I replaced my old Toro with a brand new Toro Vortex Recycler, and I'm still deciding if it was the smartest or dumbest upgrade I've ever made.
After years of dependable service from my well-worn Toro recycler, it was finally time for an upgrade. Headed down to the local box store, looked over the options, and walked out with a Toro 22-inch Vortex Recycler self-propelled mower. Personal Pace drive, Smart Start technology, 163cc Briggs and Stratton engine with 7.25 ft-lbs of torque. Now, is that enough? We'll get to that.
Getting It Out of the Box
Opening the box, it looks mostly assembled, but there's still work to do. Now, before you do anything, read what's on the box. It'll tell you how to register it, a few important things to know right off the bat, and where the bag is tucked away. The handle comes out as one piece, cables and all, and you have to move the whole thing at once. Oh, and it's 85 pounds.
Yeah. That's not happening without a plan.
Assembly instructions inside are picture only. IKEA style. Ten steps total, and I went ahead and added some extra explanation in the video for each one so you're not just staring at pictures and guessing.
Step by Step Assembly
Step one is unfolding and attaching the handle. Screws off, cables go on the outside of the handle, screws back on. Now, on this particular model, there's supposed to be a handle height adjustment, but we found out it only goes to one height, and that height felt a little uncomfortable. I tried moving the rubber bumper down a notch to get it lower. Didn't work. Even tried removing the bumper entirely on a suggestion from a lawn care person. Still didn't work. So yeah, one handle height and that's what you get on this one.
Step two is the blade control bar, which just snaps into the two holes on the handle. Pretty simple.
Step three, recoil start rope, was already in place when we opened the box. Nothing to do there.
The Oil Situation
Step four is adding the oil, and this is where things get a little confusing. The mower comes with a flask of SAE 30 weight oil, 18 ounces in the flask. But here's the thing: the Briggs and Stratton manual says only put in 15 ounces. So don't pour the whole thing in. Add a little at a time and check the dipstick until you reach the full line. You should have about 3 ounces left in the flask when you're done.
Now, here's something critical you might miss. The air filter sticker says no oil changes, asterisk, conditions apply. What conditions? Buried in the Briggs and Stratton engine manual is this: after the first 5 hours of operation, you need to change the oil. That's the break-in period, clears out any tiny metal shavings left from manufacturing. After that, the manual says every 50 hours or annually.
The Toro maintenance manual actually has its own interesting take on this, let's just say there's a section that gave me a good laugh and practically had a whole song cued up about its big but. Point is, Toro says oil changes aren't required, but recommends the procedure anyway. My advice: just change it once a year. You want this mower to last, treat it nicely.
Gas, Storage, and Starting Up
Step five is gas. Ethanol free is the best choice for any small engine, prevents corrosion, avoids carburetor clogging, and gives you a much longer shelf life when the mower sits in storage. If you can't find ethanol free, no worse than E10. At least 87 octane. And don't fill it to the brim if you're going to store it upright.
Which brings me to one of my favorite features on this mower. The SmartStow. You fold the handle all the way down, snap it into place, lift the mower vertical, and store it upright. Saves a serious amount of garage space. That part was easy to figure out and works exactly like it should.
Starting is straightforward too. No priming, no choking, hold the blade control bar against the handle, pull the recoil start handle, and it fires up in one or two pulls. Just like they say it will.
The Personal Pace self-propelled drive is one of the nicest things about this mower. Walk with your hands on the upper handle, elbows to the side, and the mower automatically keeps up with your pace. To stop, let go of the blade control bar. That's it.
First Impressions and Honest Verdict
Assembly overall is pretty easy, and the mower looks good. But let me be real with you. It doesn't feel like it has as much power as my old Toro with the Tecumseh 6.5 horsepower engine. First time out, it bogged down on me during the mow. Had to crank the engine up by 400 RPM to get it running right. After that adjustment it seemed to do fine, but still.
I really like the SmartStow and the guaranteed start with no priming or choking. Those are genuinely good features. But if I was buying this again, I'd go with a model that has a bigger engine and more torque. For a small yard, it'll get the job done. For anything bigger or tougher, you'd want more power under the hood.
Want to see the full assembly process and the first mow? Watch the full video here:
Watch the full video on YouTube
You can compare the full lineup of Toro walk mowers and specs on the official Toro website.