Looking for a lawn tractor/riding mower

I have about 1 acre of land with a few trees here or there (really, just one big pine and 3-4 12' trees), but mostly clear, on a slight slope. I'm looking for a riding mower so that me, my wife, or my father-in-law might be able to mow the lawn. I'm looking to spend $800-$1400.

I'd like a 40"+ mowing deck, and something that will obviously be reliable and easy to maintain. It would be nice if I could also get relatively inexpensive attachments to help me clear the snow from driveway during the winter (I live in Connecticut).

On the cheap end:

Sears carries the Craftsman 17.5hp Shift-on-the-Go 42" Lawn Tractor for $1050
HomeDepot carries the Aries 17.5HP 6-speed 42" Riding lawn Mower for $999
Lowes carries the Troy-Bilt 17.5HP Shift-on-the-Go Riding lawn Mower for $1049

I know I can get a 10% coupon for Lowes and Home Depot, but aren't sure how long it will take to get to me, or if the big chains would take the coupon for something this big (I know there are usually exclusions for John Deere)

More than anything, I prioritize laziness. That means, it should be easy to mow, easy to clean, easy to maintain. But it's been difficult making a selection here because any time I look at the reviews, it's not evenly split: the two big cells are 1 star and 5 stars. There are people that hate and love each mower.

Help?

(also: important, must not gain sentience and kill me and my family; no robot mowers. Thanks)

Go hydrostatic. Shift on the go is not for the lazy. I got my craftsman 26 hp 54 deck for 1500 at the sears outlet store. May want to check one of those out. It had an hour of use and was normally 2600(sears price so it would normally new 2200). They always have them for 999, a 42 deck I believe. Also sears has there tractor blades dirt cheap tight now ymmv. I got one set last month for 20 dollars(regularly 30 a blade so that's 90 there) and one set Monday for 2.79. I consider that a slick deal.

I don't know anything about lawn mowers, but amazon does have 20% off their patio and garden if you use your amazon visa card.

They have several riding mowers in that section.

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_l...5122987011

Quote from sano88 : I have about 1 acre of land with a few trees here or there (really, just one big pine and 3-4 12' trees), but mostly clear, on a slight slope. I'm looking for a riding mower so that me, my wife, or my father-in-law might be able to mow the lawn. I'm looking to spend $800-$1400. I'd like a 40"+ mowing deck, and something that will obviously be reliable and easy to maintain. It would be nice if I could also get relatively inexpensive attachments to help me clear the snow from driveway during the winter (I live in Connecticut). On the cheap end: Sears carries the Craftsman 17.5hp Shift-on-the-Go 42" Lawn Tractor for $1050 HomeDepot carries the Aries 17.5HP 6-speed 42" Riding lawn Mower for $999 Lowes carries the Troy-Bilt 17.5HP Shift-on-the-Go Riding lawn Mower for $1049 I know I can get a 10% coupon for Lowes and Home Depot, but aren't sure how long it will take to get to me, or if the big chains would take the coupon for something this big (I know there are usually exclusions for John Deere) More than anything, I prioritize laziness. That means, it should be easy to mow, easy to clean, easy to maintain. But it's been difficult making a selection here because any time I look at the reviews, it's not evenly split: the two big cells are 1 star and 5 stars. There are people that hate and love each mower. Help? (also: important, must not gain sentience and kill me and my family; no robot mowers. Thanks)

Personally I'd go with Sears. IMO their parts ordering incase you break something is easier than going through HD or the manufacturer. They also have some great deals every now and then. The thing about Sears is they sometimes have a SUPER DUPER blow out sale and the price is actually higher than it was before the sale.

If you don't have a truck to haul it home try and wait until they have free delivery. If you can get a free cart as well they're nice but I don't use mine much at all.

I'd suggest you find you're interested in (or a few) and track their prices for say a month. You'll have a better idea of what they actually go for and then come July 4th see if you can beat it.

My grandma went to a Sears to buy a fridge and the price during the sale was more. She complained and got the manager to match the previous price. I've heard others say as well they have some flexibility on the large ticket items so you may be able to pull that off if it happens as well.

And hey, if you've got a Chase Freedom card, pick up $1k in Sears GCs from your local store to earn an additional 5,000 Chase UR points!

Thanks for the great advice everyone.

The giftcard idea sounds great as well.. Is there something special you have to do to get the 5000 ultimate rewards with Chase Freedom?

I went ahead and got a 10% coupon from Lowes which I think I can use at Homedepot. So now I have to balance 10% off at Homedepot vs $50 in ultimate rewards from Chase. I think Searsoutlet takes the giftcards as well, so that seems like a great strategy combining all of your suggestions!

Do you think the extended warranties are worth it? I hear lawnmowers break down all the time..

Quote from LivninSC : Personally I'd go with Sears. IMO their parts ordering incase you break something is easier than going through HD or the manufacturer. They also have some great deals every now and then. The thing about Sears is they sometimes have a SUPER DUPER blow out sale and the price is actually higher than it was before the sale. If you don't have a truck to haul it home try and wait until they have free delivery. If you can get a free cart as well they're nice but I don't use mine much at all. I'd suggest you find you're interested in (or a few) and track their prices for say a month. You'll have a better idea of what they actually go for and then come July 4th see if you can beat it. My grandma went to a Sears to buy a fridge and the price during the sale was more. She complained and got the manager to match the previous price. I've heard others say as well they have some flexibility on the large ticket items so you may be able to pull that off if it happens as well. And hey, if you've got a Chase Freedom card, pick up $1k in Sears GCs from your local store to earn an additional 5,000 Chase UR points!

Quote from sano88 : Thanks for the great advice everyone. The giftcard idea sounds great as well.. Is there something special you have to do to get the 5000 ultimate rewards with Chase Freedom? I went ahead and got a 10% coupon from Lowes which I think I can use at Homedepot. So now I have to balance 10% off at Homedepot vs $50 in ultimate rewards from Chase. I think Searsoutlet takes the giftcards as well, so that seems like a great strategy combining all of your suggestions! Do you think the extended warranties are worth it? I hear lawnmowers break down all the time..

If you have a Chase Freedom card, and you activate the 5% quarterly bonus, you can get 5% back in UR points at grocery stores.

https://creditcards.chase.com/fre...ivate.aspx

Just pick up Sears GCs and use them (or HD/Lowes or whatever). I don't know if Sears Outlet takes Sears GCs though so if you go that route confirm before buying them!

I bought the extended warranty (for 3 years) on mine 8 years ago. I haven't had a problem. They kept sending me some option to buy another 3 years. Thing was it was like $600 for another 3 years and I only paid $900 for the mower so I passed.

My mower leaks a bit of oil and smokes a bit but apart from that it runs great. I have had to replace a couple parts here and there as a result of me hitting something but if you're relatively handy you can probably do most of it yourself.

My neighbor messed up his mower (ran over a shovel and broke the spindle). That cost $500 to repair. They couldn't cover that under warranty. If I were to buy another mower I probably wouldn't buy an extended warranty, assuming I bought a relatively cheap one. They seem good enough to make it through the 3 years w/o any issue and after that buying an extension is so expensive you may as well just buy a new mower. That said, who knows, you could get a lemon so it's your choice.