What do you guys know about riding mowers?

[99sidude]

I gotta buy one. Soon. I'm going to be mowing 2 acres. I'm only looking at used, and there are tons of brands out there. The only good name I recognize is John Deere. Anything else out there that will be dead reliable? Any brands to avoid like the plague? I'm looking at a 46"+ deck.

 

[eg'sforlife]

Cub Cadet is extremely over priced i use a troy built and its last almost ten years with no problems. But I dont know if they make a 46"+ deck. Snapper makes good mowers but they can get pricey

 

[ricksautomotive]

depends on what fuel youre looking to use. john deer has been in the alternative fuels such as CNG, LNG, diesel, and Ethonol for years now. although i believe ethonol is what youre lookin to use because its available in the mid west for farm equipment. their experience in building these kind of engines is ahead of the competition in my book. true any gas engine can be converted to Ethonol fairly easily but john deer is still going to be better. if youre going gas powered then maybe honda will be better for you. is ethonol available to you in your area? this is just my opinion since you asked for our input but i guess price is also an issue so i wis you luck in getting a good deal

 

[99sidude]

I would get a Honda, but they don't make riding mowers any more. All of the John Deere's I've been looking at have a Kawasaki gas engine. Interesting to hear about the Troy Bilt. I always thought they were a budget brand, but it's nice to hear that they have good longevity.

 

[ricksautomotive]

yeah i would forget the hondas since they dont make em any more then. i didnt know that. youll probably have problems findin parts for them should you need them. i would take the troy since you have heard a good thing on them from this thread and you guessed they were poor quality at first. keep up the maintenance and it should last 10 years at least like this guys here...hopefully

 

[8secHonda]

stay away from any Bolens products... i bought a weedeater and had it replaced 2 times it still only runs off of half choke.... oh and dont put ethanol gas in 2 cycle engine... i have a crafstman 42" , love it...

 

[Ichigo1174]

Yeah snappers can get expensive. I would say get somethign that has a Kohler engine in it, this one time one came in, guy forgot to change the oil after a few years and he said it made this weird noise when it runs. well... we fired it up and it was running but only off of one cylinder (it was a twin) and so we were like, "lets open it up". when we did, we found that the rod that connected left rod that connected the piston to the crank was completely busted!!! I'm still amazed that it was still running strong with ONE cylinder. It was just funny to say the least, I can't even imagine what this thing sounded like when it happened, but it didn't sound that bad considering it circumstances. XD

 

[kg728]

Scag and Grasshopper are good brands. That's what the lawn service I work with uses.

 

[klyph]

Husqvarna makes excellent products.

They even make robotic models:
Robotic Lawn Mowers for Homeowners | Husqvarna Automower?

 

[E_SolSi]

its a roomba for your lawn... thats fucking awesome

 

[95b16coupe]

^^^^it would reach epicness if they get a solar powered one on the market.

 

[E_SolSi]

AUTOMOWER® SOLAR HYBRID - Robotic mowers

its not fully solar... but half way there

 

[95b16coupe]

AUTOMOWER® SOLAR HYBRID - Robotic mowers

its not fully solar... but half way there

this is probably cheaper than the $3000 roomba mower.

 

[klyph]

You're right, she does look really cheap.

 

[99sidude]

AUTOMOWER® SOLAR HYBRID - Robotic mowers

its not fully solar... but half way there

Pretty cool. I'll need to buy 4 though. Says it only does a half acre. For 12 G's I can pay someone to do it for a couple years.

 

[E_SolSi]

lol yeah its not really cost effective...

but i still thought it was cool that the technology is there... it will steadily get better and less expensive im sure

 

[autox 89 dx]

you should get one of these

 

[stephen11]

You could get that Fiato...

 

[94civicturbo]

we have a craftsman mower and it works fine... but id say pretty much anything with a honda engine would be your best bet... if you can fine one cheap enough...

 

[94H_Ex]

If price is really no object I would really look into a diesel. I only say this because I was impressed using one. I worked for a small engines shop and they wanted us to do some mowing around some super thick brushes, that diesel didn't give a shit and went with no problems, and it was a zero turn. If I remember correctly the company name of the mower we were using was called "bad boy" or something.

My grandfather owned a cub cadet, and yes their over priced. I believe he said he paid 11k or something high for one. They owned a one and half acre piece of land. The first time I mowed it with a push mower, which sucked. The second time and there after. I used that cub, which was very nice, but for me it seemed it was way over powered with the gearing of the transmission.