Honda auto lawn mower. Best robot lawn mower for large lawns – top 5! (2023)

9th August 2023

Best robot lawn mower for large lawns – top 5! (2023)

Do you have a large lawn you want to avoid having to mow yourself? Get a robot lawn mower built to mow large areas. We have reviewed the best models on the market and know which ones work on large lawns.

We regularly review robotic lawn mowers. Each model is tested under a wide range of conditions and during a long period of time. What we’ve come to understand is that the robot lawn mowers perform extremely differently depending on the conditions in your garden. For example, one robot can give excellent mowing results on a lawn with a slope when the dirt is very dry, but will just get stuck if the dirt holding the grass is damp. Another mower could have the opposite pros and cons. Factors such as lawn complexity, outdoor temperature, weather, robotic lawn mower’s problem-solving ability, hardware, etc. all determine the outcome for the robot. You want a robotic lawnmower that does a great job in all these conditions. And in this case, also is able to mow a large lawn time efficiently.

What to consider when buying a robot lawn mower for a large lawn

Check out our reviews to gain an understanding of what pros and cons each tested model come with, or move on and read our in-depth review of the particular robotic lawn mower you’re interested in.

Husqvarna Automower 430X – BEST ROBOT LAWN MOWER FOR LARGE LAWNS

Can mow bigger lawns than promised

Husqvarna Automower 430X is one of Husqvarnas biggest lawn mowers for private gardens. It has a lot of perks: it’s both intelligent and reliable, but also has a great set of modern features such as cellular connection with GPS so you can keep track of it from your phone and for it to know where it has mowed recently, and where it should mow next.

This robotic lawn mower works on almost all types of lawns from 0.8 acres up to 1.2 acres without having to go out and mow more than a couple of hours each weekday. If you have an even bigger lawn you have the option of choosing Husqvarna Automower 450XH instead, it’s recommended for lawns around 1.25 acres but just like the little sibling it can mow bigger lawns than that.

The Husqvarna Automower 430X is also available in a tall grass setup for grass such as rye, bahia kentucky 31 and tall fescue, this model is named Husqvarna Automower 430XH. The only thing differing them from each other is the cutting height. On the 430X it is 0.8-2.4 inches, and on the 430XH it is between 2-3.5 inches. High cut is important in the states up north, while you can pick the standard 430X if you live in one of the southern states. Other than this, they have the exact same features.

Husqvarna Automower 430X has cellular connectivity. If it gets stuck, which is almost never does, it will notify you on your phone. You can see it on a map, and get information on what is wrong. You can also set cutting height, corridor width, work schedule and other important features directly through the app. You don’t even have to be close to the robot to do this, you can be at work or whatever. If you don’t use the app you can also program the robotic lawn mower via a nice, big, user-friendly display.

This is a great choice if you only value time efficiency and have a pretty even lawn. RS630 has double blades underneath and moves with sufficient speed over the lawn. Since the cutting width is so big it mows a very big lawn, around 1.2 acres and more is no problem, in a short period of time. Especially if the lawn is like an open field with very little complexity.

The build quality is pretty bad considering the price, far from the best we’ve ever tested. You will have to take good care of it if you live in a place where there is a cold season once a year.

The battery is sensitive to cold conditions. We’ve had two Robomow RS630 reviewed, one U model and one Pro. Both had problems with the battery after the winter even though both were stored under dry but cold conditions in a garage. The other robotic lawn mowers survived, while the Robomow robots needed to have their batteries exchanged. Also one of the Robomow robotic lawn mowers had a sensitive chassi after bumping into a brick wall in the garden, sometimes it stopped after that saying the bumper had been pressed even though it hadn’t.

The robot is not very modern or user friendly, and also makes a pretty loud sound when mowing. But it’s very time efficient! So if you have a big lawn and a limited budget this is a great choice.

Honda Exiting Gas Lawn Mower Market

As our team is putting together our best lawn mower recommendations for the year, it’s with a hint of sadness as Honda is exiting the gas lawn mower market. There hasn’t been a time we haven’t recommended Honda lawn mowers and its commercial HRC series has been our top selection for self-propelled models for the past several years. While we’re genuinely disappointed to see them go, it’s not completely over, though.

When is Honda Exiting the Gas Lawn Mower Market?

