Quote:
Originally Posted by RNR
I drove by the local John Deere dealership on the way home. They sell the same models there. They were closing an there was not a salesman available. I ended talking to the service guy. He was very honest and upfront with me and would make a terrible salesman lol he lives less than a mile from me. He said the D series is JD attempting to compete with Sears.
We talked about all the different brands I was looking at and he did not say a bad word about any of them. He mentioned he has owned a D100 he bought when they first opened the line. He said knock wood he has never had a problem with it. He added the push button PTO switch is a pain in the ass and disconnected the seat sensor but made me promise not to tell anyone he told me that.
He told me that many people prefer the X series because of the quality construction and the Kawasaki power pack. He also told me that I am most likely putting too much thought into it because of the size of my yard. He basically told the same thing you said as in whatever low end mower I decide on ($2000 or under) will be fine~
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Cool, glad you are getting there on your project!
As many have said on here, I think the big difference is quality, especially the mower deck, and power plant.
Briggs and Stratton vs. Kohler, Kawasaki etc.
Neither of mine have a switch to turn off the lights, they are on all the time, stuff like that. The oil drain plug location sucks on the new one since they left off the extension that the older one has that probably cost them a quarter, just stuff like that.
I had the displeasure of replacing belts and blades on both of mine this summer (we grow rocks at Tablerock lake) and there is a quite a change in the quality in the 5 years of production date difference. Both have greaseless sealed (Chinese) bearings on the blade shafts, and I would prefer greaseable ones like the better mowers have.
I disconnected the seat sensor on both of mine as well. It is so easy, just a slide off connector and is such a pain in the keester with it connected.
Good luck with your decision.