Homeowner-grade self-propelled lawnmowers have been offered in many varieties over the years, and at different price points. Back in the 1990s and 2000s there were plenty of options if you wanted a well-built mower that would last you decades.
I grew up walking behind Craftsman lawnmowers with robust steel decks purchased at our local Sears (R.I.P.). Two such examples, one owned by my dad and the other by my late grandfather, are still in service today. These machines are from a time, perhaps the last time, when it seemed that most mowers were built to last. Honda also used to make gas mowers that fit this description, but those mowers ceased production at the end of 2024.
By contrast, many of today’s commodity lawnmowers that you’ll find at big-box retailers are built to a budget. Their decks are made of thin steel that rusts out easily. They’re modular designs that accept different front and rear ends, all made from somewhat cheap plastic, that vary if the mower is self-propelled or push, and if it is a bagger or not. While they bear the name of legendary brands we’re all familiar with, the durability is no longer there.
Enter the Toro Super Recycler.
The Super Recycler is a mower model that’s been around for quite a while and has seen a few redesigns over the years. The current example is still an honest-to-goodness metal-deck mower with wheel bearings and durable drive gears. In fact, the deck is made of aluminum, so it won’t rust. And neither does it feel flimsy.
The wheel bearings serve two purposes. First, they help the mower to roll smoothly. Second, they help the wheel last longer. Many modern mower wheels have plastic sleeves where they mount to the axle. Over time this plastic can wear down, which makes the mower roll less smoothly. Once they’ve worn a bit, the wheel will start to wobble on its axle and make space for dirt to accumulate in this area, setting the stage for more wear and more wobble. Once a wheel reaches this stage, it usually needs to be replaced.
One gripe with this most recent iteration of the Super Recycler is that it is no longer offered with grease fittings for the wheel bearings, which were offered on previous versions. Perhaps in its research, Toro determined that too few users were actually greasing their wheels regularly, but this is one area the Super Recycler has been subject to cost-cutting.
I’ve used mowers with different self-propel engagement systems over the years. Toro’s Personal Pace, which is offered on a range of its mowers and even some snowblowers, has never been my favorite. My opinion here largely revolves around the system’s clunkiness when I’m mowing around garden beds, trees, or anytime I’m doing quick back-and-forth mowing.
Personal Pace is a drive system that, in a nutshell, engages the drive wheels to turn quicker the faster you walk and push the mower. The Personal Pace handlebar is spring loaded so that when you push into it, you are activating the transmission and engaging the drive wheels. When you need to back up, you are essentially pulling this lever back, and sometimes the wheels can lock up momentarily when you are trying to turn the mower. If you have a push mower on hand, I’d recommend doing your edge mowing and trimming with that and using your Personal Pace-equipped mower for the body of your work.
Where Toro’s drive system shines is on long, straight stretches of yard. Last year I brought this mower to my family’s lake property, where we have a lot of open space to lay down stripes, and the Super Recycler proved that this is where it works best. Personal Pace works well when you are mowing back and forth. It really is as easy as walking at your desired speed and the mower just leads the way.
The Super Recycler I have is equipped with a 163cc Briggs & Stratton gas engine. It’s one of the most common engines found on mid-level and higher mowers, and while it has more plastic parts than Briggs’ sadly long-departed Quantum engine, it delivers sufficient power for the machine and is easy to work on if you need to clean the carburetor, for example.
Its output also helps the mower deliver its high-quality cut. The Super Recycler is a great mulching mower. The cutting deck features some unique design elements (a wedge and a “two-blade accelerator” on the blade mount) that make it formidable at reducing your grass to fine clippings. I’m unable to verify how much either of these elements actually improves the mower’s abilities, but the finished product is a clean lawn nonetheless.
The Toro Super Recycler is not a cheap mower. Don’t buy it as a trimming mower to supplement your riding lawn mower or zero turn. It’s not ideal for that kind of work, and that’s a lot of money to drop on a machine that’s not suited to that task. You also could get a decent non-Super Recycler with the same engine for $130 less that is otherwise fairly similar, but you wouldn’t get the aluminum deck and potentially some of the other premium touches that make the Super Recycler superior.
But if you have a decently sized yard and enjoy the cathartic process of mowing, or want to enjoy it, the Toro Super Recycler is absolutely worth the money. Its sturdy build quality and reliable engine promise its buyers a long ownership period with minimal setbacks, making this one of the great—and few remaining—buy-it-for-life lawnmowers.
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Colin Aylesworth attended Binghamton University and is a Deputy Editor with the Gear team at Popular Mechanics and Runner’s World, where he has been since 2022. Prior to joining Hearst Magazines, he worked for 11 years at U.S. News and World Report on the autos team.
His personal pursuits fit in well with the work he does for PM and RW. Aylesworth was on his college’s club rowing team and has maintained a routine running habit through most of his adult life as a means of getting exercise and spending time outdoors. Running creates a hearty appetite, which brings us to Popular Mechanics. That publication's expertise in the area of grilling is relatable to Aylesworth, who is an adherent to charcoal grilling. In fact, he’s been primarily using the same Weber charcoal kettle he bought on Craigslist in 2012.
Aylesworth also has experience in the lawn mower industry. Not only has he been mowing his and neighbor’s lawns during adolescence, one of his more recent endeavors is a side gig of repairing and restoring gas lawn mowers given up by their previous owners. Since joining PM, he has gotten more involved with the publication’s mower testing efforts and especially enjoys testing out new electric and zero turn mowers.
Rachel is the Deputy Editor of Reviews for Hearst's Enthusiast and Wellness Group where she supports Popular Mechanics, Runner's World, and Best Products. Her background is in service journalism and earlier in her career she worked as a daily newspaper reporter and book editor. She spent more than a decade as a staff editor and writer at TripAdvisor and Penguin Random House and her byline has appeared in Time Out New York, the New York Daily News, and New York Magazine. Outside of work, Rachel can be found planning her next trip, visiting museums and galleries, and walking her wirehaired dachshund in Central Park.
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