I have an acre of property. I have a lot of grass. Part of it is a 16 tree orchard so I do have obstacles. The land is flat. During my research it seems reviews on riding mowers are mostly negative. It leaves me wondering if they are even worth buying. I'm not going to spend $3,000 on a mower but I would love to cut down on the time I spend mowing. If I have to buy a higher end mower, I will buy one used. I am mostly interested in tractor style mowers. I don't want the zero turn type. I do want the option to bag my grass. It would be great if I could mount a snow plow but not absolutely necessary. What brand and model do you recommend?
Best riding mower for the money?
- Thread starter nimrod
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bertsmobile1
Lawn Royalty
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" who buys cheap pays thrice"
Very little in your price bracket new worth buying
Anything used in that bracket will be just about worn out or have a service history longer then my driving record .
If you want a serious assesment then you need to provide more information than just your spending limit.
Otherwise you will just get every one chiming in with their pet loves and pet hates.
I love 2000 series Cub Cadets.
We mow well over 100 acres including 3 orchard groves and 4 christmass tree plots.
However they are getting on, all needed some serious deck welding , new spindles, new transfer pulleys.
There are 3 and between them we go through 12 sets of blades ( worn out ) 10 PTO belts & 6 deck belts each year.
OTOH they do at least 100 hrs /week.
For your property.
What type of grass ?
What topography ?
What is the smallest space it needs to drive through ?
Do you have turning space between the trees & the fence ?
Are you thinking of towing ? if so how big a trailer ?
Do you want to be able to set it up with a engine driven sprayer or an electric sprayer ?
Do you want some thing that just cuts the grass or some thing that fine mows the lawns ? There is a big difference.
Do you want to mulch or are you happy throwing ?
No one really wants to spend too much money on anything but $ 5000 on a mower that will give you 10 + years of good service is a much better buy than $ 2000 that just runs long enough to pass out of warranttee and spend most of that time in the shop.
I am rather fond of the 4000 serice Hondas as well, tough rugged , well built, pushing 12 years now so getting within your price bracket.
Very little in your price bracket new worth buying
Anything used in that bracket will be just about worn out or have a service history longer then my driving record .
If you want a serious assesment then you need to provide more information than just your spending limit.
Otherwise you will just get every one chiming in with their pet loves and pet hates.
I love 2000 series Cub Cadets.
We mow well over 100 acres including 3 orchard groves and 4 christmass tree plots.
However they are getting on, all needed some serious deck welding , new spindles, new transfer pulleys.
There are 3 and between them we go through 12 sets of blades ( worn out ) 10 PTO belts & 6 deck belts each year.
OTOH they do at least 100 hrs /week.
For your property.
What type of grass ?
What topography ?
What is the smallest space it needs to drive through ?
Do you have turning space between the trees & the fence ?
Are you thinking of towing ? if so how big a trailer ?
Do you want to be able to set it up with a engine driven sprayer or an electric sprayer ?
Do you want some thing that just cuts the grass or some thing that fine mows the lawns ? There is a big difference.
Do you want to mulch or are you happy throwing ?
No one really wants to spend too much money on anything but $ 5000 on a mower that will give you 10 + years of good service is a much better buy than $ 2000 that just runs long enough to pass out of warranttee and spend most of that time in the shop.
I am rather fond of the 4000 serice Hondas as well, tough rugged , well built, pushing 12 years now so getting within your price bracket.
I do want to mulch but will mostly bag the grass. I'm thinking a 42 inch is the biggest I would want. However, I don't have many tight spaces. I'm sure my tightest space is over 4 feet. I have a trailer that I pull with my four wheeler so a trailer isn't a must. If I did use a trailer it wouldn't need to be very large or heavy. Grass is kentucky blue grass. I'm not sure what "fine" mowing would look like. I'm not manicuring it. I'm not overly picky, but I don't want uneven cuts or clumps of grass left behind. Again, my lot is flat.
I like my john Deere d110, going into 4th year with no problems. My father has a poulan pro rider on its 4th year, no problems. You don't have to use a $5,000 mower to cut some grass.
You can read reviews on most anything and most are not positive. Washers, dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers all are made cheaper as is most things. My refrigerator(20 years) went out a few months ago. I read so many reviews that were bad from 1,000 to $10,000 units. It used to be you get what you pay for, no guarantee on that nowadays.
You can read reviews on most anything and most are not positive. Washers, dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers all are made cheaper as is most things. My refrigerator(20 years) went out a few months ago. I read so many reviews that were bad from 1,000 to $10,000 units. It used to be you get what you pay for, no guarantee on that nowadays.
Ric
Lawn Pro
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- May 7, 2010
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- 5,765
Why Not a ZTR? It would be faster and easier to use around obstacles like tree orchards. They do have the option of bagging grass.