May 12th 2014, 22:12:43
mrford appears quite knowledgeable in mowing technology.
Toro is pretty compfortable and agree completely with the speed control. Auto-start is nice but honestly it starts with a single pull every time thus far. Don't know much about honda except expensive for what it is. To the point you could buy a cheap rider at least in this area.
Having owned a toro and being quite lazy I had some complaints. First off their belts don't last long with hills. To change the belt it's a real pain in the ass to the point I checked around to have it done for me and was quoted ridiculous prices. The oil plug is on the bottom and you have to remove a plate to get to it, leaving you with a 2 person job of holding oil pan in place and flipping it over to drain and cleanup after. Tightening the activator wire isn't too bad luckily but yes you will be doing it at least 2 times a season. The whole system is a little weirdly built, I am not confident how long such a mechanism will last. In all a pretty good buy for the money, but they all have their issues. Have never owned a mower without quirks.
Oh and on your original question, I agree with RWD being the best, front wheel being poor for momentumand and terrible on hills, and AWD just being over priced and a headache. The AWD mower I had just constantly had issues, there was so many things that could fail. Unreliable and just plagued with poor decisions. This was many years ago and didn't have hills maybe things are better now and maybe it's worth it with hills.
Toro is pretty compfortable and agree completely with the speed control. Auto-start is nice but honestly it starts with a single pull every time thus far. Don't know much about honda except expensive for what it is. To the point you could buy a cheap rider at least in this area.
Having owned a toro and being quite lazy I had some complaints. First off their belts don't last long with hills. To change the belt it's a real pain in the ass to the point I checked around to have it done for me and was quoted ridiculous prices. The oil plug is on the bottom and you have to remove a plate to get to it, leaving you with a 2 person job of holding oil pan in place and flipping it over to drain and cleanup after. Tightening the activator wire isn't too bad luckily but yes you will be doing it at least 2 times a season. The whole system is a little weirdly built, I am not confident how long such a mechanism will last. In all a pretty good buy for the money, but they all have their issues. Have never owned a mower without quirks.
Oh and on your original question, I agree with RWD being the best, front wheel being poor for momentumand and terrible on hills, and AWD just being over priced and a headache. The AWD mower I had just constantly had issues, there was so many things that could fail. Unreliable and just plagued with poor decisions. This was many years ago and didn't have hills maybe things are better now and maybe it's worth it with hills.