Lawn-Boy offers residential style walk behind mowers powered by Honda or Kohler gasoline engines. They are priced competitively in the $200/$300 range. Here we’ll look at the best Kohler and best Honda option, the benefits of each and also the current best price to buy online.
The Lawn-Boy lawn mower brand was born within a boat outboard motor company called Evinrude in 1934. It was the original one-handed reel mower in America.
For 30+ years Lawn-Boy improved their product and by 1970:
“Lawn-Boy lawn mowers were revered for the all new 2-cycle engine that produced 20 to 30 percent more power with less weight, fewer parts, and easier servicing.”
Then, in 1989, the inevitable happened: The Toro Company (Lawn Boy’s biggest competition) acquired the Lawn-Boy brand from its parent company, Outboard Marine Corporation, for $98.5 million ($189 million in 2014 dollars).
Was the acquisition worth it? Yes – and it benefited both companies. Lawn-Boy mowers have continued to improve under Toro and their combined engineering knowledge has produced some of the most popular and praised petrol mowers. Let’s check out the 2 best Lawn-Boy’s:
Best Lawn-Boy Mowers
Self Propelled. Kohler Engine.
1) Lawn-Boy 10734 21-Inch Self Propelled Gas Mower With Electric Start
The best self propelled Lawn-Boy mower is powered by a 149cc 6.5 ft-lb torque Kohler XT6 OHV gasoline engine. And it has electric start so no putting out your back pulling the recoil.
It is rear wheel driven for better traction/manoeuvring and has capability for mulching, bagging and side discharge (note: side discharged needs to be requested after purchase). Because of the electric start and self propulsion it is the most expensive Lawn-Boy at $300 – $350 depending on current deals (see ‘Current Prices’ below).
Because Lawn-Boy is a Toro brand it is covered by the Toro 2-Year No Worry Warranty and also the 3-Year Tru-Start Commitment so you can rest easy knowing that if the quality control team missed something it will be covered.
Push. Honda Engine.
1) Lawn-Boy 10736 Push 21-Inch Gas Powered Honda Engine Mower With Larger Rear Wheels
The best push (not self propelled) Lawn-Boy mower for most people is the 10736 model powered by the lightweight Honda GCV 160cc OHC gasoline engine. It has 6.9 lb-ft of torque @2500 rpm so you can rest easy knowing it will make quick work of thick, wet or tall grass.
It has larger 11-Inch rear wheels (one above has 8-Inch) to ensure it is easy to turn direction and weave around objects. Despite not having self propulsion or an electric start, this mower is 10 pounds lighter than the above Kohler powered mower. It’s also $20 – $40 more affordable.
Lawn-Boy Mower Benefits
Watch this video made by Lawn-Boy to learn the benefits of their different mowers:
Wrap-Up
Whether you want self propelled or not, Lawn-Boy has a great mower to suit your needs. Want a Honda engine powering your mower? Want a Kohler? Take your pick.
Sources And Further Reading
1. From lawnmanual.com I made sure that the best petrol mower page was in alignment. Check out the best Husqvarna here or if you want electric go here.
2. Lawn-Boy has quite the extensive history so a fair few articles were used to research this page. The Wikipedia pages read: Toro, Lawn-Boy and Evinrude Outboard Motors. The Lawn-Boy About page has an interesting timeline that I took notes from. The acquisition cost of Lawn-Boy was sourced from a well sourced Answers.com article written by Jay P. Pederson; Updated by David E. Salamie.
3. From a more product stand point I researched the detailed specifications of the Lawn-Boy mower engines at Kohler’s XT6 engine page and Honda’s GCV160 engine page.
