Nothing wrong with a regular mower for smaller lawns. Whatever you do, make sure it is V-twin engine over a single piston engine.

It's a single cylinder Kohler engine.

It will always feel out of balance when it is under load where the twin cylinder will not. In my opinion, it will not last as long either, but that's just my opinion. A good twin cylinder engine well taken care of will outlast the rest of the mower deck, axle, etc...

That's something to think about. I haven't checked yet but I think I have to up a 46" deck to get the V-twin engine.

You do know that Craftsman really does not make any mowers or chainsaws and any other power equipment. What they do is bid for other companies to make them and put the Craftsman name on it.
I would double and triple check just who is making that mower first. I know years ago Murray made the lawn mowers and Poulan made the chainsaws. At times it might be hard to find replacement parts for Craftsman power equipment.

I went through this process 2 years ago. Purchased a Hustler after looking at all of them. Best value for my 1 acre needs. They all mostly use the same mfr engines and transmissions. Differences are deck gauge and size, engine and trans models, wheel size and overall build quality. Happy with mine so far

The Deere S120 and S130 have 42 inch decks and V-Twin motors.

I'm not a Deere fan, but while waiting on some appliances at Lowes the other day, I sat in the zero turns giving them a test. The Deere was actually the most comfortable and had the best ergonomics of the bunch. For that, I was impressed.

Avoid the Troy Bilt from Lowes. I do lawn mower repair for friends and just finished a Troy Bilt that is two years old and it is a piece of junk. I was amazed at how many parts are now plastic.

I have a 42 inch JD rider Model 300, that we have owned for over 10 years with no problems other than new belts. The belt problem was solved after watching the wife stop and go into reverse. The mower has a Kawasaki 19 hp engine in it. Based on the engine I would highly reccomend the Kawasaki engine. No problems other wise either. Thanks Daniel

Got my John Deere D140 about 7 or 8 years ago. Looking back, I wish I had gone with a small tractor with mower attachment, backhoe, auger, etc. The D140 does good on my couple acres now that I have reduced the mowing footprint to just over an acre, but could have gotten good use out of a small tractor.

Last time I checked, there were basically three makers of riding tractor mowers:
- John Deere commercial
- Husqvarna (Craftsman, Snapper)
- MTD (Troy Bikt, Snapper, Cub Cadet and the Home Depot/Lowes John Deere)

If you have a less than 2 acres and mow once a week or less, any of the above will be fine providing you do regular maintenance and your unit was not assembled by sone idiot ( they at
re all shipped in a box). If you have larger acreage or mow twice a week or more, then you would be well served to buy a John Deere from a regular dealership and not Home Depot or Lowes.

The consensus on the zero turn mowers are correct but for thise wanting best value, the lower and mid range Exmark models are hard to beat. Many large commercial landscape firms (with a dozen or more mowers) use Exmarks

Snapper, Toro, Husqvarna, Troy-bilt and a few others do build some of their mowers. If they are being sold through the big box stores those have been built buy the lowest bidder for them.
Those companies tell you they are built from their specs but from parts that can be interchanged it seems that's not the case. The biggest thing is to make sure you get a good engine on them. My first choice would be a Kawasaki on them.

Been itching for a new one myself but my 20 year old Sears LT2000 won't die.

Some good advice in this thread...and some well you know

I used to have an older John Deere 145 42" it was awesome until around the 400 hr mark the transmission started to fail. I think I got money out of it.

Come to find out, it's a common problem with the lower end JD units. As stated above many of the Lowes / Home Depot units are the "residential" models and have many parts in common.

I would look into a dealer and not a big box store...you may pay more...but you get better quality / service.