# New mower search < 36" walk behind



## NCguy (Jun 4, 2020)

Hi,

I'm hoping to get some experienced opinions on my quest to get a new mower. The mower I'm currently using is an old fashion craftsman 21" push. My lawn is probably somewhere between 1/3 & 1/4 acre of fescue, but I've recently cleared some trees so it's going to get a little larger. I typically mow my grass at 3.75-4" and it takes me about an hour. The back yard has a decent slope to it and I have a handful of trees as obstacles. Most of my neighbors have riders, zero turns, etc. However, I still want to walk when mowing. That said, I'd really like to get a self propelled and one that is a little larger than my current mower. I've been looking at some used timemaster's, but they get gone pretty quickly and seem to get mixed reviews. I've seen a couple of used exmark 30's pop up. My only restriction regarding size is the 36" gate. Thank you all for your opinions!


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

Timemaster or turfmaster is what I would recommend. There's a reason your neighbors are riding and this is what I would suggest as well.


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## NCguy (Jun 4, 2020)

Thank you for the reply! From a homeowner standpoint, is the extra $ worth it to get a turfmaster vs timemaster?


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## cglarsen (Dec 28, 2018)

CenlaLowell said:


> Timemaster or turfmaster is what I would recommend. There's a reason your neighbors are riding and this is what I would suggest as well.


This


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## NCguy (Jun 4, 2020)

Thanks for the replies. I have found a 6 year old turfmaster that has been used exclusively for a personal lawn. He's asking $850. It looks like the new price for one is about $1850. Thoughts?


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## NCguy (Jun 4, 2020)

And there's a guy that has a 2012 model timemaster for $470. He's just re-selling it, so doesn't really know anything about it and it doesn't come with a bag.


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## cldrunner (May 14, 2019)

@NCguy i just picked up a new Toro Timemaster 30" from Home Depot this evening($999). I am going to try and unbox it tomorrow and I will let you know. I have 20K sq ft. Currently I have a riding mower and a 22" self propelled. I like walkling as well and have a few areas that I can not get to with the rider. It took me 65 minutes to mow with the 22" the other day. I am hoping to cut that down to 45 minutes due to the wider cut and the faster speed. Will see if I can get through the entire yard without filling up with gas. I hear that is a big issue with the larger motor and .3 gal tank.


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## NCguy (Jun 4, 2020)

I will be very interested to hear about your first experience with the timemaster. It sounds like we have very close to the same size lawn.


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## Liledgy (Aug 21, 2018)

Bradley makes a nice commercial walkbehind. I know u said u want to walk. It, they make a 36" stander too. If it's like there 48"-52" you can flip up the platform and walk when you want to.


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## cldrunner (May 14, 2019)

@NCguy 
The unboxing of the TORO TimeMaster went well and was very easy. It is a huge box. Simple as cutting one side open and rolling out the mower. Lifting the handle in place and you are basically ready to mow once you put in the provided oil and recently bought gas. The quality of the mower seemed so much better than both my Husqvarna 22" and riding mower. Every part seems more solid and of higher quality than my Husqvarna.

I was amazed that it started on the first pull. Ran it up and down the driveway a few times to figure out the personal pace system since this is my first Toro. With my 22" Husqvarna my last mow took me 65 minutes. The TimeMaster took me 41 minutes. I left the mower running and it ran out of gas 3 minutes later. So in my opinion this mower can mow about 18-22K sq feet on one tank of gas at a fast walking pace.

Even though the Husqvarna is a 4 wheel drive I felt like I was not moving as fast as I wanted. The TimeMaster moves faster than I can keep up with at a fast walk. It takes a while to get your hands comfortable on where to place them on the handle. It was easy to mow around the flower beds at a slower pace. Since the deck is wider than the wheels I think it is even easier to mow in tight places.

I don't expect to mow that fast every time but 45 min for 20K seems to be reasonable time if I just walked at a leisurely pace. I wore my GPS watch and my average speed was 3.2 mph and a total of 2.2 miles in 41 minutes. I could probably cut that down to just under 40 minutes as I become even more efficient with the wider cut. My backyard is an easy rectangle of 10K. I actually finished that in about 18 min. The front is the same size but I have a circle drive and three separate ditch areas that slows me down.

Would I buy this mower again? YES! Is it worth $999.00? YES. Do I think I would have been better served by a commercial model? NO. I think this mower is sturdy enough to last several years. Would this be a good mower for a smaller yard? YES. It is too big for a 5K yard in my opinion. Although I have seen zero turns mowing this size but they need a supplemental push too get into tight areas. I think the sweet spot is between a 1/4 and 1/2 acre. Above a 1/2 acre I think I would use a riding mower like @CenlaLowell mentioned. It will be an easy mower to maintain. Just tip it over on it's side for changing oil and blades. Simple.

TORO says this is a mower for 1/2 to 1 acre. They should put a gas tank large enough to cover at least the 1/2 acre. You can get 22K out of it if you don't stop and no time is wasted going across driveways and sidewalks.

The transmission should last if the blades are engaged very slowly and the mower is properly maintained.

