This is old news to many folks here but new news to me that Honda has made the decision to stop making lawn mowers in N. America.
I currently own two cherry examples of Honda's older "master series" mowers. One HR195 (3 speed) and one HR215HMA (hydrostat/electric start). Both are bordering 8.5/10 condition and I'm the second owner for both units but have owned them more than 10 years with little fail aside from needing to clean carbs when I neglected the fuel. I don't own a large property that takes me hours to mow. Typical urban sized postage stamp property.
I've always loved mowing grass, have always owned 2 mowers b/c I like rotating between the 2 depending on my mood and what cut I'm doing.
My question is: Am I insane for wanting to buy a new HRC216 to basically have a 3rd mower sitting in my garage for the sake of being able to own a new piece of engineering marvel history? I'd absolutely use it and I've never used a GXV160 equipped mower. The commercial HRC would be added to my stable and I would not be interested in selling my older master series mowers. Not remotely interested in buying an electric/battery mower and I doubt Honda will introduce one anytime soon. I doubt that my existing mowers would ever fail me but one day in the very far future I would want to hand down a mower to each kid (if gasoline power equipment is even allowed by the time they own their own home). Honda makes some of the best mowers available and it truly saddens me that they've existing this business that has been a mainstay for them for the last 40 years+ years. I've always wanted to own a new Honda mower but just could never justify the steep price tag when buying lightly used was the best value. Buying a used commercial mower is out of the question - they take too much abuse and are run far too long without maintenance (from what I've seen) to shy me away and I'd rather buy once and cry once for this specific model.
Cost of the HRC216 is steep at $1730 CAD plus taxes so not a small sum of money. I can swing it but the bigger question is am I gaining much on a commercial unit over my ultra premium aluminum decked master series units - back in the day a lot of the commercial lawn mowers bought the honda master's line b/c it was built almost as tough as the commercial units. The only difference was the bigger GXV160 motor and steel deck and ball bearing wheels on all 4 corners.
Looking forward to some feedback and hello from a new member.