Victa 20" Thunder Self Propelled

Stay away – The throttle cable broke in 12 months. Been repaired twice. Drive wheels squeak loudly when being pushed. The motor stalls if the grass is one week without mowing. Doesn’t throw the cut grass in the catcher. It gets caught in the tunnel. Worst mower I have ever bought Show details

Happy man!! – Best mower I've had. Big over grown bush lawn and steep banks that are hard to walk up, this mower eats and drives up the banks in no time. lean back on the wheels to shift weight going up and coast backwards. what a machine. no catcher for me just cuts faster than a paddock of sheep!  Show details

Mows well but when the clutch cable breaks you have to wait over 4 months to get another one. Victa ignores enquiries – Mows well clutch brakes too easy and then your lawn can't be mowed for over 4 months waiting on a replacement for the cable. Not good because you can't mow the lawn Show details

I made a mistake buying this – It doesn't mow low enough. we lowered it, which did help a bit. Wheels spin. solved this by putting mountain bike tyre over the wheels and screwing it on. Overall, unhappy. Show details

This mower the victor special edition is junk – My son & I have a lot of trouble trying to maneuver around things. Chute clogs every time & need a stick to clean it, base get stuck on the ground. Mower stops with longer grass. Mower takes off with a big jerk. I can say it starts easy. Show details

Height issue is resolvable – Picked up one of these mowers off the junk pile (there's a message there!) to see if I could use any parts or get it going. Having read the reviews, I was forewarned of the main issues with this mower. Did get it working but the engine was shot (smoking badly) which I've found is fairly typical of this particular generation of domestic grade… Read more

Briggs engines due to soft alloy bore. I did quite like the chassis and SP feature so installed an old Briggs Quantum 190cc engine on it (70mm shaft, not a 50mm old Victa type) cast iron bore. To solve the obvious blade height issue I used the quad-cut mulch disc and shaft boss off an old Victa which lowered the blades by 20mm, to a level just above the skirt as per most mower decks. This also allowed the use of four low cost blades. The mod improves cut and performance dramatically (now works as it should!). The other less critical design fault is that there is no 'mouth' at the front of the chassis, in so far as the front skirt is not at a higher level to feed in the grass for cutting so flattens it a bit on in feed (unworkable with blades at a original level!) Lowering the blades to near level with the skirt (as above) also helps this design issue to a large degree. So if you have one that runs, you may consider this improvement mod. Cheers

Biggest heap of junk ever what a rip of don’t buy – Don’t buy numerous problems won’t cut low bogs down wheels spin carby constantly needed cleaning now stalls engine starts seizing took to lawnmower repair guy and when he saw it was a bit a thunder he just said nah they are garbage America engine garbage he said he had numerous one come in blown motors wouldn’t even wheel it out pulled the cord and said junk shame on Bunnings selling these and paid 500 just out of warranty. Show details

Poor Design – The design is rubbish and the wheels constantly spin so you spend more time pushing it than it self-driving! Victor customer support was very poor. Took it back to Bunnings who where fantastic and they gave me a credit. I am now the proud owner of a new Honda! Show details

Don't buy – Do not buy if you want to cut a lawn.... it simply won't work because the design is all wrong. VICTA did not try this one out at all. Might be OK for grass at a high height.... if you want to cut lawn low, forget it. Return for a refund, not fit for purpose. Show details

cheep and almost unusable – I am a greenkeeper, I have never come across a mower that is such a bad design. As some other reviews have mentioned , the height adjustment can only go as low as halfway because the cutting deck hits the ground. It wheel spins and refuses to proceed. The drive wheels are plastic and will not last. do not buy under any circumstance. Show details

Needs replacement after 2 years! A Lemon – I recently took the mower in for a general service to the authorised agent & the technician advises it is not worth repairing. There is metal shavings from the engine in the fuel. This generally occurs when the filter is filthy, however the filter was in excellent condition. (The tech asked if it had been recently replaced as it was so clean. It… Read more

is the original filter) A unit like this should last longer than 2 years, 6 months. Poor quality & build! Steer away from these duds!

Waste of money – Blade is set too high in frame. Anything below 5 height setting and it drags along the ground. Useless on sloped lawns which is why I bought a self propelled mower. Show details

Fist self propelled mower – First time self propelled mower user, replacing my victor Commando of 20 years. All mowers have limitations but this is great. Very little effort to mow lawn, hieght at No 4 at setting cuts very short about 2 inches on mulch. Self propelled speed comfortable walking pace. Compared to my previous mower I cut my grass in under half the time. Happy Chappy.  Show details

Worst mower ever – I bought this from Bunnings for $499-00 - It looked like a sturdy unit that could cut through anything - I thought it would be a keeper at that price. Wrong. Whilst it starts really easily, this is its only redeeming feature. Has 7 height options only it can't go lower than 4 or it stalls, sometimes I have to mow at 5, consequently my lawn is… Read more

now really spongy and I mow weekly. It can't go lower than 4 as the chassis of the mower hits the ground (before the blades can do any good), rendering it immobile. The plastic wheels also have no tread so sometimes they just spin! I could hop faster pushing the mower than using the self propelled action or I could if the mower wasn't so darned heavy. The catcher is cheap and whilst it holds a fair bit it also loses a fair bit when you detach it from the mower and it is just awkward to use. I didn't realise this mower had been discontinued or i would have looked further into it - I totally understand why they have stopped making it. Its a dog. I sought a second opinion from my father and he too thinks it is useless. I sent an email to Victa but no reply. I should have stuck with masport. It will be going out on the next verge collection with a warning sign.

