I had just worked on one last week. Had it'd first maintenance after only 2 or 3 years. .. It seemed ok- still looked good. It was strange not scraping off paint with the old dried grass tho.

Hi, I was looking at this mower today as well...have you had a chance to use it yet? Thoughts?

Thanks!

They have been out for several years. Sam's Club has carried them several times. They are MTD Mowers with stainless steel decks and Honda engines....obviously. Not bad for MTD. If you can keep the wheels on it and the transmission working it should be a decent mower. I did notice quite a bit of flex in the deck when a twisting motion is applied. It might possibly lead to cracking later on. (One of the reasons for cast aluminum decks on more expensive mowers is stiffening as well as rust prevention.) Also if my memory is correct the deck baffles and stiffener parts on the MTD are either plastic or regular steel...hmmm. All in all not a bad mower.... for MTD.... and not bad for the money.

Seen my first one about a week or so back. Was in for service, no big deal. I noticed the MTD label said made in Canada. Maybe that is not new but had not seen the Canada on a label before so I wrote it off as a Canadian model brought in by someone moving. Now I realize that probably was incorrect.

Someone made a failed attempt of making autos out of stainless a few years back. My personal impression was it is an ugly appearance. However, unlike the car this deck looked smooth enough that if someone wanted to take the time and effort it could be buffed out to a chrome like finish. That could be interesting.

I love stainless steel, (actually I love any material
that doesn't rust), and often wondered why no one
made a mower with a stainless steel deck.
I have also learned that there are many grades of
stainless steel. My son bought a stainless steel
gas grill a couple of years ago and it is now starting
to rust. Apparently they have found a way of applying
a microscopic coating of stainless over regular steel.
Always check your stainless steel with a magnet, as
magnets will not be attracted to quality stainless.
Also, the 'flexing' of the deck does not sound like
a good thing. It'll be interesting to find out how
this mower holds up.

Too bad its FWD. At that price, its almost worth it to buy it for the engine and throw the rest of the junk away. If the LB 10795 had the 190cc engine, I'd already have one, but have decided to not get it with the 160cc. Wait - buy th LB 10795 and the MTD, swap engines and sell the MTD with the 160cc engine! I would only lose about $100 on the deal, but what a monster mower I'd have!

Thanks for the quick replies...I didn't realise it was FWD at first, that is a deal breaker for me...I have very steep ditches, so I think back wheel drive would work best for me...any thoughts on the Cub Cadet from Home Depot? It seems to have the best bang for the buck...or should I spend the extra $$ and get a Toro? Argh...I had an easier time buying my first new vehicle! :-)

QUOTE "" * Posted by conjurer (My Page) on
Sat, Apr 14, 07 at 23:36

Hi, I was looking at this mower today as well...have you had a chance to use it yet? Thoughts?

Thanks! ""

I wish....we received 10cm of wet and heavy snow overnight. And...we just moved to our new home out in the country and final grading isn't complete. Should be trying it around June/July. Till then, it looks pretty darn good sitting in my garage. :)

Snow...ugh...here on the wet coast, I have had to cut my lawn three times so far...well, I bought the cub cadet self propel rear wheel lawnmower from home depot...after the first cut, I am quite impressed...although anything is better than I had before! If I come across any problems with it, I willbe sure to post

A few weeks back, I saw the push MTD Pro Stainless version at Costco for $299CDN. I searched everywhere for info about this mower, but there was none I could find.

I was going to buy the Craftsman push mower /w Honda engine for $359, but they didn't have it in stock so I finally decided to try out the MTD Pro. BTW, this is my first mower purchase.

Brought it home and read the instructions. The Honda GVC manual had no oil capacity info (the field was left blank!!) and no where did the MTD Pro manual mentioned oil capacity either. Did a quick search on the web and was 0.58 litre, so I dumped the whole bottle of oil (591ml) into the oil tank. MTD also screwed up their manual. Apparently, one French page got mixed into the English and vice versa. Scary and unaccetable especially it was assembled in Canada. But as long as the mower works, that's fine.

All said and done, I gave the mower 5 pulls. Didn't start. Scratched my head and realized I forgot to turn on the gas line. Fired up in one pull. It was getting really late (10pm), so I mowed about 5ft of grass. Fired it back up a few minutes later but the Honda engine started to rev up and down, sputtered and quit. I Scratched my head a few times and realized the spark plug was loose. LOL!

Wheels are ball bearing, deck is stainless and Honda GVC 160 Engine. For $299, I can't complain much. It doesn't have side discharge, but there's an optional rear-to-side discharge attachment to allow that. Doesn't matter to me, I'm going to mulch anyway. I hope it mulches well. Being that this is my first mower, I can't really compare the performance, besides my own opinion. I will report back soon!