Back in October 2022, Honda sent out a notice through its dealer network that it would cease manufacturing gas lawn mowers beginning in September 2023. It plans to continue selling the units through 2024 until they are gone.

Why is Honda Exiting the Gas Lawn Mower Market?

Like many manufacturers, the pandemic certainly took its toll on Honda’s ability to keep production rolling. Disruption in parts supply forced Honda to temporarily halt production in March 2020 at its highest-volume plants in Swepsonville, North Carolina.

That was two and a half years before this announcement, though. While there are still supply issues across many industries, outdoor power equipment is in a different state than many products. The accelerating growth of battery-powered lawn care equipment for both homeowners and professionals is most certainly part of the conversation. That shift in what consumers want and Honda’s ability to maintain profitability in this sector are contributors as well.

Statement From Honda Power Equipment

“The decision to end lawn mower production is driven by market forces such as stricter environmental regulations, shifting customer preferences, and our FOCUS on growing profitable products in our portfolio. Honda will continue to sell the remainder of its lawn and garden product line and industrial-type power products such as GX engines, generators, and water pumps, and continue to support its service and parts operations in the U.S. market.”

Statement on Honda dealer Interactive Network

Consequences of Honda Exiting the Gas Lawn Mower Market

Notably, Honda hasn’t come out with a battery-powered platform the way most of its competition has. Does this mean that Honda is completely done with lawn mowers? There’s no telling for now.

What we do know is that Honda has made some of the best gas-powered lawn mowers available. It goes beyond its legendary small engines and includes designs that have been field tested and proven for longer than some brands have even been in existence.

That said, I’m hopeful we’ll see Honda return in some form. The industry will continue even if Honda chooses not to. And keep in mind that it’s a massive company run by people that are highly intelligent. If it makes sense for them to re-enter the market, I’d place my money on the products being excellent and continuing its legacy of high-quality, dependable equipment.

Of course, other brands will still offer lawn mowers with Honda engines. As long as the rest of the build can keep up, the reliability of Honda will continue to be available as a power plant.

Discover more Honda Power Equipment products here.

Honda HRR216K9VKA 3-in-1 Variable Speed Self-Propelled Gas Lawn Mower Review

The self-propelled Honda HRR216K9VKA embodies virtually every reason its manufacturer’s name and branding deserve acknowledgment as shorthand descriptors that declare, “This machine was built to perform longer and stronger than any competing model in its class.” Don’t misconstrue that bold claim as a pronouncement that this outstanding gas-powered mower is somehow undeniably flawless. It has its failings. However, it’s all-around firsthand performance impressions would force anyone to consider with abundant care whether any of them, alone or in combination, constitutes a true deal-breaker. Yes, that includes its somewhat eyebrow-raising price.

Performance

I don’t ordinarily make a habit of comparing individual lawn mowers in these reviews for a very good reason: whether you get the most out of your money from any given model hinges largely on how well you aligned your purchase with your own individual needs and preferences. Yards differ in dimensions and profiles from one property to the next. That reality makes it essential not to reflexively seek out strictly the biggest, most powerful or priciest mower on the market, but to judge how well any single unit’s tools suit the way you maintain your lawn.

In this instance, an exception is deserved. The Honda HRR’s stiffest competition is actually the notably similar Honda HRX. Curiously enough, stacking them up side-by-side illustrates that narrowing a comparison to black-and-white specs doesn’t always paint remotely as clear a picture as a hands-on test drive. That being said, just for the sake of argument:

Let’s start with the engine. The HRX’s “advantage” comes down to five millimeters more bore width lending it a 30cc size differential and minimal extra horsepower. Both are phenomenally resilient and sturdy engines, but having previously owned the HRX and recently tried out the HRR, I can verify that the latter is anything but lacking for muscle and will easily match anything the HRX can do and compete at an appreciably lesser cost. Beware, though: this beast has quite the roar. The 98 dB of noise pollution it lets loose won’t exactly endear it to your neighbors. As long as you’re in a buying mood, splurge a few extra bucks toward some quality ear protection.

