Lawn Tractor Review

Lawn tractors and riding mowers

If your lawn is larger than about half an acre, most experts recommend lawn tractors and riding mowers over regular lawn mowers. (For smaller lawns, see our report on walk-behind lawn mowers and robotic lawn mowers.) In addition to mowing, lawn tractors can pull garden carts and useful attachments such as lawn aerators. Some can even pull tillers or be fitted with a snowplow blade, further extending their functionality beyond the lawn. Zero-turn mowers are for mowing only, but they maneuver so quickly around obstacles that they reduce mowing time by half.

The best and most current reviews of lawn tractors and zero-turn mowers are at ConsumerReports.org, which rates and ranks models annually based on objective tests during many weeks of mowing. The 2011 review rates and ranks 49 lawn tractors and zero-turn mowers, plus three small rear-end riding mowers. (Front-engine mowers are called lawn tractors, while rear-engine models are called riding mowers.) This year lawn tractors with wide cutting decks are ranked separately from those with 42-inch decks at ConsumerReports.org, which makes sense since the smaller decks usually cut more evenly. The online report also includes more details about each lawn tractor, including significant notes from the testing, along with reviews and ratings by owners -- with the reported pros and cons nicely summarized by editors.

Tests at Family Home and Garden, a German magazine, cover a longer time span and more varied terrain, comparing eight high-end lawn tractors capable of mowing several acres. The clear winner, the John Deere X304 (*Est. $3,600) is available in the U.S. The same lawn tractor also earns top ranking in 2007 comparison tests by the Telegraph, a U.K. newspaper.

Though Popular Mechanics and ConsumerGuide.com have published credible reviews of lawn tractors and riding mowers, their reviews are now outdated. We found useful current comparisons at TodaysMower.com, where landscape professional Paul Sikemma now expands his coverage beyond models sold at Sears, though reviewing Craftsman lawn tractors and riding mowers is still his forte.

In addition to performance, the best lawn tractor reviews evaluate reliability over years of use by assessing build quality and reporting on feedback from owners. Experts say the average lawn tractor lasts for about 250 hours of mowing time, but some brands and models prove more reliable than others. Reliability is important, period, but it's especially true for lawn tractors because it's not easy to take them in for repair, and replacement parts can sometimes take weeks to arrive.

ConsumerReports.org compares repair records by brand, based on an annual survey of its readers. Owner-written reviews of specific lawn tractors and riding mowers are also very useful, since comments often cover several seasons of use. Sears.com, HomeDepot.com and Lowes.com all publish owner-written reviews. MowersDirect.com, another specialized retailer, also adds staff recommendations. 

Reviews differ in the way they've dealt with emissions rules. This year stricter EPA emissions requirements cover 2011 lawn tractor models -- not only for engine emissions but also for emissions that evaporate from fuel systems. This has made for many changes in model names and numbers for 2011. (Note that many retailers still have the more polluting 2010 mowers and tractors in stock.) The situation is complicated since the nationwide EPA regulations aren't an exact match of the requirements set by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). A number of models that meet the new EPA requirements still can't be sold in California. 

MowersDirect.com identifies CARB-certified lawn tractors (which are also available to ship to other states), and even publishes a separate list of these lawn tractors. The rankings at ConsumerReports.org, by contrast, don't distinguish models sold at the same price in California from those that cost an estimated $100 to $300 more there. Our discussion of specific recommended models covers this issue.

Several lawn tractors and riding mowers have been subject to recalls since our last report. In October 2010 some Craftsman rear-end riding mowers were recalled by Briggs & Stratton, and John Deere recalled some Z445 and Z465 zero-turn mowers. In February 2011, Briggs & Stratton recalled some V-Twin engines used on certain Craftsman, Husqvarna and Bad Boy models. This spring saw a rash of recalls of certain Toro, Cub Cadet, Husqvarna and Troy-Bilt lawn tractors and riding mowers. All these issues can be resolved, but this has been an unusually heavy year for recalls -- and emphasizes the point that it's crucial to register your purchase right away with the manufacturer so you can be notified of any problems.