Your not alone snappers have very poor cut i've tried every blade that snapper makes , still poor . Amost every mulcing mower i have tried has a poor cut quality. Recently i tried a friends new ariens lm21s this was the very best cut i have ever seen from a mulching mower, highest setting is 3.25 in.still cut great. I'am thinking this will be my next mower!

What kind of grass are you cutting? I have two Snapper mulchers and a Honda HRC216 (Microcut). The Snappers with Ninja blades cut and mulch as well as the Honda. If the deck is clean and the blade is sharp there should be no problems as long as you're not not trying to make the mower do things it isn't designed for.

I would think that the blades are only marginally sharpened by the factory, you might need to sharpen them yourself to ensure they're reaching their potential.

If you want to try another blade, try a Gator mulching blade. They are not as expensive as a Ninja, and they mulch almost as well. Again, they will need additional sharpening before installing.

I have a Snapper 21" self propelled and IMO even when I used a beat up Ninja blade the cut was decent.

Thanks for all your feedback.

I guess I could sharpen my blades, but they seemed to have a decent edge on them, as they were new. My Honda cut excellently, even at the end of a summer, when the blades would have certainly been duller than a new Snapper blade.

Our grass is more or less typical of what you see here in New England. It's not as nice a golf course grass, but the crabgrass isn't terrible either. It's a reasonable-looking lawn, but won't win any awards.

Essentially, lawnmowers are pretty simple, right? So long as the blade is decently sharp and level in the mower deck (and the wheels are adjusted correctly), every mower should perform identically, I would think. What other variables are there? Perhaps engine speed and blade design.

So, I can't think of a reason why a Snapper should mow badly and a Honda mow well... unless the Honda blade was better designed.

Please keep the comments coming!

Thanks, Andy

I have 2 snappers and both mow excellent. Not sure but there must be a reason for the problem. I have mowed with a Honda mower and found it was pretty good as well but not much different. The hydro drive on the honda was a bit strange but did perform well. Seemed to rob the ngine of power too. I would recommend having someone look at it. Show them the poor cut quality and any reputable dealer should be able to diagnose the issue.

er...are you sure the blade isn't on upsidedown? Pull the starter cord (ever so slowly) while the deck is tilted so you can observe the direction the blade spins. Pretty much everyone has slapped a blade the wrong way at least once (guilty ;)

Snapper blades should have a channel that fits neatly around the hub. If you install it upside down, the blade won't be securely locked to the hub.

I don't think I installed the blade the wrong way. I checked out the two options and one way (the channel aligned with the hub) clearly made the most sense.

Plus, if I put the blade in upside down, then it wouldn't bag at all, right? I imagine that the draft would force the clippings into the ground instead of up through the chute.

I'm wondering if the blades might be flawed?Try a set of new blades and I bet the problem goes away

I have purchased 4 Hi-Vac Snappers in over 40 years of mowing lawns.......

NO Problems what so ever!

Going to buy a P2170B next week.

Thanks
Bill

If you put the blades on upside-down, then you would have a fly-mo, or a machine that puts the grass on, instead of cutting it off! :o) rj

i put a razor edge on my ninja blade sharpen every 3 cuts to get the best cut from any mower. make sure you balance it also.i never liked the factory edge on a new blade any how. it always left grass standing. always mulch or bag in the slowest speed it works better. never cut more than 1/3 of the grass blade at any time.

If the blade was on upside down you would still have some lift but the cut would suck. The upward sweep end would now be sweeping downward but would be on the leading edge. This would still allow some measure of lift but a terribly poor cutting edge. It would only be a flymo if it was sweeping down on the trailing edge.

I would return the Hi-Vac if you can. I had a similar experience with the Hi-Vac RER. Many people on here rave about them but the cut quality couldn't be any worse...especially when mulching.

Anyone that thinks Snapper Hi-Vacs (either walk behind or rider) have a poor quality cut has a screw loose. These are among the best mowers on the market.

I fought this for years with my SNAPPER, it was maintenance related, REMEDY: under the engine there is an area for air movement from under the deck KEEP THIS AREA UNCLOGGED AND KEEP THE NINJA BLADE SHARP.

