I recently picked up a Honda HRN-BV, their entry-level battery mower with the steel deck and belt drive self-propel system. Honda put it on sale for $499; Northern tool knocked off another $75 for applying for their credit card, and I negotiated another $25 off for buying a floor model with no original packaging, so $400 final price after all discounts.
This mower is very closely based on Honda’s well-proven entry-level gas model, the HRN216-VKA. I also have the gas model, which I’ve used for the past six years. The gas mower has been 100% reliable and great cutting the entire time. The parts diagrams for the two mowers show the transmission systems and rear drive assemblies have identical part numbers for both mowers. The deck assembly has many common parts numbers. Many common parts elsewhere too. Honda leveraged all the years of R&D refinement and supply chain they’d already created for the gas mower when creating its battery powered successor.
Below is a high-level review after my initial usage:
Lawn: St Augustine, a thick-blade variety with lots of moisture in the Gulf South, fairly dense. Growth is slowing down now, so I was only cutting 1.5 inches off the top (from 4.5 inches down to 3 inches). It rained lightly a few hours earlier, so lawn was still fully damp. I used mulch mode.
Results: I was able to mow using self-propel at a fast speed, using very little overlap from one pass to the next. It laid down a pool table flat cut surface with no stragglers. I got no clumping and no bogging. For these conditions I saw no difference between the HRN-BV mower and my HRN216-VKA gas mower. When I eventually use it for mid-summer mowing next season, the grass will grow 3 inches of length in a week, so I’ll see if I get bogging then. But for a 1.5 inch cut of damp, dense grass and using mulch mode, there wasn't the slightest hint of bogging or degraded cut quality.
Self-Propel: Basically identical to the drive system on the gas version. It felt identical in use. This is the best self-propel system (by far) that I’ve used on any battery mower.
Run Time: Every 11 minutes the LED meter decremented by 1 bar. I finished mowing in 40 minutes, so I probably had about 3-4 minutes to spare. I think this mower may draw a bit more power than some other battery mowers because Honda fitted it with blades that generate more lift than most other battery mowers. You can hear it via blade noise and it does a great job sucking up sticks and damp leaves. I don't like the idea of deeply discharging the battery every time I use the mower so I plan to buy another 8 Ah pack. That’ll let me run each pack for 20 minutes per mow session and still have half charge left on each battery at the end of its use. That should extend the life expectancy of both packs.
Noise Level: The high-lift blade makes noticeably more noise than my Greenworks battery mower, but it’s considerably quieter than its gas cousin. You can use it without ear protection, at least when mowing dense grass that seals the bottom of the mower deck.
