I've been looking for a riding mower to take care of the acre or so around my home (about a third of which is hilly). These two seem to be decent value, and though the Snapper is supposed to be higher quality, it's pushing my budget enough to make me ask for your thoughts.
Craftsman 42" 24hp V-Twin Briggs & Stratton Turn Tight Hydrostatic Yard Tractor:
$1600, minus 10% next Sunday for Sears "friends and family sale" (whatever that is). The salesman even voluntarily got permission from his manager to sell it under the sale price and dropped another $50 to try to get me to jump this weekend - I really just stopped by to look...
It comes with a 2 year warranty and they'd happily sell me more for about a hundred a year.
Sears: Online department store featuring appliances, tools, fitness equipment and more
Snapper LT125:
23 HP, 42" deck (2342): $1800
24 HP, 46" deck (2446): $2000
It comes with two years of warranty, plus another year free if bought before July 2nd.
LT125 - Riding Mowers - Snapper
I have to say, I am very confused about the Snapper line. :confused2: And I haven't found reviews from owners to help clear things up. Maybe you can help?
In person, the Snapper LT125 line seems to have better build quality, I really like them! :thumbsup:
But I can't help wonder if this is Snappers "entry level line" designed to compete with the Craftsmans and the MTDs in the same way as the John Deeres sold at Lowes and HD; according to some posts I've seen, for at least a limited time these were available in some Sears stores (though I've never seen them there - this may be bunk).
In short, do these Snapper machines really qualify as good quality machines, or are they really Snappers in name only?
The hydro transmission in these machines used to be the Tuff Torq K46 (according to the 2009 specs), the same found in the higher priced Snappers. But in these 2011 machines they're using the Hydro-Gear T2HP hydraulic transmission. I'm hoping this wasn't sacrificing quality simply to cut costs. And while I'm on the subject, there's a fair number of posts that say the K46 is a weak link for the JD 100 series - if true, what does the apparent downgrade to the T2 mean for the L125 line? Finally, it appears that the Craftsman might be using the K46!
https://www.tufftorqservices.com/EnvEEdefault/FlatHTML/TransaxleIdentification/index.htm
Hydro-Gear - Products
I was figuring that the 4 inch wider deck would be worth the money, by cutting time and fuel costs in the long run, and that three blades would probably cut better than two. But I've seen a couple of posts stating the the larger 46" deck is not really made by Snapper, but actually a Murray deck. The story goes that they had planned to do this for the 42" deck as well, but found that it would actually increase costs (due to tooling changes?) so the smaller deck is supposedly a real Snapper - at least for now. Also, the smaller deck version is 28 pounds lighter, which might reduce stress on the tranny.
And why the 23 HP and 24 HP machines in the L125 line? (from the specs, they're almost identical)
Given all of this, what really separates the Craftsman listed from the Snapper LT125? Is the quality of the Snapper worth spending that much more?
I'd appreciate any light you can shed on this, thanks.
Bruce.
Craftsman 42" 24hp V-Twin Briggs & Stratton Turn Tight Hydrostatic Yard Tractor:
$1600, minus 10% next Sunday for Sears "friends and family sale" (whatever that is). The salesman even voluntarily got permission from his manager to sell it under the sale price and dropped another $50 to try to get me to jump this weekend - I really just stopped by to look...
It comes with a 2 year warranty and they'd happily sell me more for about a hundred a year.
Sears: Online department store featuring appliances, tools, fitness equipment and more
Snapper LT125:
23 HP, 42" deck (2342): $1800
24 HP, 46" deck (2446): $2000
It comes with two years of warranty, plus another year free if bought before July 2nd.
LT125 - Riding Mowers - Snapper
I have to say, I am very confused about the Snapper line. :confused2: And I haven't found reviews from owners to help clear things up. Maybe you can help?
In person, the Snapper LT125 line seems to have better build quality, I really like them! :thumbsup:
But I can't help wonder if this is Snappers "entry level line" designed to compete with the Craftsmans and the MTDs in the same way as the John Deeres sold at Lowes and HD; according to some posts I've seen, for at least a limited time these were available in some Sears stores (though I've never seen them there - this may be bunk).
In short, do these Snapper machines really qualify as good quality machines, or are they really Snappers in name only?
The hydro transmission in these machines used to be the Tuff Torq K46 (according to the 2009 specs), the same found in the higher priced Snappers. But in these 2011 machines they're using the Hydro-Gear T2HP hydraulic transmission. I'm hoping this wasn't sacrificing quality simply to cut costs. And while I'm on the subject, there's a fair number of posts that say the K46 is a weak link for the JD 100 series - if true, what does the apparent downgrade to the T2 mean for the L125 line? Finally, it appears that the Craftsman might be using the K46!
https://www.tufftorqservices.com/EnvEEdefault/FlatHTML/TransaxleIdentification/index.htm
Hydro-Gear - Products
I was figuring that the 4 inch wider deck would be worth the money, by cutting time and fuel costs in the long run, and that three blades would probably cut better than two. But I've seen a couple of posts stating the the larger 46" deck is not really made by Snapper, but actually a Murray deck. The story goes that they had planned to do this for the 42" deck as well, but found that it would actually increase costs (due to tooling changes?) so the smaller deck is supposedly a real Snapper - at least for now. Also, the smaller deck version is 28 pounds lighter, which might reduce stress on the tranny.
And why the 23 HP and 24 HP machines in the L125 line? (from the specs, they're almost identical)
Given all of this, what really separates the Craftsman listed from the Snapper LT125? Is the quality of the Snapper worth spending that much more?
I'd appreciate any light you can shed on this, thanks.
Bruce.
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