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Honda pros are reliable and customers love the stripe the roller gives.
Hi, l use a Etesia pro 51, its slow and always blocking up, its not as good as the Honda pro536 that it replaced. l've just ordered a new Viking mb755 (£1300) after reading good reports on here.
PS l also have a John Deere R54rkb which has needed in the first 5 months, 2 front wheels welded back on, 2 new rubber cushions for the gear box and new handle bars (snapped where the controls screws on to them) its not done a lot of work! John Deere don't want to know as it meant for residential not commercial lol
Have a small Honda QRX 426 with a roller gives a great finish but not good at picking up in the wet, Etesia great for picking up as long as you keep airways clear in grass collector but heavy & cumbersome ideal for large areas but wheels always dig in to surface due to weight leaving unsightly marks.
There are many discussions on LJN comparing these machines either singularly or in comparison.
Seek out the Etesia Group on LJN for starters.
However, if you are looking purely for 'stripes', Etesia's are not probably for you. They are robust, contractor grade, 4 wheel only mowers. For good utility style cutting, we use Etesia's and are more than happy.
For Rollers, we use Lawnflyte/Kaaz, Shanks Honda Engined Pro Rollers, except for a few old style Hayter Rollers.
Again you will find considerable number of threads discussing pro's and con's on LJN.
As important as the Mower, is to find a local, trusted Dealer who will support you as a "professional use"r during the season.
Strongly suggest Price is NOT your first criteria.
"What Mower" is always an emotive subject ;-)
Etesia simply excell in wet grass conditions - you can cut 2 inches in the driving rain without a problem (personal experience last year with a PHTS 46).
Striping can be achieved with a rubber mat under the grass box.
Personally I would go etesia any time.
I personally prefer Honda mowers, don't know why but they have just been perfect for me.
I got fed up of Etesias breaking down all the time and I was spending too much time at the dealers, so I now use a Viking 755, which picks up in the wet as well as Etesias, is faster, lighter and leaves a much nicer finish on the lawn.
It's also cheaper.
To me it was a no brainer.
For stripes it's a Honda/Kaaz pro 21 inch thing.
We love our Etesia 46's.
I have demod a 51 but didn't like it as much.
The 46's cut long grass in torrential rain without blocking and without leaving clumps of grass everywhere. They don't properly stripe though and that's where we use Honda Pro's.
The Etesias cost a fraction to maintain compared to the Honda Pros although the GC engines do seem to eat spark plugs.
Nick
To be fair Ive only ever had problems with the Carb on the GCV160 engine on my Etesia pro46 - and That makes it a non etesia-specific issue.
Dan - what was it that kept going on yours out of curiosity? and which model - Im looking atm at upping to 51/53.
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