What's the most reliable/best brand of lawn mower to buy?

[carbon_dated]

Needing to finally buy a new riding mower. I've had an MTD brand a couple years, then a Cub Cadet for around 25. Can anyone tell me what brand is best for them?

[The Instructor]

I don't own a riding lawn mower but I would buy something American made and maintain it well like that sweet man, FIDO, suggested.

[butcherman108]

Needing to finally buy a new riding mower. I've had an MTD brand a couple years, then a Cub Cadet for around 25. Can anyone tell me what brand is best for them?

Whichever one your wife likes to use the best.

[Dundas]

I have owned a Lawn Cheif for 10 years that has always been taken care of and has been stored in heat every winter. I cost 1k brand new and runs great to this day! Its all about how you take care of them imo.

[The Enforcer]

I have a Craftsman that my Grandpa bought new in 89, When He passed on , it was passed on to Me, And its still running strong.

[rockyraccoon]

I once calculateed how much time I spent cutting my grass and figured by paying someone else to do it with one of those big ride behind units, it was like paying myself $4.00 an hour. So I don't care what kind of mower they use, as long as it's cut.

Here's the math

3 hr/wk x 4 weeks = 12 hours ( I had to cut it every week or it got to tall for my mower)
$24 /cut x 2 week = $48.00 (the big mower can cut it every other week)

$48.00 / 12 hours = $4.00 per hr.

That's not counting the cost of the mowers, gas and maintainance. Just as a bonus, I usually go out on the deck and drink a beer while I watch them cut the grass. That is priceless!

[Boonedawg]

Get a herd of goats....never run out of gas and they fertilize as they go.

[Black Panther]

I use two John Deere riding mowers...They work very nicely.And I have more than enough land to mow with them.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

i've had 3 tractors here in 30 years, and i got alot of yard. i had an ole lowes tractor for many years, was an mtd i sold that to buy a bigger one with briggs and stratton motor. i burnt up a troy built because of cutting banks and it not having an oil filter, which was basically emptying out the oil pan, on the slopes. and about 8 years ago, i bought a craftsman, briggs motor, spin on oil filter , that regulates the oil distribution on banks, think its 24 horsies, 48 inch deck. it runs great , same battery for like 5 years now. has been excellent. hydrostatic transmission. i know john deere and cub cadet , must be awfully nice too. but pricey. i would not buy a husqvarna, every one of them i see is in a shop somewhere, or for sale in someones yard. i love my craftsman, i really do. great power, climbs well. even cut . hard to beat.

[Runner]

I have a Craftsman that my Grandpa bought new in 89, When He passed on , it was passed on to Me, And its still running strong.

Craftsmen from back then were good tractors. But I would not give anyone a dime for one that is made today. You'd be better off buying a cheap MTD mower at Wally World or than a new Craftsmen.

Although they are very pricey today....My mom has a 25 year old 18 horse Kubota Lawn Tractor with a belly mower that I use twice a week that roads circles around around her 15 year Craftsmen, and always has. The Craftsmen uses close to 2 gallons of gas to do her yard. The Kubota uses about a half gallon of diesel. Even with diesel higher than gas, we come out ahead by using the Kubota. It also has never been to the shop or had any repairs other tan the routine maintenance of changing the oil (2 times a year), belts (2 times in 25 years) and is on its second set of blade which I replaced 10 years ago. The Craftsmen...well that's a different story and there's not enough room to here to complain about all of the problems it has had.

[d-5]

I have a 1999 John Deere LX255 change the oil sharpen the blade. Still has the original battery and spark plug

[orange-n-brown 365]

we had a husqvarna Garden Tractor with a 14 horse Kohlar (sp) motor that a friend bought from us when we were selling them he in turn sold it to my dad who used it for years and then when he got a new one we used it until this summer when we bought a zero turn Cub Cadet (sp) the Husky was purchased in 1994 was used on the roughest of yards to come here to 3 plus acres and mowed for 6 summers here... the only thing we did to it was buy a tire...and replace the spidals and deck the father n law didn't watch what was in the yard and hit a rock and a manhole cover... I hope the Cub holds up as well

my father n law had a john deere he bought in the 60's and was still going strong when he sold it at a auction due to downsizing of his yard...

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

just goes to show ya, buy something , take care of it, and it will take care of you.

[orange-n-brown 365]

I forgot to add on the Husky we gave it to some really good friends who mower blew up who had another deck that fit it father n law had used it again and its now mowing another large yard

[pleasanttiger]

Husky or a honda

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

why did i have to comment on this was just on the craftsmen rider, and my belt snapped. to the shop in the morning. i was just braggin on her.

[1974Viking]

I like John Deere. I have a 1990 Model 430 Diesel with a 60" mower Deck. L the winter before last, I dtripped it down to bare frame , sand blaster it and completely rebuilt it from the frame up. The engine only has a little over 700 hours, so I didn't touch it. Replaced all the bearing on the mower deck and all new belts. My Deere still runs and looks just like it did when I bought it in 1990. Should last many more years. May but a new 62" zero turn, but so far the price has my wife and boss scared away.LOL I know the Deere's are pricey, but this one has out lasted 4-5 of the others Box stores sell.

[caglewis]

No one has mentioned Gravely. I'll grant that my experience is old and limited, but my father had a big sulky-type Gravely [this was in the 1960's -'70's] which lasted for many years.
And I saw a lawn service company mowing yards in the vicinity of where my daughter lived near Cincinnati in the early 2000's with a similar rig, but it was a "stand-on" sulky rather than a "sit-down" sulky. Our house was in a 9-acre woodlot, and we mowed at least an acre or so of it.
My brother and I were teenagers when we moved into that newly built house in the woods on our farm, and we were responsible for the yard. We had always shared lawn-mowing duty using a gasoline-powered push mower for the yard and barnlot at the original house, but the new house had a LOT more yard to mow! I did the push-mower [I have no idea what brand] close in stuff. My brother did the larger/steeper more wooded areas on the Gravely; and he could absolutely WHIRL around trees on that thing. He rarely had to unhitch the sulky and walk it.

Since I've owned my own house and yard, my favorite lawnmower has been a Craftsman walk-behind mower with a SOLID body grass catcher attached to the BACK - I've had two of them.
When my kids got old enough to add grass-mowing to their chores, it felt a little "safer" to me to have that SOLID grass catcher on the BACK of the lawnmower [not canvas out to the side] between their feet and the cutting blades when they pulled it backwards - as we all do with our lawnmowers. As an RN I dealt with more than a few lawn mower injuries - got the message!!
Now my kids are long gone and I'm way too old to do it myself - so I just hire a lawn service.