John Deere. Mine is 20 years old. Change the oil, sharpen the blades.
One thing to note, both Cub Cadet and John Deere have two line s of equipment. The inexpensive line carried by the big box home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowes. There is a higher quality line carried by the factory dealers.
Cub Cadet has a nice zero turn lawn mower for about $1,400.
Make sure the engine has a cast iron sleeve and it should last years.
Second that, and will add pressure lubrication to the list. The best engines out there currently seem to be the Briggs Vanguard line and the Kawasakis. Some of the Briggs engines have cast iron sleeves, but are splash lubricated. Easy way to tell if it's a pressure lube system is to check to see if it has an oil filter.
Same here! We own a 20 year old John Deere 210 as well as a 17 year old Honda self propelled mower! They both run great! My husband prefers the Honda, the Deere is too big for mowing the hills on the side of the house. Can't beat either one for dependability!
I've got a 2 year old lightly used John Deere 189. works great but recently the deck belt broke. Looks like it was cut every 2 inches by a knife. One dealer said it was fatigue, the other said heat cracks. Think both are blowing smoke up my ass. Any ideas?