<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  There&amp;#039;s nothing like the smell of freshly cut grass in the spring. And a healthy, deep green lawn is one of life&amp;#039;s simple pleasures. But cutting the lawn may or may not be a pleasant experience. A mower can leave a ragged edge, bog down in tall grass, or be stubbornly difficult to start. A machine like that removes the pleasure from the work, and the experience becomes something you dread. Knowing that you have a summer&amp;#039;s worth of mowing ahead of you, we decided to give you a hand, at least as far as mower shopping is concerned. We looked at 11 self-propelled mowers. All of them can be converted to handle clippings in one of three ways--discharged out of the deck, discharged into a bag, or mulched into fine particles and discharged below the deck. We matched the mowers as closely as we could in terms of horsepower and features. And then we let the clippings fall where they may. Read on before you shop for a lawnmower this spring. Your choice of product could affect just how long summer feels to you. &amp;amp;gt;LAWNMOWER SPECIFICATIONSMANUFACTURER &amp;amp;amp; MODELENGINE/ HORSEPOWERCUT DIAMETERSPEEDSBAG DISCHARGEWEIGHTSOUND LEVEL (dBA)*PRIMER BULBDECK HEIGHT ADJUSTMENTPRICE**ARIENS LM21 91152500Briggs &amp;amp;amp; Stratton/6.7521 in.VariableRear105 lb.95YesTwo levers/cotter pins$550CRAFTSMAN 917.37700Honda/5.521 in.VariableRear108 lb.96.4NoOne lever$430CUB CADET SR 621Kawasaki/6.7521 in.SixSide chute to rear101 lb.91.6YesOne lever$460JOHN DEERE JS63Briggs &amp;amp;amp; Stratton/6.7521 in.ThreeSide chute to rear85 lb.93.5YesTwo levers$475HONDA HRB21TDAHonda/5.521 in.ThreeSide chute to rear91.5 lb.96.8NoFour levers$620HUSQVARNA 6521RSBriggs &amp;amp;amp; Stratton/6.521 in.SixRear98 lb.98.5YesOne lever$450LAWN-BOY 10362Tecumseh/6.521 in.VariableSide chute to rear74 lb.93.7YesFour levers$320SNAPPER FRP2167517BVBriggs &amp;amp;amp; Stratton/6.521 in.SixSide chute to rear86 lb.94.8YesFour levers$600TORO 20017Tecumseh/6.522 in.VariableRear81 lb.94.5YesFour levers$360TROY-BILT Pro Cut 310Briggs &amp;amp;amp; Stratton/6.521 in.SixSide chute to rear96 lb.90YesOne lever$430YARD-MAN 978 QBriggs &amp;amp;amp; Stratton/6.521 in.SixSide chute to rear101 lb.92.6YesOne lever$380* Decibel rating take at operator&amp;#039;s position. **Estimated street prices. &amp;amp;gt;  CONTINUED &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;     Toro Toro calls its mower the Personal Pace because it&amp;#039;s equipped with a push-bar-activated drive system. The faster you walk behind the mower, the faster it goes. The mower delivers on its promise, matching its ground speed precisely to your walking speed. Aside from that, the mower is well-balanced and easy to maneuver. It comes with an easy-starting Tecumseh engine that&amp;#039;s guaranteed for two years to start on the second pull, or Toro repairs it for free. The mower&amp;#039;s rear-mounted bag and side-discharge deflector are a snap to use.  Honda The Honda mower produced a very nice quality of cut, owing to a unique twin-blade design, and it bagged as perfectly as anything we&amp;#039;ve ever seen. Its engine started easily but was not especially powerful. The testers were divided whether its three speeds were enough. Some felt that another two speeds would help make the product a bit more comfortable to walk behind. An unusual feature on the Honda is its rear-mounted, side-discharge chute. It fits into the same hole that the mulching plug uses. The rear mounting position gives the mower slightly more side clearance compared to other designs.  John Deere Weighing just 85 pounds, the Deere proved to be a nimble and effective mower. It&amp;#039;s a powerful machine that received high marks in cutting performance, and it was comfortable to operate. The blade-control lever has a flattened handgrip, and the mower&amp;#039;s handle height is easily adjusted with two knobs. The Deere was the only mower with a 2-lever deck height adjustment that was easy to use. This design also saves weight because it eliminates the heavy linkage associated with a single-lever design.  