Husqvarna 7021R Review

(Rated: 4.3 / 5) Review by Frank Lowery
Noise
Ease of Assembly
Maneuverability
Balance And Handling
Cut Quality
Check Price
Related pages: Best Gas Lawn Mower, Best Lawn Mower, Gas Lawn Mower Buying Guide, Gas Lawn Mower Reviews, Husqvarna, Husqvarna Lawn Mowers, Lawn Mower Buying Guide, Lawn Mower Reviews, Walk-Behind Mower Buying Guide,

When you have a serious lawn to keep looking its best, there is only really one choice in terms of the style of lawn mower you need. You want a powerful, robust lawn mower with an engine that can drive the cutting deck through dense patches without slowing down and cut right through tougher varieties of grass on the first pass. For that you need a gas powered lawn mower with a solid engine that can provide all of the speed and performance you need to finish big jobs more quickly than ever. But not all gas powered lawn mowers are created equal – plenty have serious drawbacks, such as narrow cutting decks that can’t help you get big jobs finished efficiently. Or they produce so many emissions that you cannot purchase or use them in California or many other states. But the Husqvarna 7021R is a different kind of gas powered lawn mower.

Review Summary

The Husqvarna 7021R is a gas powered lawn mower that is a class apart from a lot of what is available these days. It has a powerful, well designed engine under the hood that drives both a self-propelled rear wheel drive and a cutting deck that has a high degree of torque and tip speed. That means you will be getting a serious, clean, professional looking cut on the first pass. And you will be making fewer passes to get big jobs done, because the Husqvarna 7021R has a cutting deck that is wider than average.

But there are a number of other features that set the Husqvarna 7021R apart from other gas powered lawn mowers. Unlike most of the ones out there, the engine on the Husqvarna 7021R is CARB compliant, which has a number of benefits. Users in California as well as any of the other States that enforce CARB emissions regulations will be able to purchase the Husqvarna 7021R, and everyone will enjoy fewer emissions and fumes when they use it. But there is no loss of power due to the reduced emissions – the Husqvarna 7021R has no trouble getting through dense patches of the toughest grass quickly and easily.

Specifications

The Husqvarna 7021R is a gas powered lawn mower with a Honda GCV160 engine and a gas tank that holds just under a quarter of a gallon. It weighs 100 pounds and has dimensions of 40.2 x 23.8 x 25.2 inches. The lawn mower has a recoil starter and a 21 inch wide cutting deck.

The Husqvarna 7021R is equipped with three grass clippings management options and has a self-propelled, motorized drive system. It has six height settings for its cutting deck between 1.5 and 3.5 inches. Its wheels are eight inches tall in the front and rear. The Husqvarna 7021R comes with a two year warranty.

Description

As soon as you lay eyes on the Husqvarna 7021R, it will be quite clear that this is a lawn mower that is nearly in a class all by itself. The Husqvarna 7021R is a big, powerful lawn mower that has the kind of serious engine and wide cutting deck that will allow you to get even the biggest lawns cut in fewer passes and less time, no matter how densely planted the grass is – even if it is a lawn that has tough grass like St. Augustine or Bermuda. The Husqvarna 7021R will have no trouble getting through anything you throw it at.

But unlike a lot of similarly powerful gas powered lawn mowers, the Husqvarna 7021R does not produce the kind of high volume of emissions that would make it noncompliant with California Air Resources Board carbon emissions standards. That in and of itself is a major difference that the Husqvarna 7021R has with a lot of other lawn mowers out there. It means that not only are more users going to be able to use the Husqvarna 7021R, but that you will be able to get the kind of serious power you need without increasing your household’s overall carbon footprint.

Along with its powerful, CARB compliant Honda engine, there are a number of other great features on the Husqvarna 7021R that help to make it one of the easiest gas powered lawn mowers to operate. There are plenty of options for various cutting heights and clippings management, so you can always give your lawn exactly what it needs to keep looking its best. And the Husqvarna 7021R has a body and cutting blade that are made from durable steel, so you can count on it to keep on delivering great cuts to your lawn for many years to come.

Pros

The Husqvarna 7021R is packed with great features that help to make it one of the best gas powered lawn mowers money can buy these days. Along with its high performance Honda engine that delivers lots of power and lowered emissions, the Husqvarna 7021R boasts a number of other great design notes that help to make lawn care chores much easier and more convenient. Let’s take a look at the top five Pros the Husqvarna 7021R has to offer.