Good for big yards – Got one of these of gumtree from a guy who didn't like the way it cut as he had very fine/low lawn on a small block. This is a big mower for big yards. So far so good, easy to start, goes like stink (son loves it as he can mow the yard in half the time, Looks awesome, cuts as you would expect a 2 blade mower to cut. Don't consider one of these if… Read more

you have a manicured lawn on 270sqm block, but if you want a cheap ( got mine for $275 as new ) big mower that does the job you can't go past it

Works for me – I read all the reviews here and wasn't too sure about buying this because they were very mixed but I decided to take the plunge, $500 from Bunnings. I'm back to address a couple of the negatives that I read here. 1. I'm not doubting anyone else's experience but this mower is definitely not too fast for me, a 40yo able bodied man, even at… Read more

full throttle, nor is it too fast for my 12yo son. It feels just right for me.

2. The cutting height is fine for my lawn, I'm not overly fussy and I'm not running a putting green. My lawn slopes every which way, part of the reason I wanted self propelled, and the cutting height is what I want without any jamming. I'm told that the blade height is set to industry regulations but I haven't confirmed that.

3. Hasn't bogged down on me and the wheels don't do a burnout, may be a negative for some.

4. The mower didn't feel too heavy for me, I just evolved the way I mow the lawn- self propelled uphill and pull back down etc.

5. Did a good job of cutting the grass and wouldn't have known there was only 2 blades under there if I wasn't told.

Overall very happy with how the mower functions and starts, only time will tell if it's reliable long term though.

Best and worst mower I have owned! – Thought I picked up a bargain with this fancy looking Victa. Bunnings were clearing them for half price! Easy starting, self propelled, and then I found to get the correct cutting height, the chassis was dragging through the grass! Harry confirmed what I was thinking. Debating whether to return the thing or have the blades lowered. Ridiculous!!!  Show details

Easy to use – Single mum with a large yard and this is great, being self propelled really takes alot of the hard work out, i mow without the catcher and utilise the mulching. Easy to start and does a grest job, the only thing i would change is it eould be do much better with 4 blades thsn the 2  Show details

fixed design fault – This has a design fault will not cut the grass low enough.The base hits the ground thus making the wheels spin loosing grip.Fix,lower the blade boss by using washers as packers and loctite the boss.Be carefull as you can lower this too much,purchased longer tensile bolt and washer,mower now works well and does not spin the wheels,picks up grass… Read more

with out any trouble,now a very good mower,but victa needs a good kick in the backside for not making the blade boss lower.cheers

a disappointment – will not buy another one. Can only use self propelled function with a low throttle, otherwise I have to run to keep up with it, It has only 7 heights adjustments,(should be at least 10) It has 2 blades ( 4 blades give a better cut, especially when mulching). It is hard to maneuver because it is very heavy. The large grass catcher is a joke. i… Read more

have to empty 3 times to ,my previous catchers twice. This was a christmas present from my kids, so i cant tell them its a disappointment.

Won't buy another Victa – If the grass is spongy, the rear wheels, which are supposed to be the driving wheels in self propelled mode, constantly spin. The mower then needs a great deal of effort to push as it is very heavy. Yesterday it started blowing smoke and then stalled and would not restart. The repairer now tells me it is not covered under warranty as it had been… Read more

tipped on its side. The only time this happened is when I changed the oil a few weeks ago. I had used it several times since then with no problems. When it stopped yesterday I dragged out of the shed an old Masport 4 stroke mower which had not been used for over 12 months, filled it with petrol, gave one pull on the cord, and away it went. My next mower will be a Masport.

Not bad, struggles munching grass – I like the self-propelled mechanism. The grass cutting is all right, however, when the height is set below 4, the mower struggles to continue cutting, sometimes stop, even though the grass isn't that long. It is very easy to start-up, even over 2 months of just sitting in the garage, generally just 2-3 pulls are enough.  Show details

Wish they had this years ago – Mows well easy to use the only fault I have found with it is the plastic mulching plug it's not made for places like where I live as there is a lot of sand but have affixed a metal plate to it so should stop the plastic from wearing also the plug ends up with a lot of grass stuck around it. Self drive is really great just have to control the speed with throttle.  Show details