Someone more versed than me in small engines may be able to pipe in, but I personally went with a Toro with a Briggs motor when it was time to replace my poor quality Husqvarna mower from Lowes. My research found that the newer Honda engines weren’t living up to their reputation, at least on the consumer grade products. Newer design for lower sound/lower emissions apparently isn’t as stout as the prior generation. Pretty much any sub-$800 Honda mower had this newer design, so I went with the $500ish Toro SuperRecycler. Add oil, change the air filter, and replace the spark plug, as long as you clean it up well after each use it’s pretty low maintenance. I forgot to add stabilizers to my fuel last winter and forgot to drain the tank, it started up on the 2nd crank this spring.

One thing I’ll say regarding the BIFL aspect, is from the tinkering I’ve done the Briggs motors have a lot more resources readily available for you to make repairs. The other thing other downside I found to the particular Honda you’re referencing is the composite deck. My particular yard has lots of stone/brick features that would probably crack the Honda deck (watched YouTube reviews that showed this happening on 1st/2nd use by unsuspecting owners) but with a steel or aluminum deck I can just hammer and dolly it back without worrying about structural integrity.