1. Honda GCV160 Engine : Honda is a company with a reputation for producing some of the highest quality engines that deliver solid power and reliable performance, and the GCV160 is no exception to this standard. It is not terribly large – its displacement is just 160 cubic centimeters – but it still has enough power to drive both the cutting deck and rear wheel drive motor. It will not need maintenance as often as other engines do to keep it running smoothly, and it does not produce a high volume of emissions.
2. 21 inch cutting deck width : The speed with which you will be able to cut your lawn with a particular lawn mower is going to be determined by a few factors, but the most important one is the cutting deck width. A wider cutting deck will allow you to finish cutting your lawn in fewer passes, which translates directly to less time spent on lawn chores. You generally want a lawn mower with a cutting deck width of at least eighteen inches: the Husqvarna 7021R is 21 inches wide.
3. CARB compliant : It is not easy to find a powerful, high performance, gas powered lawn mower that has an emissions rating that makes it CARB compliant. Since some of the toughest grass is grown in Southern California, this can make finding a good lawn mower a difficult prospect for anyone who lives in that region. The Husqvarna 7021R is one of those rare gas powered lawn mowers that delivers lots of power and performance but is still CARB compliant.
4. Includes mulch, rear bag and side discharge : One of the areas in which a lot of lawn mower manufacturers often cut corners is in the grass clippings management department. I do not think there is any good reason why a lawn mower should not offer side discharge, mulch, and rear bag collection, but it is rare enough that it is a Pro when they do. This allows you to always make the best decision for your lawn’s health and keep it looking its best all summer long.
5. Durable parts : You want to make sure your lawn mower is going to last for the long haul. That means not just having a solid engine under the hood, but durable parts all around. The Husqvarna 7021R has a stamped steel body and frame. And its cutting blade is made of durable, high-gauge welded steel that will stay sharp even after hundreds of hours of use. That is the kind of durability you can depend on for many years of use.

I think it is quite clear why the Husqvarna 7021R is one of the better gas powered lawn mowers on the market today. It not only has everything you need to take care of big, tough jobs fast – it’s also one of the few gas powered lawn mowers that is also CARB compliant. This is a lawn mower that is designed to give you all of the power you need while minimizing the environmental impact you have while using it. That’s true innovation.

Cons

Even though the fact that the Husqvarna 7021R is a CARB compliant, powerful lawn mower that can take care of lots of big, tough jobs without batting an eye, there are a few features that could be improved upon slightly. Overall I do not think any of the Cons that I was able to find really take away anything from all of the great Pros the Husqvarna 7021R is packed with, but I think we should take a careful look at them anyway.

1. Fairly big and heavy : As walk behind, gas powered lawn mowers go, the Husqvarna 7021R is definitely not one of the lightest or smallest ones you can find today. It weighs 100 pounds, which is not lightweight, but the fact that it is heavy is largely offset by its rear wheel drive system, which makes maneuvering it around the yard a lot easier. And while it is going to need a bit more room in your garage than other models, the fact that it has an extra wide cutting deck is worth it.
2. It’s rather noisy : Gas powered lawn mowers are not very quiet, and the Husqvarna 7021R is no exception to this. While this is not really a major Con, especially since it is fairly common, it does mean that you will not have the freedom to cut your lawn in the early morning hours – at least, if you do not want to wake up your neighbors. But this is a small price to pay for all of the great features the Husqvarna 7021R has to offer.
3. Can be difficult to maneuver : In part because it is so big and heavy, the Husqvarna 7021R can be difficult to corner with. The rear wheel drive only helps you when you are going forward in a straight line; there is no power steering, and to turn the Husqvarna 7021R you have to use a bit of elbow grease. But I think that most users should not have too much difficulty with this, and after a few practice tries, it should become fairly natural.
4. Holds less than 1/4 of a gallon : The fuel tank on the Husqvarna 7021R does not quite hold a quarter of a gallon of gas. While 0.24 gallons is plenty for small to medium yards, if you are cutting anything bigger than about a third of an acre, you may wind up having to top off the tank during the job. Of course the fact that it is CARB compliant also means that the Husqvarna 7021R has a better fuel economy than other gas powered lawn mowers, so that 0.24 gallons does last.
5. Requires a bit of maintenance : This is not really a Con at all – since all gas powered engines require a bit of light maintenance to keep them running at their best – but it is worth mentioning. If you have never worked with a gas powered yard machine before, be prepared to do occasional oil changes or swap out an air filter or spark plug every couple of years. But don’t worry – the little maintenance the Husqvarna 7021R will need is quite simple and outlined clearly in the user manual.