Craftsman The Craftsman is equipped with a smooth-running and powerful 5.5-hp Honda engine. The mower got high marks for comfortable control levers and a bag that was easily removed, installed and emptied. Likewise, the side-discharge deflector quickly slid into position below the spring-mounted mulching hatch. The only substantial complaint with the machine is with the responsiveness of its drive system. The mower&amp;#039;s variable speed did not seem to allow the testers to find the mower&amp;#039;s optimal ground speed. It either was a bit too fast or too slow. This may be reduced as the drive system wears, or by adjusting the tension on the mower&amp;#039;s drive cable. &amp;amp;gt;  CONTINUED &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;     Troy-Bilt The Troy-Bilt was the only machine in our test that came with the recently developed Touch-N-Mow starter system (an option on MTD products). This is a spring-loaded starter mechanism. The first time you use the mower, you pull start it as you would normally. When you let go of the engine-control lever, the engine uses its remaining revolutions to wind the spring-loaded mechanism. The next time, you just press a button to start the mower (a removable safety key prevents children from starting the mower). The starter was universally well received, as was just about everything else on this product--except its bag design. We felt that the side-discharge chute leading to a rear bag was cumbersome. A bag that attaches directly to the rear of the deck is simpler and proves to be just as effective.  Cub Cadet The Cub Cadet was one of three mowers in the test equipped with a 6.75-hp engine. The Cub&amp;#039;s Kawasaki engine proved to be the second quietest, and we found that it provided more than enough power for anything you would mow. That feature moved the Cub closer to the commercial end of the spectrum. Another heavy-duty feature that we like on the Cub is a transmission that uses a rugged belt-and-chain drive (also found on the Troy-Bilt and Yard-Man). A drawback to this is that it has increased rolling resistance when the transmission is disengaged (when you back up to mow around a shrub, for example).  Yard-Man The Yard-Man mower is a competent grass-cutting machine that&amp;#039;s nearly identical to the Cub, except with a slightly smaller engine. There&amp;#039;s no question that it is an easy-starting, smooth-running mower with sufficient power. It has comfortable, well-placed controls, and the six speeds available provide an adequate range to suit cutting conditions and the operator&amp;#039;s pace. But its bag design (a side chute leading to a rear-hung bag) received low marks from the testers.  Husqvarna This mower was a good, all-around performer. The testers had minor complaints about the comfort and location of its control levers, but found the mower to be smooth starting, light and maneuverable, as well as an effective bagger and side-discharge machine. The Husqvarna was easy to convert among its various functions. No major complaints were made regarding the mower. Its engine, however, tested the loudest of the 11. &amp;amp;gt;  CONTINUED &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;     Snapper The Snapper has the widest speed range of any of the mowers, a comfortable drive control lever, and it bagged clippings as cleanly as the Honda. Furthermore, its large gate-mouth bag was easy to empty. The mower had low rolling resistance when the drive system was disengaged. All of these things made for a very effective mower. We gave it low marks on converting between functions (switching from mulching to bagging, for example). We don&amp;#039;t think a wrench should be required to install a side-discharge chute, a mulching plate or the side chute that leads to the bag. We think that the mower is an ideal machine for cutting tough, Southern-species grasses under conditions in which you set the mower up then leave it like that for the entire season.  Ariens The Ariens was the most commercial-like mower that we tested. Its workmanship is excellent and it ranked with the Honda and Snapper as an outstanding bagger. Its results in side-discharge mode were similarly impressive. The Ariens has a deck configuration, blade and discharge port shaped to produce a nearly fluid stream of clippings out the side. If this is important to you, this may be your product. It was the only mower equipped with front caster wheels, which is just as well. A mower this size shouldn&amp;#039;t need casters, but when it weighs 105 pounds, casters make sense. A locking lever prevents the casters from swiveling in side-hill mowing. The Ariens has a wide speed range and, as with the Snapper, you have to trot to keep up with it in top speed. The mower&amp;#039;s speed control is a rod with a ball handle. Grip the ball and move the rod forward or back. The testers agreed that this design, though rugged, was also awkward.  