I was looking into new lawnmowers recently. I have an older Toro that has worked well so looked at the new models. They have eliminated the actual side discharge (which I think is dumb) and now require a plastic diverter chute for the back. The catch is, the chute doesn't come in the box. You have to register your mower online and then they will send you the chute for "free" in the mail. This is so disgusting for a few reasons. The first is you can't use your mower without the bagger when you buy it. The second is they hold the side discharge chute hostage until you register and give them your information.
Here's how I look at the situation in summary. The new mowers are a new, crappy design with a plastic chute in the back that you must to have to use the mower and keep the grass and debris from getting blasted back on your feet if you don't want to bag everything. In order to get a necessary component, regardless of how crappy the design of it is, to use your new mower, you must give them your data. They really want your data BAD and are willing to redesign their mowers in an inferior way just to get you to give it to them. Needless to say, I won't be buying a new Toro.
That's pretty bad, why would they ever remove the side discharge?? I use that every time I mow. Is it electric or gas? Here in CO I believe they only sell electric now.
It was the gas model. I have no idea why they removed the side discharge. Seems really dumb to me. I lived in CO for about 5 years. The influx of people to the front range was ruining the culture there. It doesn’t surprise me that they only sell electric mowers there now. It’s becoming the next California.
@duggydo I think it’s a scheme to get your info here but Honda did away with side discharge on all mowers around 2008 or earlier. You either had to mulch mow with the chute or bag it. I always used to mulch function bc frankly my yard sux and I like less work. It def makes the blades/engine work harder though and bogs it down some in the very wet, high growth months of April/May here in PA. CA banned all gas mowers too, stupid. Honda quit making gas ones completely in large part due to that and now offers an electric line. Few months ago, I snagged a newer Honda gas one with the 190cc engine and Nexite (aka trademarked plastic) deck on Facebook Marketplace for $350. Wanted to snag one before they really get spendy. The electric ones are way too pricey for what you get. I’d def need 2-3 batteries to cut my yard routinely and I just don’t want to deal with that.
@justiceelusive Yeah, the electric stuff seems more convenient, but it's very expensive and from my experience, the batteries are junk. Unless you are able to disassemble them and replace the cells with quality ones, they get to the point they won't balance and charging is a pain. I think it's all a scam to make people buy more proprietary batteries. If they would just put a door on them to change the cells there would be a lot less waste and cheaper for people to fix. I've seen people on YT show how you can cut the case and then resolder in new cells to fix the problems, but what an unnecessary pain that is!
