# Mower Recommendations for Bermuda lawn



## Kenny Penny (10 mo ago)

Hi everyone,

I'm green on the lawn scene here. In my third year of homeownership and deciding to take control of my Bermuda lawn, which is currently sparse, patchy, gray and sad.

I sent my soil samples out today and will address herbicides and fertilizers when I get the results, but if I'm correct, I believe my first action should be scalping and possibly aeration.

I believe I will start wish a rotary mower with a bag, which is what I need for scalping in order to de-thatch. If anyone has recommendations for any certain mowers that are better or worse than others, I will greatly appreciate hearing them. The only green in my lawn so far is the fescue that's blowing around. The bermuda itself hasn't shown any green. Should I wait for green to appear before I scalp?

Thanks so much in advance!


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## Sonoran Desert Lawn (Aug 22, 2020)

Let it start to green then scalp. I recommend going all Ego electric. Just my 2 cents


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Do you plan to have this mower for sometime or are you just wanting to get your feet wet and upgrade later? Do you prefer gas or electric? For gas, you can't go wrong with anything from Honda or Toro. For Electric, EGO appears to be one of the better ones out there but I'm sure there are some others which should get the job done. I think it all depends on what battery platform you may already have if you use cordless tools or battery lawn equipment.


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## DFW_Zoysia (May 31, 2019)

I have a small less than 1,000 sq foot lawn.

In the last 4 years I've done in this order:

Electric cord mower;
Hand push reel mower;
Greens mowers;
Battery operated mower;
Honda gas mower.

For now I am pleased with the Honda gas mowers and have no intentions of going back to a battery or plug in mower. Not saying anything bad about them - I just feel that right now the Honda has the best of the qualities I am looking for.

The only battery I would be interested in trying is the new Milwaukee battery mower, but that is $1K and I don't want to go back to a battery mower.

My guess is that is you are really getting into your lawn, you're going to go through a journey of trying and or owning several different mowers.


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## TC2 (Sep 15, 2017)

The Ego worked great for centipede, but for serious work on bermuda I found it bogged down too easily and had problems maintaining the RPM. I switched to a Honda which ploughs through just about everything. Not sure whether later Ego models (mine was probably second model) have more power though.


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## Kenny Penny (10 mo ago)

Mightyquinn said:


> Do you plan to have this mower for sometime or are you just wanting to get your feet wet and upgrade later? Do you prefer gas or electric? For gas, you can't go wrong with anything from Honda or Toro. For Electric, EGO appears to be one of the better ones out there but I'm sure there are some others which should get the job done. I think it all depends on what battery platform you may already have if you use cordless tools or battery lawn equipment.


Yes - just looking for something economical that will still do an adequate job, and go crazy later depending on how deep I want to get. I have been looking at some of the Hondas. I saw one that had a setting down to .5 inch which is attractive to me for getting a low scalp. Thank you for the input, and +1 for the Sowell quote.


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## Kenny Penny (10 mo ago)

TC2 said:


> The Ego worked great for centipede, but for serious work on bermuda I found it bogged down too easily and had problems maintaining the RPM. I switched to a Honda which ploughs through just about everything. Not sure whether later Ego models (mine was probably second model) have more power though.


Thank you - I've been looking at some online and the Hondas are piquing my interest.


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## Kenny Penny (10 mo ago)

DFW_Zoysia said:


> I have a small less than 1,000 sq foot lawn.
> 
> In the last 4 years I've done in this order:
> 
> ...


Looks like Hondas are getting a lot of mentions. I've seen a couple whose features I like, so I may very well go that way. And you are correct - the journey is just starting for me. I'm sure it will take many turns. Thank you!


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## rockwalltxguy (Oct 1, 2021)

None of the Hondas go down to .5" to my knowledge officially but what I can tell you is that my Honda HRX217HYA on its lowest setting is .75" and I'd say that's pretty accurate assuming you have a flat yard. I can scalp down to dirt on that height. Any bumps and it's more like 1 1/4". It is a great mower though and is probably the best non "enthusiast" mower you can get.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

I'm a Toro guy - especially the Super Recycler series. Hard to go wrong with one from that series. I'm still cutting with a SR my in-laws purchased 10 years ago.

