The Honda hrx217k5vka: A Powerful Mower With an Indestructible Deck

The Honda hrx217k5vka model could be the solution you need if you’re looking for a power walk-behind lawnmower with a self-propel feature.

This review can assist you in sorting out the details about this machine to find out if this Honda lawn mower has what it takes to keep your yard looking its best.

You’ll discover the pros and cons of this mower compared to similar lawnmowers and come away with everything you need to know to decide if you want to buy this product or keep looking. Check out this comprehensive review before you decide on what lawnmower to buy.

Honda Mower hrx217k5vka Pros and Cons

Main Product Highlights

This mower has one of the most powerful and reliable Honda engines available in a gas-powered walk-behind lawnmower. In addition, the rugged deck is almost indestructible, making this machine destined to last for many seasons of challenging yard cleanup work.

• 190cc Honda engine
• Rear-wheel drive
• Self-propelled travel
• Bags, mulches, rear discharges and shreds clippings
• MicroCut twin blades for a precision cut
• 21 inch cutting width

Honda hrx217k5vka Review

If you need a seriously powerful walk-behind mower that moves along without you needing to push it, this model has a lot to offer.

For starters, this mower comes equipped with a robust 190cc Honda engine that starts up reliably on the first or second tug of the recoil cord and then purrs like a cat while you work. In addition, this mower has the power and operator features to make the process fast and efficient for trimming away tall grass and thick weeds.

The engine is a four-stroke design, which means you do not need to measure and add messy oil with the fuel. Instead, add regular ethanol-free gas to the fuel tank and oil to lubricate the cylinder to the separate oil reservoir, similar to what you do in a car. The benefit of this type of engine is that it has lots of power, it runs cleaner and is less likely to need repairs than a 2-cycle engine.

– Honda 4 in 1 Lawn Mower Features

One significant advantage of this mower is the 4-in-1 Versamow cutting system. The four options you get for handling the clippings include:

• Collect them in the catchment bag that comes with the mower
• Mulching them under the mower
• Discharging them from the machine’s rear
• Finely chop up a pile of debris by running the blades while the mower is stationary

With this mower, you get the broadest range of possibilities for disposing of cut grass and weeds.

In addition, switching from bagging to mulching is extremely simple. In many lawnmowers, making this switch involves removing the collection bag, and on some models, you also have to install a mulching plug in the discharge chute or change the blades.

However, all you need to do on this model is move the Clip Director lever on top of the deck. The mower sends the clipped grass into the collection bag at one side of the settings. The grass trimmings are left evenly distributed on the lawn as fertilizer at the other side of the selection lever.

– Multiple Positions

But there’s more. You can also set this lever to multiple positions between bagging vs mulching.

For example, let’s say you have tall grass to mow and it’s too much to leave all of it on the lawn for mulch, but you also don’t want to bag it all up and frequently empty the collection container. In this case, the Clip Director function gives you the option of deciding just how much grass trimmings you want to leave in place and how much to collect and dispose of in the trash or compost pile.

– Select Drive Knob

The select drive knob is a large dial at the center of the handlebar that allows you to choose precisely how fast you want the self-propel pace to go. Once you set the dial to your preferred speed, push a lever in front of the dial with either hand to engage the self-propel feature and start moving. When selecting the lowest rate, the mower ambles along at a snail’s pace that’s optimum for moving around obstacles and for cutting tall and thick grass or weeds.

At the highest speed, the select drive lets you travel at the top speed of about 3 mph, so you can quickly zoom over the lawn. This pace is perfect if you do a light trimming of thin grass, but you might have to jog to keep up with it.

However, you can also select from various speeds between these two extremes, so you can mow the lawn and chop the weeds at a rate of travel that’s ideal for you and the terrain.

– Rugged NeXite Cutting Deck

One of the most significant drawbacks of many walk-behind mowers is the low quality of their cutting deck. Decks made from light-duty stamped metal tend to rust, dent and crack at the slightest opportunity, making the mower hard to use or unsafe to operate.

Honda has come up with a solution to this lawnmower deck-quality problem by constructing the deck on this model with a practically indestructible plastic called NeXite.

This plastic is similar to what is used for making football helmets, so you know it’s tough and durable. NeXite cannot rust, and if you hit a curb, rock or some other heavy object, it’s not going to crack or dent, making this mower advantageous for anyone with challenging mowing conditions. Another advantage of the NeXite plastic deck is that it makes this mower lighter than walk-behind models with heavy steel decks.