No more stragglers also helps to cut in opposite directions on each swath. Try it it worked for us. Dave L.

I just bought a brand new Snapper mower to cut my St Augustine. What a disappointment! I replaced a Honda mower that I had for nearly 20 years and that mower by far out performed this Snapper. It seems like no matter how slow I go I am left with an uneven cut and those dreaded stragglers.

I have a Snapper High Vac I bought in 1993. It's still running fine and I love the thing. I've always been a fan of Snapper mowers.

I have two Snappers, one that I bought, another that I inherited from my Dad. Love the mowers, but good luck with Snapper customer "service" - the brand has fallen on hard times after being bought out a couple of times.

I bought a Snapper mower about seven years ago and used it for for five years. What an awful for five years of mowing! It never cut the grass cleanly. Sure, the grass would be shorter after I mowed it, but it always had a very ragged look to it. Plus the mower, which was one of their higher end mowers and cost about $700, weighed a ton and was difficult to maneuver.

Every time I let go of it while mowing, the motor would turn off, and it required a hard pull to restart. I finally got rid of it, and bought a Toro. The Toro is so much better in every single way.

The Toro cuts very cleanly, it mulches, and starts easily. The model I got lets you walk away from it and the engine will Continue running, even though the clutch disengages the plates for safety. Plus it has a sensor so the motor goes faster if you walk faster ��" you don't need to actually change the gears or anything.

If I could use another metaphor: the snapper is an overweight you go, and the Toro is a BMW. Except the twirl doesn't cost as much is a BMW it actually cost less than the snapper! Clearly the new snappers or a different animal from the older ones, as many owners of older model snapper seem to love them. But the new Snappers suck badly.

First off, If you bought a newer Snapper self propelled mower and it dont have the drive disk on top of the deck over its rear axle its not the same mower Snappers made for decades. I believe the ones made today are actually just mtd mowers. Unlike the old Snappers with a $10 drive disc on top of the deck to replace every few yrs todays must have the whole axle/gear replaced for $100+. Total different mower including decks.

Now to understand old snapper decks there where two Snapper walk behind decks, Hi-Vac & Mulcher aka: Ninja.

Hi-Vac has its lip edge turned/rolled inwards to help direct air lift to vac/bag better and the Ninja / Mulch decks lower edge is flared outwards.

IMO the best mulch setup on Snappers is a Gator blade # 96-620 on the mulch / Ninja deck. The reason being is the grass gets clogged up on the Hi-Vac decks lip and interrupts the whole mulch/cutting process.

Also, on a Snapper mulch deck the front of the deck is more narrow in height than the rest of the deck is, almost as if its notched out around the lower front of its deck. Its so clippings are spit out in front of the mower and ran over & then mulched again. OEM Snapper blades like the Ninja or Snapper 3-1 mulching blades are more money & trouble than they're worth.

I love my Snapper, its outlasted every mower on my street several times over and my yard looks just great. Neighbors Magnolia tree leaves are every ones complaint here but mine. People gathered here & offered to pay him if he cut it down as they are like large wax coated leaves and despised. My Snapper shreds them like any other leaf in my yard, no complaint here.

We have three mowers. A Troybilt 725EX, A Snapper Hi-Vac, and a Toro Personal Pace. I've read reviews on all three, and I've seen all the negative things seem on all of them. My personal experience is, the Toro beats them all. Combined with a gator blade, it out mows both of the other ones, hands down.

If I had to guess I would say you have an adjustment problem with your mowing deck if you running the mower with thick grass adjust the front of the mower slightly downward or lower than the back. I have two the high_vac from 1992 and the other one from right around the same era not one problem with them they both cut beautifully better than any mower I've had it and I do this for a living are you still in service everyday. I would have to say it's either a dealer problem or a mower itself is a lemon. not Snapper issue

Get the mulching kit from Snapper it's a plate that goes over the side shoot hole and also where the high vac comes up got to take the hi-vac off and mulch with the mulching kit which basically turns it into a ninja thank you