OT: Recommend a riding mower...

I'm asking for your advice because the market is very complicated at the moment. I know manufacturers are marketing under various names, and that Lowe's, Home Despot, etc. sometimes sell the same product re-branded.

Any help you can offer will be much appreciated. I would really like to avoid buying a piece of junk!

Wow! What a nice machine. All the quirks we hated about the Snapper are resolved here: you can cut in reverse with the touch of a button, choke and gas are on separate levers, and the parking brake allows you to leave the mower without killing the engine. The cut is 42" and the engine is a 22hp B&S. Most impressive, however, is how solid the unit feels. This is a sturdy beast.

Again, thanks for the great advice. We're already in love we haven't yet cut a blade of grass! :)

Snapper...

Without getting into brand recomendations and such, consider what you liked and disliked about the unit you now have. Is zero turn radius important? Hydrostat type drives? Steep slopes? etc. Use that sort of thing as the basis for helping you decide what sort of machine would be good for you.

Here's a deal. One of my sisters and her husband bought a 48" Troybilt a couple of years ago. Paid like $3,200 or so I heard. About a month ago, sold that Troybilt for $1,100 at a garage sale because the brother-in-law has night school these days (nights), and was too big for my sister to feel comfortable on. So, they bought his mother's 2 year old plastic MTD Wheel Horse for like $500 because she now has a lawn service, and is much smaller with a 32" deck. So how many times has my sister touched it since I went and picked it up for them? Not once. And now my brother-in-law's got the smallest rider mower in the whole dang'd subdivision, and takes much longer to mow the lawn on Saturdays.

Hey?!?! How about an old B or Cub, or something like that? Am thinking a Popper's a little big. Hmm? Turf tires? Woods or Ingersol? Can get for that, and will last at least another 50 years... Hmm?

Mark

Link

Here are the no interest, no payment details. I think this is only available at a John Deere dealer:

http://www.deere.com/en_US/homeowners/specialoffers/specials_rle_landing.html?promo=ridingmowers_banner

Mark

Mark

Funny on the deck comment. That is one place I look for quality and I really liked the deck on mine. It's a 42" and 2 blades and well engineered. Doesn't scalp and is very easy to level....if you have to.

Mark

• garden web forum

Can't go wrong.

Mark

My new L130 Cost about $2,566.00 with dealer instant rebates and Ohio Sales Tax. It has 23 hp and can handle 2.5 acres.

The Garden 1554 at TSC is $2,599.00 and is a garden tractor that you can put a sleave hitch on. The closest JD that can do that at like a Home Depot is the G110 and that costs $3,699.00.

I would definitly recommend any lawn tractor with a Kohler Engine in it. Those things are hard to kill. I wish that jerk who stole my lawn tractor hadn't but oh well.

To Sum this up, if you can find a L110 go for it. Its a great machine. If you can't spring for one irregardless of the brand with a Kohler engine it. Like i said, less fuss in the long run.

Mark

One problem and it's no big deal. If you drive your plastic hooded JD under your shrubs with stiff limbs you will scratch the plastic much easier than painted steel. Otherwise a perfect machine.

Mark

My advise... Invest the money and buy a John Deere. You may have to pay more, but if you take care of it, it'll last you a lot longer.