Similar unit here:

https://www.toro.com/en/homeowner/walk-behind-mowers/21-personal-pace-21382

Toro walk-behinds here:

https://www.toro.com/en/homeowner/walk-behind-mowers

If I knew I wanted to stick with a rotary on Bermuda, I'd be tempted to get a ProStripe 560 vs going for a reel mower/greensmower. So expensive though.


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## Kenny Penny (10 mo ago)

rockwalltxguy said:


> None of the Hondas go down to .5" to my knowledge officially but what I can tell you is that my Honda HRX217HYA on its lowest setting is .75" and I'd say that's pretty accurate assuming you have a flat yard. I can scalp down to dirt on that height. Any bumps and it's more like 1 1/4". It is a great mower though and is probably the best non "enthusiast" mower you can get.


The HRX217HYA is the one I was thinking of. Yes, 3/4 inch and not half inch - I was misremembering that, but I think that should be low enough for my needs.


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## rbvar (May 28, 2020)

Wish Ego would release an HRX competitor, something that could mow down to 0.75", or lower of course, and improve vacuum/mulching. Or, of course, offer a midrange electric reel, situated between SunJoe and Allett/Swardman, but I wonder if their partnership or whatever on the Allett Stirling makes that more or less likely. I liked my Ego before I really got in to lawn work, and would probably still like it a lot if I had something taller than bermuda. I wanted to keep it around as basically a lawn vacuum cleaner, but even that I'm not sure about. I just finished scalping back 4K with my old 2011 Toro Recycler, with wheels set below the official lowest setting, probably around 0.7-0.8", side discharge. Then vacuumed with Ego at lowest 1.5". Filled about 4 bags before it wasn't getting clippings anymore. Then vacuumed again with the Toro set to 1", and got 10+ bags.

Seriously thinking about getting rid of both and going for that Honda HRX. Scalp at 0.75", maintain at 1.25".


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## Tide (Aug 6, 2019)

Kenny Penny said:


> rockwalltxguy said:
> 
> 
> > None of the Hondas go down to .5" to my knowledge officially but what I can tell you is that my Honda HRX217HYA on its lowest setting is .75" and I'd say that's pretty accurate assuming you have a flat yard. I can scalp down to dirt on that height. Any bumps and it's more like 1 1/4". It is a great mower though and is probably the best non "enthusiast" mower you can get.
> ...


The HRX217HYA appears to be an awesome lawn mower. I almost bought one recently, but ended up going with the HRN2016VYA, primarily because I wanted a metal mower deck as opposed to the Nexite used in the HRX series.


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## pp6000v2 (Mar 8, 2021)

Tide said:


> The HRX217HYA appears to be an awesome lawn mower. I almost bought one recently, but ended up going with the HRN2016VYA, primarily because I wanted a metal mower deck as opposed to the Nexite used in the HRX series.


What led you to that decision? My metal decks all get rust at some point on them, I figured the plastic decks would avoid that... does it skew delicate/fragile?


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## jbcarter14 (Aug 12, 2018)

pp6000v2 said:


> Tide said:
> 
> 
> > The HRX217HYA appears to be an awesome lawn mower. I almost bought one recently, but ended up going with the HRN2016VYA, primarily because I wanted a metal mower deck as opposed to the Nexite used in the HRX series.
> ...


I have had an HRX for about 5 years. Nothing wrong with the deck, it's tough. The only issue I have had is I have needed to replace the pull start a few times because it doesn't recoil. It's a great mower. I love the versamow. If it gets a little long or wet you can bag some and mulch some so you don't have several bags or clippings all over the yard. I didn't think much about it when I bought it but it's almost a must now.


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## pp6000v2 (Mar 8, 2021)

jbcarter14 said:


> I have had an HRX for about 5 years. Nothing wrong with the deck, it's tough. The only issue I have had is I have needed to replace the pull start a few times because it doesn't recoil. It's a great mower. I love the versamow. If it gets a little long or wet you can bag some and mulch some so you don't have several bags or clippings all over the yard. I didn't think much about it when I bought it but it's almost a must now.


