We've got a JD from Home Depot (on of the cheap ones) and it is great to mow with with a 48" deck and plenty of power, but eats deck pulleys yearly, the carb gets fussy, and it may have just blown a head gasket at 300 hours. Our old beat-to-hell wheel horse sucks to mow with (bumpy, slower, weaker) but is much more reliable, and more robust. The hydrostatic JD is sweet to mow with though.