*Final conclusion: Great walk behind(self propelled) mower for the 1/4 to 1/2 acre lawn. Saved me 40% of the time like advertised on the box.*


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## KevCarter (Aug 25, 2018)

WOW @cldrunner ,

What a great review! I have a small yard but find that incredibly helpful. I've been debating between the HONDA HRN and the Super Recycler from TORO, but I think you have changed my mind. Every time I see a review of the TimeMaster on YouTube, I want one. That machine looks like a beast! :thumbup:

Thank You!

Kevin


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## cldrunner (May 14, 2019)

@KevCarter At 140lbs it is a heavy walk behind(Beast is appropriate). It has plenty of power to propel those 140 lbs and drag me with it. At 3500K you could finish the mow in under 10 minutes. I forgot to mention that when I stored it last night I just pushed the blue handle to bring the handle assembly vertical to save room in the shed. I really enjoyed the handling characteristics at the slow speeds.


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## KevCarter (Aug 25, 2018)

Thanks Man!


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## NCguy (Jun 4, 2020)

You've got me thinking hard about taking the plunge. I guess I have to decide if o want to keep looking for a gently used one or just suck it up and buy new. The ones that are priced to sale get snatched up quick.


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## coolturf (Mar 11, 2020)

I bought a used Toro Personal Pace Recycler 22 about a year ago because I needed/wanted a bagger. I'm assuming the Timemaster is of similar or better quality.

I can say that after using and maintaining it for the past year, I would not hesitate to buy a Toro new. I'm a big fan of the Personal Pace technology, plus the design and build quality is well proven.
With good care they can easily last 15-25 years.

I had a Scag 48" walk behind with a sulky for about 10 years. I loved it. It would take me about 15 minutes to cut about 9000 sq ft. The sulky was so much fun, like riding a skateboard. And I used it as a true walk behind, without the sulky, plenty of times.

It handled great, very easy to cut around tight spaces, as long as it fit in/through them. The walk behinds have better visibility than the sit down zero turns, I think that's why commercial guys are trending away from sit down zero's and towards the stand-ons.

At the time I was only changing the HOC about once or twice a year. And that is the biggest downside to the commercial "fixed deck" walk behinds that I have seen, its not easy to change HOC. Its not really difficult so much as inconvenient. Newer ones might be better on this, but I doubt they are as convenient as the Timemaster.

Another downside, its hard to find them with grass catchers in my market, and most of the ones you do find are side discharge which takes up way more space than the rear bagging Timemaster.

If you don't change HOC often, and only plan on mulching or side discharge, a walk behind might be a good option. They can easily last 40 years in a residential home owner environment. Mine was about 25 years old whey I sold it and it looked just as good, and was working just as good as the day I bought it (probably a little better). In my market the 32" and 36" walk behinds are a little more difficult to find used, and cost about the same as the 48's.

Just my experience, for what its worth, I'm not an expert.


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## KevCarter (Aug 25, 2018)

@coolturf Good to know!


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

I've had a Timemaster for years. Great all-around mower. Used to be my primary but I have a large area to mow. I now have a Scag zero-turn that I mainly use for the weekly mowing, but I use the Timemaster whenever I have extra time and want to lay some stripes, cut a higher HOC, and/or have to do some leaf cleanup.


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## harmonjw (May 29, 2020)

@cldrunner how did the mulching of the timemaster work? I have pretty thick bermuda and a super recycler right now. The super recycler will leave a trail of grass down the right side and it drives me nuts. I cut every 3-4 days and it still leaves the trail.



cldrunner said:


> @NCguy
> The unboxing of the TORO TimeMaster went well and was very easy. It is a huge box. Simple as cutting one side open and rolling out the mower. Lifting the handle in place and you are basically ready to mow once you put in the provided oil and recently bought gas. The quality of the mower seemed so much better than both my Husqvarna 22" and riding mower. Every part seems more solid and of higher quality than my Husqvarna.
> 
> I was amazed that it started on the first pull. Ran it up and down the driveway a few times to figure out the personal pace system since this is my first Toro. With my 22" Husqvarna my last mow took me 65 minutes. The TimeMaster took me 41 minutes. I left the mower running and it ran out of gas 3 minutes later. So in my opinion this mower can mow about 18-22K sq feet on one tank of gas at a fast walking pace.
> ...


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## cldrunner (May 14, 2019)

@harmonjw So far I have been pleasantly surprised with the TimeMaster. The mulching is pretty good. I *do not* mow when it is wet and have used it about 10 mows. Not really seen any long trails. I have used it about 4 of those times and my teenage son uses it to cut the backyard 10k while I work on the front and sides with my other riding mower. I had been mowing about every 3-4 days but recently started my PGR T-Nex applications. Now I will be mowing every 8-10 days. In this Texas heat that sure makes it nice to delay the cutting.

The only issue I have had with the mower is a plastic flap shield that actually is under the mower behind the blades that tore. The cost of the item is $12. I called TORO and they replaced it for free. It might have been self induced by backing out of the Tuff Shed onto the ramps backwards. Now I turn the mower forward in the shed and come out of the shed forward and a little more careful.

After a couple of months of use I think it is a great mower for the 5-12K yard. It cuts way better than my 22in Husqvarna and better than my riding 46 in.


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## harmonjw (May 29, 2020)

@cldrunner Appreciate the feedback. I think i am just going to pull the trigger on this. I am cutting about 12.5k and it takes me an hour and fifteen. In the SC humidity every 3-4 days is just brutal. Ready to be done in a little under an hour.


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