Some people say that because the raptor line is selling in such big numbers the complaints also seem to be in big numbers but in proportion to sales might still be a low percentage. I hope so cause I just bought one! I worked at a Deere dealership for quite a while and can say just because something is built to sell at a low price doesn't mean it has to be troublesome junk. One of the biggest culprits to beating up a low priced unit is running the decks on the ground and trying to cut grass super short like a putting green. I personally know of a cemetary that got 1000 hours of virtually no problems out of a $1500 jd sabre lawn tractor. They had one older, caring operator driving it who knew what he was doing. On the other hand we saw people have trouble like crazy with $7000 units that thought they'd bought a compact tractor and brush cutter instead of a great garden tractor!