Masport Pro Power AL S21 850 IC SPV 3'n1

I was looking for a mower that would suit our 4000 square meter block. We have a lot of trees and shrubs, so the mower would need to be reasonably manouverable and handle twigs. For years I used a 19" Honda push mower, an excellent machine, but it was getting hard to start and took ages to mow the block. I was hoping to find a suitable electric mower, but found it difficult to identify a tough affordable machine. I looked at the professional version of the self-propelled 21" Honda, but it was very heavy. My son suggested I look at the 21" self-propelled Masport Pro Power, which was lighter and seemed capable to do the job. Although I haven't had it long, it is getting plenty of use now spring is here. It's easy to start (one-two pulls), has heaps of power and I only need to use it on the lowest speed. The lawn takes half the time to mow compared with the old Honda. I find it easy on the hands with very little vibration. The catcher is used on the good lawns and the mulching plug under the trees. I find that I need to monitor the amount of grass going into the catcher so as avoid it becoming too full and harder to empty. I am really impressed and pleased with the purchase.

Value for money – Great mower for contractors, cut quality is good, seems to be built tough. Mulching is great, on par with the toro contractor. The only design faults are the cross bar gets in the way when taking the catcher on & off & the catcher is a terrible design, the rear of the catcher is larger than the opening making it very difficult to empty the catcher once full.

Functional SP mower with few drawbacks – I have a large (100m x 25m) yard on a slope that drops 3.5-4.5m front to back with too many obstacles to make a ride-on a suitable choice. I chose to hunt for a self-propelled mower in Feb 2022 to replace an old 1988 Victa on its last legs. Having landed myself at a local mower and chain-saw 'warehouse', I was eventually convinced that the Masport Pro Power AL S21 850SPV was a pretty reasonable choice at just $1295 walk-away price.

Six weeks into my ownership and with over 30 days of precipitation and high humidity, I have mowed most of my yard four times to date (April 11th). From a loan like property front to wild runner grasses on the back slope, the mower goes well.

I have NOT used the grass-catcher at all, choosing to mulch on-the-go everywhere. It does a good to very good job on mixed grass terrains. The self-propelled function is ideal for coming up the slope through grassed lush damp grasses 350mm-550mm tall ... perfect for a man in his late 60s.

When the weather was at its worst through early-mid March, I adopted a two-cut system to "break the back" of the big job ahead. My first cut was at the 11th or 12th (highest) height setting then a second cut on the 5th-7th height setting (a day or two later) depending on grass type and its regrowth.

The good/best: ** wide cut mower - brilliant - saves 15%-20% extra walking, ** starts easily (as it should), ** good fuel economy (75-100 minutes on a full tank) and, after six weeks, its used just shy of 7L of U91 for all that running, ** instant hose-connection to wash underside of mower - a dream to wash/clean after use, ** huge fuel filler lid/area - almost impossible to spill or mess up, ** three 'knobs' to unlock/turn on mower before starting - battery, fuel line, ignition, ** starter cord is mid way up the handle - great position; ideal.

The bad/worst: ** occasional slippage of the bigger rear driver wheels when tall grass that is in well-soaked soil is encountered, ** about 2 or 3 instances of clogged mulch chute per mow when grass is at its wettest - annoying but probably few mowers of any brand could do better, ** owner's manual leaves a lot to be desired but there's plenty of helpful private "how-to" videos on Youtube if you get stuck (like I did in the first 3-4 days of ownership).

I am confident to write this review now having "broken" this machine in enough to know what I like and don't like. If the mulch chute and manual were better, I'd give the machine a 5/5.