You may save a few $ at the end of the season. Every once in a while Toro will sponsor a dealer shared deal worth $25-50 on walk behinds. The Briggs auto choke works well and is essentially the same engine as the primer one. I've found that they struggle more with off season storage where the primer ones a person could get going. Stabilizing the fuel should lessen this. Really, the same thing can be said about the Honda engines. Yes, the premium Toro quality seems to be there yet! A thing to remember is 12 or even 20 years ago, these things were selling for a very similar price.

yes in fact I may have paid more 12 years ago...makes me fear what they dumbed down, cheapened etc etc...or perhaps they are now made overseas...maybe they always were...not sure...

'Finally is one with a honda engine but a completely different deck....its a remaned Lawn Boy.'

Toro bought Lawn-Boy around 1985. Toro and Lawn-Boy engineering were one and the same after that. The LB model I think you refer to is the LB 10791 (aluminum 'Insight' deck and Honda engine), now the Toro 'Super Bagger' 20192. Toro basically tested the waters with the new designs under the LB name, only branding them 'Toro' after they proved out. This helped the LB division appear to still be innovative, but it ultimately was to no avail as the Lawn-Boy name is all but gone now.
So, there is no disgrace in a Toro mower being a 'renamed Lawn-Boy' since it was Toro engineering the whole time.

Unless you're totally unfamiliar with such basic tasks as changing a spark plug or fuel filter, I'd stay away from everything and anything brand new in the stores - almost all of them are now disposable junk with leaned out carb jetting to pass emissions and plastic parts everywhere. The first trip to the repair shop will end up costing you more than the mower did. Save yourself tons of aggravation and money by going for a solid, quality older Toro (or Exmark) aluminum commercial deck, 3 speed with a Kawasaki 4 stroke (FC150V or FJ180V), or better yet, the nice old 2 stroke Suzuki or even any of the older Lawnboy design. These mowers were rated for 20+ years of service ..not 20 days like the garbage we're encouraged to purchase with our hard-earned money today.

Free-market economics dictate consumer products must be made faster and cheaper at the painful sacrifice of quality every year. With few exceptions todays consumer products are simply not worth what they cost us anymore, especially if there are older, better quality alternatives still available to purchase and/or repair.

I cruise Craigslist free stuff looking for "junk lawn mowers" Last one was a Toro 3speed with a Suzuki 4 stroke engine. Runs and drives excellent. It just needed a shoulder bolt in a wheel height adjuster. 20 yrs old and it starts on the first pull. They were about to spend 400$ or so on it's replacement. I think I got a smokin' deal, the donors, not so much

Well maybe mine was suppose to last 20 years and I only got 12 so I am not sure I want a crapshoot on used equipment. I guess I'll be going disposable with a HD PP or maybe the dealer aluminum deck model for a little more but 5 year warranty.

I've had one of the aluminum deck Super Recyclers (model 20092) for two years and I'm very satisfied with it. It mulches well, it's easy to use, and I've had zero problems with it in two years of typical residential use.

Hope this helps.

Two things that grieve me....Why are the quality engines(Kawasaki,Honda, Suzuki all Japanese.....and we do not even make a Diesel......
Plastic, why is this knocked around so.???
Plastic is just another substance, its has its quality and place.
My wheelbarrow has a plastic tub...the big rigs use plastic in the right places....
The LB uses a plastic shroud and aluminum deck....remember the magnesium decks ?
Honda uses a "plastic" deck.....
Our nation needs a quantum leap in education....

Find another dealer and look at the Toro Super Recycler. It will give decades of service if routine maintenance is kept up.

Following WWII, the Japanese focused on building good products and repeatedly improving upon the same design. Eventually they made high quality products. They picked internal combustion engines to improve upon, since they faced starvation following WWII and were in a race to clear land, plant crops and cultivate to survive. Power equipment literally became a life saver for them.

I agree, plastic has a place - Tupperware. Plastic or any polybased material constantly outgasses and looses its integrity. Its why plastic automotive interior panels (as just one example) become brittle and disintigrate over time. UV radiation will accelerate this process with fading & chalkiness setting in first. Lawn mower engine shrouds, belt covers, wheels ..and yes honda decks.. will follow this same path. Plastic is and always was designed to be disposable. Not my idea of a "durable" product. No quantum leap in education necessary - history has already taught us repeatedly what products last and what products don't. I am not a believer in the disposable generation, but to each thier own.

As a woman (senior!) who mows lawns, I have had bad luck using the Consumer Guide's rated Hondas & Snappers... wore me out trying to start them! For the past couple of years I have had Toros: both the one with the pull rope only & the other with both the rope & key elect. start... both are the 'walk along' self propelled. They both start easy for me esp. the elect./key start (if hubby remembers to charge the battery on the elec. start one every month!). Both have B & S engines. The newer one had a bad transmission when bought new which Toro had fixed free at a local mower/saw dealer. Maybe I have just had bad luck with the previous brands but so far Toro with B&S engines have treated me well!