[saltman 1965]

My 17 year old Craftsman mower died. It was 21 inch cut rear bagger front wheel drive Briggs engine. Good Mower but its just wore out.Have an old push mower that will get by till I buy a new one. I take care of my stuff and tend to keep it a long time. Have looked at Honda's,Snappers,Toro,Lawn Boy and all the others. Any Recommendations pro or con? Thanks Saltman

[David Holmberg]

I have a Honda self propelled mower and a husqvarna rider.
Both are excellent, and highly recommended.

[Old Blue 66]

I used to have a Toro Personal Pace mower. Great unit. Walks as slow or as fast as you do. Its a varriable speed self propelld unit. Great idea and it never let me down. I used the hell outta that thing for 10 years and did nothing to it than sharpen the blade. ALWAYS started on the first try. Then of course I lost it in the divorce.

[sleepy]

Why not just go back to sears and buy a new one?

[Colin]

Originally Posted by Old Blue 66

I used to have a Toro Personal Pace mower. Great unit. Walks as slow or as fast as you do. Its a varriable speed self propelld unit. Great idea and it never let me down. I used the hell outta that thing for 10 years and did nothing to it than sharpen the blade. ALWAYS started on the first try. Then of course I lost it in the divorce.

I have the same mower and agree 100%.
I prefer a rear wheel drive self propelled mower if Im using a bagger. The front drive ones dont seem to pull as well when the bag in the rear starts filling.

[270win]

I use Honda in our business. The Snapper commercial 21's go through a lot of transmissions. Toro is a good one too. If you buy a commercial grade mower and take care of it you'll never buy another one.

[JoeF]

I bought a Toro last year and I'm very happy with it. Honda is good too, but a bit more $$$. Craftsman ain't what they used to be.

[David Jones]

I also have a Personal Pace Toro. Had it about10 years and worn out multiple sets of tires. Replaced blades 3 or 4 times. On the 3rd drive belt. This lawnmower gets used!! I like that it keeps up with you, instead of you trying to keep up with the lawnmower. I highly recommend one. When this one dies, I'll buy another.

[PLAY400]

Got a second Snapper but it doesn't have the cast body and nice recoil like my old 1. Still vacuums the lawn as well though

[stimpy]

we had a Toro till last autum , it was 10 years old and started every pull and cut like a trooper till someone tried to trim a tree stump with it and snapped the crank ( dumb blonde) , we are going to buy another one since that one held up pretty good , its for a homeowners association and has to cut and trim about a 1/2 acre when we cut our 7 acres . oh BTW when the mower logged the blade into the stump it got its revenge on the operater by breaking her wrist .

[John V.]

Craftsman is just a brand, Sears doesn't make any mowers, so the mower you buy from Sears is only as good as whoever actually built it.

I believe most of the cheap mowers are made by MTD, and that is true for just about all kinds of brands, even brands that you might think make their own.

I used to be a big fan of the old 2 stroke Lawn Boys with aluminum (and some had magnesium) decks. Very light weight, very simple motors. But once Toro took them over, it was just a brand name. It was no longer in the same league it once was.

I bought my current mower in Aug. '02. It takes me about 2 hrs. to mow my yard if I bag, maybe 90 mins. if I don't. I mow approximately 35-40 times a year.

It is an MTD built Cub Cadet. I paid about $370 for it, similar models still sold. Motor is changed, mine is a 6.75 B & S. They have several variations of this same mower today:

http://www.cubcadet.com/webapp/wcs/s...1_600000_33831

I decided to buy the MTD/Cub Cadet because of price. It came with bagger. My alternate choice was a top of the line Honda (not the cheap ones at the Box stores). But it was over $1000 with the bagger option.

Have no complaints with the deck. Have done nothing on the motor except change oil, plug, & air filter. The caster wheels are useful in my yard around bushes/trees. But the self propel mechanism is pretty crappy. Motor is plenty strong but with a full bag of moist grass, self-propel is not quite the truth. It is a 6 "speed" belt drive system, just doesn't propel as strong as I want.

The gear changing mechanism has never worked real well. I have worn out one set of tires. And the rear wheels never ran true from the day I bought it. Never could figure out why. Doesn't seem to affect the mower, just bugs me to see "wobbly" wheels.

The plastic housing under the deck gets chewed up and cracked. I replaced it once, was pretty pricey ($40?). It is still serviceable today, but has a couple chunks torn up.

I have replaced other misc. parts over the years. Parts always seem expensive since I have to buy on-line, have to pay shipping. There is a plastic cable retainer that is cracked now. I duct taped it so the bail can operate (otherwise it won't run). If and when I need other parts, I'll replace it then, but not worth paying shipping on just that one part.

But I guess my biggest disappointment is the drive mechanism.

Many times I have wished I would have sprung for the high-priced Honda. Although I have never mowed with one, I have several neighbors that have one and I believe it is a much easier mower to push around.

[mike nixon]

I suppose the first question to ask is how much yard do you mow?

[Old Blue 66]

Originally Posted by David Jones

I also have a Personal Pace Toro. Had it about10 years and worn out multiple sets of tires. Replaced blades 3 or 4 times. On the 3rd drive belt. This lawnmower gets used!! I like that it keeps up with you, instead of you trying to keep up with the lawnmower. I highly recommend one. When this one dies, I'll buy another.

Mine did too! Never could understand why the tires wore like they did. I though it was unusual.