Customer Reviews

Yard-Man 12A-568Q701 5.5HP Honda OHC Engine 3-N-1 High Wheel Self Propelled Mower

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

When this was delivered all I needed to provide was gasoline. It shipped with the right amount of oil, which took less than 30 seconds to pour in, and another 3 minutes to lock down the handle, fill it with gas and start it.

It started on the first pull and worked flawlessly in our 1/3 acre yard. The first time this mower used three tankfuls of gas, but this was because the grass and weeds in our lawn had grown nearly 18 inches high (we'd recently moved in). The second time I mowed the lawn I only used a tank of gas, which indicates how economical this model is to own and operate.

The self-propelling feature was good enough to allow me to handle the mower, even on hilly parts of the back yard.

The instruction book is easy to follow, the mower itself is well-packed and easy to remove from the shipping carton, and set-up was a breeze. Performance is outstanding. If I had it to do all over again, I'd still purchase this model, which is the best compliment I can bestow.

I love this machine. Out of the box, screw in handle, oil in, gas it up, starts on the first pull. After 10 minutes (no exaggeration) I was cutting grass! The rear bag is easy to take off, empty, and replace. The self propel works great on level ground and slight inclines. I don't have any steep slopes to test it on. The large wheels make it easy to maneuver. I just hope it lasts. The mower I replaced had problems with all these features, but i stuck with it for 7 years. Highly recommend.

I'm not a lawn mower expert, so take it with a grain of salt. I was excited to find a mower with a honda engine for a fair price, so I bought it.

Assembly was simple, and the first start instructions were clear. I goofed up at first and had the fuel cutoff facing the wrong way, so the engine was not getting fuel. It started anyway, and ran for a few minutes and died, it would not start again. So I take a look at the instructions again and see that I skimmed over the fuel cutoff section. DOH!

Turned the fuel cutoff to the correct flowing position, and voila, she purrs like a tiger kitten.

Everything about the mower works great. I've cut my lawn about a dozen times now and the thing works flawlessly. I've mulched and bagged, both work very well.

To comment towards some previous reviews:

-If you are planning on operating machinery, it is ultimately your responsibility to inspect it before using. You never know what can happen to the machine between the manufacturer and your doorstep. I do the same with a new car, lawn mower, etc.

-Double check your fuel cutoff switch, and re-read the instructions if your mower won't start or ran weird and died. It's a simple machine with a simple honda engine. If you rush to return it, I'd bet good money the shop is going to get it running in a few minutes or less and sell it right back to someone else. I say this because reading some of the reviews, the symptoms were very similar to when I had the fuel cutoff in the wrong position.

I'm sorry to read that some of you had problems getting yours to run, hopefully it was an easy fix, because it's a good mower. The small percentage of problems is to be expected with any machine, especially when buying from a drop-shipping mail order place like Amazon. You get a good price but no "mower" people to help make sure your unit is ready to go before you take it home.

The mower does not have an end-user throttle control. The mower maintains a steady rpm and adjusts power delivery based on load, automatically. The lever on the engine is just the choke for cold starts. That's why it moves back to the run position automatically.

I wanted a mower with a Honda motor. This one was the right price and had more features than ones costing much more. Assembly was simple..you dont even need tools. You only have to put 4 bolts with wingnuts on the handle and slide the bag over the bagger frame.

Filled it with the supplied oil, gassed it up, turned the fuel supply shutoff valve to the open position. Took 2 pulls to start the first time, but now it starts on the first pull.

I have a fairly large yard and this mower ripped through it in record time. My only wish is that the rear bagger could be little larger. My old Toro lawnmower now refuses to start so my grass was over 12 inches long in some spots so had to bag it the first time through with the new one, but now just use it as a mulcher. It does a fantastic job. My grass doesnt know that Im not using a Toro, Lawnboy, Craftsman,etc., etc. But my wallet is much happier.

This is the first ever mower I got and so It took me near about an hour and half to assemble it and fill it with engine oil and gas. I'm a novice.. so I took all the time in the world to read through the handout and do it step by step. Instruction manuals are good enought to guide us.

Started as per the instructions and it all started well.. but the noise out of the engine was abnormal and discontinuous. I compared the noise with the one that my car engine makes. This mower was making a horrible bursting noise contineously and would run like that for about 60 seconds.. then it would die. I double checked the recommended fuel type (Premium Unleaded 87 and up), recommended oil level, made sure the blades were not stuck.. etc... Tried a couple of more times.. it did the same.

I thought the new engine might have some air block and gave it tries for the next few days.. Its still the same. I'm going to return it back and try a new piece. May be its a bad piece I got. But after looking at another reviewers similar experience, I wonder what kind of quality control they have. Since this is my first ever lawn mower, I give it a 2 star.. else It would have definitely been a 1 star.

For you guys willing to buy honda powered lawn mower under a decent price tag, I would wait to see few more reviews to make a judgement on this one.

