Craftsman 5.5 Torque Rating 21 in. 2-n-1 Deck Rear Bag Push Lawn Mower Review

Craftsman 5.5 Torque Rating 21 in. 2-n-1 Deck Rear Bag Push Lawn Mower — 

I have a 1/2 acre yard with a lot of shrubs and trees. I primarily use a tractor to mow but use a push-mower for the close-in work or occassionally I will mow the entire yard with the push mower for exercise. In 20 years I have gone through two push-mowers. They were both very low-end MTD-made mowers with B&S engines and no frills. They did the job expected of them. When it came time to replace the 2nd of these two I wasn't sure what I wanted---an upper-end mower with a Honda engine and lots of frills or another bare-bones model. While an upper-end model would outlive a "bare-bones" model I could buy two of the lower-end models over 15-20 years and still pay less than I would for one upper-end model. As with everything else, often the bare-bones models are not the best-value either.

My criteria for a mower was that it had to be the best-value. I defined "best-value" as additional features over a base model with incremental cost less than the incremental value of the additional features. So, I settled on this model and am glad that I did. Although i have used only two weeks it has certainly met and exceeded expectations. Just today I mowed wet grass that was at least two inches above the mower setting. The mower effortlessly mowed and mulched with no trimmings left to rake-up. So far I have not used the bagger and may never use it.

I read the comments on this site which gave me second thoughts about buying this model. Now that I own this mower I have to laugh when I read some of the "negative" comments.

* ease of start: I'm not sure what the instructions say. I push the primer button 4 times and the mower starts on the 2nd pull. That is fine with me. Want a mower to start on the first pull? Buy a mower with a Honda engine and pay 2x-3x as much.

* one reviewer said that the lawn mower gets dirty. This is a lawn-appliance. If you don't want it to get dirty put it in a glass case and look at it. It is a mulching mower. It accomplishes this by constantly spinning the cut trimmings around in the mower housing. Some blow out. Some even land on the mower. They can be cleaned-off. That is what brooms are for.

* height adjustors: some reviewers said they are flimsy,. They are spring-steel. Sure, they and every other piece on this mower could be more robust with the result of added-weight to push around. I found them easy to adjust and they stayed in place.

* A couple of reviewers mentioned the rear discharge guard. They mentioned that if the user is not careful it can become lodged under the mower when pulling the mower back and end up chewed-up by the blade. I chewed up the similar piece on my two previous push-mowers when pulling the mower back. Solution: the piece is molded to a hollow-tube-like-piece at the bottom on this model. Run a piece of twine (polypropolene is fine) through the piece and tie it to the handle. The piece won't go under the mower and won't get shredded by the blade.

In short, based on two weeks of use I would recommend this mower. It seems to be good value for the money. The MTD engine has changed little in design over the years. This one is rated at 5.5 lbs of torque which seems more than adequate. Yes, gas consumption seems a little increased over the 4.0 HP model I replaced---but the extra gas is needed to power the engine for the increased demands of mulching. "Assembly" was non-existent. Open the box, lift out the mower, raise the handle and tighten the two tighteners. Don't get me wrong, one usually gets what one pays for. If one is looking for a Honda or Lawn Boy---this isn't it. It is however a good, basic mower that is a good value. Sure I would have liked things such as an oil plug and ball-bearing wheels (this mower has neither). But, they are both issues I can work around (tip the mower to drain the oil and replace the wheels every few years.)