I'm guessing you got one of the non-electric start models. Did you spring for one with blade stop or no? As I'm looking at them, I don't think the +$100 to go from base VKA to the step-up VYA with blade stop would be worth it. Or is that something that once I have it I wouldn't want a mower without it?


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## rockwalltxguy (Oct 1, 2021)

pp6000v2 said:


> jbcarter14 said:
> 
> 
> > I have had an HRX for about 5 years. Nothing wrong with the deck, it's tough. The only issue I have had is I have needed to replace the pull start a few times because it doesn't recoil. It's a great mower. I love the versamow. If it gets a little long or wet you can bag some and mulch some so you don't have several bags or clippings all over the yard. I didn't think much about it when I bought it but it's almost a must now.
> ...


I love the blade stop feature. It's very helpful when moving obstacles out of the way while you are mowing to not have to go and restart the mower ever time.


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## Tide (Aug 6, 2019)

pp6000v2 said:


> Tide said:
> 
> 
> > The HRX217HYA appears to be an awesome lawn mower. I almost bought one recently, but ended up going with the HRN2016VYA, primarily because I wanted a metal mower deck as opposed to the Nexite used in the HRX series.
> ...


I was concerned about the durability of the Nexite deck over time. It's a good mower deck, but I prefer metal as I've never had issues with any of mine rusting. However, I don't mow in the rain and my mowers are kept inside.


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## DFW_Zoysia (May 31, 2019)

Tide said:


> pp6000v2 said:
> 
> 
> > Tide said:
> ...


You can't go wrong with either deck. I bought the nextite deck on a Honda back in ~2003ish, then handed it down to my younger brother. He just sold it last week and literally only had a tune up done every 3-2 years or so. ZERO issues ever.


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## jbcarter14 (Aug 12, 2018)

pp6000v2 said:


> jbcarter14 said:
> 
> 
> > I have had an HRX for about 5 years. Nothing wrong with the deck, it's tough. The only issue I have had is I have needed to replace the pull start a few times because it doesn't recoil. It's a great mower. I love the versamow. If it gets a little long or wet you can bag some and mulch some so you don't have several bags or clippings all over the yard. I didn't think much about it when I bought it but it's almost a must now.
> ...


You guessed it. Pull start and blade stop. I just put the choke half way and don't turn it off emptying the bag or clearing the way of anything I missed. I didn't get the electric start because I assumed that was just one more thing to mess up. I would get it this time. I also use the blade stop way more than I thought. As much as it gets used spending the extra $100 or $200 will be worth it.

The pull start is a cheap part and easy fix but I replace about once a year. Maybe I'm pulling too hard.


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## zgmt (9 mo ago)

rbvar said:


> Wish Ego would release an HRX competitor, something that could mow down to 0.75", or lower of course, and improve vacuum/mulching. Or, of course, offer a midrange electric reel, situated between SunJoe and Allett/Swardman, but I wonder if their partnership or whatever on the Allett Stirling makes that more or less likely. I liked my Ego before I really got in to lawn work, and would probably still like it a lot if I had something taller than bermuda. I wanted to keep it around as basically a lawn vacuum cleaner, but even that I'm not sure about. I just finished scalping back 4K with my old 2011 Toro Recycler, with wheels set below the official lowest setting, probably around 0.7-0.8", side discharge. Then vacuumed with Ego at lowest 1.5". Filled about 4 bags before it wasn't getting clippings anymore. Then vacuumed again with the Toro set to 1", and got 10+ bags.
> 
> Seriously thinking about getting rid of both and going for that Honda HRX. Scalp at 0.75", maintain at 1.25".


@rbvar did you purchase the Honda and truly get a scalp at .75"? If so, thoughts?


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## rbvar (May 28, 2020)

zgmt said:


> @rbvar did you purchase the Honda and truly get a scalp at .75"? If so, thoughts?


Nope. Old Toro died, but replaced it with another Recycler. Went with the less expensive option now while I continue to dither about HRX vs HRC vs Cal Trimmer vs hypothetical future mid-range battery powered reel.


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## Skiney12 (7 mo ago)

I prefer to choose Hand push reel mower as it is easy to use


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