The 2 stroke was a sweeter machine, but the 4 stroke model still gives you what you want...superior side discharge, aluminum deck, and self propelled. Most mowers made today are "crappy" side dischargers. Side discharging is not really popular anymore, the the most you typically get is an oval opening on the side of the deck (garbage design). I love my LB for side discharging, I can effectively mow down the highest of grasses in my yard in several areas I only mow once or twice a season, and this is very much because the side discharge LB can really shoot out the clipping. As TPA mentioned...the design here is key, the discharge is at a tangent to the deck, giving it the highest velocity over other mowers. Here is a link that might be useful: New LB

I looked at the deck of the Honda and the Toro from underneath and they look like ones on my old MTD mower in a way; that is, the deck is a stamping including the wheel mounting points and then has curved pieces applied to make it round for the mower blade. I think grass would get caught on the open seams and also think it wouldn't provide as good an airflow for mulching. The Lawnboy steel deck is round and shaped with curves on the top. The front and rear wheel connections are welded onto the round main deck. The main deck only has two holes cut in (for the side discharge and the rear discharge). I think the shape and integrity of the Lawnboy deck looks better than either the Honda or Toro. I have used the Lawnboy 10685 (Tecumseh engine) and it seems to have plenty of power and mulches fine (deck set to 3 1/2 inches) (bluegrass). I have little mulch experience, I do side-discharge mostly. I experimented with rear bagging to vacuum up leaves with the deck set to 2 inches and it seemed to work very well, also with no apparent bogging down (using a patch of holly leaves). I have bagged grass with the deck set at 3 1/2 inches and it bags well, too. The one area where the Toro looks a bit better is the handle extends full length with a horizontal end so that you can pull on the metal cross piece instead on the speed control bar. This might be better for reversing and to control the mower if you do any mowing across an incline. I have a bank at the front of my yard that is about 2 feet high and about 8 feet long and I need to control the mower while standing on the low part of the bank and moving the mower along above my feet. Other than that, I think the Lawnboy looks a bit nicer than the Toro because of the deck design. You can also get the Lawnboy Insight Gold version with a Honda engine. Mine is the Insight, with the Tecumseh.

The Toro Personal Pace system releases the rear wheels when you let the mower coast forward about 1 wheel revolution before pulling back. It still binds in close-quarter cutting, particularly against obstacles where you don't have room to let it coast. This is particularly annoying when you have to pull back uphill. The new models of Lawn-Boy are advertised as having a new modification which provides better release, but I don't know if this is being used in the Toro. The best system for this problem is the 'Variable Speed' Lawn-Boy rear-wheel drive with a control bail. You squeeze the bail to the handle to go in varying degrees to modulate speed. When you release the bail, the wheels are totally free. When the Personal Pace does release, it is free. Too bad you can't get the Lawn-Boy, but maybe someone else can say whether Toro uses the new system on Personal Pace. The Toro 'Variable Speed' on the Recycler is front wheel drive, and I can't say how it works. Too bad you can't get the Lawn-Boy over there.

First time using the mower this year and noticed a squealing noise whenever I engaged the self propelled. I don't recall hearing this noise at all last year and the belt was replaced last year and has no visual wear/cracks, etc. I took the drive cover off to look at the pulleys and thought the one pulley seemed loose but while tightening it I snapped the bolt that goes through it... :( Anyone have any advice how to track down this noise? There are 3 pulleys, and I'm thinking one of them is the culprit but how the heck can you tell which one it is? I have a Husqvarna 7021RES with the EZ walk self propelled system and here's a pic of the piece I broke off.