In comparing the decks, I understand the compulsion to favor the HRX’s lighter-weight composite body, but gas-powered mowers are nowadays especially favored for larger yards replete with hills and uneven terrain that many electric mowers simply lack the heft or battery capacity to handle. Both models make the most of their nearly two-feet-wide cutting swaths, but despite its hardy 12-gauge steel, the Honda HRR weighs in at only 84 pounds and can take any beating rained down upon it.

Favoring one transmission over another is a matter of preference, but the Honda HRR’s proprietary variable-speed automatic Smart Drive system is a hand-in-glove fit with the GCV160 and potent rear-wheel drive to squeeze every ounce of optimal performance a self-propelled mower can deliver. The thumb-based control feels decidedly awkward, but I cannot deny just how smoothly it ratchets up to brisk 4 mph top speed and decelerates on command back down to a standstill. Even turning off the HRR’s independent locomotion entirely, you still have a remarkably effective gas-powered push mower in the event a mowing job should ever call for one instead of a self-propelled machine. I have nothing against the HRX’s hydrostatic transmission or Honda’s Select Drive manual speed control.

The Honda HRR has only one unfortunate performance hurdle to overcome, but it’s an issue that could significantly limit its appeal among buyers to whom self-propelled mowers ordinarily appeal the most strongly: its handling suffers dramatically on steep inclines. There are few types of terrain on which not having to valiantly wrestle a push mower is more of a godsend. The unwanted accidental “wheelies” the HRR’s inadequate eight-inch wheels sometimes rise into will leave you with a more enlightened appreciation for how just a few inches’ more diameter in back could have maintained more consistent balance and well-grounded traction when traveling up or across a slope.

Ease Of Use

Gas-powered lawn mowers all demand a fair degree of diligent regular upkeep to ensure a lengthy working lifespan, from keeping oil, spark plugs and fuel fresh to sharpening blades at least a few times every season. Aside from those unavoidable chores, the Honda HRR is universally usable to a somewhat pleasantly surprising degree for such a relatively powerful model. The 41-inch handle is just long enough to keep the mower easy for users of any height to control and mitigates uncomfortable heavy vibration with immensely comfortable foam grips. Weighing 84 pounds doesn’t exactly make the Honda HRR an objectively “light” mower, but I never felt it fight my control when guiding its self-propulsion or found it prohibitively heavy or stiff to push.

If it has a minor downside, it would be the occasional rough start. Honda’s auto-choke ordinarily smooths out waking up the engine to mow from a cold start with nearly perfect consistency, but this model every so often still roars to life a bit stubbornly. Even then, however, we’re talking about the negligible difference between needing one or two pulls of the cord to start up and, at the very most, five or six yanks occasionally. To be honest, I was more annoyed by the lack of a deck-wash port forcing me to overturn the HRR to rinse away debris and stray clippings for want of one fairly common simple feature that I doubt would have added a great deal to its manufacturing cost.

Cut Quality Options

Wow. I have indeed test-driven mowers that cut more cleanly than the Honda HRR, but not very many. The twin MicroCut blades slice with enough combined precision to potentially swear anyone off single-blade mowers for life. That means more than neatly trimming with perfect consistency from start to finish. When it comes to the three available options for dispensing clippings, it promotes exceptionally smooth discharge from the side chute, maximizing the grass stored in the painlessly detachable 2.4-bushel bag and almost impossibly ultra-fine mulch, all because a second blade is like adding a second touch-up pass to every inch of your lawn without actually having to walk it twice.

Unfortunately, herein also lies another admittedly minor quibble that can rarely be justified in my eyes. Good news, everyone! You have six deck settings to choose from in order to determine the ideal length for your grass and make your mower’s forward progress as easy as possible. The catch? You have to adjust each wheel separately. I will stop saying it when the very last manufacturer sees the light and stops designing lawn mowers with four wheel-height controls: this design choice adds absolutely nothing but annoying extra effort.

Maintenance

As a rule, gas-powered mowers demand higher maintenance than their electric or motorless counterparts. The Honda HRR216K9VKA is no exception, but it doesn’t really demand any unusual attention, either. Sharpen the blades at least twice during every prime mowing season, including immediately before stowing your mower for the winter. Swap in new spark plugs before your first run of the year. Expect to change your oil after the first five working hours and follow manufacturer guidelines thereafter. Otherwise, as is the norm for virtually any Honda product, a standard three-year manufacturer warranty should sufficiently address any incidental repairs or unfortunate need of a replacement.