– Downsides

While this is generally a high-quality, durable and reliable lawnmower, it does have a couple of downsides. Some buyers complain that the mulching mode on the Versamow does not work perfectly because some of the clippings still fly into the bag when you want to leave them on the ground. Other people report that the mulching function results in sludgy clumps of grass rather than finely chopped trimmings, but this could be due to mowing when the grass is too wet.

Another minor problem with this mower is that the 4-point wheel height adjustment levers are hard to move. Nonetheless, many people do not frequently change the mower deck height, making this issue a minor concern for most buyers. In addition, this mower does not have a blade stop and the blades keep moving when you walk away from the machine, but many buyers report that they prefer this design over a mower with a blade stop.

The only other significant downside of this mower is the price tag. It is significantly more expensive than many other walk-behind, self-propel models. However, the solid construction and high-quality parts on this machine result in more minor repairs over time and are a reasonable trade-off on the purchase cost for many buyers.

– Bottom Line

If you want a mower for frequent use to keep your yard looking great and you don’t want to spend time and money for a machine that won’t start or work properly, this Honda model hrx217k5vka lawnmower is an excellent choice. But be prepared to pay more than you would for most other mowers of this type.

Honda Self Propelled Mower Main Product Features

1. Engine

The 190cc Honda engine on this mower is one of the most reliable you’ll find on a lawnmower. Most buyers say it starts every time on the first pull of the recoil cord. Almost everyone reports that it fires up with a second pull in the worst case. Hard starts on a mower engine are a big hassle and something most people don’t want to deal with, and you won’t have to with this mower as long as you care for the engine properly.

Maintaining this engine in top condition is not difficult. The most critical point is not using ethanol-containing fuel, rapidly damaging components in the carburetor and fuel line. Beyond that, you must follow the Honda hrx217k5vka oil change schedule closely because this model does not have an air filter. Draining the old oil and replacing it with regular automotive 30 weight oil only takes a few minutes, and all the details about how to do it are covered in detail in the owner’s manual.

The fuel efficiency of this engine is high, and you can expect to mow a lawn of 10,000 square feet on less than a full tank of gas.

2. Cutting Deck and Wheels

An outstanding feature of this mower is the high-quality cut you get with the twin MicoCut blades. Many buyers say it is better than the cut with a Toro mower. The two blades stack together on this mower, and they finely chop even through tall grass. However, you need to sharpen these blades occasionally or replace them for the best cut.

When replacing the blades, you’ll need to look for part numbers 72531-VH7-000 for the upper blade and 72511-VH7-000 for the lower blade. Replacement blades are not challenging to find for this mower.

The four wheels on this machine are all 9 inches in diameter and made with solid and resilient plastic with deep treads for good traction. The deck height adjusts in six settings from 3/4 inches to 4 inches in height, but you must change the height independently at each wheel.

Many buyers note that adjusting the wheels to change the deck cutting height is a hassle and that they had to lift the mower off the ground to accomplish it. Fortunately, most people do not frequently change the deck height on their mower, so this is only a minor issue for most users.

3. Blade Stop

This mower does not have a blade stop, a feature on some mowers that stops the blades from rotating when you walk away from the machine to empty the collection bag or move something on the lawn.

Blade stop is a safety feature that makes the mower less likely to do damage when the operator is not present. However, many lawnmower buyers feel that blade stop is also a liability because it gets jammed and does not work right, so they are happy to have a mower without this feature.

4. Size and Weight

This mower is compact and smaller than many other models with similar features. As a result, you won’t have any problem storing this machine in a tight space in your garage. In addition, the handle easily folds down to reduce the height so you can stash it under a workbench or a shelf.

The dry weight is 88 pounds, making it relatively light compared to other walk-behind models with self-propel and a robust engine. The low weight helps when you want to adjust the deck height because you might need to lift the machine off the ground to accomplish this adjustment.

5. Assembly

This mower is fully assembled right out of the box except for the handlebar. The only other thing you need to do is add gas to the fuel tank and oil to the oil compartment. It comes with a bottle of oil to get you started.

6. Warranty

Honda has recently increased its warranty for HRX lawnmowers to five years, up from three years in the past. This outstanding and extended warranty period is a significant advantage for anyone investing in an expensive machine like this one because you can have complete confidence that the device will keep working or the manufacturer will repair or replace it for you.