Customer Reviews for Honda GCV190 21 in. Nexite Deck 4-in-1 Select Drive Walk Behind Gas Self Propelled Mower with Electric Start

I’ve owned 2 honda mower and HR 215 and HRX217. The HR 215 lasted over 20 years and was still going strong when I bought the HRX 217 in 2012. It finally gave up after about 25 years and I junked it. The HRX 217 is still running great and I am using it once a week for about an hour. Regular maintenance and cleaning and I expect it will be going another ten years. Hearing Honda is discontinuing gas mowers, I was lucky and found a new HRX 217 HYA at my local dealer and bought it. Best mowers I have ever used, great at mulching and vacuuming leaves during fall. I’ll alternate them going forward and expect I am good with mowers for the next 20+ years. Disappointed they are being discontinued. Tried a couple of electric mowers including my father in laws Stihl. Decent mower but for my yard and an hour plus each week, prefer sticking with gas. The HRX cuts even damp grass well and suction is awesome. All had blade brake, roto stop, and never had an issue in over 30 years. Keep making the tune up kits and blades, please. Sort of sad this will be my last new Honda.

I have owned a Honda Lawn Mower for over 35 years. Very happy with the old product. Just bought a new Honda Mower HRX217HYA (10-31-22). Works well, but on my second use yesterday, the Recoil Starter Grip broke (see attached picture). Poor, brittle polymer with very thin walls. The starter grip on my old mower lasted 35 years without a problem. I expect Honda will provide me with a new handle under warranty (since the product is only 12 days old).

I bought this same mower 15 years ago. It is still running great. My son just bought his first house, so I handed down the 2007 model year to him and I bought this new 2022 model year mower for myself.

Bought to replace 15 year old HRX217 that lost its ability to pull itself. The cut was perfect it’s whole life. Once you buy a Honda mower, you are sold for life.

I'm 63 and this is the best lawnmower I've ever owned. The fluid hydrostatic transmission is amazing. So smooth and consistent variable speeds. The roto-stop blade clutch and engine staying running is great. I've never had rear wheel drive and didn't realize how nice it is cutting this widow maker hill. The double ball bearing wheels ride so smooth and no hollowing out the wheel hub and going katiwampus. I don't use the bag because the mulcher and double blade makes the grass clippings disappear. Starting without the blade engaged is so easy and starts on second easy pull every time. The controls are so easy to get used to and work so well. I really have great control with ease when cutting the lawn. It's well worth the extra money and so glad I bought it.

This mower exceeded my expectations. It comes highly rated and it performed flawlessly out of the box. It has the power to cut through the thick spring grass without leaving a trail of clippings. Very smooth and can easily cruise faster than I wanted to walk. I’m glad I purchased this mower even though it is a bit more expensive than the rest of the field.

I use my Honda mower for yard cleanups most of the year. This machine is the most powerful and best mulching mower I have ever used. My customers love it!

Easy pull start and runs for ever on empty.

I bought this mower on the 28th of June, 2018. So far its been a very good experience. It was simple to set up... unfolded handle, assembled bag, added oil and gas and it started right up. It is solidly built and certainly not a light weight machine. The transmission takes a bit of time to get accustomed to. I have lawn with slopes ranging from flat to 30-40 degrees. I do not mow straight up and down the slopes... thats simply dangerous. So, I mow on an angle (easier not the ankles too). Although some may find it annoying, I like the fact that the mower doesn't attempt to take the slope at the same speed as the straight away. I also like the feature that the transmission is variable by pressing the levers so I can regulate the speed as needed. This mower mulches extremely well. No a trace of grass left behind so far. Haven't tried bagging yet. My old mower was a Husqvarna AWD. Had it for 6 years. It was a good machine (had a Honda engine!) took the slopes like a goat but it didn't mulch well at all. Had to redo the lawn numerous times or bag grass. Pros- Electric start Mulches perfectly Variable speed drive Well built Cons- Machine went on sale for $50 less three days later.... (Ill take that up with HD) At this moment in time, and assuming performance stays the same, I'd highly recommend this mower.

Have been mowing for 60 years and it's the best walk behind mower I ever had! Love the adjustable speed control which is right at your fingertips, electric start fires right off every time! The thing I'm happiest about is that with the dual blades it does great job mulching the grass! I've only had it about 3 weeks but I look forward to many years with this mower it definitely deserves A+ rating!

Just like a Honda, starts every time and is easy to use. Electric start is pretty neat, but not sure is really needed. Awesome handling and the amount of grass you can get into the bag is insane. Love it! I recommend this mower to anyone!