Safety Features

The Zone Start system brings the blade to a stop within three seconds of its control lever being released, but the dedication to overall worry-free ownership doesn’t end there. The mower’s controls are installed in such a way that the engine cannot be restarted from anywhere except within the designated “Operator Zone” behind the handle.

Cost Effectiveness

Should your search for an unfailingly dependable gas mower come down to a choice between the Honda HRR or HRX, I strongly recommend choosing the HRR and laying out the extra 40 for a self-propelled model. Priced around 430, you might wince at dropping 100 more than what a number of comparably sized competing models with similar specs and features would cost, but Honda’s signature combination of ridiculous durability and enduring performance is priceless. The HRR is by no means flawless, but putting one through its paces for an hour or two suddenly renders its forgivable shortcomings remarkably forgettable. You may never again get as much for your money from any other mower in its class.

Honda To Stop Manufacturing All Gas Powered Lawn Mowers

SOPA Images/Getty Images

Those red walk-behinds are going the way of the brontosaurus. What does that mean for your lawn care routine?

Honda announced in early October that it will no longer manufacture new gas-powered lawn mowers, signaling the end of an era in lawn care. As battery technology rapidly advances, electric-powered lawn care is trending up in a major way— and its gas-powered counterparts might be on their way out.

“The trend away from gas is very clear where I am,” says Jeff Cordulack, who runs the all-electric lawn care service Organic Ways and Means in Stamford, Connecticut. “I get phone calls every week from people who want to switch away from gas and toxins. Half the clients are nature-oriented, and the other half just can’t handle the noise of the ubiquitous gas blowers, especially with the working-from-home trend of late.”

Cordaluck’s clients are not the only ones concerned with lawn mower noise levels and environmental concerns. Those same factors are also some of the driving forces behind Honda’s decision to exit the U.S. gas-powered lawn mower market. The company officially plans to cease all production of gas models by the end of September 2023, selling off its remaining inventory through 2024.

Why is Honda Ditching Gas-Powered Lawn Mower Motors?

A Honda spokesperson told Family Handyman that the decision was “driven by market forces such as stricter environmental regulations, shifting customer preferences and our FOCUS on growing profitable products in our portfolio.”

Is This Going to Affect Any Other Honda Products?

It doesn’t appear so. Honda has stated it “will continue to sell the remainder of its lawn and garden product line and industrial-type power products such as GX engines, generators, and water pumps, and continue to support its service and parts operations in the U.S. market.”

The company declined to comment on any other aspects of this decision, such as whether any remaining stock of gas-powered lawn mowers will be discounted or what their plans are for electric models.

What Will Happen to Honda’s Lawn Mower Manufacturing Plant?

Honda’s gas-powered lawn mowers are currently being produced at the Honda Power Equipment facility in Swepsonville, North Carolina. Next year that facility will instead begin making all-terrain vehicles, which are currently being produced at its plant in Timmonsville, South Carolina. The Timmonsville plant will shift to FOCUS solely on Honda side-by-side production.

Will Other Manufacturers Stop Making Gas-Powered Lawn Mower Motors?

No other manufacturers have made official announcements, but it does appear that the market for gas-powered mowers is shrinking. In 2021, California announced that it would ban the sale of gas-powered lawn equipment by 2024. than 100 municipalities have also banned gas-powered equipment, with many more cities considering similar legislation.

“There’s a lot of activity on this front from local people wanting to make changes in their towns,” says Cordulack. “I spend a lot of time on calls speaking with town committees about my company and my all-electric equipment.”

Are Gas-Powered Mowers Harmful?

Besides being audibly annoying, gas-powered mowers generate between 90 to 105 decibels, which can cause permanent hearing damage to humans, as well as disrupt wildlife communication and nesting birds. One hour of running a gas mower emits as much carbon dioxide as driving a car 300 miles, and together all of that adds up to 5% of our country’s air pollution. Garden and lawn equipment burn up around 3 billion gallons of gasoline annually in the U.S., roughly equivalent to the energy use of 3 million homes.

