Mowers Reviews

We bought the 5521CHV last spring bececause it looked beefy and strong. We needed a powerful mower to maintain the heavy grass on our rough surfaced 5 acres in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Unfortunately the Husky was not up to the task. The Honda engine was woefully underpowered for what we were expecting the mower to do and the grass chute clogged so frequently that we just took it off. I wouldn't recomend doing that--it is UNSAFE. In the final straw (less than 6 total hours of use), my wife clipped a small stump with it and bent the engine shaft. Yep...it was our fault, so it's not a warrenty issue, but the mower still was destroyed very easily. We went back to using our beat-up old MTD Yardman. Even at 7 years old with a bent handle, it was better than the Husky--and it had hit the same small stump that destroyed the Husky several times before. The Husky 5521CHV might be OK for a small, manicured, flat city yard. But don't buy it if you think it's going to perform heavy duty tasks--you will be disappointed.

I bought this a year ago with high hopes...my Ryobi Mulcher cordless had just given up with 5 years of use on it, and just one battery. Unfortunately, it was a bad choice. Battery is already shot and a new one is 100 bucks. Plastic cover is cracked and falling off - and I have been easy on this machine -really!. Cuts nicely, if it gets a good run from the battery - which won't happen this year. But, not if there is any length at all - then it is worthless. If you have a few days of rain and then you must wait to cut - the grass will be too long to use this. It really never throws the grass hard enough to load the catcher properly either. You must cut the grass very short -doesn't adjust to cut long. Although they claim you can use it just like a push mower if the battery goes (they must know it will - should have taken the hint) you really cannot. The motor is always engaged. So, when you pus it you are working against the motor. Unlike a regular push reel mower - the blades do not keep spinning when the wheels stop. Really a helluva workout. Unless you are cutting a lawn the size, height and type of grass like a putting green - this mower is worthless and you will need a backup. If you must get a powered reel mower - there is another out there that uses an easily accessible battery from Radio Shack when it is time to replace. Probably cuts the same though. Ashame - in England they sell over a dozen different types of electric mowers and several good cylinder mowers as well.

I purchased the RL800 in April 2003 from Amazon, hoping to get out of mowing the lawn. I ended up wasting lots of time and money on this useless device instead. My original review for the mower was actually positive. It worked well for the first summer and I didn't mow the lawn once with my push mower. I even recommended it to my coworkers. But the following spring, we got a lot of rain which caused the ground to get saturated. The robomower wheels lost traction in the wet grass and kept getting stuck in the middle of my lawn. I had to go out to push it along at least 5 or 6 times. I would have been better off taking my push mower out and mowing it myself, which is what I did until the ground dried up. Once summer came around, I brought the robomower out hoping it would perform like it did the year before. Wrong again! After less than 2 hours, the battery ran out of steam. The robomower is EXTREMELY slow so 2 hours is nowhere near enough time to completely mow my lawn. And yes I did read the manual on how to properly maintain the battery. I constantly charged it even while not in use. And during the winter if temps fell below 0 degrees, I was instructed to remove the battery and place it inside somewhere dry, which I did. Hoping to salvage use for the robomower, I purchased a second battery and the rapid external charger this year. I manually mowed my lawn with a push mower for the beginning of this year while the ground was too wet for the robomower. Then when it dried up enough, I decided to let the robomower take over. I unleash it on my lawn and 20 minutes later it stops. The robomower was beeping with the error "Check Power" message on the controller. I bring it back in and try charging it, but the error doesn't go away. I plug the power supply into another power outlet on a different circuit breaker and get same error. I put in my second battery and still same error. I end up calling tech support for assistance. Coincidentally, the 2 year warranty just ended in April so I was one month passed it. Their diagnosis was possibly a bad power supply and/or bad controller. When I asked if they could help me fix it, they told me not without getting charged even though I was only a month out of warranty. Keep in mind, I would have found out sooner about the problem if the robomower worked properly when the ground was a little wet. Thanks Friendly Robotics! So don't make the same mistake I made. Just mow your lawn yourself like I do now.

The first log that I tried to lift was about 10" in diameter and 8 feet long. I placed the unit about 20" from one end. The socket that the jack stand plugs into snapped on the first lift. I don't know if the metal was crystallized from welding or what but is was extremely weak. I ended up welding in a reinforcing gusset to make the thing work but it is still substandard.

I replaced my 14 year old Toro lawnmower with this one. In the 3 years I have owned it the self propelled speed control has broken twice and it idles and dies or runs rough. This is after taking it in several times with no improvement. I suggest not buying this model and going with a Toro instead. I will!

Tractor has too many design flaws. First year of ownership, my front wheels fell off twice. The wheels are held in place by a small cotter pin and cheap plastic bushings. In my opinion this is a safety hazzard.

Cutting blades are bolted to a "star" spindle shaft. Should you hit a rock, the "star" gears on the shaft are ruined and MTD makes you purchase the entire spindle assembly, complete with pully, housing, bearing and shaft at the super exorbitant cost of $200.00 AND THEY WON'T EVEN provide the deck screws or blade nut as part of the assembly. A normal spindle shaft should only cost about $20.00

Unfortunatly the horsepower and size of the tractor leads you to believe that this is a heavy duty machine when in fact it is light duty at best - Steer clear of this tractor.