Bought the Honda HRX217VKA

[timlinden]

Hi All

I finally got permission from the wife to purchase a new mower. She doesn't know
how much mowers cost so I didn't have a budget =P

I purchased the Honda HRX217VKA from a local family owned dealer. It was all ready
to go with oil and a bit of gas. Brought it home and got to mow the lawn where I forgot
to mow the day before.

Things I've noticed:

- The speed / power doesn't slow down on thick parts of the lawn. I went full speed
through it with the mower not even making the slightest hesitation.

- The operation of it is very smooth and easy. It's much lighter than I expected and
has a comfortable handle bar and the wheels are great.

- The bag is much bigger than my previous bag

- When in full mulch mode it does drop pieces out the back shoot. Which honestly
if you are full mulching, you want the clippings back in the lawn, so while I can say
it happens on mine I'm not sure why people get upset over it.

- The pull start is way easy. My last mower started on one pull but this one I felt
like it was roaring before I even pulled all the way.

- The height settings are based on length. This frustrated me most on the last mower,
I can't remember numbers for the life of me so remembering what #5 or #6 is!? lol


Overall I'm very impressed. I knew it would be "better" but until I used it I didn't really
know what I was missing. I look forward to trying it on the fall leaves soon!

Tim

PS. Thank you to everyone who's posted reviews and thoughts on mowers here, it made
it real easy for me to pick which mower to get!

 

[JSB33]

Congratulations.
I think the thing I noticed first and the most was how it just plows through anything without bogging. A real tank.

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

I moved your thread to the Honda Forum. :smile:

I'm super glad you like the mower! :thumbsup: Mine, too, doesn't have the best seal on the mulch plug. Most people say this. But the only negative to this is that you have to clean out the back chute after you are done. It does not affect the cutting performance because only a few blades of cut grass fall out the back at a time. I agree with how easy to start it is!! It's great! Keep us posted to how it performs in the fall. The bagging in the fall is great!

 

[Gsnod]

Likewise, I just got an HRX2173HYA model, serial number MAGA-2053766. What a great cutting machine. No evidence of small pieces of grass, although I also have a small amount of grass in the chute area when the mulch plate is fully closed. Not a big deal fro me, as I just wipe it out with my hand when done mowing.

Interesting, today, on my second use of this mower, I heard a screech when I activated the blade. Soon went away, yet it certainly raised my blood pressure a bit at first....any idea what that might have been? Mower performed fine, yet just wonderin....

 

[Giblet]

Ditto on the comments.

 

[stygz]

There is probably a warning in the manual for this but I just slide the clip director to the left (bagging mode) when the mower is running (over concrete) and this seems to blow out the area that collects grass.