On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 11:51:30 GMT, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:


"Craig Davis" wrote in message
...
I just purchased a home with 1 1/2 acres of fairly level and open lawn.
Any
information that will help me make a good decision on what to purchase
will
be appreciated. Do I need a lawn tractor or a riding lawn mower. How
much
HP is needed? How wide a cut? Any thoughts on which brands to consider
or
stay away from would be appreciated.

You can get a lot, an awful lot, of good info here, but I again
suggest borrowing asking your neighbor for advice, and borrowing your
neighbor's mower to get first hand info. It's also a good way to
strike up a friendship with him. (Many/most people feel better about
someone they have lent something to than they do about someone they
have borrowed something from, even if they needed to borrow it..)

However since your lawn is so big, and people are talking about mowers
wearing out, I'd ask only to mow the part around my front door, or a 6
foot strip paralleling the driveway or something. He might say, No,
do the whole lawn, but I still might only do enough to tell if I want
exactly his type or something different.

There is a problem. If you ask his advice, as well as his lawn mower
(and you'll get advice either way.) and then you don't take it at all,
and probably if you don't explain why you didn't take it entirely, he
might not like that. Friends of mine, years ago, asked what brand
of color tv to buy, and then I said, Just don't get mechanical tuning.
And what did they buy? Mechanical tuning. I was mildly annoyed, but
we'd been friends for years, so it wasn't my first impression of them.


What is your time worth and what kind of budget are you looking at ? If

You should pay attention to what this guy says. If you check his
name, you'll know he is an authority on mowers.

money is not the object then a zero turn mower may be worth looking at. If
money is tight then you may want to look at a John Deere Lt 120 or something
in that series. Get the largest cut mower you can affoard if you want to
save time. Some of the 3 bladed mowers do not do as even of a cut as the
two bladed mowers. YOu may have to make a tradeoff as to what is more
important , looks or time. Also to keep the lawn in good shape you may want
to make sure you have enough mower to pull an airerator and other things.

YOU could get by with a Murry 38 inch cut but you may have to replace it in
a few years. I don;t think I would get one for that size of lawn. A few
years back my dad had a Murry about that size and had about 2 acres to mow.
It would do the job but it took a while to do it. As he was retired it did
not mater how long it took. Also had to replace it every few years.
He had the money to get a good mower but did not want to spend it on a
mower.So he made "payments" on a good one by buying several that did not
last as long.



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