Hiya, what are the best & worst Lawn machines you've owned/used? Ride-on mowers, push mowers, lawnmower, weedtrimmers, etc? Looking for knowledge before I buy anything for myself

 

So I stopped in at a repair place to ask a couple questions about ride on mowers, consensus was:

triple blade units don't bag the cuttings well "are useless at bagging"
units 46" wide and over have issues with bending the longer cutting blades
pretty much everything made in last 15 years will have 15 horsepower or more
told me to look for a 42" unit as they are the best
told me not to buy one off of craigslist and don't cheap out on one as they will almost always need $500 worth of maintenennce to get running right and reliably

 

bump, what do you own/operate on your lawn? my plan was delayed, am now looking for machines, any advice?

 

I have a 1998 model Murray 30" riding lawn mower with an 8 hp Tecumseh engine. I bought it new, I've maintained it well and it's still going strong but using some oil now. I haven't spent $.10 to repair it and I won't, I'll trash it when it's time comes.

For the last 18 or so years I've had Ryobi trimmers with the removable components. I think they've merged with a couple other companies but all the hardware still fits. The one that I'm still using is 15 years old, the one that died was about 16 years old. I gotta say, a great investment as they didn't cost me much to keep them going. Mainly new gas lines.

In the future, I'll buy a blower, trimmer, etc with each one being purpose built. The combination units that can be transformed are heavy but the advantage being you only need one power head to operate numerous attachments.

 

Trimmer, I would say buy the best you can afford. I haven't followed this advise and have bought more big box store trimmers than I can count. For the 5-6 $120.00 trimmers I've bought I think one good one would be the better route.

 

I've had my Montgomery Wards garden tractor since 1995 never had too much of a problem with it.
My Ariens 1742 zero turning radius mower is a big pain in the butt. Hit a rock or something that stops the blades and you just threw away another 58.00 for a cogged belt, as it snaps it real quick.
Before I lost my house, I had started converting it to a regular v belt system, but I never got to finish it so I don't even know if my idea will work or not.
All of my DR equipment has been top knotch. Never had a problem with any of them customer service is excellent aswell.

 

I've had my craftsman LT2000 for 3 years,bought it used(off craigslist,lol) haven't had any problems besides having to replace the deck belt once. I cut 2 acres with it once a week or every 10 days if I can stretch it that far.