I guess things change thru time. One of my earlier mowers was a hand-me-down Craftsman. It was running 5 years before I got it and I used it about 9 before I had to leave it behind in a move. Started great, worked fine, and had a drain plug.
Statica, maybe I missed it, but what type of mowing do you have to do? By that I mean is it a large area? small area? How much is straight? How many obstacles? Where I'm at now, there's not a straight line on the place, not to mention a ton of rock gardens, trees, and bushes dotted all over the place.
A regular mower was killing me with all the lifting of the front wheels to manover and the like. I got one with swiveling front wheels and my back has been thanking me ever since. Lowes had the Cubcadet and Home Depot had the Scotts at the time. I went with the Scotts as it was a rear bagger over the chute style: Living in Washington, I mow a lot with wet grass and chutes can clog a lot easier.
I couldn't find a pic of the one I have (been running strong for about 7 - 8 years now) but here's a link to Cubcadet's site:
http://www.cubcadet.com/webapp/wcs/s...89413_33831_-1
Sears didn't have them when I was shopping, but here's their link as they have them now: (it looks like the larger Cubdadet to me):
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...000P?adCell=A3