Lawn-Boy All testers agreed that this product is out-of-date. It was the least capable with moist grass, and clogged easily when the grass was damp with dew. In an ideal world, you wouldn&amp;#039;t cut damp grass, but we all know that sometimes it&amp;#039;s unavoidable. The Lawn-Boy&amp;#039;s side-discharge chute and mulching plate can be described only as ridiculous. Two testers burned their knuckles on the muffler and on the head fins when converting the mower between functions because the mounting hardware is too close to these hot surfaces. Any saving graces on this mower? Well, it has a quiet, easy-starting Tecumseh engine. &amp;amp;gt;  CONTINUED &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;    Conclusion With one exception, all the mowers in this test mowed effectively, so our rankings have more to do with comfort and ease of use than mowing capacity. Our advice would be to look at more than one mower in your price range. Our comments are intended to help you think about the variables that make a mower a good fit for you. With that said, the Toro Personal Pace walked off with the test--to resort to a bad pun. At $360, it also proved to be the test&amp;#039;s value leader. If your definition of a mower is one that is well-balanced, easy to use, lightweight and provides a good cut, then this is your product. Honda, Deere and Craftsman ranked a very closely spaced second, third and fourth, despite the differences in price. We think that the Craftsman, at $400 on sale, is a particularly good buy. The mower we ranked next was the Troy-Bilt, owing to its Touch-N-Mow starter system. We can&amp;#039;t comment on its long-term durability, but we were impressed by its ease of use. The Cub Cadet and the Yard-Man ranked sixth and seventh, but the results between the two were almost too close to call. The Cub is a particularly good fit if you need the extra power and torque provided by its Kawasaki engine. If the extra power isn&amp;#039;t important, the Yard-Man is certainly a good buy. The Husqvarna mower ranked closely behind the Cub and Yard-Man. This is a good machine, easy to use and a competent cutter. It&amp;#039;s more expensive than two of the three other machines that were ranked closest to it. If you can get it on sale, it would be a good deal. The Snapper and Ariens rank next, and like the Cub and Yard-Man, the test results between these two are almost indistinguishable. The Snapper has the edge because it&amp;#039;s a bit easier to use. Both mowers are solid and well built. They provide high cut quality and spotless bagging performance. Furthermore, we suspect that they would be very durable. Their lower rankings are due to the fact that they are not as easy to use as the other products, and they are expensive. That leaves the Lawn-Boy. This time-tested brand ranked not only last, but far below the other products--almost out of the running entirely. Keep the Tecumseh engine on it, we say, and bring the rest of the mower up to date.  The Craftsman has a single-lever deck height adjustment. The well-shaped handle makes this easy.  Toro&amp;#039;s mower has a spring-loaded mulching cover plate. Flip the plate up and slide in the side-discharge deflector.  Testers favored designs with a rear-mounted collection bag. The Ariens bag mounts under a spring-loaded cover.  When a mower&amp;#039;s bag is not rear mounted, it mounts to a side-discharge chute, as on the Yard-Man.  Several mowers have variable-speed drive systems. To adjust the speed, you squeeze or release a drive lever.  The Snapper was among the mowers with six individual drive speeds. Its rear-facing lever is easily adjusted.  A compromise between variable-drive and 6-speed machines are those with three speeds, as shown on the Deere.  Honda&amp;#039;s handle is adjusted using a large knob. No tools are necessary to change the handle position.  Some mowers use a cotter pin to hold the handle in position. This was less convenient than a knob.  Because it has a pushbutton starter, the Troy-Bilt comes with a removable key to prevent accidental starting.  Both control levers on the Husqvarna are positioned above the handle. This is not particularly comfortable.  Testers liked control levers positioned above and below the handle. The Deere&amp;#039;s flattened grip is comfortable. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/tools/reviews/a133/1273741/>