no matter what you buy almost all company now have a opening price point product that is far from what their reputation in the past was. (i.e. you can find certain motor or trans-axles in more then 1 tractor brand) it comes down to you get what you pay for, when you pay more you will get things like actual bearings instead of bushings, cast iron sleeve instead of aluminum, oil filter instead of no filter, etc etc etc.
when shopping ask question like life expectancy, durability, differences between lower end models and higher end one, warranty of what is covered and more important of things that are not (i.e. flat tire, stale fuel etc) and where service is done? In shop, do they do house calls or pick up the unit, when shopping at some selected stores they may not even do service work and contract it out to the local repair shop which can sometimes be a nightmare to get good or fast service.

Look at how you intend to use the unit , the size of lot, how many hours you will use it per week/month, will a home owner grade unit be ok or do you need to upgrade to something more into the commercial end. will you want to use it for more then just cutting grass down the road (different attachments)

try this link ( you may have to copy and paste it to work)
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/la...s/reviews.html

or other may know of different links to good reviews on line as well


hope that helps somewhat