As you can see, the Husqvarna 7021R does not have any of the kind of serious problems that would limit its overall performance ability of take away anything from all of the outstanding Pros it has to offer. This is still one of the only gas powered lawn mowers that offers serious performance and CARB compliance, along with an extra wide cutting deck and a rear wheel drive. That’s not easy to find.

Product Comparison

Whenever you are shopping for a new lawn mower – or any product, for that matter – the best way to find out if it is really the best one in its class is by doing some comparison shopping. That way, you can see how it stacks up to similar models and get a better sense of what is out there. The following table compares the Husqvarna 7021R with two other gas powered lawn mowers. Let’s take a look.

	Husqvarna 7021R	Poulan PO500N22S	Yard-Man 12AVD39Q701
Dimensions	40.2 x 23.8 x 25.2 inches	33.5 x 17.1 x 25.1 inches	37.8 x 24.5 x 17.9 inches
Power	Gas	Gas	Gas
Engine Manufacturer	Honda	Briggs & Stratton	Honda
Engine Specs	GCV160 160-cc Engine	500 Series 158-cc Engine	GVC160 ARCS 160-cc Engine
Gas Tank	0.24 Galons	0.3 Galons	0.25 Galons
Starter	Recoil	Recoil	Recoil
Deck Size (cutting swath)	21-inch	22-inch	21-inch
Mulch/Bag/Discharge	Mulch, bag, and discharge	Side discharge	Mulch, bag, and discharge
Drive System	Self-Propelled Motor	Manual Push	Self-Propelled Motor
Height Adjustment	Single lever (6 positions)	Individual (5 positions)	Dual lever (5 positions)
Height Settings	1-1/2- to 3-1/2-inch	1-1/2- to 3-3/4-inch	1-1/4- to 3-3/4-inch
Wheel Size	8-inch front / 8-inch rear	7-inch front / 7-inch rear	8-inch front / 11-inch rear
Weight	100 pounds	47 pounds	92 pounds
Warranty	2 years	2 years	2 years

With a self-propelled motor, one-point wheel height adjustment, and a state of the art Honda engine that is CARB compliant, the Husqvarna 7021R really blows the competition away. While it is a bit heavier than the other two lawn mowers and does not have the largest deck size (by a slim margin), it ranks solidly in every area that counts – and then adds a few more features. I think it is clear which lawn mower is the best one.

Conclusion

A comparison of the Husqvarna 7021R to similar lawn mowers makes it fairly obvious that it is definitely in a class all by itself. But before you make up your mind to buy it, let’s take one more look at the Pros and Cons lists, just to make sure it is the very best one for your lawn.

Conclusion Pros

1. Honda GCV160 Engine.
2. 21 inch cutting deck width.
3. CARB compliant.
4. Includes mulch, rear bag and side discharge.
5. Durable parts.

With a powerful, high performance engine that is also CARB compliant, the Husqvarna 7021R is clearly in a class of its own. As if that were not enough, it has a wider than average cutting deck, is durably built, and has plenty of options to give you the best cut ever.

Conclusion Cons

1. Fairly big and heavy.
2. It’s rather noisy.
3. Can be difficult to maneuver.
4. Holds less than 1/4 of a gallon.
5. Requires a bit of maintenance.

The few drawbacks the Husqvarna 7021R did present really do not take away anything from all of the great features it has. Most of these are fairly typical to all gas powered lawn mowers, and several of them are not real Cons at all. Overall I think this is a great lawn mower.

Final Word

It is clear why so many homeowners continue to choose gas powered lawn mowers: they offer the kind of serious power you need to take care of tough lawns and cut big areas. But the fact that electric lawn mowers are becoming increasingly popular shows a general trend towards more environmental awareness among consumers as well. What if you could have both – all of the power gas powered lawn mowers offer, but without the high emissions that they so often produce? With the Husqvarna 7021R, that is exactly what you are going to get. This is one of the few powerful gas lawn mowers with a rear wheel drive and extra wide cutting deck that is also CARB compliant. That fact alone puts it in a class all by itself, but it also has a lot of other great features that help to make the experience of cutting your lawn with it downright enjoyable.

Best Price

The Husqvarna 7021R is not the cheapest gas powered lawn mower out there – but you probably already suspected as much, right? Everyone knows that you get what you pay for, and a lawn mower that is this good is not going to come cheap. But guess what? It is actually not that expensive, either – when you consider all of the great features the Husqvarna 7021R has to offer, its price tag is quite reasonable. If you compare the Husqvarna 7021R to similar models that offer CARB compliance, a wide cutting deck, and serious power, you will find that it is actually below average for its class.