I am rather reluctantly starting to gather information so, I can replace my snapper lawn Tractor. It is or was burning alot of oil and is now spitting out a lot of oil on my garage floor. I have a Snapper LTH1438, so as near as I can tell its probably 16-18 years old. Our house sits on just over a .5 acre lot. It has a good amount of landscaping my wife would like me to avoid running over when I mow. I have at this point a limited budget to replace myold friend of a LT. My first thought was to go to something like a Snapper SPX 2246. My local Snapper dealer tells me he is currently out of and will be until spring such small tractors with that small of a cutting deck.. In spring come back to him and buy a Simplicity, he says its the same tractor but just Orange,since they (Snapper and Simplicity) are owned by Briggs &. Are they really the same tractor but in a differnt colored wrapper? The local dealer tells me not to waste money on buying a mulching kit,but to just double mow and buy the tractor with the side schute only. I am not sure if I want to spend the money or time on having to remow part of my yard each time I mow. The dealer I bought my Snapper from tells me both Snapper and Simplicity have gone down hill I will not be able to get the quality I had with a new Snapper or Simplicity without spending more money than I did 18 years ago. Is this true? I am not mechanical ,so buying a used Lawn Tractor is not a viable option. I am 60 and really don't want to spend half of my football Sundays,pushing my 20 year old Bolens mulching mower. I think my price range is probably $1,800-$2,200 price range. The dealer who sold me the Snapper suggests a Cub Cadet LTX 1042, which of course he sells. In my price range I was thinking of the Snapper SPX 2246, A JD D130, or Cub Cadet LTX 1040,1042 or 1045 . What would you suggest? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.