New Honda Cordless Electric Mowers

[MowerMike]

Honda Lawn Mowers | HRX HRN HRC HRS Mowers | Honda Power Equipment

Honda lawn mowers offer exceptional performance, reliability, and features. Choose from top rated residential mowers and heavy duty commercial walk behind mowers.

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So, as many of you probably know, Honda stopped manufacturing gasoline engine powered lawn mowers in 2023 and has replaced them with a new line of cordless electric mowers that use the same decks and self-propel belt drive systems (except the blade stop models use a separate electric motor to drive the rear wheels). I recently bought the HRN-BV model, which retails for $899, but found one discounted 44% to $499 at a local Northern Tool + Equipment store. This is their lowest priced model and Honda no longer offers a less expensive push model. As a back story, I recently turned 80 and all my lawn mowers have been push type, so I wanted to get a self-propel model. I have always wanted a Honda mower, but until recently they were gas powered and I have long since adopted electric tools. The Hondas have a well deserved reputation for high quality, durability and reliability. They are more rugged than other brands in many ways. For example, most brands like EGO use plastic ring and pinion gears in their self-propel drive systems, but Honda uses a steel pinion gear and a metal sprocket in the wheel instead of a molded plastic ring gear. The only real wear part that I can see is the drive belt, which should last many years and is relatively inexpensive. Another factor in my decision to buy a Honda mower is their MicroCut twin blade system which does a far superior job mulching grass than any single blade setup. I know it works because my previous push mower (60v Greenworks) also has stacked dual blades). The HRN-BV kit includes an 8 Ah battery that is supposed to offer 30 minutes of runtime and a 2A charger that takes over 4 hours (250 minutes) to recharge the battery. This might be a problem for someone with a larger lawn, but mine is just 0.15 acres, and I can easily get it mowed in under 30 minutes. I haven't had a chance to test it yet, since my grass is past the growing season. Once I get to test it more completely, I'll return to add my experience.

 

[MowerMike]

Update on my Honda HRN-BV mower. Used it today to mow my entire .15 acre lawn and used just half of the battery charge. There has been very little growth since I bought it eight weeks ago, so it didn't have to labor a lot to mow and propel. The mowing is clean with no stragglers or clumps and the mulched clippings are very small. The self propel was a bit jerky at first until the belt broke in and is now very smooth. Initially I used it without gloves but found it very uncomfortable since the handlebar has no padding and the blade bail bar is rectangular with sharp edges. So I finished up with some padded grippy gloves which works fine. My front yard is rather bumpy which is quite noticeable with the small eight inch wheels, especially in the rear. I'm confident that when the grass is longer, thicker and wetter I'll still be able to complete mowing on a single charger of the battery, so I won't be needing to buy a rapid charger.