavy
2. The starter cord is located on the handle bar and gets caught on every low bush. It also wears the cord out early
3. The throttle handle has no guard and gets caught on every low bush, turning the mower off.
4. The design of the mulchi...Read more

I am a contracter and have been for 10 years.. Always used victa and masport, tried an old Honda once and it failed with low power & extremely heavy.. so after a long time thought I would try the range with blade brake, my knees where hurting at the end of the first day.. Still way too heavy.. First job clutch on the blade brake started to slip.. I was shocked.. 2 inch high grass made this mower fail.. Couldn't believe it..

I ended up removing 2 blades to reduce resistance in thick grass and it cut better but wouldn't mulch or catch very we...Read more

This mower is truly terrible. At the very slightest hint of moisture in the lawn, it simply blocks up and you need to stop mowing and clear the blockage. This gives you another 5 seconds of mowing before it happens again.

The little amount of cut lawn that does make it into the bag simply falls out onto the ground once the bag is separated from the mower because of the bag design.

I have seen the responses on other reviews from Honda celebrating the introduction of the Heritage mower that apparently doesn't have these faults. The only pro...Read more

On looking at mowers I first saw a Honda advertised for 599 or 699. I thought wow a Honda thats not too expensive. However I discovered the GC engines on the cheaper Hondas have a plastic cam shaft! (look it up on Youtube) Yep you get what you pay for in this instance. I had 2 Honda powered generators, both powered by GX engines and never missed a beat. So upon learning about the plastic inside the GC engines I chose this one because its got the old school GX engine in the Long Rang version. My lawn was 2 feet high in some parts when it arrived...Read more

My review is of the Honda HRU196 L/R (Long Range)
I bought this mower like many others, as a commercial grade unit for my lawn and garden maintenance business from Lake Outdoor Power Equipment, who, I might add, were good and thorough with the sale.
6 weeks in, my review is ready.
To keep this brief, I will list good and bad points

The engine:
Fantastic. Nice and smooth and quiet, A lot of people complain about the low RPM. Initially I did too but I realised I've never been in want of more power, even thought this mower came out of the f...Read more