The lil mower that could. Grew up in a house w/ 5 acres of land so we had to have a Riding mower. First started w/ a craftsman riding mower (piece of junk that always somehow died). Dad quickly switched to a Scag Tiger. When it ran it ran amazingly, and when it died it was always something electrical. Now that I'm a big kid now with a mortgage and countless bills to pay, I needed something less stressful and something that would work and not stress me out. I now own 1/3 acre total, so no need for a riding mower. Took it out of the box put in oil, and fuel. I saw videos on youtube where they would do the same thing and do a 1 pull or 1 turn key to start it. Personally I was skeptical because none of the mowers I was "voluntarily asked" to use as a kid ever did this. Well this one does. I really like that this is a self-propelled mower, I just turn on the speed dial to whatever is best and just roll with it. It practically was made for us 'Mericans. Because nothing says Good ole' America like the freedom to not push your own mower but for the mower to push itself. Used it several times already, and starts each time w/ one turn of the key. It still has the same gas that I topped it off. That gas was ugh, sitting in a gas container for several years (and didn't look the clearest), probably not the smartest idea, but no sign of fouling up or weird knocks on the motor. My biggest CON to this lawn mower is that to change the cut height, you have to change the height of each wheel. I would expect that from an American designed product but not from the Japanese. I wish it had 1 lever to change the grass height, would make my lazy American butt that much happier. In conclusion, this mower is best paired with some Toby Keith or Metallica on noise-cancelling headphones. If that is not your speed, try Nickelback.

I was so sad to hear Honda is not making gas lawn mowers anymore. My other Honda lawn mower is 22 years old and still running strong! I purchased this brand new Honda lawn mower so I could get one before they sell out and to buy one with BLADE STOP! I highly recommend Honda lawn mowers! I have never had any problems with a Honda engine or product.

I use my lawn mower for home i love how it handles. I only had it for 4days.

This mower is used to mow 1/2 acre of lawn. Grass discharges directly behind mower over shoes and pants legs. This machine badly needs a side discharge chute to discharge grass away from the mowing path. Other than this the mower performs well.

I love honda mowers and our family has used them all my life. Pretty bummed honda has decided to stop making lawnmowers. I purchased a new one after our last Honda. Mower, which lasted about 30 years stopped working. It appears there's some sort of recall on it. So I am taking it in for a safety recall warranty service. I'm really glad I don't have to return it for a refund to have this issue resolved like I said, we love honda mowers and our last one lasted us about 30 years.

This is the second Honda Power Lawn Mower I have purchased the first one lasted 14 years , I love the new one its so quite and powerful , it does an amazing job. The first one was just as nice but has seen better days so time for an upgrade and man what an upgrade it is..... Hope to get as many years out of this one as I did the first one.

This mower is fantastic, so far. The twin blades manicures the lawn. The only 3 issues are: 1. Honda like John Deere, Honda will no longer be selling lawnmowers in the US. 2. There is a recall d/t high compression kick back which I am looking into having repaired, and 3. The discharge/mulch/bag shoot collects lots of clippings in mulch setting

Won’t start after the first few times hurt my hand trying

I already own a Honda HRX217 that runs great (I purchased in 2013) but when I read that Honda was discontinuing the manufacture of their mower line, I was extremely disappointed & I decided to get a new mower and set it aside for the future. While Honda mowers aren't inexpensive, they are the best I've ever owned. The engine and hydrostatic transmission are almost bullet-proof, in fact, small engine, gasoline operated tool that I own (portable generator, pressure washer & lawn mower) are powered by Honda engines. I won't own anything else.

I bought the same model 24 years ago at the Depot.NEVER broke down! I hit a coconut and the body cracked - my fault. Bought a toro super mulcher horrible. Found this on Internet and almost cried with happiness! Bought immediately. Gave the Toro to the dealer that sold it to me and asked him to sell for whatever they could get me. My new baby is home and working as good as the original. I work for a major corporation and we have hundreds of Honda engines nothing I know of is as good . Period end of story!

I just opened a small lawn care buissness in my neighborhood in order to help our elderly neighbors. My current setup is a Stihl FS111 Komisystem, Redmax backpack blower, and Honda HRX217HYA. The ROTOSTOP system on the honda has saved me an arm sore, and a good amount of time. The pickup ability for leaves is also notably higher than my older mower, and this seems to chop them up into finer bits with the duel blade system. This was also impressive in tall, waist high grass, leaving a very clean cut, and did not clog with the discharge open. The hydrostatic drive is also much better than my previous mowers belt driven system, and this has more power, and speed. I was a little skeptical about this “Nexite” deck, but it seems to be pretty durable. I have experienced one minor problem that has been mentioned by other owners, and that is it does not take a lot of force for the air filter cover to come apart, making it so if you bump it slightly, it falls off.

