thank you both for the reply. After OldMachinist's input and advice from other friends, we went ahead with the purchase. At $1700, we thought there would be sufficient value. It came with mulching blades attached but with discharge chute still operable. I just finished my first cuttting and am mostly impressed. I'm a little hesitant to compliment the deck washing system. I washed both sides but then peeled about 6 gallons of clippings (based on the 3.5 gallon bucket into which I gathered the material) from the undercarriage. Either the grass was wetter than I estimated or there was more prior-owner residual clumping than I thought. Anyway, now that I know it's clean, I'll try the wash feature after my next cutting. (BTW, I'm in S.FL so the next cutting will be in a few weeks depending on rainfall). How does everyone else feel about this washing feature, beneficial or useless?
I should also note that I'm a little concerned about the traction. The drive wheels seems to have a lot of slippage when attempting to reverse. The slippage does not appear related to terrain or type of ground cover. I know the turf tires should be low impact but perhaps there's a hybrid tire that is mostly turf with some slightly beefier traction features.
