Honda HRU216SU Lawn Mower Review

A Review Of A Honda Self Propelled Mower

This Review is a modified discussion taken from a Contractors Site, used with permission.

SG:

Well I have bitten the bullet and forked out $1350 for the above lawn mower.

It was between the Rover with a 6.5 hp Intek Engine 20'and the Honda, the Rover wins on paper,,,, bigger motor, cheaper price, 2 years warranty instead of one that the Honda has, but I have not heard enough about them to take the risk, the Intek Motor I have heard mixed reports about, and was not about to gamble on it.

First impressions are its heavy, its 40 odd kilos, I put the single board ramp that goes up the ute, normal rotary goes straight up on one wheel with a bit of balancing, but needed two people to get this one on, one to balance the sides.

First try out on my very small lawn, it has 3 gears, the first two are a little slow, 3rd gear is about a good speed for walking, very hard to turn, you cant spin it around like a roller or normal rotary lawn mower, maybe a wider arc perhaps ? or drop out of gear and turn around it will be a matter of technique I guess.

The 5.5 hp motor seems to have enough power, 6.5 hp would be nicer but I will see how it goes.

It has an alumium deck and a 73 litre dacron bag (plastic around 50 ?

First service is at 5 hours and is a very important service according to the dealer, check that its running in properly etc.

Rover Dealer said Honda is very over rated and they feel you are paying for the name, Honda dealer says lawn mowing contractors are having lots of trouble with there Rovers.

S:

As for the Inteks and Hondas, and Rovers and Hondas, I always take such advice with a grain of salt. First of all, get me a Contractor who has used both lawn mower setups equally to give me an unbiased review, I'd say they would be few and far between. So I wouldnt take biased advice from someone who has never used the other machine and just wants to stick to what he knows.

As for the shops, they always push their own gear, trying to sell items with the highest markup or lawn mower brands that are linked to their shops allegiance (think Stihl shops), and they are prompted to sell off discontinued models etc. Where the shops are good are at ripping the other brands to shreds, it can be some good info to start with when you get an idea of the weaknesses of the other brands.

Nice purchase there SG, keep us up to date with how its going.

SG:

Well I had a bit of a chuckle at the Rover shop saying you are paying for the Honda name, so when I asked at the Honda shop I was not suprised when he said lawn mowing contractors are bringing there Rovers in to him because they are having problems, I reckon if the guys with Rovers are having problems they would be taking them back to the Rover shop not the Honda dealer

You are correct we need somebody who has used both for a proper comparsion, funny the Rover dealer said all the local contractors love the Rovers but I have never seen any with any on board, mostly Honda rotarys, not always self propelled but still Honda.

Whether I got the better of the two is anybodys guess, but the Honda name is a pretty good one in the lawn mower industry.

SG:

Well I have mowed a couple of large lawns, not high but weedy type lawns.

The height adustment took a little getting used to, being that the deck is very heavy as I pulled the lever out the deck dropped straight to the ground, something to get used to I guess.

Well I have to say its very slow, 1st gear is like a slow shuffle, 2nd gear is a very slow walk and 3rd gear is a slow walk, it took a bit longer to mow than with the push lawn mower, not a lot longer but a few more minutes.

The dacron catcher is 73 litres which mean fewer stops, its very hard to get the lawn clippings out, it can be a bit like getting tooth paste out of a tube, you have to bang, squeeze, prod etc to get in all out, about 20 -30 seconds it took last time i heard it can take longer when lawn clippings are wet.

All in all its well below my expectations, I thought with a self propelled lawn mower I might be able to do the lawns quicker, it was suprising that it takes longer, I guess I am guilty of expecting to much.

The stand out was that I was not fatigued after lawn mowing, this is the big positive thats come out of it, I guess what it boils down to is this was the main reason of purchase, I get worn out after doing 3 push mowing jobs together (2 off those big corner blocks), another reason is to tackle yard cleanups and high grass, I am not confident it will perform better that the push lawn mowers at the moment, we will see later .

Ph:

If you keep your oil changes regular and your air filter clean, the extra revs won't shorten the life. Its a Honda remember. If you're still using 2 high lift and 2 low lift blades switch to all high lifts. As far as Rovers go its all in the motors. Briggs & Stratton are tough but very heavy on petrol compared to the Honda which also has a bigger fuel tank. Hondas run quieter as well.

SG:

Well its been awhile so its time for an update on this lawn mower.

Well basiclly now i have gotten used to it i can never go back to a non self propelled lawn mowers, theres less fatigue, catcher is bigger so less stops and it generally makes things much easier.

The downside is it can clog up easily on wet grass/high grass but most rotarys do IMO, I do like the way i can tap the darcon bag with my foot and gauge how full it is on the move as opposed to taking a plastic one off to check.

A thing to watch is the revs after a while they drop (2-3 months) in my case anyway,it was getting slower and slower, I spoke to the lawn mower mechanic about increasing the revs, he was very opposed to the idea saying its a "high torque" machine and has no need to go faster, he also suggested you would miss proper lawn mowing if it went quicker.

Another thing to note is the lawn mower mechanic put high and low blades on at the last service, 2 of each, I forgot to ask him the benefits or the reasoning behind it.

All in all its a good bang for your buck, my expectations were too high when I first got this lawn mower and it took a little while to get used to it.

In summing up it makes life a lot easier, I used my old non propelled rotary lawn mower on one job since I purchased this one, never again I hope, it's too hard on the body pushing lawn mowers.

BLT:

Well I've been running one of these big girls for about a year now and wouldn't buy anything else.

The way i use it if any help to anyone is:

Always keep a spare clutch spring,

I only use two high lift blades for reg cut lawns and on high grass jobs put four high lifts on it packs more in the bag less trips to the ute. Try to stay away from four blades regularly, due to it sand blasting your deck and creating faster wear,

Rear Wheels, will slow it down when they wear out a bit, I didn't beleive it until i put new ones on and off she went,

Governor: I only tweaked mine a touch to get a comfortable walking speed in 3rd, no point running after it.

BLZ:

Well, this is a subject that I definitely feel qualified to comment on as I have run a Rover 20" & Rover 22" Self Propelled, plus the Honda 216, plus several Honda push lawn mowers.

The difference between the Honda Self Propelled & the Rover Self Propelled lawn mowers is simply performance vs reliability! Yup, the rover has a bigger, stronger engine, but the rest of the unit is not contractor quality! The drive system is very unreliable & the other parts (with the exception of the chassis) are, well, USELESS! BUT it will cut thru cane fields no probs for the 12 months or so that it lasts.

The Honda Self Propelled on the other hand will cut normal, dry turf for years & years without any maintenance issues. It suffers in the wet whether you run high lift blades or not, but that is easily fixed by tipping the unit over when it gets blocked & clearing the "throw". It simply will not slash thru the high thatched stuff that the Rover will, but hey WHO CARES! it is almost maintenance free & will last 5-7 times as long as a Rover SP if treated with respect.

And having owned the pushies too, once you are familiar with it, the Self Propelled system is easy to use. Viking (Stihl) also make a Self Propelled rotary mower & some people reckon they are useless. Personally, I reckon that's a compliment to them!

Credit: WALF - SG

Credit: WALF - BLT

Credit: WALF - BLZ

Credit: WALF - S

Credit: WALF - Ph

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A waxy coating on the grains of soil is responsible for the water repelling effect that is often seen in soils, resulting in poor lawn or plant health. In a similar manner to detergents, Wetting Agents will break down this waxy coating, allowing for easier water absorption and retention. Wetting Agents should be included as a normal part of the maintenance routine of every lawn and applied at least twice a year.