Alright, I just mowed my lawn with the MTD Pro Stainless pusher.

It took me around 30mins to mow my lawn. The last time the grass was mowed was probably before the winter, sometime last October. The grass was a little high in some areas and the mower had to do extra work mulching dead grass too, so I went over some areas several times to cut up the grass cakes. I think I should have bagged the first cut of the season. Too late... LOL! Other than that, I think this mower does its job.

The Honda engine is quiet and smooth and so far have zero complaints with the other parts of the mower. Starts on the first pull. So far so good. I'm satisfied for now!

lbpod & others as well:
As someone who also loves things that do not rust, and someone who work with stainless on almost a daily basis, I would like to add a bit here.
The cost of stainless is the reason for more if it not being used more extensively. I guess they figure the mower will last 10 years mechanically, it is not worth spending 4x more for the deck material that will last 40 years.
Yes there are many grades of stainless, many depending what kind you are needing (tube, sheet, casting, etc). Lower grades like 303, can rust and or corrode to some small extent. It should not completly rust. Many times what looks like rust on stainless is from the stainless being contacted by some regular steel from some other source, and the impregnated steel rusting on the surface only.
I knew a Mensa member who cleaned his stainless grill with steel wool, then sent a nasty letter to the manufacturer claiming the company "timed" the start of the rust so it was out of warranty.
Unless you are talking about a thin sheet cladding, there is not a common process to add a "microscopic" layer of stainless to a surface(like plating). Sometimes stainless sheet is "clad" over another material for looks or as a protective shield.
Magnetism on stainless will vary, and even very high quality stainless can be slightly magnetic due to the carbon contained in all stainless. The overall quality is determined by the other alloys in the material and their ratios and form. A magnet will tell you what IS steel only, and not what is stainless or its quality. There are many other silver-like non-magnetic heavy metals, mostly zinc based, which are used in many applications everywhere, which can fool even some experts.
I do not know where the "flexing" issue came from. This would only be an issue if the deck was extremely thin, to save money. I have seen other regular steel deck mowers which were very thin from the start as well, and actually had some flex.
I know this is lengthy, but I just had to pitch my 2 cents.
Good Luck
Dean.

dno36. I appreciate your 2 cents!

I just used a strong aquarium algae glass cleaner magnet and there's zero attraction to the deck. I guess that's good news!

I would not use a magnet as a sure test of stainless steel. A magnet will be attracted to some of the harder stainless steels, such as a Smith & Wesson Stainless steel revolver. I have never had to wipe down any part of it with oil, and it never corrodes, inside, or out. I don't know why some stainless is magnetic, and some is not. Charles Ranheim

Good news for those interested in the push MTD Pro Stainless. I went to Costo today (Markham) and it's selling for $270CDN now. I bought mine for $300 last week, and I got $30 back. Well, the $$$ I got back quickly went into a water sprinkler and 100ft of garden hose. lol!

Is it still on sale now? I went to my Vancouver costco store today, it shows $299. Someone said he saw $269 last Thursday.

anyone notice what they're selling the gcv 190 self propelled for...as in...have they dropped the price on the one I bought as well?

Finally have enough grass that I could test out the mower today. Started on the first pull (new out of the box) which was impressive. Engine is quiet and smooth and the FWD pulls like a champ - I haven't got any large hills. Cutting the grass is going to be very enjoyable this summer.

The only nuisance is that same that others have posted...the 591ml bottle of oil that is included is more than the engine calls for - 550 ml.

I'm impressed.

Why it's the DeLorean commemorative model lawn mower from MTD. The mower, as with the the car was nade of the latest stainless steel blend known colloquially as Never Clean. Impossible to clean, shine or repair.

In all seriousness, I'm sure it looks good. Personally I would have taken the extra money for the stainless deck and beefed up components like wheels, adjusters and controls since those will bust long before the deck.

Oh well, if it sells lawn mowers...what the heck...

haha, it's wearing a thin coat of wd-40 and looks fantastic. I think I'll go back to polishing it.

You're right about flimsy...the controls, cable retainers and knobs are kind of chitty. The wheels are ball-bearing, though, so there's some give n take going on.

'I knew a Mensa member who cleaned his stainless grill with steel wool, then sent a nasty letter to the manufacturer claiming the company "timed" the start of the rust so it was out of warranty'

Proof that being 'smart' does not make one wise.

Stainless steel decks sound good to me, as long as it is stiff enough that it doesn't stress crack due to flexing. The money they save by not having to paint the deck is going into the stainless material for the deck. Price sounds resonable to me too. Good luck!