A freelance writer and indie film producer, Karuna Eberl covers the outdoors and nature side of DIY, exploring wildlife, green living, travel and gardening for Family Handyman. She also writes FH’s Eleven Percent column, about dynamic women in the construction workforce. Some of her other credits include the March cover of Readers Digest, National Parks, National Geographic Channel and Atlas Obscura. Karuna and her husband are also on the final stretch of renovating an abandoned house in a near-ghost town in rural Colorado. When they’re not working, you can find them hiking and traveling the backroads, camping in their self-converted van.

How To Start A Honda Lawn Mower – 6 Easy steps!

Starting your Honda is simple. They build very reliable machines. But successful starting requires you to follow a set of procedures.

Start a Honda lawn mower in six steps:

Two standard features of your Honda mower will dictate how you start it, Roto-Stop and choke type. All modern Honda mowers are auto choke, which means you don’t need to fiddle around with any levers to start the engine, but if your mower is a few years old, it may have a manual choke lever.

Your Honda mower may have auto or manual choke, and it may or may not have Roto-stop. Whichever type you have, your Honda should start on the first or second pull, assuming, of course, everything’s in order. That said, let’s now identify which Honda you have, and that will allow you to follow the correct start procedure.

As it’s newer, we’ll cover the Honda with Roto-stop starting procedure first.

Starting Honda With Roto-stop

Roto-Stop is a feature on some Honda mowers that allow the operator to control the engagement of the blades. It’s a fantastic feature that allows you to run the engine without running the blade. It’s particularly useful when moving across paved areas. Honda mowers that have Roto-Stop, won’t have a bail lever, and so you won’t need to pull and hold a bail lever to start the mower.

You can easily recognize if your Honda has Roto-Stop. It has a big yellow button at the blade control bail lever.

Honda With Roto-Stop – The yellow button on the bail lever will be obvious, yours may not look the same as this, but a yellow button indicates you have a Roto-stop feature.

You don’t need to pull and hold any of these bail levers to start the engine. These levers control the self-drive and the engagement of the cutting blades.

If this is your model, congrats, this is the easiest Honda mower to start. Simply set the Throttle to fast (hare symbol) for the auto choke. For mowers with a manual choke – set to full choke. Here’s the procedure:

1 Check oil level – Checking the oil is just a great habit to form. Yes, your mower would start if you skipped this step. Need help checking oil, check out “Does my engine need oil?”

2 Check Gas Level – A mower with a low gas level may be harder to start. Be mindful of old gas, older than a month and it starts to degrade. Best to use gas stabilizer.

3 Turn Gas “On” – A gas tap is fitted to all Honda mowers and it’s a good habit to turn as off when not in use. See gas tap use here.

4 Set Throttle – Simply set the Throttle to fast (hare symbol) for the auto choke. For mowers with manual choke, set it to full choke to start. Some Honda mowers won’t have any throttle levers, the engine has a factory set speed.

If you are unfamiliar with choke, how and when to use it, you are not on your own (see below).

5 Pull Start – One or two good pulls do the job. Any more than that and you may have an issue. But not to worry, you are in the right place, check out “Honda won’t start post” or the “Mower won’t start videos”.

Starting Honda With Bail Lever

Now, let’s start a Honda mower without the Roto-stop. The process is close to identical with the addition of one extra step, the pulling and holding of the handlebar located stop/start bail lever. And maybe you’ll ask what is a bail lever? The bail lever is a safety feature, (also known as the dead man’s lever, catchy!). It’s a spring-loaded lever and as you’ve likely guessed, defaults to the off position should the operator move away from the mower at any time.

The off position kills the engine, the bail is if you like, a big “On” switch that must be held when cutting grass.

The whole start procedure looks like this:

1 Check oil level – Checking the oil is just a great habit to form, yes your mower would start if you skipped this step. Need help checking oil, check out “Does my engine need oil?”

2 Check Gas Level – A mower with a low gas level may be harder to start. Be mindful of old gas, older than a month and it starts to degrade. Best to use gas stabilizer.

3 Turn Gas “On” – A gas tap is fitted to all Honda mowers and it’s a good habit to turn as off when not in use. See gas tap use here.

4 Bail Lever – Pull and hold the bail lever.

Set Throttle – if you have throttle controls, now’s the time to set them. Simply set the Throttle to fast (hare symbol) for the auto choke. For mowers with manual choke, set it to full choke to start.

