I am looking for advice (just like other hundreds of people on this forum). I am closing on a house in a month so I am in need of excellent advice in order to chose proper equipment.
Considerations: Property is in NJ, mostly flat lot. Lawn has limited amount of trees on it, so zero turn radius is not necessary.
Lot: almost 4 acres, although only .06 acres is grass (for now) the other 3+ acres are trees (mostly pines). I will eventually expand the lawn to about 1.5 acres (within a year or two)
My thought is to buy a piece of equipment that would allow me to not only mow the lawn, but also be useful in other ways.
My plans for the lot are, tree removal, light gardening towards the back of the lot ... eventual patio etc.
Since I live in NJ, I need to think about snow plowing as well (270 feet driveway ... gravel, a bit of a slope)
Depending on the price, I believe I need a lawn tractor that is capable of attaching snow plow or blower, trailer, possibly a lawn sweeper and possibly other amazingly nice toys.
I want the unit to be reliable ... I can do light maintenance, but I am not very good at fixing things (as my wife constantly reminds me).
So I am deciding between buying a cheaper ride on lawn mower and a snow blower ... or if my budget allows it a lawn tractor.
Two impliments are always better than 1.
The landlord runs 5 old tractors, each with it's own impliment set up permently.
Thus in a pinch we can swap impliments. But in normal times it is just a matter of jumping on the right one & go to work.
Because these were old tractors ( farm tractors ) the whole lot cost less than 1 new tractor with impliments that would be needed to be continually swapped.
Consider things like an old Bolens Dura -trac.
They are real sub compact tractors, there are a lot of them out there and they are reasonable price.
Also sold as Troy Bilt . shaft drive built very solid easily replacable Kohler Horizontal V twin, hydraulic steering & deck lift. Eton transaxle almost indestructable and easily repairable.
Start by going to the lawn/garden tractor dealers, not the big box stores but the actual dealerships. They can be a wealth of information for folks that aren't sure of what they want or need.
To me it sounds like your long range plans call for a larger garden tractor or maybe even a sub-compact tractor.
And I forgot to mention this before but if you decide to look at a used piece of gear this site is really good.
It does not rate the mowers just tells you exactly what they have so you can make comparisons. http://www.tractordata.com/lawn-tractors/index.html
