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Hi Graham,
I have the Honda you mention. My honest view is.............forget about it.
Engine is good obviously but needed speeding up.
Drive is too slow even when revs are increased. Rear wheels were forever jamming up on mine. In the end i removed the gearbox, axles and belt completely. That improved things.
The side discharge opening is too small IMO and so i ended up cutting a bit extra off all around the hole. It kept blocking in longer grass.
Mulching ability is ok in dry short grass otherwise forget it. The single blade supplied is one half of the two blade system that come on the hrx versamow mowers. When i added the missing one performance did increase. However the underside of the deck still becomes caked in grass.
It does play a role in my business and gets used every week but i certainly would not get another. Others may chip in.
Stu
Hmm, thanks for the info. I doesn't sound much better than the husky.
Did you find making the side discharge bigger stopped the clogging? This is my main issue with the husky, it clogs the side discharge easily, then that leads to the deck getting caked up to the point where I keep having to stop and clear it all out.
Maybe I will just take a angle grinder to the husky side discharge, as I really just use it for overgrown grass. It could just be my rough mower.
You should be able to find a used Etesia mb53b for your budget. Best mulcher i have used, 3 speed and rear discharge if required.
The Etesia is good once speeded up but it is a fragile mower. The removable mulching 'plate'? fails quite early in its life and has to be repaired and fixed into position rendering it un removable.
The options are limited with this brief but a four stroke Victa with four blades would fit the bill. Side discharge would be excellent with no guard on it however mulching would not be up to the Etesia's standard.
I would personally go for a dedicated mulcher and a rough cut/side discharge machine.
We have the little Honda side discharge in our fleet of mowers. It's a nice lightweight mower. It has it's uses, but we are selective where it gets used. It is not a commercial mower tho. Long wet grass will clog the side discharge, which means continual stopping to clear it. It is great for whipping round the edge of car parks and throwing the grass away from the paving.I have also thought of taking the angle grinder to it, but have so far chickened out! I am worried about weakening the body and as we have employees using it, if (God forbid) there was to be an accident whilst using a 'modified' machine, there may be implications.