$800!!!??? Where are you buying them? The big-box places here in MI
have the electric-start 24" 2-stage Toros at $600 and change, last
time I looked. The single stage are under $500.

Model 421QE (single stage, electric start, 4-stroke, "Quick Shoot" chute
control) was $819 at an Ace HW store. Figuring they were high because they
were a small dealer I poked around online and saw that this price, while
high, wasn't all that far above prices I saw from other vendors.

The store also had what I think was the 221E at about a hundred bucks less.

My local Home Depot only had a few ST; just the really tiny Toro and the
Toro single stager without electric start or the convenient chute control.