I had Masport lawn mower with a Honda Motor for over 10 years and decided to replace the mower and give the old mower to my son. Long story short we bought a new Honda Heritage lawn mower $1,100. The salesman (Rising Sun Honda in Townsville) said it will run better if you use 95 unleaded which we went and bought.
Got the mower home, followed the manual for starting and doesn't even want to give an indication that it wants to start. "Easy start" it said, I think not. I've read the manual to find out the 4 year warranty isn't worth the paper it'...Read more

I replaced my 18 year old Victa with a Honda HRU196M1. At the time I thought I was buying a Honda product that was well designed. It seems that some kind of engineering focus group with no lawn mowing experience thought they new better and introduced some very ingenious design features.
1. It's very heavy
2. The starter cord is located on the handle bar and gets caught on every low bush. It also wears the cord out early
3. The throttle handle has no guard and gets caught on every low bush, turning the mower off.
4. The design of the mulchi...Read more

I am a contracter and have been for 10 years.. Always used victa and masport, tried an old Honda once and it failed with low power & extremely heavy.. so after a long time thought I would try the range with blade brake, my knees where hurting at the end of the first day.. Still way too heavy.. First job clutch on the blade brake started to slip.. I was shocked.. 2 inch high grass made this mower fail.. Couldn't believe it..

I ended up removing 2 blades to reduce resistance in thick grass and it cut better but wouldn't mulch or catch very we...Read more

I have had a Honda HRU 196D mower for the past 10 years or more and entirely satisfied. I have about 2 years ago bought the the more recent model with the fabric catch and all the additional bells and whistles, the engagement clutch and extraction exhaust running up the handle. I am no long a spring chicken and find the extra addition and the fabric catcher cumbersome. I originally gave my son the older model and have now repossessed the older model and gave him the newer one. The older model is still working fine and have been trying to pu...Read more

This mower is truly terrible. At the very slightest hint of moisture in the lawn, it simply blocks up and you need to stop mowing and clear the blockage. This gives you another 5 seconds of mowing before it happens again.

The little amount of cut lawn that does make it into the bag simply falls out onto the ground once the bag is separated from the mower because of the bag design.

I have seen the responses on other reviews from Honda celebrating the introduction of the Heritage mower that apparently doesn't have these faults. The only pro...Read more

On looking at mowers I first saw a Honda advertised for 599 or 699. I thought wow a Honda thats not too expensive. However I discovered the GC engines on the cheaper Hondas have a plastic cam shaft! (look it up on Youtube) Yep you get what you pay for in this instance. I had 2 Honda powered generators, both powered by GX engines and never missed a beat. So upon learning about the plastic inside the GC engines I chose this one because its got the old school GX engine in the Long Rang version. My lawn was 2 feet high in some parts when it arrived...Read more

My review is of the Honda HRU196 L/R (Long Range)
I bought this mower like many others, as a commercial grade unit for my lawn and garden maintenance business from Lake Outdoor Power Equipment, who, I might add, were good and thorough with the sale.
6 weeks in, my review is ready.
To keep this brief, I will list good and bad points

The engine:
Fantastic. Nice and smooth and quiet, A lot of people complain about the low RPM. Initially I did too but I realised I've never been in want of more power, even thought this mower came out of the f...Read more

I gave up using my 196 - having to stop so frequently to unclog the chute meant I was taking longer to mow each yard than I should, therefore losing valuable work time. I bought a $300 Makita that does as good a job cutting, without the clogging issue. I can buy and throw out 4 of these before I spend what I have on the 196.
The repeated comment from Marketing Dept about wet or long grass doesn't make sense to me. A commercial grade mower should be able to withstand whatever is thrown at it - not just lawns that lie within a 'regular mainten...Read more

Reading the responses from [name removed] at Honda makes one wonder if they really give a hoot. Words such as "May clog when cutting wet or long grass, not may [name removed] --- does. That's why contractors are not happy."

Maintaining lawns regularly should solve the clogging problem. We do, fortnightly and weekly if fertilized. Slightest amount of due on lawn and clogging problem occurs. No response to increased weight of machine or blade brake.
[name removed] these machines are sold as Commercial Lawnmowers for contractors and if anybod...Read more

I have owned a hru196 for 3 years now, my first thoughts on it are that the blade brake is a fantastic addition, when fingers and toes are important the blade brake is a godsend. I live on a regular 50' x 150' block on a steep hill with stepped grass landings and the weight is a big issue, on the bright side I don't need to go to the gym as often. The bag works fine for me and the mulcher works a treat. I live in far nth q'land aust and if you don't keep covering up the tree roots they just raise above the ground or the rain washes away the top...Read more

I run a lawn mowing business, have for the last 12 yrs. Never a problem with the old design and the new. I have four buffalo 19", each rotated every 2 days. These mowers get flogged every day Monday to Saturday, never missed a beat, but you must, like anything look after them. Change the oil, blades, filter etc weekly. In regards to the clogging on the new models, don t mow wet grass, looks shithouse, take the day off. I have two new models, bit heavy for a weak person, but you shouldn't be lifting them onto a ute without a ramp anyway. Cuts lo...Read more

Dylan from Honda
Brilliant motors, Stay away from Black motors(from China i have been told)

One star for the Motor, which is brilliant.

Now for the bad: Widen the Chute to full. Which means move the gearbox up and forward-so than all decks are wide chutes. The little Honda's are absolutely useless. We need mowers to pick up grass, that is what they are for. Do not get fancy and turn these into front wheel drive(4x4 yes) but not front wheel only, because when we turn at the end, we lift the front wheels.
Increase the size of the Disk s...Read more