My first Honda lawnmower lasted 30yrs when the differential just broke open spilling oil and parts in my yard. The new Honda HRX217K6HYAA was a change from the older mower that I learned pretty quick. I like all the improvements Honda has made through time. The one thing that still stands out is the quality the mower gives you when mowing your yard. Love the way it cuts and the way the yard looks when completed. The quality Honda put in there mowers will be missed. So sad you will not make lawnmowers any more.

I bought this lawnmower because of the Honda brand, the twin blade system, the adjustable mulching system, and the hydrostatic drive system. Unfortunately there is a problem with the camshaft assembly that when you run the mower and shut it off for whatever reason it is very difficult if not impossible to start again until it cools down significantly. In fact I had my mower partially sitting in the sun for maybe 10 or 15 minutes and it acted the same as it did running it and then shutting it down. I was finally able to start it but it was very difficult and I was going to give up and on the last attempt it started. The next time I attempted a week later it started no problem it was at room temperature! I hope Honda stands by its product and loyal customers and comes up with a solution. To this problem!!!!!

While the mower operates great after startup, it's often almost impossible to start. The engine appears jammed and the cord is extremely difficult to pull. This can happen on the first start of the day or after a short shut-down. Seems random. Doesn't really matter how many nice features it has if it won't start.

I bought this Honda product online. When I tried to start it, the pull chord would jam and it wouldn't start. I was advised by Honda to take it to the Honda dealer shop Expert Yard and Garden, LLC in Arlington. It has been there since June 24, 2023. Diagnosis from shop was that the Compression Release Valve Broke. I have had 4 Honda lawnmowers in the past and was always very satisfied. Will Honda dealer be able to fix this product?

I purchased the high end model HRX217HYA from a local dealer. The first mower i purchased failed to start so I took it back to the dealer. They repaired it but the engine was still surging. The dealer did right by me and gave me a new mower. That one started working good. Here are the Pro's and cons. Pros: 1) Easy height Adjustment. 2) The Transmission on the model is very seemless. I had a toro self paced mower for 18 years and I like the transmission on that one better. But this was easy to get used to after a few hours of usage. I specially like the fact that the mower moves itself on hills. 3) Nice wheels with ball bearing the rolling is pretty easy. 4) Except for one time the mower starts easy. 5) I like the blade deactivation system while the engine keeps idling. 6) Cut quality is very good on a bumpy lawn for Bermuda grass. 7) you can fold the handle and stow away easily Cons: 1) After about one hour of running, I tried to restart the engine after stopping it. I almost separated my shoulder. It was very hard to pull. Not sure if this needed break in or what but the mower has about 12 hours now and it starts smooth. 2) The chute collects grass in mulching mode. It is a pain to clean up. 3) There are lot of nooks and crevices under the mower where grass clippings are stuck 4) There are some washers by the transmission wheels and they are coming off. I used zip ties to keep them in place but I can see dirt get into these places affecting the transmission. Keep and eye out for this. 5) The plastic mower deck easily scratches. They do sell steel guards but it is another 30 dollars. At this price, it should have come with it. 6) The overall mower doesn't feel like it is 1100 dollars. I guess inflation has something to do with price.

I have been a Honda customer for years and thought that it would be hard to go wrong with a new Honda lawnmower. After some research I decided that the HRX217 would work for what I needed. Well, initially it did work. Then out of the blue it wanted to rip you hand off when trying to pull start the engine. After some digging this problem seems to be pretty common. Unfortunately Honda hasn’t see the need to issue a recall. In my reading this issue has people playing with rotating the blades to help bypass this issue. Seems pretty risky to me. I contacted my dealer and they knew all about the issue and ordered the parts to hopefully fix this serious issue. In the end the mowing that I have been able to do before this problem occurred has been good. I remember the good old days with a Green 2 stroke Lawn Boy. Not once did I have issues like this.

My 92 yr old aunt has been mowing with this exact same model for 15+ years. She still pulls the cord and starts it herself. That's why I bought mine in March of 2022. In a year and a half of mowing it has been exactly what I expected (the best mower I've ever used). Hydro transmission is a dream of speed, adjustability and power. Bagging leaves is a breeze. Mulching leaves no trace of clippings. Even cut a yard that was extremely overgrown for a neighbor with easy, using a very slow hydro walk setting. Perfect.

I have to Honda Lawnmowers they are the best lawnmowers I’ve ever owned I will be very disappointed if Honda quits making lawnmower s I do not want to buy any other brand so I would very appreciate it if you guys continue to make lawnmowers