I bought this Honda in the spring of 2014 to replace my Toro personal Pace mower. The transmission died on the Toro so I got rid of it. I mow a lot starting in February mowing tall fescue at least weekly. I bag a lot as I like the look better than mulching. I do like being able to direct some clippings to the ground or the bag. I have replaced the blade control cable this year. (I fold the handle after each use for storage and the cable finally broke). I am still on the original belt and tires! I have had to replace the front wheel bearings and the sleeves that hold the adjusters on to the body twice. This is cheap and easy to do. My hardware store where I bought it gets my parts in 3 days. replacing these items keeps the mower mowing straight. I change the oil twice a year and sharpen the blades about 4 times a year. If I mow in damp conditions, I tilt up the mower and wash out the deck. Grass will stick to the deck but not as bad as a painted steel mower. This mower mows very well but for mulching leaves it is not nearly as good as the Toro was so I usually use the bag to collect them. No problems on the transmission it is very similar to the Toro personal pace system. I run ethanol free gas that with stabilizer in it. I run the mower dry for winter storage. I am having some rough running now and suspect I need to clean the carb. I have the procedure and will probably do that today. Surprised I would have this trouble using better gas...My neighbor has the same mower but even older and uses ethanol fuel that is never drained from it and it still runs like new. This winter I will adjust the valves as the mower sounds a bit noisier than it used to and comparing it to my neighbors mine has some valve noise. His mows 1/2 as often as I do. So it has been a great mower. I started with the smaller engine metal body Honda mower for $399 and it just could not handle my deep thick grass and would clog so I returned it and got the HRX model. big difference and quieter also.
Good information on your Honda HRX experience. I purchased an HRX217K2VKA back in late 2009/early 2010 and used it for 7 years without a single issue. For the first 6 years I ran regular gas in it and when I came to find E0 I switched to that. It was maybe a bit overboard, but every spring I would just pop in a new plug, air cleaner and new blades. I always used Genuine Honda SAE30 oil as I never cut when outside temperatures were under 50 degrees F. Every oil change that I do in ALL of my equipment includes a flush as well. Oil is cheap enough that I run for 10 minutes, drain, fill back up, run for another 10 minutes and then top off. I used to do my oil changes in the spring but I have recently changed over to end of season changes; it just doesn't make sense to leave dirty oil in your engine over the winter. But in the case of my Honda, at any given time the oil was always golden yellow/brown and clear opacity.
A couple of things that I would add to your experience with the HRX is the Smart Drive System. Many users did not like this system, or simply had bad luck with it. Over the years I had adjusted the Smart Drive using the in-line adjustment sleeve/nut and never had a problem with it. The mover never locked up pulling backwards and always rolled freely in every direction.
Sad to say that I got rid of my HRX back in 2017 when I moved to a much larger lot. I will say that cutting a quarter acre lot 1-2x a week for all those years without any issues, sure speaks for the exceptional quality and reliability of the HRX. I can promise you that most any problem that anyone would have with the cut quality of this machine, that person is likely not following the basic rules/principles of mowing, or their expectations are way out of line.
Following the sale of my HRX I purchased a HRS216K5PKA which is the side discharge push mower. I do have a a few gripes with this mower but none of them are with the cut quality or the engine. I am tall and the handle on that model is not adjustable. I also miss the self propelled option as I find that I use it quite a bit in areas where I do not take my Exmark. With that being said, I am looking to get another self-propelled Honda mower this year. I am thinking that the new HRX217K6VKA will be choice, but I am not a fan of the new Select Drive system. I have already looked into a $100 conversion to get it over to Smart Drive; I just have to give the new system a chance to see if it is to my liking.
Thanks for your feedback on your mower and continued luck to you with your equipment.
thanks Cruzenmike for the info on your mower. I wish Honda would at least make this one a 22 inch or even make a 26 inch mower... I did some work on my mower since posting trying to get it to run better. It was running too rich and missing some. I removed and cleaned the carb with the instructions found on this site, replaced the plug which was very black and sooty but I still had the roughness. Decided to go to my dealer and got a new carb for $32 and my pull cord was not retracting like it should so got an whole new assembly for $13. I put it back together this morning. Since I had it apart I also removed the fuel tank and drained it and checked the fuel filter. I needed new gas so I got some E0 and filled it and it now runs like new. No roughness. Hardest part was keeping the six pieces (3 carb parts and 3 gaskets) together while putting it back together. I cut the yard and drained and refilled the oil since I had it warmed up. Good to go for the mowing season.
