Firstly, every mower tosses belts and very few modern ones have design flaws that causes them to toss belts, Hustler seems to be the odd one out here.
A fabricated deck will last for a lot longer than a pressed deck and will take a lot more punishment.
Now do you have 1 acre , 5 acres or 1.5 acres.
! acre almost any residential over $ 3000 will do fine
1.5 same story
5 acres then you are looking at a bottom end commercial or top end residential
While all the big box sores claim what they sell is exactly the same as what the dealers sell, this is bollocks
Same shape , same pressings, same colour , thinner steel & budget engine.
dealers are their own worst enemy.
In theory they should advise you on the best mower for your yard but too many simply push you towards the one with the biggest mark ups.
While I don't blame then as in many cases they are paying more for their stock than the big box sell a similar model for, they really need to clean up their act atherwise there is no reason to goto one.
Check the dealers showrooms and workshops if the shop is 90% showroom & 10 % workshop then they are a minni version of the big box.
Check their ratings on things like face book, google them looking for troubles with their service.
Just remember , unless you can do all the servicing yourself and there fore will need a trip to the dealer.
Don't expect them to be overly concerned with a big box discount mower.
It is tandamout to you spitting in their face today then asking them to help you tomorrow.
No dealer make any money doing warranty services, so warranty services on mowers from a big box get done as a loss leader. ie when there is nothing for the mechanics to do .