Toro Recycler 20333

May 2009. Among self-propelled lawn mowers, the Toro Recycler 20333 is a good blend of features and price. While it skips an electric starter, the Toro mower does have a recoil start that's guaranteed to start on one or two pulls for three years. It can mulch and bag well, but tests show that it's particularly good at side-discharging clippings. A few owners complain that mulched clippings don't always disappear completely into the lawn, however. One plus is that you can switch from bagging to mulching with the flip of a switch. A blade brake feature is another bonus -- this lets you pause mowing without cutting the motor, handy if you need to move objects out of the way. The Personal Pace drive system, which matches your walking speed, gets generally good reviews, but several owners say it takes a while to learn how to use it properly. We read comments that the mower works well in tall, wet or tough grass without bogging down. Self propelled mowers are pretty much essential for lawns larger than about 1/3 acre. If you think you can get by without a self-propel feature, consider the Craftsman 38905 (*est. $225), a push mower.

Several Toro lawn mowers are included in comparison tests at Consumer Reports, where self-propelled mowers are judged on ease of use and performance in bagging, mulching and side-discharging grass clippings. There's also an area where readers can comment. We found user ratings for this Toro lawn mower at HomeDepot.com. While there are not yet a huge number of reviews, the reviews are detailed and give good insight into specific owner likes and gripes.