Lawn mower options for 0.75 acres?

[Xist]

I have discussed these in various threads on here and I can track down the references if you like.

Gas lawn equipment is supposed to be responsible for something like 5% of U.S. emissions.
Battery-powered lawn equipment seems like a solution that creates more problems. I bought one that turned out to have a dead battery, but it was so old that I doubt it had the power of a gasser, or even a corded unit. Mom bought a lithium-powered snowblower and I believe that I burned out something, so I need to take it apart.
Lawnmowers die if you overwhelm them, but I have always been able to back off the gasser, restart, and proceed slower, or shift further over towards the part that I already cut.
When Mom's corded mower died, I needed to replace parts.
My sister lives on an acre, and despite using medical terms to explain that mowing was killing her, allegedly she mowed her lawn with her electric mower and multiple extension cords.
That must take forever.
She bought goats, but they were raised on pellets, so if you buy goats, make sure they are grass-fed.
Now they are pets and she bought a used riding mower.

Clover is beautiful, but ours always turns to stickers.

Thousands and thousands of stickers.

I spend many hours every year pulling clover. I tried weed and feed once. It did not seem to make a difference.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by JSH

A certain green and yellow manufacturer had us remove the drain plugs from most models to save $0.25 per unit.

See, that's the kind of junk I'm talking about when I say there's meetings discussing how to save a few cents on a product since the customer won't immediately see the need. Of course, a line must be drawn on cost, features, durability, etc, but it drives me nuts as a consumer when I see that my life with a product could be made way better if the company had spent the extra 5 cents, and even charged me 50 cents more.

Rather than tout a product as "maintenance free", simply put in the drain plug, and advertise that the competitors "maintenance free" won't hold up as long.

[Xist]

I hated siphoning the oil in Mom's mower. It broke too many times and we could not figure out what was wrong, while we had the then-working corded mower.

[redpoint5]

Mowers are dead simple to work on. You need spark, air, and fuel to run. Spark can be checked in 10 seconds. Fuel can be checked quickly too by taking the air filter out and spraying starter fluid into it while cranking.

I try to run my mower out at last mowing. In the spring if there's a little fuel left I just pour it out and light it on fire.

[freebeard]

Find something from the 1940s or 1950s that someone else has already sunk restoration money into. At a good price, it will never be worth less again.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

See, that's the kind of junk I'm talking about when I say there's meetings discussing how to save a few cents on a product since the customer won't immediately see the need. Of course, a line must be drawn on cost, features, durability, etc, but it drives me nuts as a consumer when I see that my life with a product could be made way better if the company had spent the extra 5 cents, and even charged me 50 cents more.

Rather than tout a product as "maintenance free", simply put in the drain plug, and advertise that the competitors "maintenance free" won't hold up as long.

This decision was a bit more complicated than that. John Deere used to make a private label mower that was sold in Home Depot. When they decided to paint that mower green and yellow to draw on the brand equity they ran into resistance from their dealer network. Basically the dealers didn't want to work on low end junk and people that pay $1500 for a riding mower don't expect to pay AG dealer rates for service. The "answer" to the problem was to make the low end mowers "maintenance free". Since the transaxle was no longer serviceable why not save some money by removing the drain plugs?

The problem is that people that want to take care of their mower and do proper maintenance now have to remove the transaxle from the mower to change the oil.

John Deere's decent riders start with the X-Series

[ksa8907]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Mowers are dead simple to work on. You need spark, air, and fuel to run. Spark can be checked in 10 seconds. Fuel can be checked quickly too by taking the air filter out and spraying starter fluid into it while cranking.

I try to run my mower out at last mowing. In the spring if there's a little fuel left I just pour it out and light it on fire.

And if you just dont want to fool with it you go down to harbor freight and buy a brand new (probably poor quality) engine for under $100.

[Ecky]

It looks like Facebook is the place to shop for mowers:

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by ksa8907

And if you just dont want to fool with it you go down to harbor freight and buy a brand new (probably poor quality) engine for under $100.

Yeah honestly I'd probably put a Honda on whatever I get once the engine starts to need major work. It's the rest of it I'm concerned about; things that tend to be more specific to the mower.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Ecky

It looks like Facebook is the place to shop for mowers:

That's a fine price on those mowers. The Cub Cadet seats still have vinyl on them, and there's an inline fuel filter already installed.

Originally Posted by Ecky

Yeah honestly I'd probably put a Honda on whatever I get once the engine starts to need major work. It's the rest of it I'm concerned about; things that tend to be more specific to the mower.

Our Honda is quieter, but I've never had a problem with the B & S engines. It's the carbs that usually are the most trouble.