Some Honda mowers won’t have any throttle levers, the engine has a factory set speed.

If you are unfamiliar with choke, how and when to use it, you are not on your own (see below).

Choke Types

As you know, all modern Honda mowers are auto choke, which basically means you don’t have to adjust the throttle lever in order to start the mower. In fact, some Honda models in addition to having an automatic choke, also have a set engine RPM (engine speed), which means they won’t have a throttle control lever at all.

Older Honda engines may be fitted with a manual choke lever. That means the operator will need to operate the choke in order to start the engine from cold. If your mower has an Auto choke, it will be badged auto choke on the engine cover or the air filter cover.

Choke Symbol – If your mower is a manual choke, it will have the choke symbol on the throttle lever.

Auto Choke – No action required here

Basic Checks Before Starting A Mower

Before you start your mower, run these basic checks. And remember old gas, will cause hard starting, so never use last season’s gas in your small engine equipment.

Check the oil level
Check gas level
Check the gas tap is on
Check the mower for loose components
Set your wheels to the same height

How To Use Choke

First, you’ll need to identify the choke control lever. On Honda walk behind mowers choke control is integral to the throttle lever and on tractor mowers the choke is a stand-alone knob. Your manual choke lever may look different from the ones seen here, but that’s ok, it’s the choke symbol that’s important.

Using the choke like a pro looks like this:

Look for the choke symbol on your throttle control panel.
Set it to full choke, that’s all the way up to start a cold engine.
Once the engine is running, move the throttle lever off the choke down to the fast setting (hare symbol).
This is the correct throttle setting for cutting grass.
Generally, restarting a warm engine doesn’t require choke however some models may.

Auto choke requires no input from the operator, it is fully automatic. Nice!

What Is The Purpose Of A Choke On A Lawn Mower?

The purpose of a choke is to give the engine some extra gas for an easy cold startup. An engine runs best when the air to gas ratio is 14.7: 1, that’s 14.7 parts air to one part gas, this is the sweet spot and it’s known as AFR (Air Fuel Ratio).

But a problem arises with cold air, it’s denser (more air), which throws the ratio off and causes hard starting. The solution is to temporarily adjust the ratio, just until the engine heats up. Your cars do all this automatically, and the latest generation mowers have auto choke too.

The engine designer came up with two simple solutions – the choke plate and the primer bulb.

The choke plate – as its name suggests is a flap that moves across the carburetor opening choking off the air entering the engine.

The result is a balancing of the AFR, and the engine now starts smoothly.

But leave the choke on too long and you’ll have the opposite problem, too much gas in relation to air, this causes poor running and black smoke.

The Primer bulb – It vacuums gas from the gas tank and squirts it into the carburetor.

It comes at the problem from the other side. Instead of restricting the quantity of air, it adds extra gas, this has the same net effect, it balances the carburetor 14.7: 1.

Can You Flood Your Mower?

Yes, repeated unsuccessful attempts at starting your mower will cause the engine to flood. So what is flooding? It’s un-burnt gas in the cylinder, it saturates the spark plug and prevents it from creating a good spark.Flooding can also be caused by a faulty carburetor.

How does flooding happen? Two root causes are common.

1 The float and needle live inside the carburetor. Their job is to keep the fuel bowl reservoir full, but as they age the rubber needle tip wears and allows the gas to leak into the engine especially when the gas tank is full. This can develop into a serious problem, leaking gas often makes its way to the crankcase which dilutes the engine oil. Symptoms of diluted oil are white smoke and engine oil leaks.

2 Turning your mower over with the carburetor side down can cause gas to wet the air filter. Attempting a start with a wet filter usually results in flooding or if the engine does start it runs rough and blows black smoke. Removing and replacing the air filter will fix this problem.

Honda Won’t Start

If your Honda fails to start, it may of course have a fault. Luckily most Honda mower problems are simple and can easily be fixed by the owner. Diagnosing your Honda no start is pretty straightforward, carry out a few basic tests to eliminate ignition, fueling, and mechanical faults.

Tests are not difficult, but you’ll need to execute them correctly to avoid burning time or replacing parts needlessly. If you need video help, check out “Mower won’t start video”. The videos walk you through diagnosing and repairing common mower problems, including a non-starting mower. You may find this post helpful “Honda mower won’t start”.