The quality of cut is below what I've come to expect from my commercial mower - but hey, this only cost 1/25th of what it did. After a month of owning it and running it near 60 hours, it seems reliable. Starts 75% of the time on the first pull and always by the second. The drive belt chatters some if the grass is juicy and collects on the belt. It does a near flawless job in Tall Fescue, but leaves stragglers and obvious wheel tracks in Kentucky Blue Grass. The bagging system seems to work well. I mainly use it in mulching mode - or, if the grass is tall, discharge mode. It cuts best with the front of the deck set to your intended cutting height and the rear set higher by one notch. And, speaking of tall grass, it does a pretty good job cutting tall grass (6-8") at the highest wheel setting (4" on this mower) compared to other 22" mowers I've had. I tried switching the blade to the Gator #96-607 blade, which doesn't really improve the quality of cut, but it does seem to last longer before it needs sharpening. The Gator also seems to have a slight advantage in clipping dispersal when in discharge mode. The cleaning port does ok to rinse out the bulk of what collects under the deck - but if you wait long after you finish cutting and the grass dries under the deck, all bets are off. Taller clippings collect around the blade shroud and must be removed manually from time to time. Granted, I'm picky - and to get a better cutting 22" mower will likely cost twice as much. All in all, not too bad. TORO Personal Pace Walk P
I've had this mower for about six weeks and I am really impressed with it. Previously I used a Snapper Hi-Vac that I didn't think performed very well. I like that this mower is pull and go, meaning it starts on the first pull with no choke to mess with and there is no engine speed to set. The Personal Pace self-propelled system is awesome, I couldn't imagine going back to one without that. The take-off's and stops are very smooth, and it truly does adjust to your walking speed.
I have only used the mulching feature on the mower, which I think works really, really well - especially for a single blade system. I tend to mow fairly often and at a fairly high setting but my lawn is thick tall fescue so there is plenty of grass being processed. I will say that occasionally on turns where I lift the front tires that small clumps of grass can appear but it doesn't happen too often. The cutting is even, and it does a great job even with minimal to no overlap. My snapper was really bad about leaving stragglers along the edge of the cut path so I had to overlap quite a bit more with that mower to get everything even.
All in all, I would recommend this mower. It's a great value for the money. I picked mine up on sale at Home Depot for right around $300. Cuts like a champ and is very smooth to operate.
EDIT - Updated 8/3/11.
Okay, after using this product for half a year I have to update my review. In my initial cutting last fall I did not use the bagger. Using the bagger caused a multitude of problems. One, the mower leaves a lot more stragglers. So much so that I have some areas I have to mow twice. It's a total pain! On top of that, a lot of grass shoots out the top of the bag, right at the operator. The mower works pretty good for mulching but not so much for bagging.
Also, the "GTS" system is kind of a joke. Another thing I discovered when bagging is that when you stop the mower to empty the bag it is very hard to restart. When I first start mowing it starts on one or two pulls but once you stop, it's often game over. I sometimes have to walk away and let it cool down for several minutes before it will start again. Very frustrating. I actually contacted Toro about this, and ultimately my local service center, and I was told that Toro has added a list of "ideal conditions" that must be met for the GTS guarantee to kick in. Included in this are things like the weather (temperature), mowing conditions, and many more. The mechanic basically told me that Toro knows they have problems with this but instead of addressing the issue to fix it they are trying to give themselves an out with a list of exclusions for the guarantee. BS if you ask me.
I only had this mower for about six months and hit a small stump and bent the crankshaft. It would have been more expensive to fix it than to buy a new one! I hit many a small stump with my old craftsman and never had any problems. That tells me durability is an issue. I replaced this mower with a Honda and won't be buying another Toro!
I purchased a Toro 3 years ago and have had nothing but trouble with it. Wheels are falling off, front wheel drive needed repair. The lawn mower is in the shop more than in my garage. Would not recommend purchasing a Toro!!
Mower worked fine when new. Still does, except I can't use it due a gas tank that has split the entire length. It's now a safety and environmental hazard, leaking gas even if I only put in a splash. Toro customer service ignored me, then when I asked to deal with a supervisor finally (after several more days) told me to buy a new tank. The "helpful" guy gave me the wrong part number, to boot. A gas tank should last a decade at least, not a year and a half. An obvious manufacturing defect, but Toro does not care one bit, and takes zero responsibility.
Purchased Mower 5-19-2010 from local dealer and had problems from the start. The mower would stop on me when mowing; I set the mower to mulch. It does not like to mulch. So it would stop and you could not get it restarted for house after it had been running for 15-20 minutes. Took this mower back to the dealer numerous times and they could or would not do anything about it. Contacted Toro and it was totally useless. All Toro and the dealership cares about is that they have your money. Everything ends ones the sale is completed. This is true at the dealership as well Forsyth Mower, Winston Salem. The only way for me to use this mower is the side discharge and keep the grass cutting lever at the midway point or higher or it will choke up and cut off. I had owned the Toro Super Recycler 20007 in the past which worked wonderful at mulching and I never had a problem but forget it with the 20332. I am stuck with the mower to only mow with the side discharge as I do not bag my grass. SO, BUYER BEWARE!. - Bag - Lawn Mower - Mulch - Gas-powered'
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