Here's my problem: I've got a home on 3 acres. About 3/4s of an acre is
zoysia grass. Nothing's level; it slopes and undulates. So much so that I
can't see mowing it with one the larger decks (bigger than 42") or one
without anti scalp wheels. There's about another acre that's flat but with
surface tree roots and lots of little rocks. It's never been seeded and
it's mostly weeds and such. I mainly just mow it to keep it cleared. The
rest is wooded and I occasionally swing through there with a mower to keep
the underbrush beat back. I'm also needing a mower with a bagger because
there's a lot of leaves that fall on the zoysia grass. (I don't really care
about bagging them on the rest of the property.) My thinking is that by not
going above a 42" deck then I also won't have to buy one of those more
expensive power assisted baggers.

I've mowed the lot with a neighbor's LX255 (5 year's old, single cylinder,
15 horsepower) It did an OK job but it lugged a little going uphill through
thick zoysia so I'm thinking more horsepower and 2 cylinders would be a nice
improvement.

So, in looking for a 2 cylinder John Deere with a 42" deck, I'm looking at
an L120, LT180 and an LX 280 models. Home Depot is currently discounting the
L series tractors by $200 - 300. When I talked to the JD dealer about
discounts for the LX he said that they really didn't have a slow sales
period and offer discounts but he could drop it $50 to 100.

Here's my question: Would you buy the cheaper L tractor, (about $2,000). Or,
invest in the LX version? ($4,000). Is the LX twice as good? Last twice as
long under similar care and conditions?

TIA

John