My wife and I just bought our retirement house in Florida to be close to the kids/grandkids. The yard is flat, a little over an acre with a fair amount of trees and a circular driveway.

I never had bought or used a riding mower/tractor before. I know everyone has opinions on products and I would like to hear yours.

My neighbor has recommended either a Snapper riding mower or a small John Deere Tractor. Bottom line is that I really can't spend any more than $2000 (tops). I don't think I can afford a zero-turn radius mower.

What do you guys propose? And also, should I buy from a local lawn mower dealer or a big box store like Home Depot/Lowes?

Thanks in advance!

Bill

With an acre of ground you will have many uses for a small tractor and trailer. Gardening, moving mulch, cleaning the pond, pruning shrubs, giving the grandchildren rides, moving lawn furniture etc. It comes in handy as a big tool caddy for other home chores. You can also use it for personal transportation around the neighborhood.

Occasionally you may have to cleaning up after hurricanes, or other storm damage.

Going with a bona fide dealer is often the best choice IF it's a really good dealer. You want a dealer that is going to know your name when you walk through the door. Buying from a big-box store is like going to bank machine in a mall. When something goes wrong, you probably won't be able to even find the person that sold you the tractor and if you do, he won't remember the deal. Those stores don't carry parts, they don't do service and they know nothing about your tractor if you have a question.

Either brand is fine for your purposes so concern yourself less about the colour of the machine and more about which model best suits your needs. You don't need a ZTR for a lot of that size. A lawn tractor is a better choice. You definitely want something with a tight turning radius and a hydrostatic drive because of all the obstacles on your property that you must negotiate.

Try to stay with a deck that has a cutting width around the 48" mark max. Even these decks often need another six to eight inches clearance to pass between tight areas. Inspect your property for tight areas and measure them. You want a tractor that will cut your entire lawn area so that you don't have to bring out a push mower. Better to go with a smaller deck and spend another ten minutes on the tractor, then to drag around a push mower later.

Having a garden cart for hauling stuff is a good idea too. If you check places such as Tractor Supply, carts can be bought for around $200.00 that will haul up to 1000 pounds.

As for giving children rides, I have to disagree 100 percent with such a foolish idea. Machinery for cutting lawns are not amusement rides nor are they toys to be played on. It doesn't matter whether the blades are running or not. Every single year, more than 70,000 people are injured by lawn mowers, lawn tractors, yard tractors and garden tractors and far too many of them are small children.

The internet is full of horror stories involving kids that had limbs amputated or they were killed when they approached a tractor from the rear or side and got backed over. Giving children rides is tantamount to training them that these tractors are there for joyriding on. You cannot send two messages to a child by telling him that the tractor is dangerous one minute but it's OK to ride around on ten minutes later.

Children should not even be outside when this equipment is being used. END OF STORY. All of these machines have ONE SEAT on them for a reason. Don't even allow children to play on a machine that isn't running. Kids cannot differentiate between a running tractor and a non-running tractor.

As for using it for personal transportation, that's an issue between you and the local police department. In some places, anything like that is considered to be a motor vehicle that comes under the Highway Traffic Act. As such, it must conform to that Act by having proper insurance, licencing, lighting and other safety devices. So don't assume anything just because someone on some forum said you can do it.

People get killed that way too.

Take your time here. If you can test drive a mower you think you like before having to buy it, so much the better. Ask the dealer if you can speak with someone that owns the same model and has used it for at least a few months. You can't beat personal recommendations. Ask them how happy they are and if there is anything they don't like about it. Ask them about the dealer. The more questions you ask, the easier your decision becomes.

After all, this is likely going to be a ten year affair you're about to enter in to. So choose carefully.

I guess I have a different view than you. Nearly 60 years ago I started cutting my fathers yard when I was about 8 years old. We had a simplicity tractor. The ones with two wheels and a reel type mower. In tight spots I would put the handles in my armpits and swing to lift and turn the tractor. Not long afterward I was mowing the neighbors yard with the same tractor. It was about 5 years before the rotaries came out and we got one.

At the same time my friends were driving John Deers and Maisie Harris tractors helping their father on the farm. I always was envious that dad did not have a farm with a real tractor like my friends. I was always glad when I would get to ride with them. I guess kids are not as responsible today as they were then.

So....I'm not talking about the "lucky" kids like you, me and your buddies. I'm talking about the unlucky kids who have to go through life with two arms missing or a leg missing. The OP is old enough to figure it out for himself. Everything a person does on a daily basis comes with an element of risk. We wear a seat belt to reduce the risk of injury should we be unlucky enough to be in an accident. We wear bike helmets, hockey helmets and motorcycle helmets to hopefully keep us from death or becoming a vegetable on life support.

Accidents are NOT always our fault. To suggest that child injuries happen because of stupid decisions made by stupid adults is the height of arrogance. Talk to anyone who has been in an accident and ask them this question. "At one point, you were doing what you were doing and you felt totally safe and comfortable, yes? So, can you tell me how long it was between feeling safe and comfortable and the moment when you realized that an accident had just taken place?"

99% of the time, they will tell you that is was a split-second. They will tell you that they were doing all of the right things at the time but they never saw what was happening or they never saw it soon enough to prevent what ultimately happened.

So if the above makes me a PC hot-air soap boxer but I manage to prevent the OP's grandchild from being hurt, then I have no problem with that title. Guys like you come on these forums and essentially preach unsafe practices to novices and then try to use terms such as "American culture" to justify it. But if the unthinkable happens to one of the OP's grandchildren, will you be around to help pick up the pieces? Hell no!

You'll still be on forums like this one spouting the same sort of neanderthal advice without a seconds thought about a little thing called consequences. Every forum has guys like you. Sad really. People look to these forums to get good advice but are forced to try and decide who's knuckles still drag on the ground and who walks totally upright.

As for the X-300 suggestion, the OP is in search of a NEW machine with a warranty, not some well-worn unit that someone else got the best years out of and is now dumping it. For a property the size stated and the tasks outlined, any decent LT will do the job. There's no need for him to own a garden tractor.

as to towing kids, i don't see where anyone said do it while cutting grass! i regularly ride my kids around on my X500 or in a cart behind. but i don't even allow them outside if i am cutting grass, even with the push mower. this summer i probably will let my 5 soon to be 6 year old do some supervised cutting with the push mower. heck i started at or before i was 5.

If you need to pull a trailer or aerator, look at the Deere's and Husqvarna/Craftsman. If you plan to use ground-engaging equipment - tiller, cultivators, mold boards - then you'll need to buy something used to stay at $2,000.

If there's an option, I would buy from an independent dealer - a John Deere dealer will sell you a lawn tractor for the same price that the big box store will. I'm sure that there are some unreliable independent dealers out there, but for the most part they are local small-businessmen, and they'll be there to handle problems.

No matter what you buy, perform the recommended maintenance - grease the zerks, change the oil and filter, and KEEP THE AIR FILTER clean. I've got a walk-behind mower, a big tiller, and a compact tractor that are each over 30 years old, thanks to proper maintenance.

Hope you enjoy your retirement as much as I do mine. Good health to you.