After my long lasting Troy-Built push lawn mower died, I decided to buy a new one instead of getting it fixed. After reading and researching on-line reviews for self-propelled lawn mowers it seemed they started in the price range around $300. I had never had a self-propelled mower before. But, the thought that if the wife or kids wanted to volunteer mowing our small yard a self-propelled mower would make it a more enjoyable experience.

Several features I was looking for were: (1) Larger rear wheels, (2) Dependable engine, (3) Decent warranty, (4) Variable speed drive. This mower has all these except the variable speed, which was not a problem for me since a little downward pressure on the handle will make the front wheels lift off and slow it down if needed. With the larger rear wheels it seems to accomplish this and turning fairly well. Also, this is the << ONLY >> mower in this price range that has a dependable HONDA engine. Looking at the reviews of more expensive mowers, the HONDA engines were a major selling point considering their ease of starting and dependability. Some of the reviewers here at Amazon had indicated they had problems with that engine. For the price to value features of this mower, I was willing to take a gamble.

This last weekend it was delivered to our doorstep. The time it had taken since my old mower had died and it arrived had been a little over two weeks. The lawn looked like a jungle and I was in a hurry to get it mowed before the neighbors started to complain. Probably should have taken the time to read the instructions first before I assembled and started it though.

To start off, there were only 4 bolt/wing nuts to make up as a previous reviewer had indicated. A mistake I made was not putting them in the correct direction since the grass collection bag interfered with the lower ones until I turned them 180 degrees about. The instructions probably would have told me this if I had read them. Also, the oil that came in the bottle was just a tad more than the capacity of the oil reservoir. DON'T OVERFILL a gas engine. Luckily, I checked the dip stick and saw that it was a little overfull after dumping the WHOLE bottle in. I emptied a little oil out until the dipstick showed the correct level and continued the startup process by filling the gas tank.

At that point I had to get the manual out to see a picture of which way the gas shut-off valve should be pointed. Also, the spark plug wire had to be attached to the spark plug. OK... ready to fire her up. I turned the throttle to choke and gave a couple of tugs. Nothing. Huh, maybe I got a dud like the previous reviewer on Amazon. A couple of more uneventful tugs and I realize the carburetor was flooded with gas. So, I took the air filter off to let the carburetor air out.

A few minutes passed and I replaced the air filter. A couple of more tugs proved uneventful. Wow, I stood back in thought looking at the new lifeless piece of equipment I had put so much hope and anticipation in. Then it dawned on me, I may have to hold the top lever on the handle back when I was pulling the starting cord. I turned the throttle to medium, held one hand on the "kill switch" lever on the handle and pulled the cord. The engine burst to life! If only I had taken the time to read all the instructions, I probably would have had a more successful startup.

Nah, I knew what I was doing? Besides I had a jungle to mow. The jungle is gone now and I am very confident in this machine to perform well for me in the future. I even went out a couple of days later while writing this review to test it to see if it started again. I turned the throttle to "choke" and with one tug it started again. Also, I noticed the throttle move on it's own down to a run position instead of the "choke" position after it started. Very cool.

Who knows maybe the wife and kids will use this thing? If nothing else, they can start it for me.

We set up the new lawn mower, after reading both manuals with care, and started the engine. It started right away, as advertised - but a large piece of plastic from inside the blade housing was sheared off and shot past my foot into our garage. After an inspection of the underside of the machine, we found that a large screw, which holds the plastic liner to the metal blade housing, was missing. This caused the liner to stick out into the path of the blade. That missing screw should have been spotted in a routine quality check. The piece that was sheared off was thick and sharp, and could have really hurt someone. Although the machine seems fine otherwise, we now have to get an inspection at an authorized dealer, and possibly replacement parts. Even if we do not have to pay for the inspection, our time has been wasted and our confidence in the product has declined. The 1-800 number for the product line is not staffed on Saturday, and the .com for the product was "unavailable at the current time". Part of producing quality products is to follow through on all the details; especially those that, if overlooked, could hurt someone.

This is a wonderful mower. The person who had engine problems needs to learn how to work the fuel shut-off valve. The Honda was the selling point for me. I haven't been disappointed. It easily starts with one pull of the rope. My past mower was a commercial Snapper Mower. It had rear wheel drive, but the front wheel drive of this mower works just as well. Why pay five or six hundred for a Honda mower when this has the same engine? Great Buy!

I'd like to be able to write a better review...but I bought this puppy this morning and ended up taking it back late this afternoon. I'm assuming there was some kind of factory defect with the choke. I could get it to start and it would run "ok" for about 60 seconds and then start to sound bad so I'd turn it off. But then it wouldn't start again. The choke kept moving to the wrong position. It would only start if I had my wife hold the choke in position. So...after 5 or 6 hours of messing with it and trying to figure out what was wrong with it, I took it back to the store. Again, not saying it's a bad machine...but I DID have a bad experience.

Stay away from this manufacturer. The one I bought had: the handle for the drive fail to engage, the engine starts only half the time and the left rear wheel just fell off. But my old trusty Toro is 3 times older and keeps running (I'm glad I kept it for a spare).