Please Sir, May I Have Some Mower?

Like most people who live in the suburbs, I have a house which has a yard which needs to be mowed periodically. This would normally not be a problem, as those of us with lawns to mow usually own lawn mowers. Mine however bit the dust two summers ago.

I tried to make it work through last summer. I did all the responsible lawn-mower-owner things like replacing the blade, sparkplug, and filter. I changed the oil, took apart and reassembled the carburetor, and replaced fuel lines. Still, I ended up just fighting with it for hours at a time and every attempt at clipping my grass culminated in knocking on the neighbor's door and borrowing their mower. Yet again.

Thinking that I had done my due diligence with that 14-year-old beast, I vowed to replace it come spring and sent the old one on it's merry way last fall.

All winter long, visions of lawn mowers danced in my head as I watched the snow come down in droves. I knew that soon, spring would bloom and I could bring home a brand new, bright and shiny, self-propelled mower that would answer all my lawn-care problems. I researched. I read reviews. I curled up at night by the fire with Consumer Reports and a hot mug of cocoa, scouring all available resources for the one. Until finally, the snow melted, the grass turned green and hope sprung in my heart again. I knew what I was getting, knew how I was ordering it, and set the ball in motion.

Enter the Toro 22" Personal Pace® Recycler lawnmower.

This mower has all the features I was looking for, and if it weren't raining the day it showed up at my door, I'd have had it open and out in the yard that day. Not that I ever bag my clippings (Ain't nobody got time for that), but this mower could if I wanted to. I could also choose between mulching (my favorite) or side-discharge. 

When I was finally able to step away from the kids for a few minutes and get outside to unwrap my new toy, I found the deck adjustment levers on the rear wheels were bent all kinds of out of shape. While I don't want to complain - I could grab a pair of pliers and bend them straight with little effort - the principal of the matter was I just dropped too much money on a NEW lawn mower to have to fix it myself.

So, I called up the customer service page on Toro.com and started the process to get things straightened out. Within two days, I had a response and a few days after that I got a set of replacement levers in the mail. A few adjustments and the mower was ready to go, and it's a good thing too. I had let the grass get pretty long with all the rain this spring and it was in desperate need of a first cut.

The Toro started right up with just a single pull of the cord. The self propel system worked like a charm, matching my pace step-for-step. There was no clumpy trail of mulched grass left behind for me to rake up later. The lawn was short. The clippings were even. My neighbors remained undisturbed. I was happy.

It is still early, as I've only made it through one cutting so far, but if this machine continues to purr like this, I may start to actually enjoy stepping into the yard this summer and for years to come to cut the grass. If nothing else, this thing was so easy to use, I can look forward to letting the wife or kids out there while I watch from the window, ice-cold lemonade in hand!