I'm considering buying one. Lowe's has a Toro for around $1000. My brother's MIL has a Cub Cadet which he hates and they are a good $500 more but the "guru" at the town waste site swears by them. He went on to explain about grease points and such.

Honestly, I'm a lawn mower abuser. I used to have one that my husband bought, a Murray. I abused the hell out of that thing and it ran for me all the time. I don't want a fussy machine.

I loathe mowing the lawn in optimum conditions. I do it begrudgingly and while my lawn here isn't much bigger than the one I had in NJ using the "Yard Man" it has special challenges (a steep hill, and steeply sloping banks to 2 creeks; the latter will have to be done with the walk-behind mower regardless of any ride-on).

I really want to keep costs to a minimum but I don't want to buy a problem either.

Anyone have advice on a good purchase? The retails stores that are near me are: Home Depot, Lowe's, Tractor Supply, Walmart and Sears. I have heard bad things about "White" mowers and mixed reviews on "Cub Cadet".

I love this.

I bought a Troy Bilt riding mower 3 years ago from Lowe's. It hasn't given me any problems and I'd certainly buy another one when the time came.

I would suggest one with automatic transmission.

It has special challenges (a steep hill, and steeply sloping banks to 2 creeks; the latter will have to be done with the walk-behind mower regardless of any ride-on).
Maybe a couple of these could be of use ...

I have a Husqvarna lawn tractor that I have been very satisfied with. When I moved to the house we're in now, the yard had been neglected for almost 5 years. There was brush 4 ft. high in the back. The Husqy took it down without complaint, so I'd say it takes abuse pretty well. It also will cut in reverse, something many new mowers won't do anymore.



My property also has some hills and embankments that were giving me trouble, so I filled the back tires with water to add weight for better stability and traction. It worked pretty well. You can get wheel weights or liquids for that purpose that are better than water (it will eventually rust the rims), but I just didn't want to wait.

This may help you:

Ride-on mower buying tips

I would prefer that but I'd have to fence in the property and that's a problem.

Good information. I will look into the Husky though I think there's triple the price of that Toro.

Thank you for the link!

Do you know if there is a snowblower/plow attachment available?

I suggest $10.00... a push mower... and a neighborhood kid with free time on his hands.

You could go with one of these, with this added just for fun.

Mobase and I were looking at riders last night. Lowe's had some smaller John Deeres that were nice and I know you can get plow/blower attachments for them. The cheapest we looked at was $899.00.

We currently have a Honda walk behind that is not self propelled and the back yard is sloped. It's old, I never did any maintenance to it and bought it used. It can be hard to start at times but gets the job done. It's a good cardio workout, I used to mow it all by myself before Mobase moved in but he looked like he was about to pass out yesterday when he was finished. He's wanting a rider in a bad way.

What's a snowblower/plow attachment? You are talking to someone who lives in an area that measures snowfall by centimeters per decade.

No, seriously. Googling Troy Bilt snow plow attachments, I came up with this,

It's from Troy Bilt's website, so I guess it's legit, but I'd talk to someone at Lowe's or a Troy Bilt dealership to be sure.

EDIT: I looked at several models before deciding on the Troy Bilt. The Toro may be a little cheaper but the John Deers are going to cost you a little more, and I do believe the Husqvarnas, while very nice, were much more expensive.

One more thing I would highly recommend. Get one with a mulcher, so you don't have to bag. It's also supposed to be better for the lawn. Mine has one and it's only a plastic piece that's covers the hole where the grass would normally blow out the side. It's supposed to make the blades cut up the grass more instead of blowing it out of the side. Unless the lawn is very high, it doesn't leave any noticeable clippings on the lawn.

+$4K and the first time I used it it would be floating down the creek. Besides the hill in my yard is more than 30degree slope.

Last year I paid a kid $35 to come and do it (he had a zero turn ride on too) and after 3 times he stopped showing up, so no. There aren't any neighborhood kids, there aren't any neighbors. The next cheapest guy is "mowin' joe" and he wants minimum $60. Not worth it.

Ok, if I get my bonus from my boss and after doing some research I think this might be my tractor

It was rated a best buy by consumer reports, it has a cast iron axle and grease fittings (I don't know what they are but I've been told that's important), it can cut in reverse or at least I don't have to stop the blade.

If I don't get the bonus I'll go for the cheaper troy-bilt.

I would have gone with the John Deere but can't find one with auto-trans at that price and I don't see the $900 on Lowe's website.

All this might change on the day I go to buy the thing. Like if they have the chopper trike one, I bet I could get someone to mow my lawn if I owned that.

Thank you all for your input.

My grandmom has a very old cub cadet. Very old, and everytime I go to her house I use it to mow her lawn. Every once in a while the thing needs a quick repair but thats expected for how old it is. I think if you get a cub cadet it will stay with you for a while, and I've had no problems actually mowing the lawn with it.

Oh, man is she ever not kidding. I was sucking wind like a fat one legged man in a butt kicking contest. Our yard is shaped like a skateboard ramp, only bigger.

It should be mentioned that the cheapest Deere was like 1200.00$, not 899. The off brand was 899.

Oh, well they all look the same to me. I wouldn't want to cut our lawn with a rider because I would probably roll it.

When I worked on the horse farm, I drove a big International tractor (manual), a Ford (auto) and a few John Deere's. They weren't for cutting grass, they were for hauling sh!t.

*oops

Wow, I just remembered that I get a company discount on John Deere equipment. Only problem is, they'd have to ship it to my apartment....