redrob, I didn't mean to hijack the thread, but since we are looking for essentially the same thing (mowers, price range, acreage) I figure it's better to have the discussion in one place. Anyway. I haven't really looked at the Cub Cadets. The only reason is that I have found more negative reviews of them than the other two. A lot of people say they aren't as good as they used to be. Obviously, your experience is different. I'll have to revisit them since the Cub Cadet dealer is actually quite a bit closer than the others, so bringing it in for repairs would be easier.