Hello from NW Washington State

Hi, just joined and looking to buy my first riding mower. We're building up here on 2.5 acres and I expect to have about 1/2 acre to mow. Due to county regulations in this area ( near a water-supply lake ) we have to get down something for erosion control on any bare dirt by October 1st so we've chosen a perennial rye / fescue mix and will be doing a light mulch covering with straw. I won't need a "cadillac" mower but one of the most important things will be at least 4 inch cutting height since the ground isn't putting green smooth. Other than that it's all about reliability.
Randy

Welcome to the forum.

That's a tall order :laughing:.

Burn- ie, welcome. If you wonder about Sr's statement "it's a tall order." it may be due to a thread this week on the subject which looked at B&S and Kaw engines. Look for it.
Seems like most reliability issues center on the air cooled engines IMO.

I think he was just joking about my comment that I want to be able to cut the grass at least 4 inches off the ground ( tall ).

Hey there.

I used to live near Redmond. Nice country in Washington State.

Lots of choices on Riders. I bought a Montgomery Ward Lawn Tractor years ago that was either built by MTD or Yardman (I think Yardman). It was amazing. Techumse 12 HP OHV engine that would not quit. And I remember it DID have a 4" height adjustment. I had a part of my property that had ridges and I needed that clearance. I had that mower for 20 years and used it as much as a tractor as I did as a mower. Lots of guys are going to say John Deere or another loyalty brand, but some of the rebrands like Craftsman can be very nice at half the price if you know what you are "really" buying.

Since then I have only done walk behind mowers. Honestly? I want the exercise.

Good luck with your new property and the new mower, whatever you decide on.

Bt3, exercise is a good idea and I get that in other ways. I suppose a walk-behind with self-propelled wheels could work if the cutting height would go up to 4 inches. This roughly 1/2 acre I'll be mowing isn't super smooth. The property has lots of rocks fist-size and smaller. I'm removing all the ankle-breakers I can, but I'm pretty sure if we had it scraped we would just reveal more rocks. Hauling in several thousand dollars worth of top soil was suggested but the native dirt looks pretty good.

Lots of research to do but I'd like to stay in the $1000 - $1700 range and looking at this one right now:
A20VA46 46 in. 20 HP V-Twin Briggs & Stratton Automatic Gas Front-Engine Riding Mower $1,399.00
http://tinyurl.com/p4oazeb

We are at 1800 ft Cascades and the soil is very rich, resembles coffee grounds, but very acidic (needs lime). You cannot sink a shovel due to rocks. Planting a balled tree by hand is an all day job . We use a seive. Wife read that in this volcanic area the rocks keep moving up. Fence installers joke about blasting.

My (very limited) experience says if you get lucky and take care of it a big box rider will serve for $1800. Same old advice..put oil pressure and temp gauges on and watch them.

Hello Randy. Welcome to LawnWorld!

:welcome: