Right, there's no reason you shouldn't mulch with a Hi-Vac. The only functional difference is that the bottom lip on the deck is turned under for a Hi-Vac and outward for the dedicated mulchers with the A.I.R. designation. I mulch with a Hi-Vac all the time, and so do a bunch of lawn crews. Dan, I'm not familiar with a smaller OHV Robin. That would be interesting. I am familiar with the old L-head Robins, that I think might have been called WT1-185V or something like that. Although displacing the same as the EH18V, these would be much smaller and lighter due to the L-head configuration. They would also make a lot less power. But as you say, I'm sure they are anvil reliable. I thought about buying one on eBay once for a mower project, but never got around to it. My current mower is a C216012RV (commercial Hi-Vac with the monster Robin EH18V but no self-propel) that I added self-propel to. This thing was the deal of the century: the guy was local and listed it on eBay as a "Robin" mower instead of Snapper for $50 buy-it-now, IIRC. So nobody with a "Snapper" search ever saw it, and I snapped (pun intended) it up asap when I saw it. I went to pick it up, and it looked brand new. They guy couldn't start it, so he figured it was disposable. I got it home, cleaned out the carb, and it ran great. I added the drive system with parts I mostly had laying around, and now I have the Cadillac of Hi-Vacs (Cadi-Vac?).

Thanks! I found out where to look up publications on the snapper website and from what I can tell just looking at the ads pictures the mower is a 1990 or 91 series 7 or something close to that. The guy who is selling it says the mower is only 5 years old???? Not sure how that can be when snapper hasn't made a 12hp 33 inch hi-vac for years! Any suggestions??

thanks Matt and LawnmowerDan for your opinions, they helped. I knew the reviews were not good on this mower, but for the price (actually got it for $ 250), it was worth the risk. I just picked up the mower today and it looks and runs like almost new. The previous owner took good care of it. Matt - and yes it was lightly used on one lawn. The engine alone makes the mower. The Robin engine is very strong and quiet. Dan, I am fairly handy with mechnicals, so I will start to study the Snapper drive system. If anyone has any tips with working on the Snapper drive system, let me know. Matt indicated that the Snappers are repairable.

Note: If the Sears snowblower is a 2 cycle engine (oil and gas mix) Usually there is no settings for idle speed or top speed. Every one i've had either ran top speed, or not at all. I've had several of them. It has no throttle control cable, does it? As for the other machine, i'm not well versed on them. Rustyj