I don't own any of the above mowers, but I have started my 19th season with my Honda Masters. A few spark plugs, a couple blades & air filters and yearly oil changes is all its needed.

For leaves, the Honda Versa mow is pretty highly touted-

"The system also offers a setting for leaf shredding where leaves are recirculated until they are small enough to pass through the Versamow opening and into the bag. All this can take place without a conventional mulch plug and the labor-intensive conversion associated with most mowers."

Have posted my opinion of the Toro Personal Pace with electric start as a part time trimming mower only....

lasted 1 year and locked up from hard starts.... never again :)

good luck on your decision...

johnboytoo:

What model Toro Personal Pace did you have?

Was it a Super Recycler or a Recycler?

Was it a recently purchased Toro or one from a the past?

What kind of engine did it have on it?

Did Toro and/or the Toro dealer stand behind the warranty?

Thanks,

easternupstate

----------------------------------------------------------

* Posted by johnboytoo on Sun, Apr 8, 07 at 8:01

Have posted my opinion of the Toro Personal Pace with electric start as a part time trimming mower only....

lasted 1 year and locked up from hard starts.... never again :)

good luck on your decision...

Well, you mentioned heavy duty metal parts...and for that, I'd probably want the Ariens. I went with the Snapper Commercial for that reason. I looked at the height adjusters on the Toro, LawnBoy,etc. and thought they looked like they were made out of that metal that you band wood bundles together with. I think the Honda had some sort of metal for that Xenoy deck, even though the detents were plastic. My dad has a HRX217, and he likes it. I really wanted to like the LawnBoys, but I couldn't get past all of that plastic and the engine choices (refuse to go Briggs Quantum due to experience and discussions with shops). I realllly wanted the Kawasaki and I love power/idle of the engine. Tecumseh really impressed me a week ago, though, because my dad gave me his Yard Machine late last fall and I left it outside because I had no room and in the garage. We got hit with some snow that lasted months and it sat under a drift for at least 2 months, non-winterized and recently started after some priming and playing with it for 5 minutes or so.

I was down to either a Husky, Ariens or Snapper. For the money, I could get the best features on the Snapper Pro. I liked the controls better on it, and the bagging system was more ideal than the Ariens for me. Plus, you can add the casters to the Snapper Commercial, and the caster model of the Ariens just didn't appeal to me at all. The Husky had the aluminum deck, but I still liked the Snapper better for that price range. I'm hoping that it will last a long time and I love it so far.
Maybe all of the plastic and lighter metal on those other mowers is okay for what I would do with a mower. My dad broke the back wheel off of his Yard Machines a year or two ago, and that was the metal part.

colosilverado

Which Snapper Pro did you go with?

The link below is to Snapper's latest info on their website
http://www.snapperpro.com/commercial_trim_mowers.php

When I was a kid... mid 80's my Dad always had a Snapper. When the B&S stock engine took a dump... the local mower shop put a Kawasaki on it... back in the late 80's. We dubbed it... the Kawasnapper.

I will have to take a look at Snapper's commercial mowers... just to have a look see and compare to the others I am looking at. Snapper residential mowers are pretty much junk from what I can tell... they seem to private label machines for just about everyone out there... JD, etc.

The more I think about it... the more I really want to have the blade stop feature. i.e. Have the mower stay running while changing the bag... but having the blade stop for safety. I do leaves a couple times a week in the fall for a couple hours at a crack... starting the mower up 20+ times is a real pain. I don't think any of the commercial grade mowers have the blade stop... as they probably don't want it for employee/safety reasons and they aren't bagging usually.

Thanks for the input.

Here is a link that might be useful: Snapper Pro Commercial

It is a CP216018KWV.
I assume that it is the model from the year before....
I asked the dealer about the BBC and he said that Snapper quit doing those because they had a lot of problems with them due to the complexity and fragile parts. I don't know if that is a load, or not...
I just love the idle of the Kawi! I know, that is pretty geeky, but it seems like it runs a lot slower/lower at idle than others. It just lopes along like a big cam V8.. ;)