100 Series, are they worth it?

[two_bit_score]

In having a little less than an acre, the 300 series seems to be an overkill and I don't want to spend that much money to cut my grass. I looked at the 100 series and found the LA135 to be $100 more than the LA125. There appears to be a lot of upgrades for the $100 increase cost. It appears to be a decent lawn tractor.
I could of bought this Craftsman mower for the exact same price. Craftsman 42 in. Precision Cut Plus 24hp Lawn Tractor - Model 28826 at Sears.com

My gut feeling is for a lot size of mine, both would do a great job. Both have a couple of bells on them. However the longevity on the two...I don't know, they both have a V-twin Briggs and Stratton. I was told the V-Twin (in this class) would be a stronger engine and would have more longevity compare to the single Briggs and Stratton. Not sure if it was a sales pitch, but for the $100 difference with the 125, I figured why not.

Just wanted to know your thoughts on the 100 series and if my conclusions were similar to your own.

Actually, I believe, if you run the numbers you will find that with the cost of a mower, gas, oil, blades, spindles, belts, filters, spark plugs and not to mention your time and everything else you can hire someone to mow your lawn for cheaper than you can buy and maintain even a low end riding mower over time. It's not economically sensable to mow your own yard anymore.

 

[crook038]

I only have several cuts on the double blades so far. I don't believe it will put any more stress on the bearings, as long as the blades are not out of balance. I have the blades in the rectangular X rather then the square X because I lined up the star pattern so there would be no interference when bolted to the star on the spindle. I later realized that the star did not protrude above the first blade on the spindle so my efforts were unwarranted. I do think that lining the blades up in this manner sets up the grass to be cut by the high lift blade first and the 3-1 is used more for secondary cutting/lift. Also it was easier to make sure the blades were at a better balance point by aligning the star center holes. I will post my results throughout the season with this setup (I don't want to hijack this thread more then I already have so I will post a new thread later.)
Sean

 

[TomWhite]

I really wanted to get the 300 series, but didn't want to spend that much at the time. There is a big price jump when you compare deck size of the LA165 and comparable in the 300 series. Here are pictures of my stacked blades.
Sean

Maybe it is the angle of the picture, or maybe it is just me, but it appears that the left blades are close enough to the center blades that you might run a chance of having them strike each other. On the other hand, it appears there is a large gap between the center blades and the right blades.

Have you experienced any uncut strips between those two sets of blades?

Again, it may just be how I am looking at it.

 

[TomWhite]

Actually, I believe, if you run the numbers you will find that with the cost of a mower, gas, oil, blades, spindles, belts, filters, spark plugs and not to mention your time and everything else you can hire someone to mow your lawn for cheaper than you can buy and maintain even a low end riding mower over time. It's not economically sensable to mow your own yard anymore.

You must own a lawn service.

Maybe what you say is true in your area, or with a small push-mowable yard, but not around here. I mow between 2.5 - 3 acres, with a few decently testing hills/slopes, and over forty obstacles (trees, bushes, plants, etc.) No zero-turn is going to be able to navigate this property. With the time it takes to cut this area, and do trimming, it would cost about $400 per cutting to hire it out.

I think I'll just keep on doing it myself.